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RyanTech CEO Ryan McMillen: “We’re Not Just Another IT Company — We’re a People Company.”
Ryan McMillen
Chief Executive Officer
RyanTech
Interview conducted by:
Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor
CEOCFO Magazine
Published – November 3, 2025
CEOCFO: Mr. McMillen, according to your site, RyanTech is “Not Just Another IT Company.” How so?
Mr. McMillen: I think of us more as a people company than an IT company. We are highly specialized in migration into Microsoft Cloud from other clouds. I would call it a people company. Our employees are our most important asset, and our customers are the reason we are in business. We are focused on the people we do business with and the people who work at the company.
CEOCFO: Was that the mindset from day one?
Mr. McMillen: My father started the company in 1998. People were always important to him. It became even more important to me over time as I saw how impactful that was to the company. I would say it grew as time went on. It took time to realize that people were the most important part.
CEOCFO: When do people typically look to make a migration, and why is Microsoft your choice?
Mr. McMillen: Most often, we see people needing to make a change, whether it is compliance-
Many of their solutions are better than the alternatives, especially with their framework of working through partners. It allows customers to find the right company to work with and have the best software behind it.
CEOCFO: Who is turning to you for services?
Mr. McMillen: It is a wide array of companies. I usually answer that question by talking about our ideal customer. We serve customers of every size. We have clients that are literally only one employee, and others that have thousands of employees.
I see us being most helpful with customers that have a small IT team, where we can take the core of their software and be the experts in it for them. Their IT team handles the day-
CEOCFO: What does “We Speak Cloud” mean? What do you understand about putting people in the cloud and the cloud in general that companies still do not recognize?
Mr. McMillen: The “We Speak Cloud” slogan started as a bit of an internal joke. We began to realize that part of what we do is speaking cloud in the Microsoft language because it is always changing and always adapting. The cloud is a constantly moving target. We came up with the idea that we study and stay up to date on those things so our clients don’t have to. It is a lot to keep up with.
CEOCFO: Would you give us an example of a typical engagement and maybe something outside the box?
Mr. McMillen: A typical example is a company that has acquired multiple other companies and now has several Microsoft tenants. They might have on-
We also assist with their security footprint, help them deploy Intune policies, and manage device policies. We build security into what they are now using while helping them adopt Microsoft solutions. That is a common customer we work with.
CEOCFO: How do you help a company get over some of the trepidation in making a big change?
Mr. McMillen: We are extremely transparent. Moving your entire company to a new platform is not painless. Everything will change for the employees, and there will be a learning curve. This ties back to viewing our company as a people company. There will be challenges, but at the end of the day, we have people who care and are here to help.
Typically, the adjustment period lasts around 60 days after migration, when employees reach out to our team for assistance and training. We focus on teaching and making systems as easy to use as possible. Depending on the organization, we usually see that 30-
CEOCFO: What is your geographic reach?
Mr. McMillen: Our clients are based in the U.S., although we work with some companies that have an international footprint but are headquartered here. Our employees are located across the country in every time zone.
CEOCFO: Would you tell us more about how you help with security?
Mr. McMillen: We have built a managed security platform called Cloud Protect. It is software we developed that integrates fully with Microsoft security tools such as Defender and Purview. The more you deploy from Microsoft, the more Cloud Protect integrates. It allows us to offer a managed security solution through a single dashboard where our team can monitor and use AI to identify and address security needs. This creates an ongoing framework to continuously improve a client’s security posture.
CEOCFO: What should your clients understand about AI, both the possibilities and the challenges?
Mr. McMillen: We have learned through trial and error what works and what doesn’t. The most successful way we have approached AI with customers is by understanding their business landscape before implementation. We look at the specific use cases for AI within each organization, department, or job role.
We build a test environment in a sandbox Microsoft tenant, replicate their data structure, and show them how AI can be applied based on what we have learned about their business. That has been the most successful approach, applying AI to a specific business use case rather than forcing the business to adapt to AI.
CEOCFO: Would you tell us about RyanTech being recognized in the Inc. 5000?
Mr. McMillen: We have made the Inc. 5000 for the last two years. That recognition came from the work we do, helping people move to the cloud, and the strong retention we have with our clients. We were also recognized as Cloud Migration Provider of the Year by CIO Review and have received other accolades from Forbes and similar outlets.
CEOCFO: How do you reach out to potential clients if they don’t know about RyanTech?
Mr. McMillen: We work closely with Microsoft’s sales team to bring awareness. Much of our reach also comes from digital advertising and marketing to connect with companies looking for cloud providers. Those are typically the two ways new clients find us.
CEOCFO: What are you surprised we can do with technology today, and what are you surprised we haven’t figured out yet?
Mr. McMillen: I often walk into conversations with clients who assume I will say yes to almost anything because I rarely say something is not possible. I do not have the mindset that something can’t be done.
What surprises me are the high costs in the technology world, such as software development or consulting. We do not charge excessive rates for consultations. It surprises me that certain services cost as much as they do. It feels unfair.
CEOCFO: What sets RyanTech apart?
Mr. McMillen: I think the reason to choose RyanTech is if you want to work with a team of people who genuinely care about you, your company, and your people. That is how we operate and why we do it. We know technology well, and we are strong in migrating technology to the cloud and supporting Microsoft Cloud. What differentiates us is that we truly care about the people we work for.
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