Why Does the Sector Keep Repeating the Same Digital Mistakes?

26% of membership organisations are now using AI. Only 6% have a strategy for it.

What’s missing in that headline? Its not the 20% gap.

The Memberwise DX 2026 report is out, and as ever it is a serious, valuable piece of work. The sector is making real progress and that deserves acknowledgement.

However, the headline here (extracted from the report) stops me every time I think about it, for a few reasons:

The adoption number seems low. I think it’s much higher than that based on what we are seeing day to day. And the gap between the adoption and strategy numbers is a concern. I also suspect that even fewer organisations have a governance structure to support what little strategy they have. That's what's really missing in the headline: a strategy.

I worry this is history repeating itself. Only faster. The pace of AI innovation and the pressure (FOMO) to adopt or die, is only amplifying the problem.

Thinking back over the years, we have seen this before. With CRM / AMS adoption. The CMS replacement wave. The integration problem. The personalisation challenge. In each cycle, technology arrived first and (sometimes) a strategy followed later, usually after the budget had already been spent.

What the DX report also shows, is that different teams tend to own different technology budgets. Membership owns the AMS. Communications owns the CMS. Professional Standards owns the LMS.

Very few have the full picture. Decisions get made at department level based on operational demands, not organisational objectives. It’s a sign of the fact that the strategy needs to lead. Both data points illustrate that the strategy is not there to drive the technology change.

A technology tool is not a strategy. It’s a shortcut that sometimes works. But mostly not.

Knowing what you want to do, why you want to do it, and what outcome you want is. And if the path to getting there requires new technology, then you look at how that gets you there. What does it cost? How long will it take? What needs to change internally to make it work? That's a strategy.

Which brings me to AI. Because if the pattern above sounds familiar, AI is about to repeat it at speed. Adoption is up to 26%. Strategies sit at 6%. That's not a technology gap. It's the same structural problem playing out in a new context. And unlike previous cycles, AI doesn't wait politely for your organisation to catch up. It infiltrates. Staff adopt tools individually, without oversight, without governance, without anyone asking the obvious question first.

My worry is that in two years, a significant number of membership leaders will look around and ask: how did I get here?

My advice is simple. Ask the age-old question first.

Why?