40 in 40: The DiRAD Difference

Over the past 40 years, we’ve experienced incredible highs here at DiRAD, and we’re excited to keep that momentum going for the next 40. In celebration of this achievement, we thought we’d present 40 facts for 40 years. We’ll dive into some fun DiRAD facts, what sets us apart, insights into our customer service approach, and a look back at the tech landscape of the 1980s when DiRAD was first founded.

Facts About DiRAD

1. 1984-2024: DiRAD Technologies was founded in 1984 with a mission to innovate in CX technology. We have always been at the edge of technology, constantly looking for solutions that will help our customers do more with less. 
2. Partners Acquired: In 2014, longtime employees Maria Massa, John Michne, and Rami Hachem acquired DiRAD. The company became certified as a Women-Owned Business and earned multiple state and national certifications, including WBENC.
3. Government Solutions: The Customer Experience encompasses the whole of the customer journey. DiRAD understands that, and our contact center solutions ensure the journey stays positive. DiRAD provides solutions that allow customers to interact with staff via voice, email, and chat in an environment where missed communications could have tragic results.
4. Major Milestones: In 2018, DiRAD was selected to support a New York DMV initiative serving over 11,000 auto dealerships. This led to the creation of our own outsourced contact center, which is now a key part of our business, serving both government and commercial clients.
5. Mission: Our mission is to help organizations create happy customers by providing technology and services that dramatically improve customer service while ultimately lowering costs. Our goals and objectives revolve around the fact that DiRAD’s owners are not entrepreneurs, but technologists whose day-to-day objective is to make sure our customers are happy – if we’re successful in that objective, our company will continue to grow. 
6. Headquarters: Originally based on Wolf Road in Colonie, NY, DiRAD’s growth sparked a 2008 move to our current headquarters in Clifton Park, NY, where we continue to expand and innovate today. 
7. Culture: Throughout our long history, DiRAD has retained the best and brightest people by promoting a professional yet laid-back workplace. DiRAD fosters a “think-tank” culture where innovation is encouraged, fancy clothes are optional, and egos are checked at the door. We’ve retained top talent by valuing creativity, flexibility, and an unwavering focus on the customer: Take care of the customer first, and everything else will take care of itself.
8. Values: During our 40-year history, we’ve seen many exuberant companies come and go. We prefer slow and steady growth without taking on long-term debt. We value respect, transparency, collaboration, and direct feedback. We have no tolerance for disrespect, office politics or discrimination of any kind. We have a healthy dissatisfaction with the status quo – how can we improve? Where is our technology taking us next? Who is a potential partner? Do the right thing.
9. Community Involvement: Every year, DiRAD gives back to the Capital District through organizations like Toys for Tots, the YWCA of NENY, the Mechanicville/Stillwater Breast Cancer Walk, and local YMCA chapters. Supporting our community is part of who we are. 
10. Max and Toby: No story of DiRAD is complete without mentioning Max and Toby, our beloved office cats. Back in August 2008, three-month-old Max and Toby came into our DiRAD office. They quickly became cherished members of the DiRAD family. From hiding on bookshelves to playfully running around the office. Their presence has brought plenty of joy and smiles to DiRAD HQ ever since. We will always remember Toby, who once walked the halls with a winter glove over her eyes, who sadly passed away in 2024. Our feisty boy, Max, is still keeping morale high at the office with his friendly meows and pet opportunities.

Customer Service / CX Technology Facts 

1. First Telephone: Alexander Graham Bell made the first phone call to his assistant, Thomas Watson, on March 10, 1876, in Boston, Massachusetts. Bell said, “Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you.”  
2. First Call Center: The first call centers appeared in the 1960s, when Birmingham Press and Mail installed a Private Automated Business Exchange (PABX) in the UK. 
3. First Phone Operators: The early models of call centers began in the 1950s and 1960s, with women working from home, dialing friends and neighbors to sell baked goods and other products, as a way to supplement household income. 
4. Customer is always right! We’ve all heard that phrase. It was coined in 1909, Retailer Harry Gordon Selfridge said, “the customer is always right.” In some sense, the idea of making sure the customer is happy is a great idea in theory.
5. TCPA: Consumer backlash prompted Congress to pass the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991. This law restricted the activity of call center agents, including setting a limit on when calls could be made. It additionally required solicitors to honor the National Do Not Call Registry. 
6. Auto Dialers: The 1991 law set limits on technology and the use of auto-dialers. Companies were no longer allowed to use pre-recorded messages for sales calls. That put more pressure on agents to deliver messages and apply a human touch to the sales process.
7. Start of the internet: The internet officially launched on January 1, 1983, when ARPANET adopted the TCP/IP protocol, creating a standardized communication system that became the foundation of the modern internet.
8. First 24/7 Availability:  24/7 call center availability began in the 1980s, driven by toll-free numbers, global business needs, and tech like the Automatic Call Distribution System, paving the way for nonstop customer service and later outsourcing trends.
9. Greek Origins: In ancient Greece, customer service existed in the form of public markets where merchants relied heavily on reputation and word-of-mouth to maintain trust and return customers.
10. Code of Hammurabi: One of the earliest legal codes included rules about merchant accountability and fair trade. For example, if a builder’s house collapsed and killed the owner, the builder could be punished. That’s a serious customer satisfaction policy!

DiRAD Differentiators

1. Quality of Service: Here at DiRAD, we have combined our 40 years of contact center experience with our highly regarded customer service expertise to provide customers with a next-generation Outsourced Customer Experience Center that is industry-leading in every way.
2. Quality Assurance: We have senior team members on staff with the experience and knowledge required to monitor KPIs ensuring a successful customer experience. Knowing these numbers will help improve your calls and keep customers happy in the long run.
3. DiRAD Difference: On the people side, DiRAD offers a fully staffed Contact Center with both on-site and remote agents. Our unique combination of customer service experience and technical knowledge creates exceptional experiences for our clients’ customers across all industries.
4. Advanced Technologies: DiRAD’s team members are experts in their field and are constantly learning new communication technologies and ways of working more efficiently for our customers. Our Contact Center experience is complemented by the following competencies: Genesys Technical Certifications, Amazon AWS Technical Certifications, JavaScript, REACT, CSS, JSON, REST, HTML5 development, and more!
5. Making it Easy: Contact centers are what we live and breathe. We have a deep understanding of them and what it takes to make them successful. From highly trained agents with strong communication and problem-solving skills to multi-lingual support and beyond, we take care of everything that comes along with customer service success. 
6. Employee Retention: At DiRAD, turnover is unheard of. Good pay, benefits, dignity, and respect are the hallmarks of our retention plan. We believe happy employees are the gateway to happy customers. The results reveal themselves when you consider our long-term relationships with our customers. 
7. Microsoft Teams Phone: We provide the configuration, telephony services, and training to get you started with Teams Phone. We can provide Teams Phone telephone services nationwide at a low per-minute cost.
8. Twilio Partner: Twilio is a single platform with flexible APIs for any channel, built-in intelligence, and global infrastructure to support you at scale. We partner with Twilio by providing SIP Trunking services, Mass Notification, and IVR solutions.
9. Genesys Partner: We implement a variety of contact center solutions, including Genesys Cloud CX. Services include: In-depth business analysis and thorough discovery process, onsite direct training and cutover support with custom development of call, SMS, email, and web chat flows. 
10. AWS Partner: We are proud to partner with Amazon to offer customized solution design, deployment, and support of Amazon Connect and Amazon Lex. These solutions provide world-class customer experiences while minimizing deployment time and costs. We help customers implement professional contact center solutions by providing a complete, end-to-end solution.

Tech in the 1980s 

1. The Macintosh: The Macintosh was introduced by a television commercial titled “1984” during Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984, directed by Ridley Scott. Sales were strong at its initial release on January 24, 1984, at $2,495 (equivalent to $7,600 in 2024), and reached 70,000 units on May 3, 1984. Upon the release of its successor, the Macintosh 512K, it was rebranded as the Macintosh 128K.
2. Limited Technology: In 1984, customer service relied heavily on face-to-face interactions and telephone communication. There were no social media platforms, live chats, or instant messaging, meaning customers typically reached out through traditional phone calls or in-person business visits. 
3. Queue Management: Call queuing was an emerging concept, but it often involved simple methods like holding calls in a line without any sophisticated system to inform customers of their position in the queue. Some PBX systems could handle basic call distribution through designated extension numbers.
4. Limited Self-Service Options: Unlike today, where customers can often find answers through FAQs or online support, 1984 customers had fewer self-service options. Most companies did not have extensive documentation, and finding product information often required calling customer service or consulting manuals.
5. Phones: It was a rarity to stumble across someone with their own mobile phone in 1984. They were very large devices known as “The Brick,” weighing 2 pounds and costing $4,000, equivalent to $9,000 today! Instead of phones, most people often used pagers. Pagers allowed others to send you a callback number and/or a brief message, and then you would have to find the nearest phone to call someone back. As there were no texts or voicemails, if the person paging you did not pick up, all that was left was to leave a voice message on their answering machine and hope you were around when they called back. 
6. Emergence of Customer Feedback Mechanisms: Organizations were beginning to understand the importance of customer feedback. However, methods for collecting feedback were primitive compared to current digital surveys and analytics. Businesses often relied on suggestion boxes, comment cards, or direct conversations to gauge customer satisfaction.
7. First Cellular Networks: The 1G cellular network was introduced in the early 1980s, offering analog signal transmission for mobile phones. It marked the beginning of mobile communication but was very basic compared to the later digital networks. 
8. Limited Integration: There was little to no integration between different systems. For instance, customer data from sales might not be easily accessible to the service team, making it challenging to provide seamless service.
9. Contact Centers Beginning to Develop: While contact centers existed, they were not as widespread as they are today. Many companies were just starting to establish dedicated customer service departments and those that did often had limited resources and training for representatives. DiRAD always has and always will take training very seriously. It’s essential for the #DiRADDifference. 
10. Laser Printers: Laser printing became more accessible in the 1980s with companies like HP and Canon releasing affordable laser printers for businesses and home users. This technology provided faster and higher-quality prints compared to dot matrix printers.

The last 40 years have flown by, and in that time, technology has evolved in ways few could have imagined. DiRAD Technologies will always be on the bleeding edge as the industry continues to grow, innovating, adapting, and leading the way.

Our ability to thrive over four decades comes from a commitment to constant evolution and a relentless focus on customer satisfaction. We’re proud of how far we’ve come and we’re excited for what’s ahead.

Here’s to 40 years of the #DiRADDifference—and to many more helping our customers achieve their goals.