Not so long ago, the status quo for providing technology services to users would have looked something like this: a comms room within your physical place of work housing a top-to-bottom technology stack, typically comprised of complex networking, storage, and compute devices. This room would usually provide the backbone, applications, and data that is delivered directly to the user devices and workstations in that same physical place of work. This comms room would normally be replicated in its entirety to an offsite location, most commonly a data centre for continuity of service, and it would all be supported and managed by any combination of In-House Infrastructure, Development, and Support professionals. The entire ecosystem would come at a heavy cost both financially, and as a time and management burden.

One of the first major shifts in recent times came with the upheaval of this logical set-up, often referred to as “on-prem”, with a switch to removing the on-site comms room and shifting to an entirely Data Center-derived solution – what we know now as “private Cloud” or “co-lo”, depending on the set-type. This first major change removed the dependency on the physical place of work to host enterprise systems and data, made applications more readily available, and reduced proximity risk as it related to infrastructure and the physical place of work.

The second major shift derived from the global expansion and adoption of public Cloud and SaaS services. Until that point, technology outsourcing was very different. You most likely needed a data centre or two, you would have needed significant capital to invest in order to populate that data centre with technology hardware and circuits, and you would have needed significant expertise on staff in order to manage and support it.

The evolution of public Cloud and SaaS services has completely commoditized that same environment and while there are of course exceptions to this rule based on the type of services required, a service provider no longer requires a data centre or significant capital, and has a more linear and consolidated requirement for skills and expertise.

The internal team of professionals that would typically be on the company payroll has also moved to an outsourced function of the service provider, often rendering the entire technology function for all non-proprietary services a cost allocation that makes up part of an outsourced services budget. While this presents several other discussion and risk factors for debate, in the eyes of the customer it has been transformational. There are many more credible providers now available in the market and because they are all ultimately now selling a commodity, the choice for a customer is often a very simple one.

As complex as technology outsourcers like to think they are – and regardless of the value proposition they put to the market – the customer now bases their decision on two very simple factors:cost and service.

Although the former is of merit, it is the latter that holds the most value, as 5-star service would naturally command a higher cost than something suboptimal. While technology and all of the moving parts associated with complex networking, storage, server, and database estates used to be the value proposition (and it should be noted, is still the “behind the scenes” backbone of all public Cloud services), the shift to people, relationships, engagement, and service is now what sets providers apart. Customers are less concerned with the technology and far more concerned with the service and the people behind it.

Choosing your outsourced IT provider requires due diligence. Looking closely at a firm’s people, service, and processes is paramount to a successful partnership. Important things to look for in an ideal outsourced IT provider are:

• The speed in which matters are handled
• The manner in which incidents are handled,
• Familiarity with your industry’s needs, ideal tech stack, and users
• The overall professionalism of the team
• How the service provider manages talent acquisition and talent development
• How available your dedicated team is at a moment’s notice

You can buy the same commodity from a vast number of providers, but you choose to do business with your providers because of how they deliver, support, and manage it. With Thrive, you can feel empowered about your choice of outsourced IT provider. Partnering with us ensures that your business needs are understood and met with expert-driven recommendations. Additionally, Thrive provides 24×7 access to a dedicated team of experts that can help you meet your business goals and stay agile to potential threats. Contact Thrive today to learn more about how we can help your business, today.

The post Take Your Business to the Cloud: A New Era of Technology Outsourcing appeared first on Thrive.

The right IT partner will be able to make the connection between your business needs and your technology needs. Be realistic about what your business goals are and communicate them clearly to your IT partner, who should be able to create a solid strategy tailored to your alternative investment business.

DOWNLOAD Our Buyer’s Guide Today!

The post Buyer’s Guide to Selecting the Right IT Partner appeared first on Thrive.

For customers, implementing and managing infrastructure technology will continue to become more complex and challenging as firms transition to the Cloud to stay competitive while also facing a constant stream of issues around cybersecurity and network management.

Here’s what else is going on:

• According to a commissioned IDC study, nearly 55% of companies are using managed services for value-added services and to reduce security risks, which have multiplied since the pandemic’s outbreak as employees work remotely and business partners and customers rely entirely on electronic communication
• One survey by CompTIA showed that 50% of companies who engaged an MSP saved 1-24% in annual IT costs, 33% saved 25-49%, while 13% reported savings of more than 50%
• It is expected that 36% of the ballooning managed cloud services growth will originate from North America between 2022-2026, with the U.S. being the key driver. According to a 2022 report by Technavio, this increasing cloud technology adoption among end-users such as SMBs and large enterprises for automating their business process, including data processing and outsourcing and Internet services, will fuel the growth
• According Statista, the U.S. has the highest average total cost of a data breach at $9.44 million. In 2020, 25 percent of respondents worldwide reported the average hourly downtime cost of their servers as being between $301,000 and $400,000 U.S. dollars
• A 2021 study found that only 54 percent of respondents at U.S. businesses employing 500 or more staff have a documented, company-wide disaster recovery plan in place.
• Globally, there was a 141% jump in the number of records stolen in 2020 – reaching a total of 37 billion, as cybercriminals target more diverse data sources to sell and to use for extortion.

Keeping pace with the rate of technological change is hard enough, it is even harder to rationalize managing IT, digital transformation, and the cyber threat landscape on your own.

Whether you’re managing your IT in-house and need a boost, or are looking for a partner to manage it all – Thrive can help. Speak with one of our experts today to see how our bundled managed services packages can help your organization meet its NextGen IT goals.

The post What’s Happening Across Managed IT Services appeared first on Thrive.

The Cloud is helping financial and banking companies reduce costs, drive innovation, improve security and improve the customer experience. But that’s not all. The rolling thunder of the booming Cloud movement has resulted in companies, like Thrive, redefining the industry with an out-of-the-box approach to optimizing and securing tech infrastructure to meet company and consumer demand.

However, the sun doesn’t always shine in the Cloud. Financial services companies are prime targets for cyber attackers. Ransomware, threats and vulnerabilities are on the rise, which requires a secure, compliant and strategic game plan to take their business to new altitudes with trusted partners.

The Cloud era promises greater business agility, scalability, and responsiveness, but one size does not fit all when it comes to choosing a Cloud platform that best meets your business and financial objectives.

In financial services, performance, cost, security and regulatory demands drive decisions for where financial applications and data should reside. This often leads to some confusion around how financial regulatory frameworks apply to Cloud services and whose responsibility it is to meet those requirements. This is where Thrive shines. We design, build and support the ideal Cloud solution that meets your business needs and budget.

Take your financial services business Cloud services to new heights with Thrive.

1. Improve Security & Resiliency

Security is top of mind for financial services firms. That’s why Thrive delivers best-in-class security platforms to provide a multi-layer defense to protect data and end users from advanced threats. A fully redundant and resilient Cloud architecture by Thrive ensures your financial business operates at the highest levels of availability and performance. Thrive Cybersecurity solutions are secured by NextGen Unified Threat Management Firewall platforms, SOC/ SIEM and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) detection and mitigation. Thrive puts financial services companies at ease by continuously monitoring and auto-remediating access risks.

2. Enhance Compliance

Financial institutions are bound by stringent compliance and regulatory standards while operating their Cloud infrastructure and configuration. System and regulatory requirements demand that organizations log, monitor, analyze and report on their data as it passes through a complex network of IT infrastructure and applications. To ensure security and mitigate risk, as well as meet regulatory requirements, financial services organizations need a comprehensive Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM) solution. That’s why Thrive has developed SIEM-as-a-Service (SIEMaaS) that scales with budgets, can flexibly meet changing demands, and provides clear and actionable information.

Our Cloud engineering team has the ability to design, build, and support the Cloud solution that best meets the needs and regulatory requirements of your specific business. Thrive serves as a comprehensive tool to monitor and manage regulatory compliance with SEC, FINRA, SIPC, MSRB and NFA. Thrive’s private Cloud platform also delivers Enterprise-grade service from multiple SSAE 16 SOC 2 data centers.

3. Control Costs

We understand the uncertainty and costly infrastructure needed to keep financial services companies competitive and secure in the Cloud. Our team of experts eliminates the ambiguity and surprises around hardware, software and maintenance expenses. Thrive streamlines operating budgets, avoids expensive and cumbersome maintenance and supports renewal agreements. For example, Thrive ensures teams are using the right services without overlap, consistently tracks and right-sizes your cloud resources, avoids costly data breaches, implements productivity tools and customizes invoicing to eliminate unnecessary expenses.

4. Reduce IT Strain

Remote work and digital transformation have spiked the need for Cloud security professionals. However, financial companies are struggling to fill the demand for experienced and Cloud-proficient employees that can build, maintain, innovate and secure Cloud environments. The lack of available talent puts security at risk with inexperienced people overseeing Cloud security and handling threats and vulnerabilities. Solve your talent gap challenge by tapping into Thrive’s team of Cloud and security experts, trusted by top financial organizations, including large hedge funds, financial services companies and regional banks.

5. Gain More Flexibility and Visibility

Thrive’s NextGen Cloud services allow financial services companies to access applications seamlessly and securely from anywhere. Organizations can easily add or remove resources as their business requirements change. With Thrive’s multiple Cloud platforms, financial customers can optimize performance and cost – all managed by Thrive’s expert team of Cloud engineers.

As organizations deploy multi-Cloud infrastructure, gaining governance over all components becomes even more challenging. Thrive delivers a comprehensive Cloud security solution with the required visibility for all of your Cloud operations, compliance and workflow into one single pane.

Click here to contact the Thrive team today to solve and manage the customized Cloud needs of your financial services organization.

The post 5 Ways Thrive Helps the Financial Industry Shine in the Cloud appeared first on Thrive.

The Herald-Tribune recognized Thrive as one of the 2022 Top Workplaces. The award celebrates employers that are retaining and attracting talent amid COVID-19-related workplace challenges.

While Thrive is experiencing record-breaking growth via acquisitions, we’ve done so with an unwavering focus to prioritize our team and work culture. Thrive’s employee headcount has grown 200% since 2001 with more than 1,000 employees around the world.

Our success in becoming the leading technology provider delivering end-to-end managed services and unmatched expertise to drive secure digital transformation is a result of our collaborative team environment and dedicated employees.

Thrive places a strong value on employee work-life balance and offers comprehensive benefits, including a 401k plan and a full selection of health insurance plans to choose from, as well as paid holiday and vacation time.

We also strive to strengthen our work culture by hosting company outings and team-building activities to encourage office camaraderie.

The heart of the Top Workplaces program is the employee survey results which are used to determine which employers make the Top Workplaces list.

Please click here to see all the 2022 Herald-Tribune Top Workplaces winners.

We’re also hiring! Click here to view our open positions and apply today.

The post Thrive Named a Top 2022 Workplaces Winner by Herald-Tribune appeared first on Thrive.

The list represents a unique look at the most successful private companies with significant revenue growth from 2018 to 2021. The companies on the 2022 Inc. 5000 represent a new group of fast-growing private businesses that have demonstrated success amid COVID-19-related challenges. Companies such as Facebook, Chobani, Under Armour, Microsoft, and many other well-known brands gained their first national exposure as honorees on the Inc. 5000.

Thrive’s inclusion on the Inc. 5000 list comes at a significant time of growth for our company. Thrive’s employee headcount has grown 200% since January 2001 with more than 1,000 employees around the world. Through acquisitions and internal growth, Thrive has cemented its global position as a leading technology provider delivering end-to-end managed services and unmatched expertise to drive secure digital transformation.

To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2018. Other requirements include being based in the United States and having a minimum revenue of $100,000 in 2018 and $2 million in 2021.

Here’s a look at Thrive’s climb on the Inc. 5000 list over the years:

• 2017 – No. 3,413
• 2018 – No. 3,248
• 2019 – No. 1,222
• 2020 – No. 2,764
• 2021 – No. 3,037
• 2022 – No. 2,474

Congratulations to all those recognized! The complete Inc. 5000 list is now available here.

The post Thrive Named to 2022 Inc. 5000 List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies appeared first on Thrive.

Let’s go over some of the options that you must consider.

Businesses Have Three Options for their IT Support

A business in need of maintenance and support services for its information technology systems can approach this need in three different ways:

An In-House Team

If your business has a team member or a department that works on the technology that your operations rely on, you rely on in-house IT resources.

A Break/Fix Provider

These IT companies are those that are called upon to resolve existing IT issues and repair needs.

A Managed Service Provider

These IT companies work with businesses on an ongoing basis to assist them with their IT, proactively dealing with potential issues rather than waiting for them to arise.

In terms of these options, a business that utilizes an in-house team isn’t restricted to using just those resources, either. Many businesses supplement their internal resources by outsourcing some of their IT responsibilities to one of the other options. Otherwise, outsourcing all of the IT needs that a business has is a common tactic for businesses (particularly those too small to dedicate an employee to their technology maintenance).

However, the options for outsourcing aren’t exactly equal. There are a variety of reasons that working with a managed service provider (MSP for short) is the better call. Now, are we biased in saying that? Slightly—but that doesn’t mean we’re wrong.

Why Working with an MSP is the Better Business Decision for Your Technology

Let’s run through the scenarios surrounding break/fix IT services and the experience to be had working with an MSP when a critical piece of business technology goes on the fritz.

Business A relies on a break/fix provider for its IT needs. One day, a few of the business’ workstations suddenly can’t connect to the server, leaving many of Business A’s employees stranded. To solve the problem, Business A reaches out to its provider. Unfortunately, their IT provider isn’t able to send someone out to their location for a few hours—or potentially, days—and when the technician does arrive, it takes a few additional hours to diagnose and correct the issue. Meanwhile, money goes out the door every hour Business A’s IT is unavailable, both in terms of lost productivity and in payroll. Business A is then on the hook for the repair costs which, depending on how long the issue takes to resolve, could be quite substantial.

Business B, on the other hand, relies on an MSP like Thrive for assistance with its technology, paying each month for services scaled to its needs. By utilizing modern remote monitoring and maintenance tools, the MSP is able to remotely keep an eye on Business B’s infrastructure. As a result, issues are caught early or are mitigated proactively through these remote capabilities, before they create the expenses that accompany downtime. Business B can therefore keep their IT in line while still maintaining their budget while helping to ensure their profitability.

Which would you rather be, Business A or B?

Working with us can help ensure that you’re more like the latter. Find out more about our services by contacting us today.

The post Your Choice of IT Support Makes a Huge Difference appeared first on Thrive.

Money Isn’t All the Same

When it comes to breaking down your business’ finances, there is more than one way to categorize them. Here is how you might typically look at investments for your company:

• Capital expenditures: A capital expenditure is one that is typically quite high, and it is usually a one-time investment that can be used for many years to come. That said, it’s not really planned or budgeted for (although it should be).
• Fixed-expense expenditures: These are predictable expenses for something which expires in the short term. For example, you might pay for advertisements or Software as a Service. The price will be independent of your sales, and the intent is usually to result in a sale down the line.
• Costs of goods sold (COGS) expenditures: These expenses are directed proportionally to the revenue your business generates; the higher your COGS, the more money you are bringing in. This assumes that the ratios between COGS and revenue are low.

How These Expenses Relate to the Cloud

If we assume that you need a new data center, you might look at options for building one on-premises. While doing so might incur large sums of capital expenditures, it’s a one-time expense for its construction and maintenance, along with the costs associated with its upkeep. On the other hand, if you were to outsource management of a cloud solution to a managed service provider, it would be a fixed-expense model, as you are paying for a monthly fee that can be terminated or adjusted at any time as you see fit. Basically, you have to look at it in terms of what your organization wants and needs, particularly if you think flexibility and scalability will play into your cloud solution in the future.

Thrive can help your organization make these tough calls regarding the cloud. To learn more about what we can do for your business, contact us today.

The post Cloud Technology Makes Critical IT More Affordable appeared first on Thrive.

Figure Out What All Potential Threats Look Like

The first step toward figuring out your business’ continuity plan is to consider the types of disasters you will be facing. This means that you need to perform an analysis of all the potential threats your organization could face, no matter how unlikely they might seem. Granted, you should lend more credence to the most likely of disasters, but you can’t rule anything out. Otherwise, you could be ignoring a glaring hole in your plan.

Basically, we’re not telling you to plan for when an asteroid levels your office, but we are telling you to have a strategy in place to account for physical damage or power loss to your office. Your business continuity plan should be specific enough to address the most likely issues you’ll face, but flexible enough to account for other less likely incidents, too.

Determine Your Business’ Benchmarks

No matter the disaster, your organization will have critical data and systems that need to be recovered. It’s up to you to determine what they are and how you will prioritize them. This will help you when it comes to responding to these disasters.

What it boils down to is knowing your various systems’ maximum tolerable downtime, or MTD. This is how long a system can remain down before permanent damage is done to your business. Knowing this number gives you more flexibility and room for making important decisions in the event of a disaster. Your MTD can also help to inform your RTO and RPO, or your recovery time objective and recovery point objective, respectively. These metrics help you better prepare for a disaster by establishing how often a backup should be taken and how long it will take for you to restore said backup.

Test, Revise, and Test Your Plan Again

Your disaster recovery solution will only be successful if you have multiple people working in tandem to ensure that it happens regularly and effectively. Otherwise, if the disaster renders that one person responsible for the strategy unavailable, you’ll be left in dire straits. On the other side of things, the more people involved means more can get done, and the work is easier to achieve.

This is why it helps to have a hierarchy of people responsible for various parts of your plan; if one key person is unable to pull off the full plan, then at least certain other aspects of your continuity strategy will go off without a hitch. Furthermore, these processes should be written out to make them as accessible and easy-to-follow as possible.

After you have your continuity plan mapped out, you should routinely test it to make sure that it works properly. This will help you in the event you actually need to use it, as you can be confident that the plan works as it should. It will also help you determine where weaknesses in your strategy lie.

Nobody Likes to Think About Business Disasters, But They Need to Be Anticipated

At Thrive, we have plenty of recommendations to provide for your business’ continuity plan, so be sure to contact us for more information and tips!

The post How to Design Effective Recovery Strategies appeared first on Thrive.

Digital Transformation is Here to Stay

The pandemic forced the hands of businesses all over the world, forcing them to adopt new technology solutions in response to the rapidly changing global situation. There are no signs which indicate that this digital transformation is slowing down, as businesses are more focused than ever on optimizing their processes with what was previously seen as a taboo working environment, i.e. remote technology.

Cybersecurity is More Important Than Ever

You can’t go on the Internet or turn on the news without seeing a new devastating cyberattack against a major business or government entity. A 2022 study from Evanta found that cybersecurity is the number one priority for CIOs, and considering the number of remote and hybrid workers out there, we’re not surprised.

Taking Full Advantage of the Cloud

The cloud is the second largest growing spending category for businesses, at least according to the Evanta study; 54 percent of businesses are investing in cloud solutions. Businesses want the freedom and agility that comes with cloud infrastructure, making it one of the highest priorities and biggest challenges facing organizations today.

Supply Chain Problems Linger

Hardware and other technical components are harder than ever to get, particularly because of disrupted supply chains as a result of the pandemic and conflict between Russia and Ukraine. We like to recommend that businesses plan ahead with their technology acquisition by planning out a hardware refresh cycle and IT roadmap.

Talent Acquisition is Difficult

Paying to hire in-house IT workers can be expensive, especially if you want IT workers who know what they are doing and have the skills required to keep your business technology running. Unfortunately, many small businesses don’t have the resources to pay top dollar for IT talent.

Managed Services Can Solve a Lot of These Issues

The closest thing you can get to a silver bullet for all your technology problems is to work with a provider like Thrive. Our trusted technicians have the know-how to help your organization overcome any technology-related obstacle, from technology acquisition to management to maintenance and beyond. To learn more about what we can do for your business, contact us today.

The post Prevalent IT Challenges You Need to Consider appeared first on Thrive.