Latest news with #businessmodernization
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Blue Mantis Earns Number 60 Spot on the 2025 CRN® Fast Growth 150
CRN Spotlights the Top IT Channel Providers for Outstanding Performance and Growth PORTSMOUTH, N.H., Aug. 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blue Mantis, a security-first IT services provider specializing in helping clients achieve business modernization by applying next-generation technologies, today announced that CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company®, has ranked Blue Mantis number 60 on the 2025 CRN Fast Growth 150 list. This recognition reflects the company's 64 percent growth over the past two years, rising from number 125 in 2023 to its current position. The CRN Fast Growth 150 list highlights the top-performing and fastest-growing technology solution providers, including integrators, managed service providers, value-added resellers and IT consultants in North America. Over the past two years, solution providers on the Fast Growth 150 have achieved remarkable sales growth, propelled by their innovative strategies and advanced technological expertise, particularly in areas such as artificial intelligence, security and cloud computing. 'It's an honor for Blue Mantis to be ranked number 60 on CRN's Fast Growth 150 list,' said Josh Dinneen, CEO of Blue Mantis. 'This recognition reflects the numerous milestones we've achieved over the past two years, including our significant year-over-year revenue growth, as well as the increasing trust our clients and partners place in us. As we continue to grow with purpose, we remain focused on delivering innovative solutions and strong channel programs that help our customers succeed in this competitive environment.' 'Each company on the Fast Growth 150 list is harnessing its extensive technology acumen and forward-looking business strategy to accelerate growth and evolve to stay ahead in the fast-moving IT arena,' said Jennifer Follett, VP, U.S. Content, and Executive Editor, CRN, The Channel Company. 'These notable companies show passion and commitment to finding success, supporting agility, and delivering enduring outcomes for customers. We congratulate each of them and look forward to their continued growth and evolution.' About The Channel Company: The Channel Company (TCC) is the global leader in channel growth for the world's top technology brands. We accelerate success across strategic channels for tech vendors, solution providers, and end users with premier media brands, integrated marketing and event services, strategic consulting, and exclusive market and audience insights. TCC is a portfolio company of investment funds managed by EagleTree Capital, a New York City-based private equity firm. For more information, visit About Blue Mantis Blue Mantis is a security-first IT services provider with a 30+ year history of successfully helping clients achieve business modernization by applying next-generation technologies including AI, cloud, collaboration, cybersecurity and managed services. Headquartered in Portsmouth, NH with office locations in greater Boston, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Bangalore, India, the company provides digital technology services and strategic guidance to ensure clients quickly adapt and grow through automation and innovation. Blue Mantis partners with more than 2,500 leading mid-market and enterprise organizations in a multitude of vertical industries and is backed by the leading private equity firm, Recognize. For more information, please visit Contact:Paola Hernandez Touchdown PR (512) 599-4015 tdbm@ in to access your portfolio
Forbes
18-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Navigating Readiness, Governance And Risk When Integrating AI
Ann Blakely is the managing principal of Baker Tilly's digital solutions practice, with a focus on modernizing legacy business models. For organizations striving to maintain a competitive edge, implementing AI solutions has become nothing short of a strategic imperative. Organizations are increasingly challenged to not only integrate these solutions into core business functions but to do so strategically and responsibly, ensuring they adhere to evolving regulatory standards and provide a strong return on investment. This requires both a thorough understanding of AI tools and a comprehensive approach that considers organizational readiness, robust data governance frameworks and security measures and ethical implications. Exploring the critical dimensions of AI adoption can provide organizations with the insight needed to prepare for, implement and manage their AI technologies in a way that is secure, responsible and aligned with long-term strategic goals. The Evolution Of The AI Landscape The AI landscape has evolved from foundational automation technologies to highly adaptive, autonomous systems that mirror human cognition. Initially, intelligent process automation (IPA) technologies, such as robotic process automation (RPA), were developed to augment repetitive and multistep tasks. AI, a subset of IPA, took things a step further with technologies beginning to learn, reason and make decisions like a human. This includes technologies such as: • Natural Language Processing (NLP): Systems that understand and respond to human language inputs, such as a large language model (LLM) like ChatGPT. • Machine Learning (ML): Systems that learn from data to make predictions. • Deep Learning: A subset of ML that introduced artificial neural networks capable of processing unstructured data and autonomously extracting features. From these technologies, GenAI emerged. It uses LLMs and generative adversarial networks (GANs)—a notable application of deep learning—to create new content (text, images, audio, etc.) based on learned patterns, revolutionizing content creation across industries. Building on these advancements, agentic AI introduced interactive, autonomous agents capable of performing complex tasks, adapting to anomalies in real time and continuously learning from new data. This shift marks a transformative leap in AI's evolution, moving from tools that assist humans to intelligent agents that collaborate with and augment human decision making. Preparing Your Organization: AI Readiness AI readiness is the foundation for any organization aiming to responsibly and effectively integrate AI into its operations, as it addresses an organization's ability to adopt, deploy and scale AI technologies in alignment with its strategic goals, workforce capabilities and technical infrastructure. Organizations should assess AI readiness across five key dimensions: 1. Opportunity discovery 2. Data management 3. IT environment and security 4. Risk, privacy and governance 5. Adoption Each dimension plays a critical role—from identifying high-impact use cases and ensuring data quality, to establishing secure systems, managing compliance and fostering an organizational culture of AI literacy and trust. Together, these dimensions provide a holistic view of an organization's preparedness to leverage AI safely and productively. Understanding and investing in AI readiness is essential because it enables organizations to move beyond experimentation and toward sustainable, value-driven AI adoption. Evaluating current capabilities across the five dimensions, identifying gaps and developing a tailored road map that aligns AI initiatives with broader organizational strategy ensures efforts are purposeful and well-integrated. Starting with small, high-impact use cases—particularly those involving manual or repetitive tasks—allows organizations to demonstrate value early, build momentum and scale AI initiatives with confidence. Risk Mitigation And Compliance Considerations Organizations need to deploy AI initiatives in a way that prioritizes safe and responsible AI usage. As AI tools have broad access to vast amounts of organizational data, a primary concern behind their deployment is the inadvertent exposure of sensitive, confidential or proprietary information, which can create serious reputational, financial and legal liabilities. Equally important is the current lack of data and AI literacy among workers. Without proper training, employees may misuse or outright resist AI initiatives. Regulatory pressures are also mounting, with both federal and state-level legislation on the horizon. While no comprehensive federal regulations currently exist, states like Colorado and Utah have already enacted laws, and others, such as California and Illinois, are advancing legislation focused on transparency, fairness and risk management. This patchwork approach has created a fragmented regulatory environment, requiring organizations to track and comply with varying laws at the state and industry levels. To mitigate these risks, organizations need to develop a robust AI governance framework and principles that guide safe use. These principles must align with organizational values and account for risks ranging from cybersecurity and regulatory concerns to operational errors and broader societal impacts. Establishing An AI Governance Program Much like traditional data governance, AI governance provides a structured framework to oversee the safe, ethical and compliant use of AI technologies. A comprehensive program should include: 1. Well-established policies, standards and ethical guidelines that are thoroughly reviewed and aligned with strategic goals and core values. 2. Clearly defined roles and responsibilities by assigning appropriate individuals to oversee AI initiatives and ensuring everyone understands their duties and point of contact for any AI-related inquiries. 3. Comprehensive risk and compliance frameworks that align with your regulatory landscape. 4. Standardized tools and architecture to ensure consistency in the development, training and integration of both proprietary and third-party AI models and systems. 5. Continuous AI model management practices to confirm outputs are fair, unbiased and aligned with organizational standards. 6. Robust observability practices to validate that AI models are functioning as intended and are being used correctly. Additionally, an AI governance program should be part of a broader change management and adoption strategy, empowering employees with the knowledge and skills needed to use AI tools responsibly. This includes improving AI literacy, setting clear usage guidelines and providing ongoing training. Ultimately, by taking a proactive, structured approach to AI governance, organizations can reduce operational, reputational and legal risks while fostering a culture of innovation and trust in AI-powered tools. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
