Friday's Last Word: outsourceIT CEO Craig Guice
outsourceIT CEO Craig Guice shares his expertise on cloud services and why he attends Tim McGraw concerts have made him a country fan.
![outsourceIT CEO Craig Guice goes on the record outsourceIT CEO Craig Guice goes on the record](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt10e444bce2d36aa8/bltc977b9e52ace4fd1/65247fe0b69d0d2083d4889b/cg_head_2_0.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
outsourceIT CEO Craig Guice goes on the record.
outsourceIT CEO Craig Guice worked his way up from the IT guy at a mid-sized healthcare company to the CEO of outsourceiT, becoming an expert on cloud services along the way. How did a friendship in elementary school him get there? Scroll through our slideshow for answer, along with other fun facts.
GUICE: Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney. I know I will be teased because it’s a country concert, but have seen how pretty country girls are!
TALKIN CLOUD’s SPIN: No teasing here. The Highway on Sirius Satellite Radio is what I keep on in my Jeep.
GUICE: Flight. Just watched this with my wife. She suggested that I not. I already hate flying. I can’t stand not being in control, but Denzel Washington is one bad pilot!
TALKIN’ CLOUD’s SPIN: Denzel Washington may be one bad pilot in the movie, but he’s up there for one of my favorite actors.
GUICE: Prior to founding outsourceIT, I was the CIO for a mid-sized healthcare company. I was 24 when I got the job. I wasn’t close to even qualified for the job, but I had a friend in management there with whom I had worked with at a start-up dot-com. He told the CFO that I was the best “IT guy” he had ever worked with. I don’t think he worked with many! To my shock I got that job, and I worked harder than any other person in the company. I wanted to prove to them they hired the right kid — and I succeeded. When I gave my notice because I was going to start my own company, outsourceIT, I handed them a contract to outsource their entire IT department to my brand new company. They signed it for two years and they lent us the start-up capital ($25,000) to get up and running. If I didn’t get that job in management at that level and if I didn’t meet those people, I’m not sure I’m taking part in this interview. Or it could go back further than that. If I didn’t sit by this really quiet, smart kid in my 6th grade English class (Mr. McKibbins’ class to be exact), then I’m not taking part in this interview either. Because that is where I met my business partner Mark Vliet, by far the smartest person I know. If it weren’t for him I know (without a doubt) I would not be where I’m at today.
TALKIN’ CLOUD’s SPIN: It’s not what you know, but who you know. Then how hard you work at it.
GUICE: Well I really loved The Sopranos. I almost cried when it went off the air, but I’m optimistic Tony will be back! These days I would say it’s their sister show I like, Boardwalk Empire, great show! Love it! I think I like these types of shows because of the leadership skills you can learn watching the show. It’s all about learning new things! LOL!
TALKIN’ CLOUD’s SPIN: Hats and three-piece suits are back in.
GUICE: We brainstorm ideas as a group here. And as a group we came up with the idea to go vertical! We have hundreds of customers and we will never be just one vertical and we will always have a general SMB offering, but we now have core verticals in which we are experts. Through our specializations we have found our customers will pay more for our expertise. We deliver better service because we know their line of business applications. Today we have teams in healthcare, legal, government contracting, and we expect to bring on other verticals later this year.
TALKIN CLOUD’s SPIN: Teamwork makes the dreamwork.
GUICE: iPaD mini. Ironically I’m not a gadget guy. You would think otherwise considering my job. But I’m more of a outdoorsman. I like to boat and ride dirt bikes, stuff like that.
TALKIN’ CLOUD’s SPIN: It’s always good to disconnect from the wire.
GUICE: I didn’t buy this one and it may be a little embarrassing; it is not real manly. I downloaded Houzz so I could look at some paint colors for different rooms in homes and different trim packages. And I really like it! It’s a cool app! And it was free!
TALKIN’ CLOUD’s SPIN: Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
GUICE: I didn’t buy this one and it may be a little embarrassing; it is not real manly. I downloaded Houzz so I could look at some paint colors for different rooms in homes and different trim packages. And I really like it! It’s a cool app! And it was free!
TALKIN’ CLOUD’s SPIN: Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
Note: Friday's Last Word is open to cloud-centric CEOs who want to pull back the curtains a bit on their lives. Click on each photo and check out the caption further above-right. To raise your hand and potentially be featured in Friday's Last Word, send email to Talkin' Cloud Associate Editor CJ Arlotta, [email protected].
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