Manufacturing
Encouraging Growth: How Shrieve Cleared Acquisition Backlog with Thrive
Shrieve is a leading value-added distributor of specialty and commodity chemicals. Placing an emphasis on the people and relationships, they do more than buy and sell chemicals; they seek out the market inefficiencies that make their customers’ and suppliers’ jobs difficult. When they were experiencing challenges of their own, they knew they needed to make a change.
Debora Yawn, IT Operations Manager at Shrieve, brings a unique perspective to her role. She previously worked at a 25-person company where she single-handedly managed all IT operations and more. “The only thing I didn’t do was drive a forklift,” she jokes. At Shrieve, a PE-backed organization with a global growth strategy, Debora saw both significant challenges and plentiful opportunities to reshape how IT operations could support aggressive acquisition timelines.
The Challenge: A Backlog of Acquisitions & Lack of Visibility
When Debora joined Shrieve, there were three acquisitions sitting in an onboarding backlog, waiting for the proper resources to get them over the integration finish line. Their existing Managed Service Provider (MSP) couldn’t deliver the level and scope of global support needed to move the needle. “The group we were using was local and had limited staffing. The number of hours required to complete a project was excessive,” Debora explains. “It just wasn’t working for us.”
Beyond operational constraints, their Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP), a separate vendor, outsourced security monitoring to a third party, leaving the organization completely blind. “We had no eyes on the glass,” Debora recalls. “We couldn’t access any of the tools. We couldn’t see anything.” With zero visibility into their security posture and acquisitions in limbo, Shrieve needed partners capable of transparent, global support, advisory services, and dependable integration practices.
After a consultant-led vetting process, Shrieve was slightly leaning toward a Thrive competitor until a critical incident revealed a vital truth. “Something came up before we signed the contract,” Debora shares. “We reached out to them and got no response.” That single moment changed everything. Debora made the call, “I really like this group [Thrive], so let’s consolidate both MSP and MSSP services with one provider.” For a two-person IT team that was stretched thin, having one trusted partner instead of managing two separate vendors made sense. Thrive’s presence in the same global geographies as Shrieve made the partnership choice even more logical.
The Solution: Unified Partnership with Strategic Advisory
Thrive deployed both MSP and MSSP services, completing a full onboarding well ahead of schedule, offering a dramatic improvement from Shrieve’s previous outsourcing experience. “Migrating to Thrive was like night and day. We had everything totally onboarded within four months. I was shocked that we were able to get it done so quickly, considering everything that we had to undo, redo, and put in place,” remembers Debora.
Beyond infrastructure, Shrieve signed up for advisory services with the combination of a virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO) and a virtual Chief Information Officer (vCIO). Connecting weekly with their vCISO, Debora formalized security policies, employee-facing procedures, and incident response plans, moving from informal notes to documented, audit-ready standards. “When I started working with our vCISO, it opened my eyes a lot, especially going through the CIS framework. We have our incident response plan up to date, and we’re preparing to do a tabletop exercise against it,” says Debora. Monthly strategic planning meetings with their vCIO keep projects on track and identify new ways to support company growth.
Shrieve also leverages Thrive’s TransformIT portal, dramatically reducing ticket resolution time and enabling comprehensive reporting to leadership. “Tickets that might have taken hours now get assigned to a technician in 15 to 20 minutes,” Debora notes. She can also easily pull monthly matrices for her direct manager and the C-suite, providing real-time visibility into IT and enterprise application support performance – a capability that was impossible with the previous provider. Thrive’s latest TransformIT update includes AI automation and workflows which continue to deliver high touch service and strategic guidance organizations like Shrieve need to maximize their IT investments.
The Impact: From Backlog to Momentum
In the first year with Thrive, Shrieve successfully onboarded three of four backlogged acquisitions. Knowing they have a partner they trust, they can confidently move forward with additional acquisitions. What was once a bottleneck for the business is now a smooth, predictable process.
Internal adoption of Thrive’s services has also exceeded expectations. “Our team always want fast service,” Deboraora observes. “They think walking into the IT office is the quickest way to get support, but it isn’t always, which is why we encourage use of the TransformIT portal.” User engagement and satisfaction metrics tell the story – people are choosing the portal and reaching out to Thrive because they can count on timely solutions.
Most importantly, Debora emphasizes the quality of the partnership itself. “I can go to anyone on my team at Thrive and tell them, ‘This is not working for me. I need this to change,’ and they will find a way to make whatever it is better.” She continues, “I haven’t met anyone at Thrive that I gives me the feeling of ‘I can’t work with this person.’ On a personal level, that’s great for me because I don’t dread having that meeting or having that conversation because I know I can be open and upfront.”
Debora is excited about what the future holds. She reflects on the value of Thrive understanding first-hand the demands of PE-backed organizations, “I know that Thrive is always evolving their internal teams and processes to accommodate their growth, as well as that of clients like us in private equity, so that’s been great.” For that previously overwhelmed two-person IT team supporting a global growth trajectory, this true partnership has become the difference between struggling to keep pace and scaling with confidence.
“We encourage the use of TransformIT, where tickets are assigned to a technician in under 15 minutes. Metrics show our people go to Thrive because they know they can count on a quick, accurate response.”- Debora Yawn, IT Operations Manager, Shrieve
About Thrive
Thrive is a NextGen global technology outsourcing provider that empowers small and mid-market organizations to transform their technology into a strategic advantage. Offering a breadth of services from AI and cybersecurity to cloud, compliance, and traditional MSP/MSSP solutions, Thrive’s team of seasoned experts develop strategies that standardize, scale, and automate technology to achieve outsized ROI. From advisory services to a 24×7×365 SOC and NOC, Thrive provides end-to-end IT and cybersecurity management so clients can focus on innovation and growth. With Thrive, your business is always supported and always secure. Learn more at www.thrivenextgen.com or follow us on LinkedIn.