CrossCountry Consulting is a leading provider of specialized finance, operations and technology advisory services. Founded in 2011, the firm is a trusted advisor to Fortune 500 companies, emerging growth market leaders and private equity sponsors, creating value through accounting and risk, technology-enabled transformation and transaction solutions. It has grown from around 300 people to more than 1,200, with offices in cities across the U.S. and internationally in Dublin, Singapore and the UK, and it prioritizes a culture-first approach.

When Adam Fowler joined CrossCountry Consulting in late 2021, the firm was scaling fast. It had roughly 600-700 people when he started, up from 300 a year earlier, and it has since passed 1,200. The workforce is global and technology-reliant, spread across U.S. cities and offices in Dublin, Singapore and the UK.

Fowler had to support that growth with a lean internal IT team of just himself and one colleague. Building out a full internal team was not in the budget and did not have leadership buy-in, and his previous experience with managed service providers at other firms had left him skeptical. The choice was to make the relationship with the firm's MSP work or attempt something without backing.

The stakes went beyond keeping the lights on. Internal frustration with IT support was high when Fowler started, and the firm's CFO later initiated an RFP that brought in three competing providers. Any partner would have to earn its place on merit, match the firm's culture-first philosophy and keep pace as needs grew more complex with each new office and each new security requirement.

Thrive manages CrossCountry Consulting's day-to-day IT: help desk support, systems administration and security oversight, alongside cloud, Microsoft 365, IT automation, managed infrastructure and advisory services. Fowler describes the arrangement as a partnership rather than a contract, one in which disagreements are worked through together and neither side dictates to the other.

That partnership was tested when the CFO's RFP brought in three competing providers. Fowler wanted Thrive to win, but on merit. Thrive's pricing was fair, its responses were thorough and it clearly understood the firm; in Fowler's words, it blew the doors off the competition.

As the firm expanded across the U.S. and into Dublin, Singapore and the UK, infrastructure and logistics became more pressing. Thrive proposed a workstation deployment center (WDC) designed to streamline global device shipping and management. Ahead of the Windows 10 retirement deadline, 400 laptops were ordered and staged, ready to deploy anywhere, an initiative Thrive raised without being asked.

Thrive also supports Microsoft Copilot readiness, tests new security platforms and makes sure help desk personnel align with CrossCountry's culture. Fowler works with a named Account Manager, Client Success Manager, Advisory team and support POD, and says the arrangement works like the internal team he had at his previous job of more than 12 years.

• Two-person internal IT team supports a workforce that has grown past 1,200 across the U.S., Dublin, Singapore and the UK
• Thrive won the CFO's competitive RFP against three providers on fair pricing, thorough responses and understanding of the firm
• Workstation deployment center streamlines global device shipping; 400 laptops staged ahead of the Windows 10 retirement deadline
• Help desk, systems administration and security oversight handled day to day by Thrive
• Microsoft Copilot readiness and new security platform testing supported by Thrive
• Leadership now cites Thrive as one of the firm's strongest partners, reversing earlier frustration with IT support