Author Archives: Tori Pazda

Microsoft Office 365 is one of the most robust business solutions available, offering just about everything enterprises need to communicate, collaborate and enhance productivity.

With such a powerful tool, customization is key to leveraging it to its full potential. From simple document sharing to project management and social collaboration, every business has unique needs that are best served with a thorough understanding of the software’s capabilities.

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Hospitals in the northeast are on high alert after cyber attackers recently launched phishing emails to send malware to healthcare executives. As a result, several hospitals in Massachusetts either shut down email systems or installed more aggressive email filters. There have also been recent reports of phishing emails targeting hospitals and healthcare providers in New York and New Jersey.

Hospital executives received an email on Oct. 29 looking for hospital coronavirus statistics, and claiming to be from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. However, the email was fraudulent and if one employee clicked on a targeted link, the entire hospital IT system could have been paralyzed.

The healthcare system has become one of the biggest victims when it comes to Cyber Security. According to HealthcareIT, the lack of Cyber Security awareness among healthcare organizations has translated into healthcare systems being exposed to hackers and phishing.

Cyber attacks are more frequent with the pandemic and the president election as cyber criminals try to exploit busy hospitals and administrators working from home. In fact, the FBI and government officials have warned of an imminent cybercrime threat to U.S. hospitals, putting patient care operations in jeopardy.

Without continual upgrades or the proper monitoring, Norton predicts that cybercrimes will cost the world $6 trillion a year by 2021, with healthcare among the most impacted.

While the solution to hire an internal CISO, seems obvious there is an overall shortage of security professionals across all sectors. This means an administrator, not a trained specialist, must maintain ongoing security training or the company simply won’t be able to keep up with the latest trends or threats.

Also, COVID-19 opened hospital doors and doctors’ offices to thousands of new patients in 2020 which increased the volume of data being processed daily. Telehealth provided the opportunity for healthcare professionals to still treat patients but from the safety of their homes, which also created new access points through the use of apps on phones, tablets, and desktops leaving sensitive information traveling back and forth between patients and medical professionals, often unsecured.

Training is not the only issue when preventing cyberattacks. Organizations need to be just as concerned about the age of their systems as they are about staying updated with their training.

Healthcare centers are often using older systems that are embedded within other devices and can’t be easily upgraded. Without the ability to properly upgrade equipment, healthcare centers are more vulnerable than ever.

Thrive’s team of experts provide customized solutions based on the specific needs of each healthcare organization, from a secure Cloud that meets the privacy needs of HIPAA and other regulations, or Cyber Security solutions that deliver comprehensive protection around patient data.

Thrive’s NextGen services provide each customer with a unique strategy to optimize and protect their business data and applications, including access to the latest Cloud and on-premise technologies, advanced Cyber Security best practices, advanced networking solutions, compliance, and governance assistance.

Interested in learning more? CONTACT US TODAY!

Thrive has released Hybrid Cloud Director to optimize multi-Cloud workloads.

CHALLENGE

Glass Jacobson Financial Group is a full-service financial services and accounting firm with 85 employees and two offices in the greater Baltimore and Washington, D.C. area. The firm’s management team was seeking an experienced and forward-thinking IT partner with a solid understanding of financial applications to manage its IT infrastructure, so the firm could utilize internal resources to focus more on serving clients and expanding business opportunities. In addition, the firm’s existing technology footprint did not match the increasing demands of its business. The financial group needed a scalable computing platform that could be accessible anywhere/anytime with increased security and the ability to leverage Microsoft 365’s entire stack of services.

SOLUTION

After assessing Glass Jacobson’s current IT infrastructure and discussing the firm’s business needs, the Thrive engineering team recommended a Cloud solution that consolidated servers, applications, email and security applications, all while reducing capital spending. Thrive’s fully-managed NextGen Cloud and security services also provided a remote access solution for all Glass Jacobson employees, as well as increased security by leveraging Thrive’s security stack and 2FA/MFA for all desktops and email.

RESULT

Glass Jacobson employees now leverage virtual Cloud desktops to securely access all 45 of the firms’ applications from any office, computing device or location – giving the team full flexibility to work remotely if needed. Team members no longer need to rely on internal resources to manage their onsite servers, as they can count on Thrive to provide 24/7 support and monitoring, which frees up more time to commit towards supporting their clients and growing their financial services and accounting business. The solution also adds the benefit of comprehensive Disaster Recovery, so the firm’s management team has the peace of mind that its files and applications are backed up and fully-accessible if a man-made or natural disaster were ever to strike.

“Thrive’s expert team quickly evaluated our needs and offered a modern cloud solution that turned our support technology into an asset, not a liability. Not only is our IT infrastructure able to keep up with our busy firm, our team is able to work in the cloud from anywhere – creating efficiencies and flexibility we were never able to realize before.” ~ Michael Cohen, CFO, Glass Jacobson

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

Enable your workforce to confidently return to on-site work by deploying Microsoft’s Return To The Workplace app. The app allows managers to view location readiness, conduct employee health screenings, and ultimately ensure a safe environment to return to. Return To The Workplace is available in the AppSource, and is deployed as a Dynamics 365 App within your environment.

The App includes four separate solutions, all of which are interconnected through Common Data Services (CDS) and are all essential to use together to make the solution effective. These four solutions include:

1. Location Readiness dashboard (Power BI)
2. Workplace Care Management dashboard (Power BI)
3. Facility Safety Management app (PowerApp)
4. Employee Return to the Workplace app (PowerApp)

Learn how to use the other sections of the solution in this Return to the Workplace Solution Overview.

Prerequisites

The Return To The Workplace app requires two prerequisites:

1. Global Administrator: Required to install the app and deploy it within an environment.
2. PowerApps Per-App Plan ($10/Month): Required to have at least 1 per app plan to run this app.

Using the App

The first screen gives users the options to get a day pass, look up the status of a facility, or register a guest for entering a facility. There is also an optional self-assessment to select how safe the employee feels to return to work (Yes, No, Neutral). The selection is saved inside a CDS entity and factored into the app’s pre-configured algorithms. Organizations can modify those algorithms with the PowerApp studio to customize how it behaves and/or handles the user’s inputs.

Day Passes

The Day Pass feature allows users to search for active facilities and select one they want to enter. Users can follow the below steps to book a day pass:

• Select Get Day Pass.
• Search for the facility they would like to enter.
• Select Book A Space.
• Select Accept to agree to take the Daily Health Check questionnaire which will be given upon arrival at the facility.
• Select I Agree to confirm that the users’ current health meets the requirements to enter. NOTE: Selecting I Disagree will deny the user from being able to book a space.
• The day pass is generated.
• If a user needs to cancel, they can do so by selecting Cancel.

When it comes time to enter the facility, the user must first complete the Daily Health Check to ensure they are healthy enough to enter the facility.

Then, the user must choose which facility they’d like to enter.

They are given a pass for the facility of choice.

Register A Guest

This feature allows users to generate a day pass for guests to enter facilities. To do so, a user should:

• Select Register A Guest.
• Fill out the guest info and select Next.
• Proceed with the same steps as Get Day Pass.

Look Up Status

This function allows users to view the current status of a facility. The status of facilities is pre-configured by ‘Phases’ inside the Facility Safety Management app.

To utilize the Look Up Status feature, follow these steps:

• Select Look Up Status from the home screen of the app.
• Search and select the facility in question.
• View the current Phase.
  • NOTE: If the facility is open and active, the Book A Space button will be enabled.

Safely Get Back To The Workplace

Give your team the ability to control their return to workplace operations with custom safety parameters set through the Microsoft Return to the Workplace app. Employees will have increased confidence in management’s ability to control potential risks and management will feel confident in their ability to control the return to work process and give some responsibility to the employees.

New service enables seamless migration of workloads between Cloud platforms for performance and cost optimization.

As cybercrime continues to rise, so does the growing list of misconceptions. The pandemic drove internet usage up by 50% compared to last year, and experts say until businesses prioritize Cyber Security, the number of cyberattacks will keep climbing.

Thrive’s CISO, Chip Gibbons, reviews the most common misconceptions about Cyber Security and debunks the myths.

Cyber Security – Misconception #1

When your system is compromised, you will notice the breach immediately.

Gibbons: A majority of the compromises are from issues that have been lingering for a while. A company could have a server on the internet that they didn’t either realize or know about or it hasn’t been patched in a long time. Those are the areas where you want to strengthen your Cyber Security. Its crucial businesses know where all their assets are, that they’re patched and they’re secure.

Cyber Security – Misconception #2

The bigger the company, the better the security.

Gibbons: Not necessarily. The size of the business doesn’t mean they’re better or worse at security. I’ve gone into enterprise businesses where I am frankly frightened and I’ve gone into small businesses where I am thinking, wow, they’re really good. It depends on at what level that company has prioritized security. It’s difficult because businesses don’t want to spend money right now but, in this instance, but they have to.

Cyber Security – Misconception #3

Cyber Security is not worth a huge investment.

Gibbons: A lot of businesses aren’t keeping up with their Cyber Security because perhaps years ago when they got an initial quote, they couldn’t afford it. But that’s not the case anymore. It is affordable and companies just need to do some research. A breach at a large company can cost millions of dollars and suddenly the two thousand dollars a month it would have cost to just update and monitor their Cyber Security does not seem so outrageous.

Cyber Security – Misconception 4

Viruses are the biggest cyber threat.

Gibbons:  Right now, in Cyber Security, we’re seeing a huge increase in account compromised types of attacks. Phishing, where cybercriminals attempt to collect confidential data through emails and websites, has always been somewhat of a big area for cybercriminals and it’s growing rapidly. Phishing was the number one cause of data breaches in 2019, and in 2020 phishing attacks have become even more sophisticated and highly targeted.

Cyber Security – Misconception 5

Company information can’t be as easily compromised with employees working from home.

Gibbons: It was a big change to move employees from the office to a remote setting and when it happened, it happened very quickly. But just because you send your employees home doesn’t mean they are secure. Cybercriminals are banking on a lack of security for remote workers so employers need to make sure employees have antivirus and all the standard security precautions they would in the office. During the COVID-19, a great deal of our time at Thrive has been spent working with clients to make sure that their end-users are safe, and they are connecting securely into their network.

Whether your company is in the office or remote, Thrive provides IT security solutions that deliver proven comprehensive protection for your business.

Click here to learn more about how our comprehensive cyber security plan can protect your vital data, SaaS applications, end-users, and critical infrastructure.

New service enables seamless migration of workloads between Cloud platforms for performance and cost optimization 

FOXBOROUGH, MA – October 22, 2020 — Thrive, a premier provider of NextGen Managed Services, announces the launch of Hybrid Cloud Director, powered by Abiquo‘s Hybrid Cloud Management platform. The offering enables Thrive clients to have clear visibility and management of their multi-Cloud workloads across ThriveCloud, Azure, AWS, and on-premise deployments, while seamlessly enabling migration of workloads between Cloud platforms for performance and cost optimization.

Hybrid Cloud Director enhances Thrive’s best-in-class NextGen Cloud Services, which include 24×7 monitoring, patching, management, and support of fully-customizable solutions across public and private Cloud platforms. Thrive partnered with Abiquo due to the rich feature set of their Hybrid Cloud Management platform, including extensive hypervisor and public Cloud integrations, as well as self-service automated capabilities for clients who prefer more direct control of their environments.

“Thrive’s new Hybrid Cloud Director leverages Abiquo’s true Hybrid Cloud Management capabilities that enable businesses to implement workflow approval controls, usage metering, reports and audit logs, VM templates (or Chef recipes), and interfaces to other back-office systems across virtualized and public Cloud services – all within a single portal,” comments Ian Finlay, CEO of Abiquo. “We recognize that the Thrive team was looking for a gold standard Hybrid Cloud Management solution to align with their existing Cloud offerings, and we are very pleased they partnered with us to bring this innovative platform to their clients.”

“Enterprises have increasingly adopted multi-Cloud Solutions to strategically utilize the best services from different Cloud providers to optimize performance and costs, and the recent mobilization of a remote workforce has accelerated these deployments,” states Rob Stephenson, CEO of Thrive. “With the launch of Hybrid Cloud Director, we are providing our clients with an easier way to manage these multi-Cloud deployments with a cutting-edge management tool that provides visibility and control of multiple workloads over a single pane of glass. This new tool is part of our ongoing dedication to deliver the latest Cloud technologies to ensure our clients are always ahead of the curve and leveraging technology to its fullest.”

To learn more about Thrive’s NextGen Cloud Services, visit thrivenextgen.com/services/cloud/

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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, visit thrivenextgen.com

Thrive: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram

MEDIA CONTACT:

Stephanie Farrell

Director of Corporate Marketing

617.952.0289 | sfarrell@thrivenextgen.com 

About Abiquo

Founded in 2006 with headquarters in London and offices in Europe, Abiquo is a leading developer of Hybrid Cloud management solutions.

Abiquo delivers cloud orchestration software for cloud service providers; Abiquo multicloud platform allows customers to quickly build and monetise cloud services, whilst managing hybrid, private or public cloud infrastructure from one intuitive portal.

Abiquo serves the complex needs of enterprises and service providers as they advance their virtualization implementations into cloud services, adding value through greater efficiency, visibility, simplicity, and control.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Anna Marí

Marketing and Communications Manager, Abiquo

anna.mari@abiquo.com

We are excited to join the Thrive family!

Thrive’s recent acquisition of Timlin Enterprises is a collaboration that’s proving to be a game changer in the Managed Services Provider (MSP) ecosystem – offering an enormous opportunity and value to our customers.

This partnership is powerful and there is no other collaboration like it positively impacting and shaping the MSP landscape. The Timlin solutions added to the deep Thrive portfolio of NextGen managed services becomes an innovative vehicle to collectively create a holistic road map for our customers, which includes strategic discussions about the “big picture” of technology and services our customers depend on to achieve their goals. We understand that IT exists to enable and support the goals of the business, but it is not the driver of technology. Instead, IT contains the resources to help deliver those capabilities effectively over time and adapt to the changing needs of the business and supporting platforms like Microsoft 365.

Prior to this acquisition, our customers often had to choose an IT services provider, but then realize that their vendor lacked the capabilities to provide the business productivity and collaboration support that Timlin is known for delivering. This collaboration enables a pivotal head start for our customers as Thrive is now able to explore our customers’ IT and business needs earlier in the process of aligning with their IT service provider.

With our strong focus on Life Sciences, it is even more apparent that the rapidly changing needs of our customers, as they grow through phases of programs, could create increasing strain on their IT services provider.  A larger organization like Thrive helps to solve these issues with their investment in technology solutions and access to more resources as the customers’ needs and complexity escalates.

Thrive has built an organization focused on the people, process, and technology necessary to execute on the best possible total client experience. With the addition of Timlin, Thrive will be able to help this industry operate more efficiently, from initial Discovery through Product Commercialization and beyond, by leveraging Microsoft 365 to improve processes.

This is a really a great position for our team to be in – the opportunity to get involved with the IT and business needs much earlier in the process as we align with our customers’ IT service provider.  A solution much greater than the sum of its’ parts.

Interested in learning more? CONTACT US TODAY!

While banks and financial firms have long been a core target for malicious online threats, Enterprise Talk notes that the global pandemic has created much more complexity within the Cyber Security threat landscape.

It is estimated, with the increase in fake domains, phishing scams, DDoS attacks, Cyber crime damages will cost the world $6 trillion annually by 2021, with the majority directed towards financial institutions and banks.

The pandemic has only added fuel to the fire. In response, the Financial Conduct Authority called for institutions to pay closer attention to information security and to increase monitoring guard endpoints, information, and critical processes such as network connections.

Many banks and financial organizations have invested millions into their Cyber Security efforts. However, they have failed to incorporate security platforms and instead relied on manual processes, which has translated into an increase in attacks. In addition, the added pressure to maintain compliance while trying to protect sensitive data from breaches continues to mount.

This increased cyber threat level to financial institutions has a new sense of urgency that can be difficult to navigate. How those financial businesses respond will determine their future, which is why it is important to turn to proven experts to mitigate their risks and help them become not only compliant, but give them the peace of mind that they are secure.

Thrive works with some of the largest hedge fund and financial services companies, as well as many of the top regional banks in the Northeast, providing them industry-leading Cyber Security services tailor-made for the FinTech industry.

Backed by an unmatched portfolio of Cyber Security services and an expert team with decades of financial services industry experience, Thrive provides businesses a comprehensive Cyber Security plan that covers vital data, SaaS applications, end-users, and critical infrastructure.

Interested in learning more? CONTACT US TODAY!