Southern Spring & Stamping (SSS) is a Florida-based manufacturer with a 70-year history and a reputation for quality, service and craftsmanship. It also operates a satellite location in North Carolina. For decades its Chief Financial Officer, Lloyd Weed, a CPA by trade, managed both financial and IT responsibilities, including writing early custom business software from scratch. The company is working toward CMMC compliance.

For decades, Southern Spring & Stamping ran its technology the way many long-established manufacturers do: through one trusted person. The company's Chief Financial Officer, a CPA by trade, managed both financial and IT responsibilities, an impressive feat that included writing early custom business software from scratch. As the business grew and cybersecurity risks escalated, that model reached its limits.

SSS had worked with a small, local IT provider, but over time it became clear the arrangement left the company too exposed to modern cyber risks. In the CFO's words, the company had limited defenses; it just had not been found yet. The company was not simply looking for better tech support. It needed a strategic partner that could guide it toward CMMC compliance, formalize its IT operations and relieve the CFO of his hands-on role after 45 years of service.

Continuity was a further concern. When the Florida site lost power or connectivity, including during hurricanes, the satellite location in North Carolina was affected as well, and institutional knowledge gathered over many years remained essential to keeping the company running.

SSS selected Thrive as its new managed service provider (MSP) and began a thorough, methodical transition. The CFO describes it as a slow ramp-up, but very intentional, dedicated and detailed; when the environment went live, there were no pending issues waiting to be resolved.

From the outset, Thrive helped identify and close critical security gaps as part of the company's work toward CMMC compliance. A virtual CISO (vCISO) and technical advisors work with SSS leadership each week to develop and refine the processes, policies and documentation needed to support and maintain certification. Alongside the compliance program, SSS relies on Thrive for managed networking, cloud infrastructure, end user support and security, workstation patching, penetration testing and incident response, with Microsoft 365, backup, disaster recovery and IT automation in the service mix.

Thrive's approach is proactive rather than reactive: simulated phishing attacks, formalized disaster recovery plans and ongoing attention to vulnerabilities and system reliability, with the aim of anticipating problems before they disrupt the business.

As part of the modernization, SSS moved to the cloud. Users noticed no change except a tremendous increase in speed, and many infrastructure concerns previously handled in house disappeared. With cloud-based systems and VoIP phones supported by Thrive, services now reroute automatically if the Florida site loses power or connectivity, so the North Carolina location keeps working and customers never know there has been an issue.

• Critical security gaps identified and closed as part of the path to CMMC compliance
• Weekly vCISO and technical advisor sessions produce the processes, policies and documentation needed for certification
• Cloud migration delivered a tremendous speed increase with no disruption noticed by users
• Operations stay stable through hurricanes, with services rerouting automatically between the Florida and North Carolina sites
• User setup, configuration, tickets, patching and monitoring now handled externally, freeing the CFO after 45 years of hands-on IT
• Hardened, standardized IT environment with built-in resilience and redundancy