Author Archives: Megan Carnes

CHALLENGE

The organisation’s recent merger presented numerous IT challenges, including legacy equipment and an ageing infrastructure that resulted in service interruption and a poor user experience. Connectivity through multiple vendor contracts made the deployment of new services time-consuming, and low bandwidth was causing latency issues with collaboration tools and business applications. These issues combined with complex legacy applications were difficult to maintain.

SOLUTION

Thrive relocated one of the company’s data centres and disaster recovery (DR) architecture from a redundant site to a new head office facility. This relocation optimised the backup and DR infrastructure, resulting in server consolidation and the elimination of legacy storage. Thrive also deployed Cisco Meraki SD-WAN to improve the visibility, manageability and security of the wide-area network (WAN). The upgraded core Cisco Network and Cisco Meraki Wireless across locations improved coverage, resilience and user experience both on-site and remote. This Cloud-managed infrastructure improved the capacity and performance of the WLAN, delivering a highly scalable model that could be easily expanded when required to support growth.

RESULT

The Cisco Meraki SD-WAN solution combined with the transformation of the core and wireless network resulted in an IT infrastructure that is scalable, agile and secure with the ability to quickly add new users, applications and sites. The new networking infrastructure is more resilient and end-users can readily access the applications and data. SD-WAN has significantly reduced the connectivity costs and the improved infrastructure dropped IT operating costs by 60%.

How can Thrive help your business?

Thrive is a leading provider of outsourced IT Infrastructure designed to drive business outcomes by helping you get the most out of your IT.

To learn more about our services, CONTACT US

CHALLENGE

The UK-based college, spread across two campuses with a student body of 8,000, had an aging Cisco Call Manager platform that was difficult to maintain, manage and configure. The college was also utilising ISDN connectivity into the PTSN, but found that failed attempts to migrate to SIP circuits were expensive. College administrators were motivated to implement a collaboration strategy with a new platform.

SOLUTION

Thrive proposed a Cisco Collaboration solution that significantly reduces the college’s server footprint, requires fewer implementation services, and is supported by a single provider. Thrive deployed the Cisco Collaboration solution across its two campuses to support staff working from home and deliver education services into prisons. Thrive also updated the college’s unstable servers and implemented a FlexPod solution on-campus that incorporated Cisco UCS, NetApp and VMware. The college is now working with Thrive on a wireless LAN refresh initiative for one of its campuses that leverages a Cisco Meraki-based solution supported by Thrive.

RESULT

For both the collaboration and server refresh programs, Thrive provided the most modern and cost-effective solution and demonstrated the best value for money. The collaboration solution was delivered on two servers, which is a significantly lower footprint than the 14 servers proposed by another vendor. It was also implemented in just 16 days, compared to another vendor’s proposed 70 day deployment. There have been vast improvements in the reliability of both its collaboration platform and new server environment, which was critical for the college. It is also benefiting from having a single partner that supports the end-to-end solution without the challenge of managing multiple vendors.

How can Thrive help your business?

Thrive is a leading provider of outsourced IT Infrastructure designed to drive business outcomes by helping you get the most out of your IT.

To learn more about our services, CONTACT US

CHALLENGE

The financial services company relies on its technology to collaborate and drive efficiencies to continually innovate the services it offers to clients. The company was seeking a partner to provide managed services across its global collaboration platform and also for its data centre networking, SD-WAN, wireless network and security.

SOLUTION

Thrive provided a Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) solution as a managed service across all of the company’s locations including London, New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo. Thrive also delivered required PSTN connections, VoIP-based telephony services utilising SIP, LAN, Wireless LAN and security appliances. Thrive implemented an SD-WAN solution linking its global offices to more effectively control and optimise network bandwidth. In addition, Thrive migrated to Cisco Nexus switches within its data centre to access the Software-Defined capabilities of Cisco ACI. Thrive experts enhanced collaboration by leveraging Webex and upgrading the audio-visual capabilities in over 20 meeting rooms with the latest Cisco Webex Boards providing advanced video meeting capabilities.

RESULT

Thrive’s solutions resulted in significant cost savings and improvement in the reliability and resilience of the company’s IT infrastructure through a proactive and highly responsive 24×7 managed service. The organisation experienced greater productivity from its IT team by leveraging a partner for the day-to-day management of key components of the IT Infrastructure. In addition, there is a higher return on the technology investment and greater collaboration across the business with the use of highly effective unified communications and video collaboration.

How can Thrive help your business?

Thrive is a leading provider of outsourced IT Infrastructure designed to drive business outcomes by helping you get the most out of your IT.

To learn more about our services, CONTACT US

Prolific channel leader to join Thrive to enhance the MSSP & MSP brand within the agent community

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – April 12th, 2021 – Thrive, a premier provider of NextGen Managed Services, proudly announces today that channel industry veteran and proven leader Rick Ribas has been appointed as their new Channel Chief.

Mr. Ribas is a long-time leader with over 30 years of entrepreneurial and global channel experience. Before coming to Thrive, Rick served in senior executive channel roles at Fusion Connect and LogMeIn. Prior to that, Rick was instrumental in the channel success at Intelisys, rising up through the ranks in multiple roles, receiving several promotions, culminating as the SVP of National Partner Sales and helping to drive a successful exit to ScanSource during his tenure. Rick also founded Online Telecommunications, one of the first Telecom Consulting companies in the country and ran that business as their CEO for nearly a decade. While there, Mr. Ribas helped develop the leading Agent and Commissioning CRM platform, capable of accurately paying over 1,500 agents per month, before the company was sold to a carrier in 1999 to jump-start their Agency Program.

Rick brings his expansive channel-focused experience from an all-encompassing executive-level background to lead Thrive’s Channel Partner Program. As Channel Chief, Rick will amplify the Thrive brand and further accelerate the rapidly growing, feature rich cybersecurity practice by strengthening Thrive’s competitive differentiators and leveraging potential forthcoming disruptive technology.

“With Thrive’s continued expansion, we’re very fortunate to have landed a true visionary and experienced global leader to head our strategic channel initiatives,” stated John Holland, Thrive’s Chief Revenue Officer. “In addition to being a top-tier executive, Rick is an entrepreneur who understands executive coaching, strategic planning, and building leadership teams, which will further accelerate our MSSP and Cloud platform growth.”

“It’s a great distinction to join the Thrive team, which is the leading MSSP, Cloud & MSP firm within the channel today,” said Ribas. “They already possess a very talented channel team, but I look forward to utilizing my network and experience to drive deeper agency market penetration coast to coast.”

For more information about Thrive, click here.

About Thrive

Thrive is a leading provider of NextGen managed services designed to drive business outcomes through application enablement and optimization. The company’s Thrive5 Methodology utilizes a unique combination of its Application Performance Platform and strategic services to ensure each business application takes advantage of technology that enables peak performance, scale, and the highest level of security. For more information, thrivenextgen.com.

Thrive: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram 

MEDIA CONTACT:

Patrick Reilly

Zer0 to 5ive, for Thrive

732-687-4683 | patrick@0to5.com

CHALLENGE

The defence specialist company designs, manufactures, and delivers industry-leading commercial and military aircraft and vehicles, as well as secure communications solutions. As a leading provider to the defence sector, this organisation was looking for a responsive provider to deliver services to the Ministry of Defence and meet unique SLA constraints demanded by its customers. The company required expertise in Cisco-based technology in networking, security and collaboration, including support services, inventory management and equipment lifecycle management.

SOLUTION

As a Cisco Gold Partner, Thrive innovated service with approaches that would deliver time-critical services in a highly secure manner for customers, including the Ministry of Defence. Thrive ensured the company met stringent security requirements, such as its ISO 27001 certification which is required to operate in this highly secure sector. Thrive was able to adapt a maintenance service in highly sensitive environments in which equipment is deployed. Thrive delivered critical SLAs to cater to locations that are temporary or mobile, such as ships, where there is an unmovable maintenance window for equipment to be delivered or for maintenance to be performed.

RESULT

As a result of Thrive’s Managed Services and Cisco expertise, the defence specialist company utilized the full range of Cisco technologies to enhance its networking, security, collaboration, data center virtualization and service provider technology. Many of the requirements were highly time-critical and the swift response from Thrive was crucial in serving its customers quickly, reliably and securely.

How can Thrive help your business?

Thrive is a leading provider of outsourced IT Infrastructure designed to drive business outcomes by helping you get the most out of your IT.

To learn more about our services, CONTACT US

CHALLENGE

A large manufacturer of wind towers, gas turbines, water treatment, solar power, and more for clean technology in steel, oil, gas, mining, and marine, was a ransomware victim. Its managed services provider at the time was unable to remediate the problem after the attack.

SOLUTION

Thrive developed a comprehensive cybersecurity solution for the company. The Thrive team ensured the organization had complete control over its cybersecurity and the ability to adhere to security requirements and evolving technologies and team structures. Thrive implemented Office 365 Migration, SD-WAN and Managed Firewall, Managed Backups, Managed Disaster Recovery, a Center of Excellence (CoE) for ongoing governance, training and support, a Managed Network, and Managed On-Premise Servers.

RESULT

As a result of Thrive’s cybersecurity strategy and expertise, the company has peace of mind that its data is protected from cyberattackers, and if another attack occurs, there are solutions in place for a quick recovery to avoid downtime.

How can Thrive help your business?

Thrive is a leading provider of outsourced IT Infrastructure designed to drive successful business outcomes with our talented engineering teams and suite of Cloud-First, NextGen Managed Services.

To learn more about our services, CONTACT US

Welcome back to another installment of our “Thrive Employee Spotlight” blog series.

Our featured Thrive Employee is Stevens Demorcy. Stevens is the Executive Vice President of Infrastructure at Thrive.

Stevens has spent two and a half years at Thrive. In his role of EVP of Infrastructure, he ensures that the Thrive Cloud platform is 100% operational and efficient for customer assets. Stevens also oversees Thrive’s internal IT team and initiatives, manages employee onboarding technology, supervises internal requests for software or technology, and assists with product research development to pursue innovative ways to serve Thrive’s customers. He was also announced as Executive of the Year at Thrive!

Stevens lives in New York – but not for long. He’s moving to New Jersey soon with his two daughters and their brand new and precocious Goldendoodle puppy. When Stevens isn’t at Thrive, he enjoys reading and is an avid anime and manga enthusiast.

Hi Stevens! Can you tell us about your background and how you came to Thrive? 

You can say I got an early start. I started working with computers when I was six years old, and I’ve always had a natural knack for technology.

I spent almost 16 years at another MSP based in New York. I gained extensive experience in the information technology and services industry. I also have deep knowledge in Storage Area Networking (SAN), Server Architecture, Virtualization, and Public Cloud.

In 2019, I came to Thrive as a Vice President of Infrastructure and was recently promoted to Executive Vice President.

Where did you go to school or get training? 

I graduated from New York’s Pace University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems.

What do you most enjoy about working for Thrive?

I enjoy the tremendous growth that Thrive is experiencing with acquisitions. I’ve been able to meet and interact with new people as the companies are folding into Thrive.

I’m also proud that we approach innovation with purpose. Thrive is cutting-edge, but not just because we are focusing on the “hot” or “cool” technologies in the market. Our innovation is strategic – with a customer and security focus.

Any recent exciting projects at Thrive that you can tell us about?

When we announce an acquisition, the real work begins by migrating that company into Thrive. I’m excited to see the phases of the merger unfold from logistics to operation. I recently helped one of our big acquisitions secure its place in of Thrive’s data centers. I’m also working on a new and exciting Cloud project that will be deployed to our customers. Stay tuned!

Are you interested in learning more about Thrive? Click here!

And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for the latest news, and continue checking our blog for more in our “Thrive Employee Spotlight” series. Until next time…

Thrive was awarded the Best IT Managed Service at the With Intelligence HFM US Technology Awards 2022. The announcement was made recently in New York City at a ceremony to honor hedge fund technology service providers.

The With Intelligence HFM US Technology Awards celebrate the best and brightest technology firms serving the US hedge fund sector, demonstrating excellent client service, innovation, and strong and sustainable business growth over the previous 12 months.

The Thrive team brings years of experience meeting the strategic IT needs of hedge funds and alternative investment companies. By combining NextGen Cloud, cybersecurity, and digital transformation capabilities with experts that are positioned in New York, Boston, and across the Northeast, Thrive is the trusted partner hedge funds need to outperform the competition.

Congratulations to all winners at the With Intelligence HFM US Tech Awards 2022!

For more information on Thrive’s NextGen IT solutions for hedge funds, click here.

We’re excited to share our second blog in the Financial Services Vertical Spotlight Series. This month’s blog will feature Tim Kennedy, Vice President of Financial Services at Thrive and focus on automation.

Tim is responsible for combining extensive resources and technical capabilities with a dedicated team of highly trained engineers to assist our enterprise clients with established and emerging technology solutions. Tim’s focus involves onboarding private equity firms, hedge funds, pension funds and endowments, family offices and commercial banks.

Here are his insights on how Thrive’s tailored IT platform helps financial firms automate the entire lifecycle of their workflows to ensure future success.

What are the biggest automation challenges facing Thrive’s financial industry customers?

One of the challenges that I see working with prospects is that IT can be a very manual process. When I say manual I’m referring to the beginning of a ticket entry, or into a help desk, it can be very labor driven. Also, there’s not a lot of oversight of those tickets or the help desk.

For example, when a new employee comes into the company, the IT firm, internal IT or outsourced IT has to endure a very manual process to get that person onboarded. There’s paperwork that has to be filled out and IT backend work required to set that employee up on internal systems and networks as well as ordering the appropriate computer/equipment, etc. One of the things that Thrive has been able to improve on from an IT perspective is offering a platform that streamlines the entire process.

Using our ServiceNow-powered platform, we’re able to automate that workflow from the beginning to the end of the onboarding process, including the arrival and unboxing of the PC and the automatic configuration of the machine with the right software, monitoring tools, and cyber applications. Typically, this process could take weeks to complete for a new employee, and Thrive can automate the entire lifecycle of that process.

Why is digital automation so important to the financial industry and for customers in that space? Do they understand that this is something they need to tackle, or is there a little bit of complacency?

I’d say it’s a little bit of both. Some are embracing it and some are looking to automate things not only internally on the IT side, but also from the business side. For the most part, I would say, depending on the chief information officer or the chief technical officer at these firms, it can vary. I think obviously with people working from home and not in offices, digital transformation is becoming more and more part of the conversation than it was before the pandemic.

What does that do? It makes it easier for the employees to work anywhere they need to. For instance, employees no longer need to share individual documents from person to person. They can collaborate via Microsoft Teams within specific groups and set up parameters around privacy and who has access control. This is encompassed within Thrive’s offering, not just providing Teams to the business, but we have the oversight to make sure files are encrypted and data privacy covered. Those are the things that, in today’s world in the financial market, are critical.

Why are Thrive’s services essential to financial customers, and can you explain the services that are currently available? Moreover, why are these solutions particularly important for the financial industry?

I think everything’s important that we sell to them, but one of the things we do really well at Thrive is the solution and design we’re able to put in place for companies. A lot of firms can set you up on a public cloud and let the company manage it on their own, but at Thrive, we make the effort to keep the companies compliant by utilizing SEC, FINRA, and SIPC guidelines when developing an IT plan.
We ask the questions – What are the cyber initiatives are you looking at? What are you doing for remote user’s access? What about backups? For instance, we recently earned a partnership, a $12B hedge fund that has 65 users. We’re doing 3 different backups for them. Years ago, that was not the norm or easy to do, but the world of technology has changed a lot. The Hedge Fund also wanted to protect the companies data and at the same time make the end user employees experience easier. We designed and implemented all 65 Users with Virtual Desktops in Azure which has handled both needs they wanted to address. This is an example, how Thrive was able to design a solution with a tailored approach that made the CFO and COO feel comfortable. This all comes out of consulting with our clients and explaining to them that we do have the platform and toolset to automate their IT, but, at the same time, we’re able to follow the SEC and FINRA guidelines

What would be the dire consequences to financial firms and businesses if they don’t take these steps proactively to troubleshoot and reach out to Thrive? What are the ramifications to them if they don’t take action in automating their services (For instance, in regards to being competitive, relevant, compliance, etc.)?

Many of these firms are always looking for a competitive edge. That’s what they do for a living. Therefore, when you look at automation in this space, whether it’s sharing information with an investor or raising capital for a new fund, these firms want to be able to get information quickly and efficiently, not only from a business standpoint but also from a technology standpoint.

Having The Thrive platform, we’re able to go to an investor that is fundraising, conduct their day-to-day monitoring and tackle what we do for them when they outsource. Additionally, we give them visibility into the information they need securely, normalizing that data in a clear, precise fashion. This can be a very manual process when you’re working with an integrator or an MSP to get that information. So, therefore, having digital IT automation at your fingertips through The Thrive platform is critical. It doesn’t slow the investor down from a business standpoint, and I think that’s something Thrive does well.

We are a differentiator in this space because when we onboard new clients onto our platform, we can show them all the feature sets and data and then customize reports to their specific needs.

That was my next question, competitive advantage, which you’ve covered the holistic consulting Thrive offers for the entire business. You highlighted the benefits and also time to market and the speed that a business would lose if the automation was manual. Is that how you look at the competitive advantage Thrive provides clients?

Yes, completely. We see clients that are frustrated with not being able to access that information easily or automatically. A lot of integrators do the initial setup for their clients, but they’re not forthcoming with sharing information with them. This allows our platform to stand out as the client can go in and pull that information they need on-demand. This is not just helpful from an investor standpoint, but this option is also available if an inquiry comes in from the SEC or FINRA, which can happen as well.

A lot of these regulatory bodies will look, if they’re going to do an audit, at policies and procedures that the firm has set up around compliance and cybersecurity to see if the firm is following those. With Thrive, in taking the consultative approach, we sit with our clients and work with them in that compliance manual to make sure their data is backed up and they know how that’s been accomplished by us. We also follow through with reporting and monitoring the firm’s activities through our platform.

Thrive is there for the entire automation journey for financial clients and is there to make sure that all the firm’s bases are covered and systems are optimized. Is there a step that financial firms commonly overlook when they’re looking to automate processes?

Now it’s more around the collaboration for automation. When we talked to prospects, they might be using Teams or they might be using Sharepoint. This just happened the other day, and this firm was smaller (23 people). You might wonder how much collaboration can happen there. Believe it or not, this firm was set up on Teams, but using it for instant chat internally. They’re not using the full potential Sharepoint, just using it for file structure. They’re not sharing documents internally via Teams.

Therefore, when we start talking to clients, we realize the full use of these collaboration tools is often missed across the board in the industry by most MSPs. This typically happens because they don’t have a team to help guide them in that aspect of the business. This tends to be an immediate red flag as they’re not using all the potential offerings that Office 365 can provide. And, at Thrive, as we start to ask the firm more questions, we realize they’re using maybe 25% of the potential the Microsoft stack can help them with. This is where the automation conversations come into play and we can identify the client’s immediate needs in regards to automation in the Microsoft stack. We can be a consultant for our clients to ensure they’re getting the full use out of their tools and therefore, seeing that return on investment as a result.

Here’s an example – There’s a family office that we brought on, it was probably about a year and a half ago now. They’ve grown a tremendous amount working with high-net families and manage about $35B of AUM (assets under management). This company is managing the back office for these high-net families (approximately 50 families). Thrive took over their IT and automated sharing tickets with their internal staff through ServiceNow. We provided them with the full stack of offerings from A to Z in our portfolio.

We talked about their current frustrations in onboarding new families and how they wanted to share documents easier externally. They explained they were using a third-party application to encrypt those files. As a result, we pulled our collaboration team in and asked them to review the whole process of onboarding a family, including the amount of paperwork involved for compliance and regulatory reasons. Thrive was able to automate that entire workflow with the help of our collaboration team and it’s been a huge success for the company. We were able to save a significant amount of employee hours conducted daily through automation.

Let’s briefly touch on the experience Thrive provides its financial clients. Can you tell me how the onboarding process is handled?

The onboarding process that we have here at Thrive is detailed based on the project. Look, there are plenty of integrators out there that will get it done by brute force, but at Thrive, we map out our projects in phases.

I’ll give you an example with a firm that we brought on 6 months ago and are still working on the project today. The firm is well-established and has been in business for 15 years. They were leaving their current integrator and there was a lot of data. Phasing the integrator out was a process and being a financial firm, they have a tremendous amount of sensitive current data and historical data that they reference for trades.

We went the extra mile in onboarding this client. For instance, we reached out to Bloomberg and Reuters on behalf of the firm. We have the expertise, working within the financial vertical, with engineers that are familiar with this industry. Thrive has also built relationships with other trusted vendors outside your typical IT providers that our clients can leverage. The onboarding process can be difficult, but what Thrive does well is we take the time to execute a well-thought-out plan with different phases or checkpoints along the way. It’s not the norm for the MSPs in the financial vertical, so that’s a differentiator.

Additionally, another key element of Thrive is how we manage the client account. We have a pod structure, where there’s a group of highly skilled engineers that focus solely on our financial vertical. So, again, they know the applications, they know the trading software clients use. They have relationships with vendors like Bloomberg if need be, or others as well. They are also familiar with the applications that firms are using. This part is critical because when these financial firms outsource their IT, they don’t want to be involved in dealing with other vendors. They’re relying on us.

In our pod structure, these skilled engineers not only understand the business and their business needs, but they’re grouped with a virtual CTO to help the client, guide them in strategy, understand their budgets and other applications they might use. They’re able to help them from a business side and a technical side, which is different from most MSPs. Moreover, from a service standpoint, you now have the same faces talking to the client regularly and can build familiarity with them.

Finally, what’s fascinating and different for us is the end-user response time because that’s where it can break in this space. We’ve all heard stories, people didn’t get back to them for two hours. The next day they called back and said, “Hey, we noticed you put a ticket in this space,” which typically ends in a negative experience for that user.

One thing we do differently is the end-user calls are routed to that pod structure and we’re the only ones that do that today in this space. Typically, there’s a desk of 30 or 40 people, most of the time outside the U.S. In this situation, the person handling the user’s request is just entering the issue as a ticket and then pushing it onto someone else. There are a lot of frustrations with that in this space. People want to talk directly to the individual that can get the problem fixed immediately. So what is great about routing the calls into this pod structure is they get someone not only from the top-level, who’s managing the account but down to the help desk that knows the account and can fix the problems. These engineers are certified and can fix the problem with the end-user whenever the phone call happens.

Are you interested in learning more about Thrive’s NextGen IT for Financial Services? Click here!

And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for the latest news, and continue checking our blog for more in our “Vertical Spotlight” series.

CHALLENGE

A large tech-enabled third-party administrator (TPA) for employee and health benefits lacked the internal expertise to achieve their digital transformation goals on the Microsoft 365 platform. The company needed a partner that understood the software development side of Microsoft 365 and could apply an agile process to implementing their focused initiatives including developing a new company intranet with SharePoint, creating automated document workflows to replace grueling manual processes, and using bot technology to collect data from multiple sources automagically. They also realized the data they had been collecting could be used to make better business decision in real time but did not have the capabilities to harness it’s power.

SOLUTION

Thrive’s Microsoft 365 Center of Excellence Managed Services (CoE) was the ideal solution because it provides a focused software development lifecycle approach
to building solutions on the Microsoft 365 platform. By using an agile development methodology Thrive’s solution delivered strategic guidance, flexibility, customization, and closer alignment to the company’s internal team compared to other vendors. Thrive’s team filled the company’s lack of expertise to develop automation and customization of the Microsoft 365 platform in conjunction with their application and operations teams. Thrive also planned for the company’s immediate growth and advanced collaboration needs to scale at any point with security, governance, architecture, training, administration, and support. Thrive’s team also offered expertise with Power BI which allowed the business to finally to take control of their data sources, view data metrics in real time, and ultimately make better business decisions.

RESULT

The company had more advanced requirements with goals of leveraging the platform, and that was the perfect fit for Thrive’s capabilities and the CoE approach. Thrive also delivered the project quickly and ahead of time to accommodate the company’s daily operations. Therefore, the company got the most value immediately on its Microsoft 365 platform.

How can Thrive help your business?

Thrive is a leading provider of outsourced IT Infrastructure designed to drive successful business outcomes with our talented engineering teams and suite of Cloud-First, NextGen Managed Services.

To learn more about our services, CONTACT US