Staples launches Staples Network Services by Thrive

 

September 24, 2008 – Staples has announced the launch of Staples Network Services by Thrive, a new offering from Staples that provides small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with affordable access to a full range of IT services.

"Staples vision is to provide everything that small businesses need and technology is part of what [they] need today to be functional. [Staples Network Services by Thrive] is another business line in our evolution to fulfill that vision," said Jim Lippie, president of Staples Network Service by Thrive.

The company will initially offer three distinct services: Thrive Protect, Thrive Onsite and Thrive Online Backup.

Thrive Protect offers organizations everything they need to keep their IT infrastructure safe and operational, including anti-spam service to filter out unwanted e-mail messages and maintain a manageable volume of e-mail; anti-virus protection to ensure workstations and servers are inoculated against potential threats; anti-spyware technology to protect PCs from dangerous malware; patch management to keep all systems up-to-date and in sync; systems and network monitoring that ensures maximum availability and quickly detect and resolve any potential issues; remote support to answer users  routine questions and provide helpdesk support; and cross platform and open source support of Windows, Apple (MacOS X and MacOS X Server), and Linux solutions, providing seamless integration across disparate computing platforms.

Thrive Onsite extends the Thrive Protect service by providing organizations with their own dedicated team of IT engineers who, on a regular basis, work on-site to perform services that cannot be done remotely, and to provide in-person support to end-users. Onsite support is provided by Thrive employees or via OnForce, which is a market place for IT contractors that does overflow assistance and act as a Thrive employee to solve issues for them. However, Lippie said that 95 per cent of issues can be solved remotely.

Thrive Online Backup gives SMBs enterprise-class data protection services by backing up their systems, applications and digital information to a secure remote facility, automatically and in real time. In doing so, businesses get strong protection against all forms of data loss, including hard drive crashes, accidental deletion, natural disaster, theft and vandalism.

Lippie said that Staples has partnered up with EMC to provide the data warehousing side at their sites. Customer data will be housed in multiple locations throughout the United States to offer redundancy.

He added that what differentiates this service from others is that it is a proactive model rather than a reactive model.

"[Our] sole function is to make sure our customers' IT runs seamlessly and we are leveraging best business practices to give time back to all their employees so they don't have to worry about IT," explained Lippie.

The Staples Network Services by Thrive is made up of 84 experienced IT professionals that will help small businesses from 20 employees to 250 employees with their IT issues.

"Instead of hiring internal IT, we can come in and handle that function for them on an outsourced basis," Lippie said.

Thrive Onsite and Thrive Protect will initially be available in the Boston and Atlanta areas, where Staples has a strong presence. Support in other major metropolitan areas will follow in the next few years.

"Staples wants to make sure we have the right level of service and we are not overextending ourselves where the quality will then go down," explained Lippie.

The only service available to regions outside Boston and Atlanta is the Thrive Online Backup and users will be able access a free 60-day trial at www.staples.com.

John Webster, principal IT advisor, with Illuminata Inc., said that Staples already has an established pattern of small businesses going to them for their small business needs that the Staples Network Services by Thrive is a good add-on to that.

"Small businesses have to be in control of their IT department and I think as we are heading into a recession and hiring staff is not necessarily going to be an option, an outsource service is going to look attractive in a difficult economy," he added

 

 

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