Thrive CTO on Building a Managed AI Services Offering

Thrive calls itself a next-gen global technology outsourcing provider serving mid-market clients through a variety of security, cloud, and platform-based managed services. The company today announced a new service offering for clients seeking help with AI adoption.

Ahead of the launch, we spoke with Thrive CTO Michael Gray about the new offering and how mid-market organizations can find lasting success with AI deployments.

Enabling mid-market organizations to adopt GenAI at scale

The new offering focuses on the entire timeline of an organization, encompassing the discovery, implementation, and utilization of GenAI tooling, and was developed by the firm to address the growing demand in its client base for deliberate and dedicated AI support.

Key features of this new offering include:

• Use Case Identification: Through careful discussions about their business and industry, Thrive will coach customers in identifying the best use cases to drive the most impact.
• Data Assessment: Thrive ensures that organizations have the proper data infrastructure and quality to support AI initiatives.
• Security Implementation: Thrive has long been a leader in providing NextGen cybersecurity services. With its deep market intelligence and 24/7/365 monitoring, Thrive is bringing its security industry leadership to these new AI services, ensuring that data is protected and well-governed, and that AI is protected from malicious actors.
• AI Policy & Governance: Informed on the latest compliance requirements and based on industry best practices, Thrive’s team of experts will work with customers to determine how, when, and where AI is used within their business and ensure everyone follows the policy.
• Employee Training: Thrive’s Managed AI experts will train employees on how to utilize the tools at their disposal, the predetermined use cases the business has agreed upon, and policies and best practices to ensure they are as productive as possible without compromising the company’s security.

“Our mission has always been to connect our customers with the right technology and make it work for them and their customers,” Gray said. 

“The accessibility of AI is totally different from any of the previous tech waves,” Gray added. “With AI, we don’t really need to teach our customers what AI is, because at a consumer level, they’re already using it and familiar with it. What we realized was that we needed to connect business value to something they were already using.”

How the services provider built a new managed services model around AI-related needs

Thrive offers well-established vCISO services, as well as advisory, consulting, project implementation, and solution architect services, along with a best-in-class subscription-based technology platform to its clients. Gray says the company applied learnings from its experience in building its security portfolio to this AI-focused endeavor.

“One of the best ways to learn lessons is by failing,” Gray said. “We were building our security practice in 2016, and at that point, no one really knew where security as a whole was going, necessarily. We learned then that the way to build for lasting success is not to grab a few people in the company and just give them a little more work. We were very deliberate this time around to build this offering for the future.”

Gray says Thrive knew it needed to establish a dedicated AI team of experts within the company before launching the offering, ensuring they were ready to meet any level of demand once the services were formally available.

“Many businesses recognize the necessity of adopting AI to remain competitive, yet numerous mid-sized companies struggle with where to begin or lack the resources to implement this technology strategically and securely,” said Bill McLaughlin, CEO of Thrive, in a statement. “At Thrive, we are committed to ensuring our customers are not left behind, understanding that AI can significantly impact their business. Developing our Managed AI Services offering was a strategic decision and investment, enabling our customers to receive the support they need to lead in adoption while benefiting from the exceptional service and substantial ROI they expect from Thrive.”

How Gray sees the AI market maturing as more organizations leverage emerging tech

Gray says Thrive has built managed services for organizations of all AI maturity levels, including those that are already embracing the technology in certain aspects of their business.

“We see businesses on two ends of a spectrum and everywhere in between. Some are in a ‘run for the hills, lock everything down, no one’s allowed to use it’ space because they’re concerned about risks, and others are out in the wild wild west and every employee has something different and nothing’s controlled,” Gray said. “We want to be able to meet both of those organizations where they are and ensure they’re built for success.”

The same logic applies to clients who are already leveraging AI but who have focused their efforts on one or two key areas. Gray warns organizations that doing that leaves other parts of the business out of the opportunities presented by AI adoption.

“Some of our clients are more advanced in this space, for sure, but many of them have focused AI solely on core operations, and other teams are being left behind. We can still help those clients bring AI to more of their business in a thoughtful and financially efficient way,” said Gray. “Ultimately, if a customer is having a conversation about AI, we want to be there. It’s, at minimum, a learning opportunity for us.”

He also notes that the pace of innovation in the AI space is significantly faster than that of previous technologies, and he acknowledges that clients may feel overwhelmed by the rapid rate of change. 

Thrive has also tried to mitigate that pace by focusing on building an offering that can be applied to AI regardless of how the individual solutions on the market evolve.

“We are following a true north and sticking to a plan, and that allows us to move past the buzz and focus on what we can deliver,” Gray said. “I want to see AI through the hype cycle and get to the point where it becomes the norm in our client base.”