NRG People Power: Get to Know James Davis

Welcome to the December edition of NRG’s People Power series. As we reflect on this past year, we’re honored by the diverse talents and unwavering dedication within our organization. To round out the year, we’re proud to spotlight James Davis, Senior Manager of Business Operations Reporting and NRG Customer Experience (CX) award winner.

“Data” can be a somewhat complex topic — what is it, how do businesses get it, and what do they do with it? On a basic level, data is uninterpreted facts and figures collected from various sources. Those facts, usually in the form of numbers and statistics, are then analyzed so the business can derive meaningful insights. Every part of any organization relies on data. For NRG Business, the person wrangling this data is James Davis.

With NRG’s mission to provide the best Customer Experience, James and his team play a crucial role in deciphering the vast amounts of data that flow through the organization. Business Operations Reporting is where teams across the business can come for data, analytics, and insights. Teams like Sales, Client Services, Billing, IT, Regulatory and Government Affairs, and Marketing engage with James and his team on information related to how best to support the customer, and Business Ops Reporting delivers. By organizing that data into charts, graphs, and dashboards, there is a story to be told about what the results mean, and actionable insights to implement.

James and his team don’t speak directly to individual customers like external-facing teams do, so it’s easy to assume they don’t have unique insight on “the customer voice” — what our customers are saying they want or need. But the opposite is actually true — James is listening to a whole data symphony. His team is tabulating all the times customers call, all the topics they’re concerned about, how they feel about us, how fast we respond, and all the things customers are asking for at a granular level. Through the data, the entirety of the customer journey from enrollment to renewal is observed, enabling James to hear every customer voice as clearly as if he was on the phone with each of them.

His colleagues demonstrated how broadly impactful these efforts are by nominating him for an NRG “Most Insightful” Customer Experience Award. These company-wide awards garnered nearly 500 total nominations this year, allowing employees to highlight their peers who go above and beyond to improve the customer experience. Multiple submissions for James called out how he mentors others in data application and leads his team with a focus on creativity, curiosity, analytical rigor, and constant collaboration. Numbers and statistics may be intimidating, but according to the people he works with, James brings the details to life in a deeply nuanced way that they can understand and utilize, and in a way that will ripple across the organization with real-life impacts to the customer.

Before you conclude that life is a binary sequence of numbers for James, it’s not all spreadsheets and dashboards. He understands how to balance precision with passion. At the heart of his world are his powerful mother and sister, who have supported and guided him through his life. They encouraged him to use his analytical mind and pursue an education in mathematics and data analysis from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Now, they work together to inspire James’ tween daughter, who James describes as his “mini-me.” He is proud of his daughter’s intensely competitive spirit and love for math that mirrors his own. He seizes every opportunity to encourage her to embrace her intellect and be open to new perspectives.

James also finds respite from stress in music. He enjoys a broad array of genres from R&B to Country, and can frequently be found at concerts around Houston. Recently, he was profoundly inspired by seeing Tash Sultana perform, ranking the event in his top 10 concert experiences. When he’s not listening to diverse tunes, he’s a dedicated Green Bay Packers fan, loves the statistics (no surprise!) in fantasy sports with his close friends, and enjoys Houston’s vibrant food scene.

In analytics, every data journey begins with a pivotal question. “What is the root need behind the request?” Identifying the need, and building the data around that, is the most crucial part of the process, and James’ favorite challenge. He and his team stay flexible, responsive, and tuned into new technologies, knowing that the data they prepare is what helps NRG leadership answer tough questions and build a forward-looking strategy on a solid foundation. For him, seeing that data in a senior leader’s presentation, or tracking the successful results of upgrades based on their analysis, is the best recognition of how they contribute to NRG, and to the success of our customers.