Executive Profile: Tim Davidson
Tim Davidson comes from the first generation to bond with computers in childhood.
“I've been doing something with computers since I was about 11 years old, programming games on my Commodore 64,” he says. “As the technologies progressed, so did I.”
His childhood interest evolved into more adult pursuits. He became an application developer of medical software, and then moved on to networking and security. In 2001 he saw that SOS was getting into the relatively new field of Voice Over IP (or VoIP) technology, which seemed to have a bright future.
Tim is now the Business Practice Manager of Interactive Intelligence for SOS. That long title means that when SOS takes on a new product, he learns about it, sets the standards for how SOS will implement it, documents the standards and trains the staff on how the product should be installed. Without Tim and the other SOS practice managers, each installer might take a slightly different approach. That would mean headaches for clients later on.
Tim’s long love affair with computers puts him at ease when he faces new technology.
“Today, everything is a computer,” he says. “Even a cell phone is a computer: It has the same principals inside of it.”
VoIP is no longer a new technology for Tim, a fact that made him smile when he attended a conference in October and met people from other companies that are just starting to grapple with IP telephony.
“It’s pretty funny, especially when you listen to a manufacturer explaining to you how things should be done, and they are just getting into it,” he says.
Co-founder and CEO Gia McNutt says SOS is fortunate to have Davidson on the staff.
“He is truly a gifted mentor in developing his practice team and yet able to change gears back to individual contributor when required. His comment of ‘everything is a computer’ hits the nail on the head,” says McNutt. “One of the biggest opportunities contact centers have today is adopting the technology and business processes to enable them to interact with the next generation of consumers, those teenagers who use cell phones to text message, versus talk. The days of being a phone-only ‘call center’ are numbered.”
Davidson’s challenge these days is developing new ways to use VoIP. One such project is an emergency response system that uses VoIP technology to automatically notify responders through e-mail, voice mail and pagers. Other new ideas cross his path almost daily. But it’s not innovation for its own sake. Each product is aimed at a customer need.
“The purpose of SOS is not to create cool things, it’s to make this equipment work in the most efficient way -- and hopefully we have a good time doing it,” says Tim. “That’s why I do this: Because it’s fun.”
