Press Release
Randy Ripkey Reflects on 30 Years of Answering Services
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Since entering the telephone answering service industry in 1995, Randy Ripkey has watched technology, customer expectations, and business operations change, while the fundamentals of good service remain familiar.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Sep 11, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE — When Randall John Ripkey entered the telephone answering service industry in 1995, the technology behind the business looked very different from what operators use today. Over the next three decades, he watched the industry adopt new systems, respond to changing customer expectations, and find new ways to measure and manage operations.
What has interested Ripkey most, however, is not simply how much has changed. It is how many of the industry’s basic challenges have remained the same.
“The tools are different, but operators are still trying to answer many of the same questions,” Ripkey said. “How do you provide reliable service? How do you manage your people well? Are your accounts priced appropriately for the work you’re doing? Those questions don’t disappear just because the technology improves.”
Ripkey owned Accurate Messages from 1995 until January 2026. He is now President of TAS Concepts, Inc., which develops billing and analysis software for the telephone answering service industry, including TASbiller and TASbillerCloud.
Technology Changed How Answering Services Operate
For Ripkey, one of the clearest changes over the past 30 years has been the growing role of software.
His connection to technology actually began before his answering service career. After working at Radio Shack through high school and college, Ripkey began writing custom computer programs. That early experience taught him to look at technology as a way to solve a specific operational problem rather than as an end in itself.
As answering service technology advanced, operators gained access to information and capabilities that would have been difficult to imagine when Ripkey entered the business.
The shift toward cloud-based systems is one example. Information that once depended on local systems and more manual processes can now be collected, organized, and reviewed much more efficiently.
Yet Ripkey believes more information only becomes valuable when an operator knows what questions to ask.
“Having data and understanding data are two different things,” he said. “A report can give you a lot of numbers. The important part is figuring out what those numbers are telling you about the way the business is actually operating.”
Customer Expectations Have Also Changed
Technology has not only changed the operator’s side of the business. It has also influenced what customers expect.
Businesses today operate in an environment where speed, responsiveness, and access to information are often assumed. Answering services must meet those expectations while continuing to provide the personal attention that has long been central to the industry.
Ripkey sees that balance as one of the industry’s ongoing challenges.
“The technology should support the service,” he said. “It shouldn’t make you lose sight of why the customer hired an answering service in the first place. At the end of the day, somebody needs their calls handled correctly and professionally.”
That basic expectation has remained remarkably consistent even as the systems behind the service have evolved.
The Numbers Behind an Account Still Matter
Another issue Ripkey has focused on throughout his career is profitability analysis.
He is frequently asked to speak about the subject at answering service conferences. His interest comes from his experience as an operator and the difficulty of understanding an account based only on how much it is billed each month.
Two accounts can generate similar revenue while placing very different demands on a service. Call volume, operator time, instructions, and other requirements can all affect what it takes to serve a customer.
“Revenue doesn’t tell you everything you need to know about an account,” Ripkey said. “You have to look at the work involved. An account can look good until you start examining how much time and effort it takes to service it.”
For Ripkey, this is one area where modern technology can help operators answer an old business question more clearly.
Better information does not make the decision for an owner. It can, however, make it easier to see where further attention may be needed.
Industry Involvement Offers Another Perspective
Ripkey’s view of the industry has also been shaped by his involvement with professional associations.
He served as President of the Southern Telemessaging Association from 2000 to 2001 and has served on various answering service association boards, including the board of ATSI. In 2023, he received the ATSI President’s Award.
Ripkey has also participated in the annual ATSI Hill Walk in Washington, D.C., representing the organization and its members.
Those experiences allowed him to hear from operators facing different circumstances and reinforced how much answering services can learn from one another.
“No two answering services are exactly alike, but you hear many of the same concerns when you talk with operators,” Ripkey said. “Sharing those experiences is one of the ways the industry gets better.”
What Has Not Changed After 30 Years
After more than three decades, Ripkey believes the industry’s future will continue to involve new technology. Those systems will change, just as they have since 1995.
But he does not expect technology to eliminate the fundamentals of operating an answering service.
Operators will still need to understand their customers. They will still need reliable teams. They will still need to know what their services cost to provide. And they will still need to make decisions based on what is happening inside their businesses rather than simply following the latest technology.
“The industry has changed tremendously since I started,” Ripkey said. “But good service, good information, and knowing your business are still important. I don’t see that changing.”
About Randall John Ripkey
Randall John Ripkey is the President of TAS Concepts, Inc. and a longtime member of the telephone answering service industry. He entered the industry in 1985 as the owner of Accurate Messages and remained with the company until January 2026. Today, his work with TAS Concepts includes TASbiller and TASbillerCloud, billing and analysis software developed for telephone answering services.
Ripkey is a past President of the Southern Telemessaging Association and has served on multiple industry association boards, including ATSI’s board. He received the ATSI President’s Award in 2023 and has participated in the organization’s annual Hill Walk in Washington, D.C. He is also a frequent conference speaker on profitability analysis for telephone answering services.
About Author
Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Digi Observer journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.
As customers ask AI where to go, Clear Choice System puts salons and home services businesses at the top
Riverside, CA, United States, 3rd Nov 2026 — Clear Choice System today announced the launch of Hyper SEO system, which helps local businesses like salons and home services businesses get discovered through AI tools such as ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews. The launch comes after the company was acquired by Ismael Ramirez, previously a partner in the firm, who bought out the company’s previous owner at the end of 2025 and is now its owner. Terms were not disclosed.
Ramirez said he made the purchase because he saw the AI boom coming and believed answer engine optimization, or AEO, would become essential for local businesses. AEO helps businesses appear in answers from AI tools. He saw the company’s Google’s shift shows why. In May 2026, Google said AI Overviews had more than 2.5 billion monthly active users and that AI Mode, launched a year earlier, had passed 1 billion. Because those AI answers draw on the same local signals Hyper SEO was built to strengthen, such as business listings, reviews and website content, Ramirez saw the system as ready for AI search.
“When I bought out the previous owner at the end of 2025, I was buying the future of local search,” Ramirez explained. “Customers don’t just search anymore. They ask AI where to go. Our Hyper SEO system was already built for that shift, and now we’re packaging it so every salon, flooring company and home services business we serve can get found the same way.”
Clear Choice System first tested the approach on itself. In searches conducted the week of Oct. 12, 2026, ChatGPT listed Clear Choice System first for “best all-in-one marketing for nail salons in the United States,” and the company topped ChatGPT’s list for “best all-in-one marketing for salons in the United States.”
Clients, including a flooring company with three locations and nail salons across the U.S., now report that they are appearing at the top of ChatGPT’s answers and that customers say they found them through ChatGPT.
Ramirez leads the company with partners Geraldine Cabanas and Dejonne “DJ” Lofton.
Clear Choice System is not affiliated with or endorsed by OpenAI or Google.
About Clear Choice System: Based in Riverside, California, Clear Choice System provides all-in-one marketing and automation for salons and home services businesses, with services spanning Google Maps visibility, ads, websites, reviews, text campaigns, AI receptionists and answer engine optimization.
For more information, visit https://clearchoicesystem.com
Media Contact
Organization: Clear Choice System
Contact Person: Ismael Ramirez
Website: https://clearchoicesystem.com
Email: Send Email
Contact Number: +19514984717
Address: 3600 Lime St.
Address 2: #314
City: Riverside
State: CA
Country: United States
Release id: 50441
View source version on King Newswire:
Clear Choice System Helps Salons and Home Services Businesses Get Found in AI Search
About Author
Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Digi Observer journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.
Company holds roughly 45 buyer meetings, gains insight into North American fastener market trends, and advances follow-up business discussions
INCHEON, South Korea, 3rd Nov 2026 — SEAIN IND Co., Ltd. (“SEAIN IND”) said it held approximately 45 buyer meetings with visitors from the United States, Canada, Mexico, India and other countries at the International Fastener Expo 2026 (IFE), held October 7-9 at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. The company’s booth exhibition ran for two days, October 8-9. SEAIN IND also served as a sponsor of the International Fastener & Assembly Summit (IFAS), held on October 7, and took part in buyer-matching meetings and seminars held during the event.
SEAIN IND’s booth at the International Fastener Expo 2026, held October 7–9 at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo: SEAIN IND)
At the show, SEAIN IND presented its general and special washer lineup, precision press components, and copper busbars for electric-vehicle battery packs, showcasing its product supply capabilities. The company received new quote inquiries for washers and precision press components during the event and is continuing to review product specifications and hold follow-up discussions with the buyers involved.
A SEAIN IND representative consults with a buyer at the company’s booth during the International Fastener Expo 2026. (Photo: SEAIN IND)
Beyond product promotion and new customer development, the event gave SEAIN IND an on-the-ground opportunity to assess the fast-changing North American fastener market. Through exchanges with buyers and industry contacts, the company tracked shifts in the market, and said the seminars held during the event provided practical insights that will help inform its future sales strategy.
Regarding the event, which was held in Phoenix for the first time this year, SEAIN IND said it observed an increase in visitor traffic on-site, with active consultations and exchanges taking place amid a positive response from participants.
The exhibition floor of the International Fastener Expo 2026 at the Phoenix Convention Center. (Photo: SEAIN IND)
SEAIN IND operates an IATF 16949-certified quality management system and supplies washers to bolt-and-nut and other fastener manufacturers within domestic and overseas automotive supply chains. Building on its accumulated production and quality-management experience, the company is expanding cooperation with overseas customers while actively preparing for digital transformation (DX), AI transformation (AX), and carbon-emission reduction and verification.
SEAIN IND plans to review the inquiries gathered at the show and continue follow-up discussions with individual buyers. Drawing on local customer support and supply capabilities through its U.S. subsidiary, SAC Fasteners Inc., the company intends to continue expanding its customer base and supply opportunities in the North American fastener market.
SEAIN IND staff at the company’s booth at the International Fastener Expo 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo: SEAIN IND)
About SEAIN IND Co., Ltd.
SEAIN IND Co., Ltd. is a South Korea-based manufacturer specializing in washers and precision press components, founded in 1988 and headquartered at the Namdong National Industrial Complex in Incheon, South Korea. The company produces general and special washers, precision press components, and copper busbars, supplying products to overseas markets including the United States and Japan. Through its U.S. subsidiary, SAC Fasteners Inc., SEAIN IND supports customer engagement and local supply in North America.
Media Contact
Organization: SEAIN IND Co., Ltd
Contact Person: Global Sales Department
Website: https://www.seain.kr/en/seain
Email: Send Email
Country: Korea South
Release id: 50440
View source version on King Newswire:
SEAIN IND Concludes Participation in International Fastener Expo 2026
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Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Digi Observer journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.
China, 3rd Nov 2026 – A thinner thermal interface looks like a straightforward way to reduce resistance between a processor and its cooling hardware. For the engineer developing the material, that goal quickly becomes a formulation problem. The filler has to fit the gap, and the mixture still has to flow into place. Choosing a finer diamond powder can help with the first requirement while making the second harder.
Suppose a TIM formulation contains coarse particles that keep an assembly from reaching its intended bond-line thickness. Moving to a finer distribution seems reasonable. At the same filler volume, however, smaller particles expose more surface for the matrix to wet. Viscosity may rise, and a mixture that worked through the dispensing equipment may become difficult to process. The thinner layer now depends on solving a different problem.
This is where Diamond Powder belongs in thermal management: as a filler dispersed in a matrix for thermal interface materials, thermally conductive adhesives, gap fillers, encapsulants, or potting compounds. It is a formulation ingredient, distinct from a CVD diamond sheet attached near a chip. The finished material gets its behavior from the combination of filler and matrix, including how they are mixed and assembled.
Thermally conductive diamond powder for evaluation as a filler in thermal management formulations.
A smaller particle changes the whole mixture
The nominal particle size tells only part of the story. A small population of oversized particles can hold a thin interface open. Agglomerates can interfere with dispensing even when the individual particles are fine enough. Looking at the full particle-size distribution and the dispersion after mixing helps explain behavior that an average size can hide.
Heat also has to cross the boundaries between diamond and the surrounding matrix. Diamond’s intrinsic thermal conductivity describes the solid material; the formulation contains polymer between particles and resistance at their interfaces. Changing particle size changes that network. A finer powder can therefore improve the achievable bond line without necessarily improving the mixture’s bulk thermal conductivity. Those are separate effects, and either can influence the assembled interface.
Adding more filler introduces another tradeoff. Higher loading can improve conductive pathways, yet it also leaves less matrix available to wet the particles and carry them through processing. Poor flow or trapped air can undermine the expected benefit. A formulation engineer has to find a workable balance between thermal transport and the consistency needed on the production line.
A blend of sizes offers room to adjust that balance. Smaller particles can occupy spaces between larger ones, changing packing behavior and potentially allowing more solids. Whether that helps depends on the proportions and surface condition as well as the mixing process. An added fine fraction may instead raise viscosity. Packing is useful because of what it enables in the formulation, rather than as an isolated target.
The application determines how much processing freedom is available. A thin TIM over a processor faces a different gap and assembly pressure from a thick gap filler. A potting compound has to flow around components inside a cavity. Carrying the same powder choice across these applications can overlook the feature that made it useful in the original recipe.
Surface treatment deserves a place in that discussion. A change intended to improve wetting can also affect adhesion or electrical behavior, so it needs evaluation in the selected matrix.
Find out which change produced the result
For the thin-interface project, the first comparison can hold the matrix and filler volume constant while changing the particle-size distribution. Keeping preparation and cure conditions consistent makes the result easier to interpret. If the finer material then needs a lower loading to dispense, that becomes a second formulation comparison. Report loading consistently as a weight or volume fraction so the difference remains clear.
Measure thermal behavior at comparable thickness, pressure, and temperature. Thermal impedance includes the layer and its contacts; measurements at several thicknesses can help distinguish bulk behavior from contact resistance. Pair those results with the bond-line thickness actually achieved during assembly. A value from a thick specimen alone leaves the original thin-gap question unresolved.
Electrical insulation and durability belong in the finished-material evaluation. The matrix and any other additives affect dielectric behavior, while aging can change the interface after assembly. Pump-out may matter for a compliant TIM; adhesion or cracking may be more relevant to a cured adhesive. These checks follow the application rather than the powder description.
Engineers reviewing Yorsuma’s diamond material range for a formulation trial can start with the matrix and the gap they are trying to fill. Explaining whether the current limit is dispensing, bond-line thickness, or measured thermal resistance gives the material discussion a useful direction. The better powder is the one that helps the formulation work in that assembly, with the result established through formulation trials and representative hardware testing.
Media Contact
Organization: SHENZHEN YORSUMA TECHNOLOGY CO.,LTD
Contact Person: Wang Hongyuan
Website: https://www.yorsuma.com/
Email: Send Email
Contact Number: +8615516071929
Address: Room 703, Tower C, Phase II, Excellence Baozhong Times Plaza, Xinan Street, Bao’an District, Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, China (Shenzhen Office).
Country: China
Release id: 50261
View source version on King Newswire:
Diamond Powder Particle Size Tradeoffs in Thermal Interface Materials
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Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Digi Observer journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.
Clear Choice System Helps Salons and Home Services Businesses Get Found in AI Search
SEAIN IND Concludes Participation in International Fastener Expo 2026
Diamond Powder Particle Size Tradeoffs in Thermal Interface Materials
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