According to the judges, iFOLIO is a MAX Awards finalist this year for its innovative engagement platform that enables professionals to build digital portfolios to introduce themselves to potential customers, and create digital presentations and proposals that can be shared publicly or privately.

“Buyers have higher expectations and lower attention spans. You have to grab them,” said Jean Marie Richardson, iFOLIO founder, president and CEO.

iFOLIO was originally conceived as a tool for students creating digital portfolios for college applications and is still marketed for educational purposes. The company was recognized as a 2018 top 10 artificial intelligence solution provider by the Education Technology Insights.

While many people today use their LinkedIn accounts, and PowerPoint presentations or Word documents to support the sales process, these digital platforms have limitations, Richardson explained.

“Ours is, what we like to say, that ‘sweet spot’ for a digital story,” said Richardson, adding that iFOLIO works well with other platforms in the sense that you might use a PowerPoint for an initial presentation and send an iFOLIO link to follow up. An iFOLIO link also could be added to a LinkedIn account.

The customizable links, known as iFOLIOs, can be shared and viewed on mobile devices as well as computers, provide collaborative content development and feature150 display options, said Richardson.

Data and insight feedback are an important aspect of an iFOLIOs value, she added. “One of the powers behind our platform is that it’s simple. Very often, analytics is not,” she said. “With our analytics, you can glance at your dashboard and see quickly who, what and where is resonating with your iFOLIO link.”

Six years of R&D before iFOLIO was incorporated three years ago prepared the company for the launch of its campaign to market to the enterprise world. Today, according to iFOLIO, the company equips more than 3,400 paid customers in 58 countries and grew 1,175 percent in 2018 alone. iFOLIO serves clients across a variety of industries and brands including GE Digital, the Metro Atlanta Chamber, iD Tech, Equifax and Keller Williams.

“We had a targeted strategy for introducing the iFOLIO platform to new customers, and we used the platform [itself] to introduce it,” said Richardson. “Then we saw that once our clients really started to understand and use it, they got super excited and would tell others. That word-of-mouth element is so important.”

Richardson explained also how Atlanta-based Equifax uses iFOLIO to introduce a value proposition for new services to new clients.

Richardson, a native Georgian and Georgia Tech graduate, said the company has a strong outlook for growth. “We have to marry growing our customer base with taking feedback from customers and making sure we prioritize the right things back into our products,” she said. “We have a roadmap on the product side that goes out for next three years. It’s a really exciting time for us.”