We’re excited to spotlight Toby Prescott, our Sr. Director of Software Engineering, whose hands-on experience with virtually every Bold Group product gives him insight into how our solutions work together to serve our customers. With 11 years in the security industry and a background in automotive engineering, Toby brings a distinctive perspective to our team. Keep reading to learn more about Toby and what keeps him passionate about our industry.
Tell us about your career at Bold Group. How did you start and how has your role evolved over the years?
My path to Bold Group was quite interesting. I started in the security industry 11 years ago on the hardware side, doing hardware development for a startup that partnered with Bold Group. We were working on end units—the equipment that goes in homes and businesses—which was really a precursor to today’s smart home technology.
When Bold Group was acquired by EverCommerce in 2018, I joined the team and transitioned to software development, taking over alarm monitoring product development. Over the years, I’ve worked on almost every product in our organization, getting hands-on experience and really understanding how each solution helps our customers.
Through EverCommerce’s acquisition of five companies in the security space, we began merging development teams and standardizing processes. I moved into a role focused on ensuring consistency across all teams, ensuring we were using the same development methodologies, processes, and tooling. I learned our accounting software, diving deep into our build processes, and SaaS products running on various hardware platforms.
Most recently, I’ve moved into leading the development teams across our entire portfolio, covering both alarm monitoring and business management software.
What initially drew you to the security industry, and what keeps you passionate about it today?
I’ve actually been involved with security for 24 years in some fashion, even before officially joining the security and alarm industry. I started my career in the automotive industry where I focused on automotive security systems—passive entry, passive start, keyless entry, and other systems securing vehicle access and operation.
Moving to security software development was really about taking on a new challenge and learning something completely different. I was drawn to the opportunity to apply my experience in a new industry context.
What keeps me passionate today is that this industry is constantly evolving. There’s always something new to learn, which I tell every new developer who joins our company—you will never be bored here. If you enjoy learning and tackling challenges, this is the place for you.
Every day brings new integrations to develop, new scenarios to solve, and fresh questions about how to best serve our customers. We’re always asking, “How do we make this work better?” It’s genuinely fun work if you thrive on continuous learning and problem-solving.
What’s been your most rewarding project or achievement during your tenure at Bold Group?
It’s difficult to choose just one, but I’m particularly proud of a project that laid the foundation for building our cloud offering. The challenge was maximizing the efficiency of our receivers for cloud customers rather than requiring individual physical receivers for each customer. I led a team that developed internal software allowing us to utilize the full power of a physical receiver across multiple cloud customers.
This solution has grown tremendously—we’re now one of the largest signal processing houses in the industry by volume, receiving and routing massive amounts of signals to individual customers. The success of this telephony and receiver infrastructure has been so significant that we now sell it as a standalone product.
Because of this innovation, our cloud offering is extremely affordable for our customers. We purchase additional hardware when overall volume requires it, not based on individual customer size. Our internal software ensures we maximize each piece of hardware before expanding, which means customers enjoy very competitive rates for their signaling path. This infrastructure has become core to our cloud offering, and I’m proud to have been part of the team that built it from the ground up.
What unique perspective do you bring to your role as Sr. Director of Software Engineering, and how does your experience help guide product development?
My automotive background gave me a deep appreciation for quality and rigorous processes. The automotive industry is known for its emphasis on quality and rigor, and I work to apply those standards as core principles in everything we build.
Additionally, having worked on virtually every product in the Bold Group family gives me a big-picture view of how our solutions interact together to serve our customers’ technology needs. I can see connections and opportunities that might not be obvious when focusing on just one product.
This cross-product perspective often leads to better outcomes for everyone. I want to bridge gaps and start conversations about integration opportunities, proper feature placement, and optimal solutions. A business management customer’s idea might benefit alarm monitoring customers, or it might reveal sales opportunities to showcase existing capabilities customers weren’t aware of. I can leverage insights from across our entire customer base to enhance integrations between products and identify new opportunities.
Outside of work, what’s a hobby or interest that might surprise your colleagues?
I’m a huge motorhead—cars, trucks, motorcycles, anything with an engine excites me. My automotive background definitely fueled this passion, and I love all types of vehicles, including electric vehicles these days.
Another hobby that might surprise people is axe throwing. I got seriously into it for a while and participated in several seasons of competitive axe-throwing leagues. I even took second place in my league one season. It’s essentially like a bowling league, but with much sharper edges!