Meet Victor Perez of VZP Digital in South Denver

Today we’d like to introduce you to Victor Perez.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Victor. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started my career as an IT professional. I’ve had the pleasure of working at some great companies like Comcast, Starz, NBC Universal, and ultimately a captioning company. I was a CIO and moved into the TV engineering world. I was fortunate to have opportunities that allowed me to use my IT background, software development and participate in the convergence of IT and TV production. This convergence of technologies was heavy in TV (Cable, broadcast, OTT). One of my later jobs had me coordinating captioning companies to provide service for all our cable channels. It was here I met a whole new industry. However, at the time, I didn’t realize how much this world would become my passion.

I later learned the significance of the Closed Captioning industry and was recruited by a CEO to be his COO. I fell in love with the people who provide this service and the community it served. Unfortunately, I also learned how little interaction some of the big captioning companies engaged with local communities. After a year of working for this company, I wanted to raise the bar on a few fronts. First the services; grow the company to better serve the community, second reward the caption talent for their contributions and really boost the industry. Unfortunately, the CEO didn’t share the vision and was content to maintain the status quo. So after year two I left, but not before offering to buy his company. He was interested, but not really, as he ended up selling to a competitor.

Thus, VZP Digital was born July 22nd, 2016. A couple of colleagues believed in my passion and we met for weeks at the local library, strategically laying out how we would enter the market, compete and what kind of culture we wanted. In August, 2016, we took office space in Centennial, Colorado, with a mission to change the landscape of this industry. We would treat the caption talent better, engage the community, and educate businesses.  The importance of providing this inclusive service of accessibility for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is often overlooked in businesses. With an eye on innovation and technology, we hope to expand services and bring it to places that are unable to afford traditional services of captioning and translation.

The formula seems to be working. We are fortunate to be the caption provider to the majority of professional sports in our hometown, (Nuggets, Avalanche, Mammoth, Rapids) and serve other professional and collegiate sports across the country. Past relationships have helped us secure opportunities with the likes of Comcast, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX affiliate stations as well as CABLE networks. We have also heard we are a friendly destination for court reporters providing captions for TV. The caption industry doesn’t have the best reputation in how they historically treat these wonderful contributors who take such pride in their work.  We hope to change that and continue to help this talent pool.

Has it been a smooth road?
As with any startup, challenges are daily, but the largest setback was being sued by my former company. It didn’t take them long, but it was a blessing in disguise. I chalked it up to credibility as a competitor. No grudges, but rather took it as momentum driver to pursue my passion and make an impact to an idle industry. Life is too short to not forgive and move on, so I did. This industry is changing, with the advent of technology. There are so many opportunities to bring services in places that have not considered serving the 360 million worldwide, 60 million in the United States. By providing accessibility for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing we can reduce this gap. While the FCC and the ADA (American Disabilities Act) try to encourage businesses to provide this service, many view it as a costly venture. Depending on who provides the service, that may be true. We work with clients to fit their budgets and also provide workflows that are more cost effective. Helping clients to be FCC or ADA compliant, and simultaneously sharing strategies in how captions can assist expanding their market exposure are value added conversations. This occurs as captioning is now being used by the many social media platforms and has been statistically proven to improve viewership. Our collaborative nature is welcomed by clients and prospects alike. Our down to earth, customer service and communication continues to help us gain clientele. They appreciate that I, as the owner, am very hands on and often like to brainstorm with engineers and executives alike. Really, some of my favorite conversations are with the receptionist, and custodians in these various places we visit. Everyone matters, and I try not to lose sight of that, regardless of where I am.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the VZP Digital story. Tell us more about the business.
On the surface we are a Closed Captioning provider. We also work with universities to provide transcripts, and CART (Communication Accessibility REAL-TIME Translation) for government and educational institutions. Lastly, we work with TV content providers to provide foreign language captions called subtitles. This is VZP Digital, caption your words. Reach the world.

We are privately owned and cherish the autonomy to serve the community, engage their ideas, and are finding that we are a refreshing player in an old industry that had not grown much in service offerings. Our patent pending technology opens a variety of new opportunities for cost effective services, while maintaining the best talent in the market. As we are about to celebrate year three of existence with some impressive clients, we couldn’t be more happy. Our acronym is C.A.R.E (Community, Awareness, Responsibility, Education). We feel it is our mission and responsibility, not only to provide services, but bring awareness to the community. Educating business on the importance of serving the Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities is a recurring objective. We have also learned that first generation immigrants are dependent on closed captions, for those using English as a second language.

What differentiates us from our competitors is our customer service, follow up and the overall determination to help them solve their captioning challenges. Integrating technology is another focal point, in an effort to bring solutions to places that feel they can’t afford accessibility services. Often, we help clients understand the social media platforms and how we can build a workflow that doesn’t cost them for duplicate captioning work on different platforms. They really appreciate this.  The other key differentiator is our engagement with the community, engaging their feedback on potential services that are useful to them specifically.  We support a variety of local events that are either owned or involve Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities. We understand the business aspect, but are determined not to lose sight of those who actually require the services we provide, day to day. This keeps us grounded.

I am most proud of the court reporters who commit themselves to this industry. Their quality of craft and ownership is amazing. You don’t find that kind of work ethic anymore. Our HQ team is also fantastic in juggling the many variations of projects. Their commitment to this service and community is noble and on occasion they have been known to stay up all night to meet the client needs. I can’t say enough about the team and their contributions.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Our future as a business is secure. The unfortunate reality is the modern lifestyle practiced by most individuals (earbuds everywhere), are unknowingly damaging the hearing that won’t become evident until later in life. The other change will be the increase use of technology and ASR (Automated Speech Recognition) platforms. We have a patent pending solution to help us ease into this automated service option, as the technology improves. However, we are firm believers that there is such a gap in accessibility services being used, there is room for all traditional and modern solutions, based on individual budgets.

Contact Info:

• Address: 3989 E Arapahoe Road, Suite 325
• Website: www.vzpdigital.com
• Phone: 720.482.4012
• Email: Sales@vzpdigital.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VZPDigital/

Image credit:
VZP Digital

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