Latest revision as of 10:00, 18 November 2024

Ted's History With Technology

My first computer - an IBM PCjr (mid 80's)

My background has a wide range of skills leveraging computer technology; while my education and early career focused on business administration, I quickly found my real enjoyment in "working" was when work started to feel like "fun." That happened when I bridged my early career experience at Heiser Automotive with technology. A rough chronology of my career and how technology guided it is below!

1980's

My first computer was an IBM PCjr - a fabulous starter computer 5 1/4" floppy drive and 128k memory. Great for learning how to write some basic and running Lotus 1-2-3. A spreadsheet.... can you imagine work before spreadsheets? It was the first real computer I had put to practical use. I graduated from college in 1987 and from there, eventually worked my way up to a Leading Edge 386 with a whopping 40MB hard drive. Seemed like a huge change from just a few years earlier with the 128k memory and no hard drive.

In the late '80s, as I finished school, I transitioned to full-time employment with Heiser Automotive. Heiser is a large dealership in metro Milwaukee, and our rental department was one of the few organizations that targeted people without credit cards. For a mere $75 to $250 deposit, we'd let you rent a car, provided we could verify employment, do a credit check, and look you up in a reverse directory. Occasionally a car would disappear, but they'd always show up somewhere (skip tracing & recovering converted rentals is a whole different story). The operation was very manual - writing the contracts by hand and managing the reservations and inventory. And while managing a 4-site operation provided good business experience, I was looking for a change after several years of operating manually.

Hence, my first career intersection with technology. I researched, proposed, and helped implement an early WAN to automate our business. We installed a server - a generic 286 box running some flavor of Unix, and dumb terminals linked at the remote sites by early multi-tech modems. Installing the WAN and seeing the change in how we managed our reservations, our inventory, and how the contracts were printed was a real joy! Technology has changed the fundamental way how we do business. Even so, the automotive business has its limits, and after completing this project, I realized it was time for a change.

1990's

Data Plus: My First Internet Service Provider

Sheboygan and Manitowoc's First ISP

The 1990s were probably the most exciting for me in my career, given that I had found a passion for technology and could now tie it to my job. While I had thoroughly enjoyed deploying the WAN at Heiser, I sought to make technology more central to what I did for a living. Funny how opportunities present themselves when you open your mind to change.

One day I had a piece of a newspaper flying through my backyard in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. I reached down to pick up that newspaper and noticed a help wanted ad for "T&T Computers" in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. A small company started by John Torrison and Peter Tait, T&T Computers was later called "Data Plus." The company provided PCs, Networks, and repair services - a VAR or value-added reseller of PCs and related hardware and software. The position was for a commercial sales representative - selling PCs and Networks. Given that I had just sold my previous boss on installing a WAN at Heiser, I felt fully qualified for this sales job! So off I went, applied, and soon after had a paycheck from a new source.

I learned a lot in my time spent at Data Plus - we sold Novell and LANtastic networks to businesses in Manitowoc and Sheboygan counties, targeting the new need for companies to have a server to share and store files, along with the networking of peripherals. While I primarily knocked on doors and sold commercial accounts, I helped in other areas (being 6'9" tall is handy for pulling network cables!)

My job at Data Plus got interesting as I started to see the Internet emerge. I had been a user of Compuserve and Delphi services for some time now and was intrigued with the possibilities of how computers were being connected over this "Internet" thing. IRC, FTP, Telnet, Gopher, all this fascinated me. While some services were now becoming "available to the public," - few people outside academia knew what this "Internet" was about.

As time marched forward, it became clear that Data Plus needed to become an ISP. Never mind that hardly anyone in Manitowoc or Sheboygan counties knew what an ISP was, I was determined to bring the internet to the doorsteps of our corner of Wisconsin. I contacted a company in Milwaukee called Alpha.net (Alpha dot net) and inquired about connecting to them in Milwaukee. They were proud of bringing a DS3 up from Chicago to Milwaukee but weren't sure about "reselling access" to someone who would leverage their connection. After convincing my boss that this Internet thing would help differentiate Data Plus from other VARs, he and I established a relationship with Alpha.net, secured a T1 link, and brought Internet capacity to Sheboygan.

And this is where the fun begins; no one told me how to set up an ISP - Alpha.net gave us a few hints, like don't try to learn to program a Cisco router to start; instead, grab a Livingston. But otherwise, it was my purchasing many O'Reilly books (DNS & Bind, Sendmail) and learning much more about UNIX. I leveraged BSDi and installed it on a Leading Edge consumer-based PC to start, hooked up our CSU/DSU, and strung a dozen Multi-tech modems off the Livingston. Before long, we were an ISP! And I was now outselling not just LANs but holding seminars for local businesses, telling them, "Check this Internet thing out - you're going to want to be on it!". That was only 20 years ago - again, like pre-spreadsheet days, it's hard to imagine business pre-internet.

BBN: The FIRST Internet Provider

BBN: What's Your AS#?

My job at Data Plus opened the door to a unique opportunity. I had transitioned from a general business management "job" to starting a sales "career." My experience of selling PCs and LANs to businesses, coupled with the fact that I started the first ISP in my geographic area, gave me a set of qualifications that was an excellent match for my next move. Hunting for new opportunities, I found a sales position with Nap.net. Nap.net was an ATM backbone provider targeting IP transit sales to ISPs and Universities; I applied, landed a sales position, and went to work for Nap.net. Shortly after I joined, Nap.net was acquired through a transaction that now had me receiving paychecks from BBN! It turned out that GTE, the old independent phone company, was forming "GTE-Internetworking", and had begun acquiring companies to position themselves as a top-tier backbone provider, competing with AT&T, MCI/Worldcom, Cable & Wireless, and Sprint. The most remarkable element that carried me from a sales "career" - to what I would term as a "calling" - was the privilege of now being a part of BBN. BBN, or Bolt, Beranek & Newman, was the company behind ARPANET and what we now know as the Internet today. Not only was I selling IP transit now to the "original" Internet backbone, but Nap.net had established a service and support model that matched the needs of our clients.

I quickly transitioned from sales to sales management; to this day, I have a career that has become much more. A great sales team, a great product to sell (AS1!), and a great service model to support the sales. When you search Google, bits and pieces remind me of our run with GTE-I/BBN/Genuity: Searching Google Newsgroup Archives:

       info.inet.access ›
       good experience: bbn/gtei/nap.net
       1 post by 1 author  
       bryan s. blank 	
       2/28/99
       
       hey, turned up a circuit the other day to bbn/gtei/nap.net, very
       impressive, took less than 5mins including bgp turnup, they had
       their filters ready to go and everything went without a glitch.
       the bandwidth looks as good as froglo's, without the ATM
       circuits.  highly recommended, ted lango, tla...@bbn.com, is our
       sales guy there.  
       "what's your AS?"
       "we're AS1"
       
       extremely impressive traceroutes are below ...

       traceroute to www.mindspring.com (207.69.200.188), 30 hops max, 40 byte
       packets
       1  dni-core7206-1-fa0-0.discovernet.net (206.165.166.1)  0.593 ms
       0.525 ms  0.428 ms
       2  s11-0-0-16.nyc1-cr2.bbnplanet.net (4.0.164.189)  3.721 ms  3.725 ms
       3.753 ms
       3  f0-0.nyc1-br2.bbnplanet.net (4.0.40.17)  3.685 ms  4.067 ms  17.819 
       ms........

Bryan Blank's reference to "what's your AS?" is quoting me and one of my favorite lines when prospecting. I picked this up because ISPs back in the day used to wear their AS# autonomous system number as a badge of honor. In oversimplified terms, your AS# was used to identify your network on the internet and was used in BGP routing. An ISP connected to more than one upstream provider needed it to enable routing leveraging BGP. The lower your AS#, the earlier you were in the game of being an ISP. If my memory serves me correctly, Nap.net was AS5646. Earlier backbones like Sprint were AS 777 (again if my memory serves me). When I'd talk to ISPs, they'd often brag about their AS#... to which I'd respond, well, you're buying transit off of AS1. It doesn't get any earlier or more incredible than that!

GTE-Internetworking was spun off and formed "Genuity" during the GTE-Bell Atlantic merger (Verizon today). Eventually, after the dot.com bubble, Verizon decided not to acquire Genuity due to a glut of bandwidth, which triggered an interesting sequence of events, eventually resulting in the sale of an OC-192 network (at least the IRUs & customers) to Level 3 in 2003. And so ended my dream "calling". Time to find a new job and hopefully a new career.

2000's

Cleartel Communications: Adding Phone

After nearly a decade in the computer & Internet business, opportunities steered me toward telephony. My next career was at a CLEC called Cleartel, a group of competitive local exchange carrier companies held by MCG Capital. Here is where I expanded my technology horizons past PCs and the Internet to include phone switches, IVRs, and the rest of the technology supporting call center operations. This was a fantastic experience, and even though I didn't realize it - just as Data Plus had primed me for joining a top-tier Internet provider, my experience at Cleartel would be critical to priming me for my next role. More on that in a bit.

Cleartel opened my eyes to how to truly put technology to work to serve the needs of running an efficient operation. And the science behind optimizing a call center operation is a natural fit for leveraging technology. In my years at Cleartel, I explored many facets of technology - from how we used IVRs and the multi-skilling telephony platform to using things like Keyhole to map out everything from locations of employees who were part of acquisitions to determining our potential customer impact when hurricanes hit the south. Early location awareness - I didn't realize it, but this was where the business was headed.

Comcast & MetLife

At Comcast and MetLife, I expanded my expertise across a broad spectrum of technology solutions, particularly those applied to large-scale contact center operations. My work spanned multiple facets of workforce management, operational technology, and customer experience. During these roles, I led transformation efforts across over 85 contact centers, impacting millions of customer interactions annually. Key technology projects included:

• Workforce Management & Automation Systems: Integrated WFM tools with telephony platforms to optimize workforce efficiency. Developed robust forecasting models, agent scheduling solutions, and real-time reporting dashboards to support daily operations across complex contact centers.
• Call Routing Technologies: Implemented dynamic call routing models and enhanced IVR platforms, ensuring optimal call distribution. These changes reduced customer wait times and improved service levels while decreasing operational costs.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Built analytics frameworks for performance measurement and operational insights, facilitating data-driven decisions that directly impacted KPIs and customer satisfaction.
• Vendor Operations Optimization: Worked closely with outsourced partners to standardize operations, drive SLA adherence, and introduce cost-saving measures through technology-driven performance metrics.

These experiences honed my skills in leveraging advanced technologies, including IVRs, knowledge management tools, and call-routing algorithms, helping both Comcast and MetLife build scalable, customer-centric solutions.

Intradiem

At Intradiem, I took on a pivotal role leading the transformation of Workforce Management (WFM) strategies across Fortune 500 organizations. This role allowed me to align AI-powered automation with operational challenges, creating scalable solutions that reshaped contact center operations. I spearheaded key initiatives, including:

• Strategic Innovation: Driving new methods to forecast, plan, and optimize workforce operations with real-time automation.
• WFM Labs: Founded and grew WFM Labs, a collaborative community of 1,000+ members advancing next-generation workforce management practices through open-source tools and shared thought leadership.
• Industry Collaboration: Partnered with executive leaders from organizations like Allstate, TD Bank, and Humana to implement cutting-edge workforce solutions and drive operational maturity.
• Product Leadership: Played a key role in product innovation, integrating machine learning models to enhance attrition forecasting and automating manual workflows for improved efficiency.

My time at Intradiem further strengthened my passion for leading transformative efforts that blend technology, workforce strategy, and operational performance—offering practical insights on how AI-powered solutions can drive sustainable business value.

The Future of Contact Centers

Today, I focus on exploring and shaping the future of contact centers by bringing together my experience in technology, workforce management, and operational leadership. Through WFM Labs and other forums, I continue to build a network of industry professionals to address the evolving demands of modern customer service and workforce operations. Key areas of my ongoing work include:

• Thought Leadership & Community Building: Leading webinars, publishing articles, and speaking at conferences to share insights on the future of WFM and customer experience management.
• Innovating Workforce Strategies: Developing new tools, models, and frameworks that help organizations stay ahead of industry shifts and optimize operations in real-time.
• Future of Contact Centers: Rethinking traditional contact center models by leveraging AI, automation, and data-driven strategies to align operational efficiency with customer and employee satisfaction.

Looking forward, I remain passionate about creating meaningful change through innovative solutions and helping companies adopt forward-thinking strategies to thrive in an increasingly digital world.

AI Innovation & Research

My current focus is heavily centered on understanding and shaping how AI will transform contact centers. I'm writing a book titled Call Center Optimization in the Generative AI Era, bringing the same enthusiasm to AI transformation that I had when pioneering internet access in Wisconsin. Recent research from Brynjolfsson, Li, and Raymond (2023) demonstrates that AI assistance can increase contact center productivity by 14% on average, with even more dramatic improvements for newer agents - up to 34%. These findings align with my perspective that AI will be particularly transformative in helping accelerate agent development and democratize access to best practices.

AI Tools & Technology Stack

I regularly experiment with and evaluate emerging AI technologies. My current technology stack includes:

Large Language Models & Research

• Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT
• Perplexity.ai
• Notebook.LM
• Scite.AI Research
• DataLab.TO

Workflow & Automation

• Zapier
• Make.Com
• Airtable
• GitHub
• DeepNote
• Apify.Com

Content Creation & Media

• RunwayML
• ElevenLabs
• Placid
• Canva
• Gamma.App
• Headliner.app
• Napkin.ai
• Notta.ai

Looking ahead, I am particularly excited about how generative AI will reshape workforce management and customer experience. The emerging research suggests we're at the beginning of a transformative period where AI can help bridge skill gaps, accelerate training, and create more engaging experiences for both agents and customers. Learn more about my ongoing work and the latest developments at WFM Labs.

Articles

I contribute to various publications on topics related to workforce management, data, AI and related technology topics. Some of my recent articles and contributions include:

Articles Authored By Ted

• Built In: 3 Steps to Building a Culture of Learning and Innovation Around AI
• Built In: Your AI Initiatives Depend on Getting This Part Right

Contributions

• ZD Net: How renaissance technologists are connecting the dots between AI and business
• Database Trends and Applications Reimagining Data Management for the Real-Time, AI-Powered Future