[Steven Zahm]

@ Mieke

re: One other question. Is it also possible to use this as membership software. What they really want is an automated system for payments and renewals of subscriptions.

No, Connections is not a membership plugin. If you would like to process memberships I highly suggest a membership plugin. This will give you multiple ways to monetize your site where director access is just one membership perk. There are directory plugins which incorporate methods to pay for and renew listing but then you have limited yourself to just that one possible revenue stream.

Hope that helps!