A new business is heading to Wichita Falls with promises to create and retain 91 new jobs. Tuesday, Wichita Falls City Councilors approved an incentive package worth $463,000 to help bring GuideIT to the city.
GuideIT is a Perot Systems company headquartered in Plano. The company launched in 2013 and is making the move for expansion. “We’re an IT consulting and services firm,” said Tim Morris, a founding partner of GuideIT. “We’re real thrilled to have the opportunity to come here and put a stake in the ground in Wichita Falls and create jobs here to support customers all across the United States.”
The positions will cover a variety of services. Employees will be monitoring the customer’s network, infrastructure and applications. “We like to call it a service desk,” said Morris. “Part of that service desk will be clinical support. We do a lot of work in health care.”
GuideIT selected Wichita Falls out of a number of different locations. The city was selected, in part, after talking to a local resident about the company. It was that, coupled with the demographics that aided when it came time for decision making. “What drew us to Wichita Falls then was the demographic here…we found that we had a workforce here with students at Midwestern,” said Morris.
However, the nearly half a million in incentives was also key. The incentive is a cash for jobs package, with funds coming from the Wichita Falls Economic Development Corporation. The project allows the company to stagger the 91 new jobs over a two to three year period, but company officials are expecting those positions to be filled even faster.
“We have a forecast to hire a significant number of people over the next 60 days, so the targets we put in there we hope we blow those out of the water,” said Morris.
The new company is expected to have an economic impact of $11 million per year. While the company will bring with it new jobs, it’s also a critical element in the on-going efforts to revitalize Downtown Wichita Falls. “We’ve got a lot of momentum going downtown right now and to be able to attract this sort of employer, creating this type of job at these wages and that location, it’s just really the perfect storm,” said Henry Florsheim, President and CEO at the Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce.
“Our company’s growth from year one to year two, we tripled in growth,” said Morris. “Year two to year three we doubled in growth and revenue, were at about 110 employees now.” Should GuideIT close the Wichita Falls operation for any reason, all the incentive payments made will become due and payable to the WFEDC.
Although incentive packages always come with risks, officials are confident about the company’s future. Something one resident, of 18 years, said is much needed. “We’d all like to see something better downtown and for all of Wichita Falls,” said Brenda Underwood. “You know we need as many jobs as we can get so people aren’t leaving.”
Wages for those interested in applying start at $12.50 an hour. The hourly wages increase all the way up to $18 + per hour. The company will begin to hire over the next two weeks. You can apply by heading to the company website. GuideIT is expected to sign a lease for its new office space in about two weeks.The company is expected to officially open their Wichita Falls office in April.
– Newschannel 6
