Author Archives: Megan Carnes

As one of the leading investment management companies in the UK, Charles Stanley has long understood the critical importance of an established, secure, and scalable IT infrastructure. For more than two decades, the company has maintained a strategic technology partnership—initially through ONI who was later acquired by Thrive. That long-standing relationship has enabled Charles Stanley, recently acquired by Raymond James, to stay ahead of the curve in connectivity, collaboration, and cloud readiness.

Building a Network without Compromise

When David Gould joined Charles Stanley over 20 years ago, the firm was operating with a flat network architecture. One of Thrive’s earliest projects was to help Charles Stanley completely redesign that infrastructure—from transitioning to a Cisco environment to implementing a fully resilient network.

“Right at the beginning, they helped design and provide the engineering resources to refresh our network from top to bottom,” recalled Gould, Network Communications Manager. “They migrated us from a flat network to a more robust, resilient structure using Cisco equipment.”

This partnership wasn’t limited to networking. Thrive also supported Charles Stanley’s move from a legacy PBX system to IP telephony, delivering the technical design, implementation support, and hands-on collaboration that helped modernise communications.

Smart Connectivity for a Growing Business

As Charles Stanley’s business evolved, so did its connectivity needs. Working closely with Thrive, the organisation moved away from traditional MPLS circuits to a hybrid model using Direct Internet Access (DIA). This not only reduced costs but also increased bandwidth and performance across the firm’s UK branches.

“We moved from traditional dual MPLS to an MPLS/DIA hybrid, and now we’re fully dropping MPLS in favour of DIA,” said Gould. “Thrive’s project management team continues to help us transition, delivering connectivity solutions with no single point of failure.”

Through SD-WAN technology, Charles Stanley has been able to improve redundancy, and ensure higher availability. According to Gould, this transformation positioned them ahead of the curve, “When Raymond James acquired us, they looked at our setup and said, ‘That’s where we need to get.’”

Enabling Productivity Through Collaboration Tools

Well before the pandemic, Charles Stanley began investing in collaboration technologies such as Cisco Webex and cloud-based video conferencing. Thrive played an instrumental role in identifying, testing, and deploying these solutions.

“We were already rolling out video conferencing, VPN services, and Webex before COVID hit,” Gould explained. “So, when the country shut down, we were in a good place to pivot. That work was all done in collaboration with Thrive.”

The same forward-thinking approach extended to their wireless strategy, where Thrive introduced Meraki’s cloud-managed wireless infrastructure—reducing overhead and simplifying management.

Secure, Supported, and Stable

Resilience has always been a cornerstone of Charles Stanley’s IT strategy. Thrive supported it by introducing technologies that improved business continuity. They brokered a meeting with Cisco to introduce Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV) technology, which continues to help them function, running disaster recovery exercises and keeping their websites up 24/7 without any interruption should there be outages, maintenance, or any other issues. Thrive also offered a variety of protection tools—vital at a time when cyber threats were becoming more sophisticated and widespread.

Whether responding to unforeseen network issues or helping implement disaster recovery solutions, Thrive’s technical team brought the right expertise at the right time. Their familiarity with Charles Stanley’s complex infrastructure made troubleshooting faster and project delivery smoother.

“We’ve had the same engineers for years. They know our environment inside and out,” said Gould. “When an issue arises, it’s usually someone who helped design the original solution—that makes a huge difference.”

A Relationship That Evolves with the Business

Following Charles Stanley’s acquisition by Raymond James, some services moved in-house or shifted to new platforms. Still, Thrive remains a critical partner—particularly for UK connectivity and network support.

“Thrive still delivers the connectivity services for our branches,” said Gould. “They also help us manage carriers, which simplifies support dramatically. It’s one number to call. They coordinate everything.”

Valuing Continuity and Longevity

Through decades of business growth and organisational transformation, Charles Stanley’s relationship with Thrive has remained a constant source of stability, expertise, and technological innovation. Even as they evolve within a global framework, a trusted, knowledgeable partnership with a firm who understands their environment continues to be clear. “Having the same account manager and core engineers for years has been incredibly valuable to us.”

By delivering resilient connectivity, enabling strategic advancements, and supporting the business with consistency and care, Thrive has proven to be far more than a service provider—they’ve been a true extension of the Charles Stanley team.

“We’re leveraging the relationships Thrive has with vendors. They help us innovate and make us more resilient. It’s not just a case of just selling something, they make our infrastructure and our architecture more robust.” – Alex Stratton, Head of Technology Services, Charles Stanley

About Thrive

Thrive delivers global technology outsourcing for cybersecurity, Cloud, networking, and other complex IT requirements. Thrive’s NextGen platform enables customers to increase business efficiencies through standardization, scalability, and automation, delivering oversized technology returns on investment (ROI). They accomplish this with advisory services, vCISO, vCIO, consulting, project implementation, solution architects, and a best-in-class subscription-based technology platform. Thrive delivers exceptional high-touch service through its POD approach of subject matter experts and global 24x7x365 SOC, NOC, and centralized services teams. Learn more at www.thrivenextgen.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

In the high-stakes world of oil and gas, Encino Energy stands out as a technology-forward energy company leading the way in the Utica Basin. With a strong foothold, they rank among the top producers in the US. But behind the scenes, it’s not just the flow of oil and gas that fuels Encino Energy, it’s data. Technology has always been a keystone of the company’s operations, from ruggedized laptops in the field to self-developed, cloud-based applications that drive efficiency across operations.

Their infrastructure was carefully built from the ground up, guided by a cloudfirst philosophy and a deep understanding of the need for agility. But even for a tech-savvy organization, growth comes with growing pains. When Encino Energy skyrocketed from 26 to 250 users overnight following a major acquisition, they needed an IT partner capable of keeping up with their expanding demands.

Ambitious Growth, Real Challenges, and the Turning Point

That overnight expansion into a $2 billion company tested Encino Energy’s operational limits. The local Managed Service Provider (MSP) that once served their smaller operation was no longer equipped to handle the pace, complexity, or sophistication that Encino Energy required. The subsequent MSP partnership brought some stability but fell short of delivering the high-quality service Encino’s leadership expected. As Jay Ostertag, Senior Manager of IT Systems & Support, put it, “We ended up getting some of what we needed, but not quite what we wanted.”

The real turning point came in 2022, when Encino Energy engaged Thrive’s security team for a comprehensive network assessment. What began as a standard security scan turned into a pivotal moment, “They helped us come up with a plan to enact those improvements, and that began the drive with Thrive to become more of an MSSP (Managed Security Service Provider) for us,” Ostertag recalled. Choosing to invest in a security assessment demonstrated how Encino Energy’s leadership not only valued cyber protection but also recognized the strategic benefits of partnering with experts who could keep pace with their vision.

Impressed by Thrive’s capabilities and approach, Encino transitioned them into a broader role, where Thrive earned their business through a formal RFP process for additional managed services. “We negotiated to where we needed to be pricewise, and since we already had the relationship, it made sense to expand our partnership with Thrive.”

Six Weeks to a Strategy-Forward Future

Transitioning to a new MSP typically takes months. Encino Energy didn’t have that kind of time. With a six-week runway, Thrive launched a fully functional help desk that was usable, and trusted, on day one. “That was our biggest problem with the previous MSP, our end users just would not use the product because they were not satisfied with it,” explained Ostertag.

This time, Encino led a coordinated marketing effort to rebuild trust with their internal users. Messaging was simple but powerful, “We heard you.” That was the subject line of the first email sent regarding the move to Thrive. Empowering users with easy access to support via phone calls or a desktop icon for service requests led to a dramatic turnaround in perception. With help desk adoption growing and first-call resolution rates improving, the volume of internal escalations and, as Ostertag described them, “shoulder taps,” dropped significantly. “It’s been a very successful run this go-around with Thrive as our MSP compared to the previous.”

Beyond support, Thrive became a strategic partner, helping Encino implement playbooks, conduct knowledge transfer, and expand visibility through the ServiceNow platform. Their accessible, data-forward portal gave Encino Energy the ability to manage tickets, assets, and service delivery from a single pane of glass. “It was night and day compared to what we previously had dealt with.” As Ostertag noted, “This was one of the easiest transfers from one MSP to another I’ve ever been involved with.”

Long-Term Impact and Trusted Partnership

With over 500 users and a small internal IT team of 24, Encino relies on Thrive to handle everyday support tasks so internal staff can focus on higher-level projects. “That’s a reason why we need Thrive,” said Ostertag, “to be able to handle things that we either don’t have the manpower to do, or quite frankly, the stuff we don’t want to do.”

Thrive doesn’t just react, they check in regularly to ask what’s working and what could be better. That ongoing collaboration has led to better documentation, knowledge transfer, and smarter use of tools. Encino now leverages Thrive’s services for asset lifecycle management and a configuration database, giving them better visibility into what equipment they actually have. “That was huge, especially as we spun up our security program,” Ostertag said.

Encino’s technology environment is complex and fast-moving. Thrive’s ability to adapt and support that has been key. “We use tools that show us down to the minute how much money and oil we’re producing,” said Ostertag. “Metrics are big. Thrive gives us the visibility we need to manage operations at that level.” With Thrive by their side, Encino Energy has the consistency, capacity, and confidence to keep scaling without slowing down.

“By giving end users more confidence in the results they’ll get, and different ways to reach support, we’ve changed how IT is perceived across the company.” – Jay Ostertag, Senior Manager of IT Systems & Support, Encino Energy

About Thrive

Thrive delivers global technology outsourcing for cybersecurity, Cloud, networking, and other complex IT requirements. Thrive’s NextGen platform enables customers to increase business efficiencies through standardization, scalability, and automation, delivering oversized technology returns on investment (ROI). They accomplish this with advisory services, vCISO, vCIO, consulting, project implementation, solution architects, and a best-in-class subscription-based technology platform. Thrive delivers exceptional high-touch service through its POD approach of subject matter experts and global 24x7x365 SOC, NOC, and centralized services teams. Learn more at www.thrivenextgen.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

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

Our featured employee is Carlos Fernandez, Director of Account Management in the Asia-Pacific region. Carlos hails from the Philippines, but has lived and worked in Singapore since 2007. With Singapore as his Thrive homebase, he travels often between offices in Hong Kong, Australia, and sometimes the Philippines. Carlos is responsible for overseeing operations for the Singapore team, including help with procurement, vendor and project management, when needed. A firm believer in the importance and impact of teamwork, he also leads a team of Customer Success Managers (CSMs) in Singapore and Hong Kong while managing his own clients as an Account Manager and CSM in Singapore and Australia.

When he’s not wearing one of his many Thrive hats, Carlos prioritizes health and fitness by working out every day. He describes Sunday as his rest day, meaning he takes it easy by running about 10km (6.2 miles) while listening to 80’s and 90’s music! A very outgoing, outspoken people-person, Carlos loves to be around his people – family, friends, and colleagues. He also loves to travel, visiting different places, many of which are overseas. He makes it a point to including hiking as part of his trips – there’s that commitment to fitness again! During his actual downtime, Carlos watches shows on streaming services like Netflix and Disney Plus.

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

I started my career as a Call Center Agent for a technology firm. From there, I was a Help Desk Representative and eventually worked my way up to a Senior Desktop Support Engineer at Edge in 2016. I became a Client Services Manager, and now I’m part of the Account Management team at Thrive after the 2022 acquisition of Edge.

Where did you go to school or get training?

I finished my academics, from grade school all the way to college in the Philippines, where I completed my degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering at the University of Santo Tomas in Manilla.

What do you most enjoy about working for Thrive?

What I like most about working with Thrive is how they value their employees. They recognize hard work and dedication through awards and different incentives. I enjoy the people – colleagues and peers – and having great leaders who serve as mentors and care about the welfare of their staff.

Are there any recent exciting projects at Thrive you can tell us about?

As part of a small team in APAC, one of the things we have been looking forward to is the growth of the regions – both in the number of customers and internally. One of the initiatives we in place to achieve that growth is to promote the Thrive brand through events, campaigns, and our networks in the locations where the company has offices.

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

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… 

New offering enables real-time response to stop potential cybersecurity breaches

Boston, MA, August 21, 2025 – Thrive, a global technology outsourcing provider for cybersecurity, cloud, and traditional managed services, today announced a new Network Detection and Response (NDR) service to further support businesses in their cybersecurity efforts. The new NDR service will monitor a business’ network to detect potential security incidents, enabling a quicker response and stopping breaches in their tracks.

The average cost of a data breach in the United States is $10.22 million, a 9% increase from the year prior, according to IBM’s 2025 Cost of a Data Breach Report. This drastic increase highlights the need for prevention and swift action in cybersecurity; however, current tools and services often don’t detect threats until they have already happened. By the time they notice a breach has occurred, the damage is already done.

Thrive’s new NDR service enables real-time responses, helping their clients shut down an attack as soon as it is detected. The service does this by using AI pattern recognition capabilities to monitor all traffic inside a company’s network and flag if there’s suspicious activity that could point to a data breach. This new service works in conjunction with Thrive’s existing Managed Detection and Response (MDR) service that correlates and analyzes logs to identify potential cybersecurity threats, and its Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) service, which detects and prevents malicious actions on servers and user workstations.

“When a cyberattack happens, time is of the essence – but relying on signature-based methods can cause a lag that can ultimately be detrimental to solving the problem quickly,” said Michael Gray, Thrive’s Chief Technology Officer. “Thrive is taking a layered approach to ensuring our customers are protecting themselves from cyberattacks. We want to empower our customers to be able to react in real time and stop a bad actor in their tracks, minimizing disruption to their business operations and ultimately protecting their bottom line.”

Thrive’s new NDR service is the latest of the company’s comprehensive solutions aimed at safeguarding the entire IT environment and securely optimizing business performance. Thrive’s tailored cybersecurity solutions ensure end-to-end protection of customers’ systems and data and enable businesses to stay ahead of potential threats. The more Thrive managed security services a customer consumes, the lower the cost, as Thrive automatically applies a tiered discount towards monthly incident response and remediation retainer for services.

To learn more about Thrive and its offerings, visit the website.

About Thrive

Thrive delivers global technology outsourcing for cybersecurity, Cloud, networking, and other complex IT requirements. Thrive’s NextGen platform enables customers to increase business efficiencies through AI, standardization, scalability, and automation, delivering oversized technology returns on investment (ROI). They accomplish this with advisory services, vCISO, vCIO, consulting, project implementation, solution architects, and a best-in-class subscription-based technology platform. Thrive delivers exceptional high-touch service through its POD approach of subject matter experts and global 24x7x365 SOC, NOC, and centralized services teams. Learn more at www.thrivenextgen.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

Contacts

Hannah Johnston

thrive@v2comms.com

We discussed with COO Scott Steele how the global managed services provider (MSP) and managed security service provider (MSSP) has deployed AI service agents. He shared how the agents are transforming the company’s contact center, and what lies ahead as AI customer service automation evolves.

Real-Time Performance Tracking: Dynamic dashboards let leaders measure AI’s impact on productivity, cost savings, and revenue. For example, Thrive automated 315,000 tasks via AI workflows, saving 21,000 hours of manual labor in six months.

Farhad Jowharsha and Naveen Chodavarapu Join Team to Bolster Operations in Key Region

Boston, MA, August 12, 2025 – Thrive, a global technology outsourcing provider for cybersecurity, cloud, and IT managed services, today named Farhad Jowharsha as Vice President, APAC and Naveen Chodavarapu as Vice President, APAC Operations. Together, they will continue to accelerate Thrive’s global growth, with a focus on customer cultivation and success in the APAC region.

With almost 25 years of experience in consulting and sales leadership, Farhad brings a deep understanding of what companies need to be successful, both from a technology and service perspective. Most recently, Farhad served as the Regional Sales Director at Forrester Research, responsible for sales and customer retention, and as a trusted advisor for client executives, providing strategic insights and best practice solutions. He has previously held key sales positions at PTS, Integra-IT, Toluna, Corporate Executive Board, and Gartner. Farhad will be based out of Thrive’s Hong Kong office.

Naveen will lead the APAC Operations team out of Thrive’s Singapore office. He will work across APAC’s dynamic markets to advance customer growth, collaborate with industry leaders, and drive value with technology partners. Before Thrive, Naveen was the Head of Customer Success for Greater Asia at HP, where he focused on identifying the right strategies, services, and solutions to help customers realize tangible business outcomes. Naveen has previously held leadership positions at DXC Technology, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Alcatel-Lucent.

“Thrive is expanding on a global scale and bringing in the right leadership to help us advance that growth in a critical market like APAC, which is vital to the company’s future success,” said Bill McLaughlin, CEO of Thrive. “Naveen’s and Farhad’s combined experience in growing sales pipelines, taking a consultative approach, and understanding what it means to help the customer succeed will help us expand our footprint in Asia and ensure that every customer is getting the five-star service Thrive is known for.”

With offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia, Thrive expects continued growth in the APAC region, as it has experienced across the globe. Since receiving a strategic investment from Berkshire Partners and Court Square Capital in January 2025, Thrive has been on an upward trajectory. Thrive is also coming off several recent acquisitions, including Baroan Technologies and Abacode, which will bolster its compliance services and further add to its deep bench of industry expertise.

If you want to learn more about open positions at Thrive, visit the careers page.

About Thrive

Thrive delivers global technology outsourcing for cybersecurity, Cloud, networking, and other complex IT requirements. Thrive’s NextGen platform enables customers to increase business efficiencies through AI, standardization, scalability, and automation, delivering oversized technology returns on investment (ROI). They accomplish this with advisory services, vCISO, vCIO, consulting, project implementation, solution architects, and a best-in-class subscription-based technology platform. Thrive delivers exceptional high-touch service through its POD approach of subject matter experts and global 24x7x365 SOC, NOC, and centralized services teams. Learn more at www.thrivenextgen.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

Contacts

Hannah Johnston

thrive@v2comms.com

Kevin Landt is VP of Product for Cybersecurity Solutions at Thrive, where he brings over 20 years of technology experience to helping mid-size organizations manage their security risk. He was previously VP of Product Management at Cygilant (acquired by SilverSky Security) and held product leadership roles at Opsgenie (now part of Atlassian), Relativity, the market leader in eDiscovery, and Kanguru Solutions, an encryption and mobile device management provider. Kevin has a BS in Computer Systems Engineering from Boston University and earned his MBA at Babson College.

Thrive made a strategic move early this month, picking up Abacode to deepen its compliance bench. The Florida-based firm brings a combined cybersecurity and GRC model that fits right into Thrive’s approach, especially as customers face a wave of changing regulations, from CMMC updates to new AI and data privacy laws.

Third acquisition of the year sets Thrive up for massive growth in H2

Boston, MA, July 23, 2025 – Thrive, a global technology outsourcing provider for cybersecurity, cloud, and IT managed services, today announced the acquisition of Baroan Technologies, a leading Managed IT Support provider specializing in enterprise-level IT solutions across a variety of industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, marketing, and more. The acquisition further strengthens Thrive’s Managed IT services and adds to its growing hub in North Jersey and the Tri-State Area.

Thrive’s mission is to empower their customers to harness the promise of technology, achieving success by proactively utilizing IT, cybersecurity, and cloud best practices to drive ROI and desired business outcomes for their valued clients. Together, Thrive and Baroan Technologies will ensure that customers have access to top-tier resources that securely enable them to operate their business across verticals and regions.

“Baroan Technologies shares our customer-centric approach and has a strong reputation for working closely with its customers to ensure they are strategically implementing technology to support business operations,” said Bill McLaughlin, CEO of Thrive. “By tapping into their deep industry knowledge, Thrive will continue to deliver best-in-class technology solutions to all of our customers and propel our growth and success even further.”

This acquisition – the third of the year for Thrive – builds on the company’s tremendous growth, having completed 13 acquisitions over the past two years and growing their headcount to 1,500+. Thrive is doubling down on key areas such as compliance with the recent acquisition of Abacode, a leading Managed Cybersecurity & Compliance Provider (MCCP) and the launch of its new Compliance Center, filled with unrivaled resources and expertise that educates mid-market businesses on international, federal, state and industry-specific regulations. Through these acquisitions and strategic service area expansions, Thrive is committed to meeting customers where they are and looking around the corner to be ready to serve customers through the next innovation, threat, or regulation.

“For nearly 30 years, Baroan Technologies has been trusted by businesses in the Tri-State area to help them be more successful with technology,” said Guy Baroan, CEO of Baroan Technologies. “Thrive shares our passion for putting the customer first, and with their support and services, we can expand the impact for even more businesses.”

To learn more about Thrive, visit their website.

About Thrive

Thrive delivers global technology outsourcing for cybersecurity, cloud, networking, and other complex IT requirements. Thrive’s NextGen platform enables customers to increase business efficiencies through AI, standardization, scalability, and automation, delivering oversized technology returns on investment (ROI). They accomplish this with advisory services, vCISO, vCIO, consulting, project implementation, solution architects, and a best-in-class subscription-based technology platform. Thrive delivers exceptional high-touch service through its POD approach of subject matter experts and global 24x7x365 SOC, NOC, and centralized services teams. Learn more at www.thrivenextgen.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

Contacts

Hannah Johnston

thrive@v2comms.com