This is the final interview in a series of six interviews of CEOs of online community platform providers to the association industry, in conjunction with a white paper we’re writing about them. The first five interviews are here. The white paper will be available for free download in the next few weeks.

CEO Interview – Sterling Raphael, NFi Studios™

Tell us a bit about the history behind NFi. How did you get where you are now?

NFi Studios was founded on delivering creative and powerful interactive solutions for theme and entertainment companies. Though we have been working with associations since 2004, our earlier years also include work for Disney, Universal Studios, the Orlando Magic, the Pittsburgh Steelers and more. It’s this experience and commitment to building powerful user-experiences that allow us to bring creative and refreshing software to the association industry. Our software is not only built with the latest and greatest technology and architecture, but also designed with the goal of meaningful, enjoyable, and intuitive user-experiences.

What’s your vision for the company? Where are you going?

NFi Studios is quickly becoming a technology leader in the association industry. However, we do not qualify our leadership stance in terms of the number of clients we have, but by the value we deliver to each customer or partner. As technology continues to evolve and change, our clients know that we will lead them in the right direction according to their needs. We help our clients stay relevant by applying new technology solutions to the changing strategic requirements of associations.

What makes the MemberFuse™ platform unique?

MemberFuse is much more than a Social Networking platform.

Although it has many Social/Community features, our infrastructure is built on a User Centric Architecture (UCA) allowing for a more relevant and semantic user experience. Our features are set up to consider the vibrant data which exists in the association database, the interests of each user, and the activities conducted in the community. All together, MemberFuse offers a tailored and on-demand experience for each  individual user. Features like Content Alerts and Member Matching are just two examples of this relevance-based approach in our platform.

How do you see your platform, MemberFuse™, shaping the association industry? How does it change “business as usual” at the operational level?

The association world has changed significantly and is continuing to rapidly evolve. Associations are no longer only responsible for producing content, networking and education. Today’s associations must assist the contributions and conversations already taking place among their members . MemberFuse is set up to allow the association to facilitate user-generated content, membership benefits, and networking. It also aggregates external content sources and integrates with other Social Networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr. The MemberFuse platform is configured for each association based on their needs, but the main purpose remains the same: to empower your members to get the most value of their membership, to reduce clutter, and to be an on-demand source for member news and information. Our powerful reporting and analytical tools allow staff to adjust efforts based on the activity and engagement of their community, while providing the communication tools necessary to effectively respond to their audience.

If you could use just three adjectives to describe NFi, what would they be and why?

Creative – We focus on delivering powerful and intuitive user experiences. No longer do associations have to settle for outdated or boring technology. Our features are robust and modular, however we distinguish ourselves with creativity and pride ourselves on our response to customer feedback. It is possible for each of our customers to have a completely different look and feel to their solution which maximizes their brand exposure and organizational objectives.

Agile – NFi’s operations and product development approach is agile. We release updates to our software several times a month including new features, enhancements to current functionality, and updated APIs/Integrations. Imagine how you could provide feedback on our product development features and see results within weeks, or even days! Our clients can and do direct our feature development and often see those suggested updates soon after their feedback was provided.

Social – We not only produce Social Technologies, we live and use them! Our company is actively involved in the association community, both with live events and online. We actively participate within the association blogosphere, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and more. This gives us the knowledge and organizational culture to effectively produce relevant tools for our clients, as well as the community involvement to stay in tune with the association industry.

CLICK HERE for immediate notice of our paper being ready for download.

Want more info on NFi Studios?

Contact: Elizabeth Baranik – Marketing Director
407.282.3121, elizabeth@nfistudios.com
Blog: http://nfistudios.com/news
Twitter: @NFiStudios