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Craig Slack
Invero, bridging the gap between technology and business. We deliver business focused Microsoft Azure solutions
Professional Background
Craig Slack is a distinguished figure in the realm of cloud-focused IT services, leveraging an impressive 25 years of delivery experience to empower businesses to harness the full potential of the public cloud. As one of the founders of the highly regarded firm BlueSilverShift, he has played a pivotal role in shaping its rapid growth trajectory since its inception in 2016. His commitment to customer satisfaction is evident in the company's continued success, particularly in providing top-notch Azure expertise.
A certified Azure cloud architect, Craig also holds vital credentials such as PMP (Project Management Professional) and Prosci Change Management certifications. His wealth of knowledge encompasses a variety of project and program delivery methodologies including Agile, Waterfall, and PMI, enabling him to adapt and excel in various operational environments.
Craig's remarkable professional journey features leadership and management roles in diverse organizations across multiple sectors. He has had the opportunity to manage substantial budgets, overseeing projects with financial scopes up to $200 million, managing international teams of up to 130 members across six regions and three continents. His strategic vision and operational know-how have significantly contributed to the successful execution of large-scale initiatives, including a $35 million residential gateway (router/firewall) software and hardware development program that outcompeted prominent industry players like Linksys.
Education and Achievements
Craig's educational background showcases a commitment to excellence in project management and business administration. He began his academic journey with a Bachelor of Computer Information Systems from the University College of the Fraser Valley, which provided him with a solid foundation in technology and management principles. He further enhanced his expertise by pursuing a Diploma of Management Skills in Advanced Technology as well as an Executive MBA from Simon Fraser University, equipping him with the strategic insight and managerial prowess essential for his roles in the industry.
Throughout his career, he has consistently aimed to strengthen project management processes, launching and managing three Project Management Offices for esteemed organizations such as Teck Resources, Telus Mobility, and Fiver Media. These initiatives have focused on maturing PM processes and mentoring project managers, playing a crucial role in fostering professional development within the field.
In addition to his corporate achievements, Craig has contributed to the broader project management community by volunteering as the Director of Outreach for the Project Management Institute (PMI) Canadian West Coast Chapter. This role allowed him to extend his impact beyond his immediate professional responsibilities, enhancing the knowledge base and networking opportunities for professionals within the region.
Notable Contributions and Legacy
Craig Slack's career is marked by a series of significant contributions to the IT and project management domains. He has co-founded multiple companies, showcasing his entrepreneurial spirit and foresight. His role as CEO and Co-Founder at Invero signifies his innovative approach to technology solutions, while his past position as Program Manager for the Kiosk Development and Implementations at Vancouver Airport Authority highlights his ability to lead multidisciplinary teams to deliver seamless customer experiences.
Additionally, he served as the Director of BC Operations and Professional Services at Groundswell Project Services and has held various senior project management roles, including with notable firms like Teck Resources Limited and Fiver Media. In each of these positions, Craig utilized his expertise to drive efficiency, improve operational systems, and foster a culture of collaboration among diverse teams.
Moreover, Craig's previous experiences include serving as a Principal Consultant at Pragmatic Project Management Consultants Inc. and successfully engaging with several reputable organizations, including PMC-Sierra, Long View Systems, and Telus Mobility. His journey is marked by innovation, where he consistently seeks to integrate cutting-edge technology with pragmatic project management practices to deliver results that exceed client expectations.
Conclusion
In summary, Craig Slack is a well-respected leader in the IT and project management landscape, known for his entrepreneurial spirit, deep understanding of cloud technology, and a robust track record in delivering complex projects efficiently. With extensive experience in managing large-scale budgets, international teams, and a wealth of knowledge in various project management methodologies, Craig is dedicated to helping organizations navigate their transitions to cloud-based solutions successfully. His commitment to excellence, combined with his educational accomplishments and community involvement, positions him as a prominent figure in the industry, with contributions that will continue to shape the future of cloud services and project management.
Achievements
• Founded four successful companies, including BlueSilverShift • Over 20 years of project and program delivery experience • Managed budgets up to $200M and projects as large as $35M • Initiated and managed three Project Management Offices • Volunteered as Director of Outreach for the PMI Canadian West Coast Chapter • Program manager for a $35M residential gateway development program that excelled in competition against industry giants
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.