International Association of Online Business Managers (IAOBM) keeps Certified OBMs ahead with AI breakthroughs and new technology.
When Amanda Hyde-Pierce stepped into the CEO role at the IAOBM just a few short weeks ago, she made one thing clear: this was not a moment for standing still.
What has happened since? Honestly, it has been a lot – in the best possible way.
The Commitment That Sets Certified OBMs Apart
One of the most common questions the IAOBM receives is a simple one: what makes a Certified OBM® different?
The answer has always come down to one thing, commitment.
Not just commitment to their clients, though that is absolutely at the core of everything they do. But commitment to staying ahead. To continuous learning, and to making sure that every business they support benefits from the most current thinking, the most effective systems, and the sharpest strategic insight available.
In a world that is changing at a pace many business owners find overwhelming, that commitment is not just a nice thing to have. It is the difference between a business that thrives and one that quietly struggles.
Right now, that commitment is showing up in a particularly exciting way.
A New Designation That Changes Everything
Towards the end of June, the first group of Certified OBMs, will be receiving something significant: the ‘Certified AI Strategist’ designation.
This is not a quick online, diy course. It has been an intensive, multi-layered, real-world program and “intensive” might be an understatement.
These OBMs have spent weeks being put through their paces. The centrepiece of the program? Using actual clients as their study subjects, conducting full AI and automation audits across entire businesses to identify exactly where intelligent systems could optimize operations, reduce friction, and unlock hidden capacity.
The results have been, to put it simply, eye-opening.
Many of the case-study clients our members have been working with are relatively lean, remote teams, often fewer than five people, operating across a huge variety of industries. Yet when the findings started to come back, the numbers were increasingly striking. Our Certified OBMs® have identified annual savings ranging from $8,000 to over $50,000 – per business.
For small businesses running on tight margins and tighter time, that is not a marginal gain. That is transformational.
“It’s been one of those moments where you sit back and think – we knew this was important, but we didn’t fully know how important,” says Hyde-Pierce. “I don’t know who’s more excited, me or our OBMs. Getting their final deliverable assessed, presenting it to their project clients, and then being awarded their new designation – it’s all so close now. They have worked incredibly hard. I am so proud of them.”
What Comes Next: Custom AI Agents
The IAOBM is not pausing to celebrate.
Next month, the newly-awarded Certified AI Strategists will learn how to build custom AI agents for the businesses they support.
Not off-the-shelf tools. Not generic chatbots. Bespoke, purpose-built AI agents designed around the specific workflows, goals, and team structures of their individual client.
This is where things get genuinely exciting. The ability to hand a client an AI agent that has been built specifically for their business, one that understands their processes, their terminology, their priorities, represents a leap forward in what operational support can deliver.
Certified OBMs are rapidly becoming some of the most AI-capable business support professionals in the world. And that capability is flowing directly to the businesses lucky enough to work with them.
It’s Not All About AI, But Even the Non-AI News Is Pretty Big
In amongst all the AI developments, Hyde-Pierce has also been making changes behind the scenes that will have a lasting impact on how IAOBM members run their own businesses.
She has implemented a new CRM platform, ‘Pheeb’ across the entire IAOBM operation.
This is not just a new tool. It is a completely overhauled business infrastructure, built with bespoke workflows, bespoke pipelines, bespoke nurture sequences, AI weaved in throughout, and a level of personalisation that most CRM implementations simply do not reach.
What makes this especially exciting is that Hyde-Pierce has extended this out to her members too. That means IAOBM members now have access to the same powerful, customised system, and will be able to offer equivalent bespoke setups to their own clients. More details on Pheebs capabilities are coming soon, but for now: watch this space. This one is bigger than it might initially sound.
Who Certified OBMs Actually Support – Because It Might Surprise You
The IAOBM gets asked regularly about the kinds of businesses a Certified OBM can support, and the honest answer is that the range is far wider than most people expect.
Yes, many of the businesses are online or remote-first. But “online business” does not mean what it did five years ago.
Today’s Certified OBMs work with chiropractors managing growing patient lists and complex appointment systems. With psychotherapists trying to build sustainable, organised practices without getting buried in administration. With Etsy sellers scaling handmade businesses into serious e-commerce operations. With Amazon sellers navigating inventory, fulfillment, and marketing simultaneously. They work with coaches, consultants, content creators, service providers, and local bricks-and-mortar businesses of every description, any business owner who has reached the point where they need more than a to-do list. They need a strategic partner.
If any of this sounds familiar, the IAOBM’s Ready Match and Direct Match services were built exactly for this moment. Find out more at https://onlinebusinessmanager.com/hire-an-obm
The Bigger Picture
Six weeks into her tenure as CEO, Amanda Hyde-Pierce is moving at a pace that suggests the next six months at the IAOBM are going to be worth watching.
New AI designations. Custom agent training. A rebuilt CRM infrastructure. An ever-expanding community of operational leaders who are genuinely raising the standard of what it means to be an OBM in 2026.
There is a lot happening. And if the last month is anything to go by?
This is just the beginning.
To find out more about becoming a Certified OBM®, or to explore the matching services offered by the International Association of Online Business Managers, visit onlinebusinessmanager.com
Connect with Amanda Hyde-Pierce on LinkedIn.
