Tech People in the Know: Continuous CTO Dave Davidson

In what is a recurring feature, Finopotamus will profile interesting and intriguing tech professionals who are positively impacting the credit union industry.

For this issue, we visited with Dave Davidson, CTO of Continuous. Formerly SMA Technologies, the Houston-based company provides over 1,600 financial institutions, including credit unions, with enterprise workload automation solutions.

By W.B. King

When Dave Davidson graduated high school, he was more concerned with PC power than horsepower. “I drove a $650 car but owned a $2,000 computer. That probably tells you everything about where my passion lay,” he told Finopotamus. “Those early days of teaching myself to code and experimenting with what was possible really set the foundation for everything that followed in my career.”

Among early life-changing events was reading a book on BASIC programming—he was fascinated. “The idea of being able to give instructions to a computer and make it do what I wanted was captivating,” he recalled. “I became so engrossed that I started skipping lunch to spend time in the computer lab.”

Dave Davidson

After earning a degree in computer science from The University of Texas at Arlington in 1995, Davidson worked in code development and data center server software, eventually becoming a software development manager at Nokia. 

“The shifts [in technology departments] have been dramatic across multiple dimensions. The biggest ideological shift has been from viewing IT as a cost center to recognizing technology as a strategic differentiator,” Davidson said. “We've moved from 'keeping the lights on' to 'how do we transform the business?'”

From a development perspective, he added that the industry transitioned from “waterfall methodologies with long release cycles to agile frameworks that emphasize rapid iteration and continuous feedback.” He continued: “Instead of spending months building something in isolation, we're now building incrementally with constant user input.”

Servant Leadership Model

For 21 years, Davidson worked for Encapture, holding roles such as chief architect and finally CTO. In 2024, SMA Technologies acquired Encapture. This year SMA Technologies was rebranded as Continuous, with Davidson maintaining the same position. Among career highlights at Encapture was the successful migration of Encapture from an on-premise system to a modern cloud-native SaaS platform, enabling greater scalability and enhanced customer value.

Davidson also told Finopotamus that over the course of his career, management philosophies have changed from a command-and-control structure to a servant leadership model. “We've learned that the best ideas often come from the people closest to the code and the customer,” he noted. “Architecturally, we've evolved from client-server models to web-based, cloud-native solutions along with the change from licensed on-premise software to SaaS-based subscriptions.”

Continuous employs 139 people, 89 of whom are tech-facing. When dealing with a challenge, Davidson said it’s not about whether a technology solution is “cool,” but rather if it solves the problem at hand.  

“I bring in cross-functional teams early because the best technology decisions happen when you combine technical feasibility with business value and real user needs. Our developers understand the technical constraints, our product teams know the market requirements, and our client-facing teams provide crucial user feedback,” he shared.

“Risk assessment is multi-dimensional for us. Beyond the typical vendor stability and ROI analysis, we also evaluate technology risk—things like technical debt implications, integration complexity, and long-term maintainability,” he continued. “When you're supporting over 1,600 financial institutions, reliability and security aren't just nice-to-haves, they're business-critical requirements. The goal is always finding technology solutions that genuinely move the needle for our clients, while fitting sustainably into our architecture and operations.”

Compelling Value Propositions

A strong believer in the “fail fast and fail safe” philosophy, Davidson said he looks to inspire his team and remove roadblocks, rather than micromanage. “If you're never failing, you're never pushing boundaries or innovating. The key is creating an environment where people feel safe to experiment and take calculated risks,” he noted. “When something doesn't work, we learn quickly, adapt, and move forward. That's how you stay competitive in an industry that's evolving as rapidly as financial technology.”

Among new solutions capturing his attention is generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI). Continuous, he explained, is presently integrating Gen AI directly into its products to enhance the experience and functionality for clients.

“Our developers can prototype faster, generate more comprehensive test cases, and even get assistance with documentation, which means we can deliver better solutions to our clients more quickly,” he continued. “What excites me most is that we're still in the early stages. The financial services industry has always been somewhat conservative about adopting new technologies—for good reason, given regulatory requirements and the need for security. But Gen AI offers such compelling value propositions that even traditional institutions are taking notice.”

Credit Unions: Strategic Partners

As Davidson sees it, what separates credit unions from banks is the industry’s member-centric mission versus profit maximization. This approach also holds true when determining new technological solutions.

“This leads to very different technology priorities and user experience decisions. Scale and resource constraints also create unique challenges. Most credit unions have smaller IT budgets and teams compared to major banks, so they need solutions that are sophisticated enough to compete but don't require massive infrastructure investments,” he said. “They're often more reliant on strategic vendor partnerships to access enterprise-level capabilities.”

The collaborative nature of the industry also fascinates Davidson. “Credit unions are much more willing to share best practices and technology insights with each other—something you'd never see between competing banks,” he shared. “This creates opportunities for shared solutions and cooperative innovation that simply don't exist in the traditional banking world.”

Another unique aspect of the credit union industry is its willingness to work with like-minded fintechs, Davidson noted. “They are looking for solutions that improve efficiency, support compliance, and enhance member service. A good example is Redstone Federal Credit Union, which partnered with Continuous to automate Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) reviews,” he said. “Continuous reduced review time from 90 minutes to 5 minutes per loan and cut costs by 95 percent, freeing the compliance team to focus on higher-value work. Changes like this were uncommon a few years ago and are now becoming standard.”