NPTech News: How has this focus changed in the last 2 years?
LaBarbera: Kintera has always focused on providing the best software solutions to nonprofits, but in the last 6 months we have changed our focus to be a great partner for nonprofits. We established of our customer bill of rights to demonstrate this focus.
NPTech News:What are your current initiatives?
LaBarbera: Tthe expansion of our partner program is a critical success factor to ensure that we continue to offer the breath of solutions our clients demand.
NPTech News: How has your market segment changed over the last year?
LaBarbera: The nonprofit market segment has continued to adopt technology solutions that help increase fundraising results and build relationships with constituents. The sector has also become more and more vocal about the technology solutions available. This creates a community in which nonprofits and technology providers can exchange ideas to create software that better meets the needs of nonprofit organizations.
NPTech News: What are the greatest challenges for your customers in adopting and implementing technology?
LaBarbera: By nature, nonprofit organizations are constantly striving to do more with less. Many have limited staff resources and budgets. Often times they don’t have the luxuries afforded to for-profit companies. Because Kintera’s software is delivered via the Web, it is easy to deploy and does not require technical staff for installation.
NPTech News: How are you helping your customers address these challenges?
LaBarbera: Kintera recently published the most robust and comprehensive list of APIs available in the nonprofit sector as part of Kintera Connect. This enables clients and partners to integrate directly with Kintera technology and as a result create best of breed applications. By creating a community of partners, Kintera is able to continue to improve our software solutions while enabling our partners to build additional applications that address the specific needs of nonprofit organizations.
NPTech News: Describe your company's position in the industry with regard to the solutions you deliver.
LaBarbera:Kintera has more than 4,000 clients in the nonprofit and government sectors. Our technology platform empowers The Giving Experience™, and features a social constituent relationship management (CRM) system, enabling donor management, e-mail and communications, Web sites, events, advocacy programs, wealth screening and accounting. In addition, the Kintera Connect™ open platform enables clients and partners to integrate directly with Kintera technology, resulting in the availability of best of breed solutions through the Kintera Connect partner program.
NPTech News: What do you believe to be the state of the industry in terms of growth, maturity, and availability of viable products to address the technology needs of the nonprofit community?
LaBarbera: I believe the industry is growing and will continue to adopt new and emerging technology solutions. Nonprofit organizations have begun to embrace and utilize Web 2.0 capabilities and create a more diverse mix of technology solutions. We are seeing this across the board from institutions of higher education to localized human service organizations.
NPTech News: What advice would you offer to organizations attempting to implement any technology projects?
LaBarbera: Make sure the solution offers the availability, stability, and scalability that will enable your organization to increase its effectiveness. Really look at the architecture of the provider. Is it a multi-tenant architecture that enables all clients to share a centrally maintained common infrastructure with one code base? Or is the software delivered as a traditional client/server where organizations are forced to pay to upgrade the software? Many times getting software that is consistently updated over a period of time and paying a little more a month is actually a more cost-effective option than paying a large amount upfront and then having to purchase entirely new software as updates are made available. Additionally, nonprofits should ensure that the solution provider meets state-of-the-art security plans and has a robust business continuity and contingency plan in place. Richard LaBarbera, CEO
Richard LaBarbera is Kintera’s CEO, after serving as the company’s Chief Operating Officer and President. A high tech industry veteran with more than 30 years of operating experience, LaBarbera is responsible for the strategy and execution of Kintera’s business operations.
LaBarbera joined Kintera from Echopass Corporation, a leading provider of integrated CRM software as a service and advanced call center solutions. At Echopass, he served as chief operations and services officer, where his responsibilities included client renewals, customer service, professional services, support, custom application development, IT operations and provisioning.
Prior to Echopass, LaBarbera served as president of Niku Corporation, an enterprise software company now part of Computer Associates, that addresses client needs for CRM, portfolio management, resource and project management, and IT management and governance. At Niku, he was responsible for all operational components of the business, including development, marketing, sales, telesales, professional services and support. LaBarbera also served as senior vice president and general manager of Sybase, Inc.’s enterprise solutions division, which was responsible for approximately $800 million of Sybase revenue. In this role, he had direct responsibility for product development, product marketing, worldwide sales, support, education and global professional services functions.
In addition, LaBarbera has served in executive roles at Siemens Nixdorf/Pyramid, Octel Communications, Amdahl, Storage Technology Corporation and IBM. He received an MBA from Georgia State University.
