Ty Davis steps away from PERS to start new venture

After a three-year stint in PERS, Ty Davis has launched a venture to make the security world a more beautiful place: producing keypad overlays that can be customized to match any home or office.

Davis, an SSN "20 under 40" alumnus, got his start at Southwest Dispatch and then moved on to become VP of monitoring at Life Alert. He still sees a great future for PERS, but he also sees a growing consumer demand for something beyond the standard white keypad—something that dealers can benefit from as well.

"I'm not talking about the big guys, the ADTs and such, but the smaller dealers who need to be able to brand their security systems like anybody else," Davis said. "This kind of gives them a leg up on branding while matching the decor of the customer's home, which has always been a stickler for many mid- to high-end properties accent-wise."

Davis' new company, OWOW Designs, is catering to that niche. It just expanded to a 10,000-square-foot facility in Agoura Hills, Calif., where four full-time employees are producing keypads personalized with everything from family photos to patterns matching the foyer wallpaper.

"It's basically a car wrap—it's the exact same material," he said. "After the customer chooses what they want, you can still add your company name and logo. That way, you make sure you get that recurring revenue if the customer moves on and the next customer comes in, looks around and says, 'I need to call this guy' because it's his name on the keypad. It's the same way it works for the major alarm companies."

Asked about his tenure at Life Alert and PERS in general, Davis had nothing but good things to say.

"It was a wonderful experience," he said. "The move to a strictly PERS environment was an eye-opener. It was great to see another part of the industry and how it is truly a help to the elderly, providing them with additional protection inside the home. It's amazing how many independent dealers as well as major guys are getting into the market."