Education Puts You Ahead In The World Of Technology, Says Dallas IT Exec
Fresh out of school, Ron Owens worked for EDS (Electronic Data Systems) as a systems engineer, developing software in the Financial Industry Group. "EDS taught me how to work in a professional environment and manage customers," said Owens.
Owens learned, in his first managerial position as Assistant Vice President at Bank of America, how to manage people and budgets.
Looking to grow, Owens became a project manager at Intervoice, now Convergys, and managed large-scale client projects. Owens quickly moved up and became a director for customer operations in the area responsible for the use of speech recognition in Interactive Voice Response (IVR). Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology, (the systems that allowed you to press one on your touch-tone phone to do things like hear an account balance) had been around since the mid-'80s but the use of speech recognition for caller input was in its infancy. Owens later became the director of product management/marketing to promote the use of the speech recognition technology in North America and managed contracts and pricing strategies.
He became the vice president of Consulting Services and was responsible for the profit and loss (P&L) of that group, managing $13M in annual revenue and an annual budget of $7M. "Intervoice gave me a great opportunity to speak at industry conferences and expand my contacts," said Owens.
Other opportunities blossomed, and Owens worked for First Data and later Nortel Network. Owens found his passion working for Aria Solutions. He has been the director of client relationships, vice president of client delivery and senior vice president of products.
"Aria is a great company, focused on improving customer experiences by enabling businesses to communicate better with their customers. It's a great group of people; I have input into product strategy and company direction, and it is great to be part of a team," said Owens.
On the subject of getting a master's degree, Owens says, "It opened doors. You will get interviews where you wouldn't otherwise. It doesn't guarantee you anything, but it does increase your chances to get a career that you really want."
Robin D. Everson is a native Chicagoan who resides in Dallas, Texas. Her appreciation for art, food, wine, people and places has helped her become a well-respected journalist. A life-long lover of education, Robin seeks to learn and enlighten others about culture. You can find her work at Examiner.com
