Thrive unveils new brand, team members, significant investment, innovation and new direction
Fastest growing modern-day learning management system, Thrive, has unveiled a new direction at its annual Thrive Live conference. The business, which has seen unparalleled successes since launching in 2019, will increase investment in the business three-fold as the business sets a new roadmap and milestones, a brand-new look, new content offering and innovation for the business.
Over the last 12 months, Thrive has seen a 36% rapid growth in its customer base, as global enterprise clients such as Frasers Group, Sysco and Volvo have come on board, joining over 350 innovative companies such as Vitality, Vodafone, Sky, The Ordinary and Dunelm who all trust Thrive to power their people’s development. The exponential growth has allowed the business to invest in its people and product development.
Business growth has allowed Thrive to increase its Customer Operations team by over 300%, enabling the team to continue to deliver on its promise of 24-hour support – one of the key contributing reasons to Thrive’s 99% customer renewal rate and 99% customer satisfaction score.
What’s more, alongside internal recruitment, Thrive has focused on recruiting top talent from the industry to ensure all team members remain supported during this exciting period. This includes key appointments such as Ian Bromwich as Chief Technical Officer, joining with 20+ years of experience at global businesses including HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group. This comes alongside welcoming employees from around the globe as it sets its sights on becoming a truly global business, with customers in New Hampshire, Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts and Missouri, as well as Toronto, New South Wales, and the Nordics.
Never standing still, since launching one of the first-ever LXPs, Thrive has continued to evolve the way it operates and the service it can offer. Working hand-in-hand with clients, Thrive has been able to pave the way in learning innovation, building new functions for a truly all-in-one solution which encapsulates everything from LMS to skills development to internal communications.
At today's Thrive Live, the team has announced all-new product development and a roadmap as it continues to be one of the most innovative and influential players in this space, dedicated to supporting modern organisations with consolidating their tech stack into one ultimate solution.
Finally, with a new direction comes an all-new look for Thrive as they mark what will become a key moment in the company timeline. Stepping away from the bold colour palette of the past, Thrive welcomes a new, refined look and feel.
Sean Reddington, CEO of Thrive, comments:
“Back in 2019, we set out to change people’s perception of workplace learning through intuitive and Instagram-inspired experiences. I am incredibly proud of where we have arrived today – replacing well-established Learning Platforms for global organisations in over 50 countries and consolidating their tech stack into an all-in-one solution.
“Today marks a huge milestone as we not only announce the launch of Thrive’s new user-interface which includes the ability to enable dark mode across the entire Learning Platform. But it’s with this fresh new look that sparked a complete overhaul. At this point in our growth journey, it’s all about maturity. We’ll never forget where we came from and at the heart of Thrive is the same principles, people (lots of who we started with 5 years ago) and heart. But it’s time for something new.
“Last but not least, we’ve listened to our customers who, as part of their wrap-around service, are requesting more sector-specific titles relevant to the world they operate in. When collaborating with customers such as Homebase, Dudley Council and DPD, it clicked; to create a collection of Sector Suites that are completely personalised to each industry. This new, consolidated approach to Content will see us keep our Core Content library, full of skills for work and life, then enable us to give customers a new subscription offering that unlocks more personalisation, relevant compliance topics and Subject Matter Experts.”
“With investment, innovation and a roster of incredible new talent being injected into the business, we’re able to embark on an exciting new chapter of innovation, evolution and growth. After such an incredible few years, we’re ready to elevate Thrive to the next level and I can’t wait for you to see the new us in action.”
A brand new look For Thrive
At Thrive Live, the business will be saying goodbye to its well-known bold colour palette and instead welcoming a new, sleek and mature look with a refreshed and refined logo. For the team at Thrive, this reflects not only where the business is today, but its ambitions for the future.
Thrive’s core values and people-centred focus will remain at the heart of the business and the Thrive website will experience a refresh, with the introduction of an all-new interface, which includes the ability to enable dark mode across the entire Learning Platform.
Team growth & development
Ian Bromwich Joins Thrive as Chief Technical Officer
As part of Thrive’s ambitious growth plans, they today announce a number of new appointments within the team. This includes Ian O'Rourke, who joins a as Enterprise CSM Manager, Gary Evans as VP of Customer Success, and José Hernandez as Head of Global Support. Also joining the team will be Ian Bromwich as Chief Technical Officer, joining with 20+ years of experience at global businesses including HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group.
Ian started his career as a technologist before joining Nexor in Nottingham as the internet started to transition into the public domain. He then went on to co-found a business that was acquired by Morse PLC, an internet development and consultancy business responsible for technology strategy, building and managing development teams as well as analysing technical trends and identifying commercial opportunities, including M&A.
From there, Ian went on to begin a career in global enterprises including lastminute.com, Alliance & Leicester, Barclaycard, Lloyds Banking Group and HSBC where Ian most recently held the position of UK CIO and Managing Director for Retail, Private and Commercial Banking.
As Thrive enters a new period of rapid growth, Ian brings to the table inside knowledge of how enterprises work and function and of scaling companies both in the UK and into new markets, having successfully founded his own companies and has served on the board of innovative start-up technology-driven business. As well as sharing Thrive’s people-centric outlook, Ian hopes to help Thrive deliver on its customer commitments as well as sustainably continue to take Thrive to the next level.
Ian comments on his new position: “Joining the team at Thrive at this point of its journey is incredibly exciting, especially when you look at the size of the opportunity. The transition into this role has been seamless – the team is incredibly welcoming and it’s fantastic to be able to be working with people who are hungry for success coupled with a fantastic culture.
“Thrive has seen tremendous growth over the last few years, whilst at the same time growing a platform which works for its customers, is innovative, and reliable which is the key to success. However, there is still so much untapped opportunity which I hope to work with the rest of the team to unleash – creating a plan for 2024 which will be positioned around customers, bring in key elements of AI, and give us a clear view of how we can scale and grow Thrive in a responsible way while maintaining its unique culture."
Alongside Ian, also joining the team is a fantastic line up of experts each bringing with them incredible experience and background:
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Ian O'Rourke, Enterprise CSM Manager brings with him experience at UK and global enterprises, including Halifax, Vitality UK and Cornerstone OnDemand.
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Leanne Ainsworth, Operations Director, joining from technology-driven business such as most recently Cornerstone OnDemand, where Leanne was responsible for executing the Customer Success strategy across EMEA, as well as Saba Software and E.On.
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Gary Evans, VP of Customer Success, with a background in HR/People process and systems, Gary has previously held positions at the likes of HML, Cornerstone OnDemand and Aiven.
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Jose Hernandez, Head of Global Support, having previously led customer support teams at Halogen Software, Saba Software and Cornerstone OnDemand for over 16 years.
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Stacey Osime, Head of Project Management Operations, Stacey will deliver digital transformation projects, bringing with her over 13 years of experience in digital project management.
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Mark Aberdour, with more than 25 years in the EdTech industry, Mark joins Thrive as Vice President of Tech & Engineering from companies such as Babington, Capita Learning and LEO Learning.
New Innovation – 2024 and beyond
Alongside investment in the team, Co-Founder Mark Ward is focused on product vision, tripling investment in tech resource and product development. This will initially be used to build out Thrive’s functionality to support Coaching and Mentoring as the team strives to make the upskilling and goal setting journey even more collaborative. What’s more, Thrive will introduce AI-powered search, reporting and content authoring, which applies what Thrive has learnt from harnessing its productivity power in a secure and safe way for customers.
Determined to maintain its position as an all-in-one learning platform which powers people performance, at this year’s Thrive Live event, Thrive has announced a series of innovative new developments to its offer. These include:
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Coaching and Mentoring: Thrive will better support businesses and learners to progress their skills through the support of searching for coaches and mentors. Looking beyond knowledge sharing, the feature will match subject-matter experts and Thrive users together, creating opportunities for learners to grow, set and achieve further goals and enable them to stay on track and motivated.
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Powering productivity with AI: AI is already embedded into day-to-day business life. However, 75% of organisations are considering bans on AI due to privacy concerns. Thrive is looking to harness the power and benefits of AI in order to create bespoke models which are fully hosted within their own private cloud and continually updated to reflect changing businesses. Automating the creation of courses and goals, and having the ability to further assess and summarise learning content, will allow Thrive users to get the answers they need faster.
Business Growth
Over the last 12 months, Thrive has seen a 36% rapid growth in its customer base, as global enterprise clients such as Frasers Group, Sysco and Volvo have come on board, allowing the business to invest in its people and product development. All while retaining a customer and people-centric approach, which has led to:
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99% customer renewal rate (just one platform cancellation in five years).
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99% customer satisfaction.
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Customer referrals comprise a third of revenue sources.
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Exceeding tech support-based SLA – 99% first response.