What Community Service Means to Optimus:
It’s undisputed that giving back is a core connector in large communities and companies. At Optimus, contributing time and funding to various causes in society is something that brings us all together, reigniting our humanity. Especially in a large company like ours, corporate social responsibility through is especially important and we find that community service keeps us humble and grounded. For both the Vancouver and Noida offices, philanthropy is of the utmost importance; we want to make connections and see how we can make an impact. To us, community service isn’t just giving donations. We take the time to hone in on how we can make a difference to the communities surrounding ours.
How We Choose to Give Back in 2019:
We believe that giving back to local communities is crucial in establishing tangible change. In Vancouver, we have focused on helping those in close vicinity to the office by creating small yet meaningful movements. In the fall, we gathered together in Oppenheimer Park, a recent safe place and home to many homeless citizens. A group of volunteers from our team spent a Saturday afternoon handing out hot samosas in this area of the Downtown Eastside. On that day alone, we estimate that we served close to 500 individuals.
Vancouver CSR Team in Oppenheimer Park
In 2019, we also had a sandwich fundraiser to raise money for the Zajac Ranch for Children. A summer camp that provides fun experiences for children with disabilities, Zajac Ranch makes accessibility their top priority; medical conditions don’t hold back the children from enjoying the full potential to just be kids. Optimus and Enkel, our sister company, had volunteered to match the given donations dollar for dollar. We organized a sandwich fundraiser and collected personal donations from the staff which were matched by the company. Furthermore, we plan to organize a volunteer day and visit the camp later this year.
Vancouver Team putting collected items together for donation bags
Aligned Global Contributions:
During the harsh winter months, both the Vancouver and Noida offices contributed winter bundles to local communities. The Vancouver bundles included toques, gloves, socks, toothbrush/toothpaste, and a snack. In India with cold temperatures, the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Team collected blankets and clothing to donate to Uday Foundation, which provides shelter for women and children undergoing medical treatment. Over the past year, in Noida, we also worked closely with the Smile Foundation, which has an initiative for every child to attend school. Currently, they have 30,000+ children across 27 states in India attending school through Mission Education Projects. Optimus Information’s Power of 10 Initiative provided to this organization. In addition, visits and drives occurred to local charities.
CSR Team in Noida visiting Uday Foundation
In July and November, team members from Optimus visited children at Deepalaya. This organization is focused on identifying economically and socially deprived children to help them become educated and skilled. We gathered our resources and were able to donate stationery as well as computers. We celebrated Children’s Day on November 14th at Deepalaya, by bringing the children lunch and continuing to encourage them on their path to higher education. By picking different organizations throughout the year, we hope to make an impact for various communities of people around us in both Canada and India.
Where We Want to Be Helping in the Future:
Optimus is deeply passionate about making a difference in the local community. Our company has launched an initiative in 2020 to reach a goal of 5,000 volunteer hours collectively in both the Vancouver and Noida office. Moreover, our efforts will be mirrored with a concentration on education, healthcare and environmental conservation.
Looking ahead into the new year, the CSR Team continues to engage with local NGOs. By circulating a survey to employees on what socio-economic issues are important to them, we are able to focus on issues that have a personal impact as well. Our unified efforts are primarily focused on education, as we believe it is the path to empowerment.
Spending time on Children’s Day in India with the Deepalaya organization
Through company collaboration, we are able to put our best collective efforts forward. Feedback from our employees to focus our efforts on upcoming corporate social responsibility activities include organizing backpacks to give to those less fortunate, stocked with basic necessities. We continuously donate at a blood drive and intend to carry on doing so. We feel that in order to truly make a difference, you must donate your time not just your money. Connecting on a deeper level is always the core purpose behind our philanthropic initiatives. To give our time is what matters most to us. We hope to truly make a difference in whatever way we can.
4 Tips to Prevent “Run-Away” Azure Costs
Cloud Computing, UncategorizedImagine you return to the office on Monday morning and discover a mysterious spike in your Azure consumption. You are now significantly over your monthly budget. As you feel a headache forming, you ask yourself: “Wasn’t moving to the cloud supposed to reduce spending?”
Here are 4 easy and basic actions you can take to prevent a run-away Azure cost incident.
1. Delete or deactivate unused resources
According to Microsoft, “The challenge with cloud computing is that once you flip the switch on, the meter keeps running until you switch it off” (Aleenah Ansari). You don’t leave the heat on when you take a weekend trip. So, why would you pay for unused resources in the cloud? Part of optimizing for cloud is deleting all unused resources so you are not unknowingly incurring cost on an unused resource that is still active. If the resource needs to be kept, place the resource in a free or low-cost configuration (for example, a dev or test configuration which automatically starts at a lower price tier).
Read this article to learn more about how to optimize your cloud investment with Azure Cost Management.
2. Create subscription budgets and alerts
Just like managing your own personal finances, you can set limits for your Azure budget. Microsoft Azure allows you to set alerts and thresholds to monitor your budget based on cost or usage. You can even set up an automatic trigger when a given budget threshold is reached. For example, you can notify operations staff, trigger VMs to shut down, or you can move your infrastructure to a different pricing tier when you hit a certain budget.
As a best practice, it is important to review your budget regularly to see how much you have spent and to make proactive changes if needed. Use this tutorial to create and manage Azure budgets.
Based on the fields chosen in the budget a graph is shown to help you select a threshold to use for your budget.
3. Use management groups to roll-up observation across all subscriptions
Modern TV streaming services give you parental controls to easily see who’s watching what and manage who should be allowed to watch what. Azure offers a similar feature to easily and efficiently manage multiple subscriptions within your organization. Azure management groups allow you to manage access, policies, and compliance of those subscriptions by providing a level of scope above subscriptions.
Once you have organized your subscriptions into containers called ‘management groups’, you can apply your governance conditions to all your subscriptions in that management group. Note: All subscriptions within a single management group must trust the same Azure Active Directory tenant. However, once they do, the costs from individual subscriptions can also be rolled up to the containing management group, allowing for convenient budget monitoring and alerting across multiple subscriptions.
Azure management group hierarchy.
4. Improve system monitoring, alerts, and notifications
Your smartwatch counts your steps, monitors your sleep habits, and notifies you when you’ve been sitting too long. Wouldn’t it be nice if you received similar alerts about your Azure account? Using tools like Azure Monitor and Application Insights can help you understand how your applications are performing and can even proactively identify issues affecting them and the resources they depend on.
Azure Monitor can be used to monitor the availability, performance, and usage of your web applications. Alerts in Azure Monitor also notify you of critical conditions by sending a text or email to an administrator responsible for investigating an issue. Alerts can also attempt to take corrective action, such as launching an automated process that attempts to correct an error condition.
A high-level view of Azure Monitor.
Managing a cloud tenant can have unexpected challenges. However, using these features from Azure will help you maximize your cloud infrastructure without extending your budget. Reach out to us if you want to learn more about optimizing your Azure infrastructure.
All product names, trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Corporate Social Responsibility at Optimus
Culture, UncategorizedWhat Community Service Means to Optimus:
It’s undisputed that giving back is a core connector in large communities and companies. At Optimus, contributing time and funding to various causes in society is something that brings us all together, reigniting our humanity. Especially in a large company like ours, corporate social responsibility through is especially important and we find that community service keeps us humble and grounded. For both the Vancouver and Noida offices, philanthropy is of the utmost importance; we want to make connections and see how we can make an impact. To us, community service isn’t just giving donations. We take the time to hone in on how we can make a difference to the communities surrounding ours.
How We Choose to Give Back in 2019:
We believe that giving back to local communities is crucial in establishing tangible change. In Vancouver, we have focused on helping those in close vicinity to the office by creating small yet meaningful movements. In the fall, we gathered together in Oppenheimer Park, a recent safe place and home to many homeless citizens. A group of volunteers from our team spent a Saturday afternoon handing out hot samosas in this area of the Downtown Eastside. On that day alone, we estimate that we served close to 500 individuals.
Vancouver CSR Team in Oppenheimer Park
In 2019, we also had a sandwich fundraiser to raise money for the Zajac Ranch for Children. A summer camp that provides fun experiences for children with disabilities, Zajac Ranch makes accessibility their top priority; medical conditions don’t hold back the children from enjoying the full potential to just be kids. Optimus and Enkel, our sister company, had volunteered to match the given donations dollar for dollar. We organized a sandwich fundraiser and collected personal donations from the staff which were matched by the company. Furthermore, we plan to organize a volunteer day and visit the camp later this year.
Vancouver Team putting collected items together for donation bags
Aligned Global Contributions:
During the harsh winter months, both the Vancouver and Noida offices contributed winter bundles to local communities. The Vancouver bundles included toques, gloves, socks, toothbrush/toothpaste, and a snack. In India with cold temperatures, the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Team collected blankets and clothing to donate to Uday Foundation, which provides shelter for women and children undergoing medical treatment. Over the past year, in Noida, we also worked closely with the Smile Foundation, which has an initiative for every child to attend school. Currently, they have 30,000+ children across 27 states in India attending school through Mission Education Projects. Optimus Information’s Power of 10 Initiative provided to this organization. In addition, visits and drives occurred to local charities.
CSR Team in Noida visiting Uday Foundation
In July and November, team members from Optimus visited children at Deepalaya. This organization is focused on identifying economically and socially deprived children to help them become educated and skilled. We gathered our resources and were able to donate stationery as well as computers. We celebrated Children’s Day on November 14th at Deepalaya, by bringing the children lunch and continuing to encourage them on their path to higher education. By picking different organizations throughout the year, we hope to make an impact for various communities of people around us in both Canada and India.
Where We Want to Be Helping in the Future:
Optimus is deeply passionate about making a difference in the local community. Our company has launched an initiative in 2020 to reach a goal of 5,000 volunteer hours collectively in both the Vancouver and Noida office. Moreover, our efforts will be mirrored with a concentration on education, healthcare and environmental conservation.
Looking ahead into the new year, the CSR Team continues to engage with local NGOs. By circulating a survey to employees on what socio-economic issues are important to them, we are able to focus on issues that have a personal impact as well. Our unified efforts are primarily focused on education, as we believe it is the path to empowerment.
Spending time on Children’s Day in India with the Deepalaya organization
Through company collaboration, we are able to put our best collective efforts forward. Feedback from our employees to focus our efforts on upcoming corporate social responsibility activities include organizing backpacks to give to those less fortunate, stocked with basic necessities. We continuously donate at a blood drive and intend to carry on doing so. We feel that in order to truly make a difference, you must donate your time not just your money. Connecting on a deeper level is always the core purpose behind our philanthropic initiatives. To give our time is what matters most to us. We hope to truly make a difference in whatever way we can.
Technology and Collaboration in the Workplace
CultureCollaboration is a top priority for many organizations and business leaders. At Optimus, collaboration is integral to office culture and how we evolve and stay flexible. Collaboration within the workplace elevates the group as a whole. We are better able to solve problems and serve our clients by incorporating technology into our collaborative practices.
Open Communication
Every desk in the Noida office is in an open work-space which provides easy communication between all members of a team. This helps facilitate the daily huddles that happen between team leads and their members. Firstly, a detailed plan executes all tasks. Following that, each individual takes responsibility for their sections and logs their efforts. A retrospective meeting addresses what can be improved.
The Optimus team collaborating in the office
Our two offices have weekly check-ins to maintain clear communication of projects and keep up to date on their status. Leads of test and development meet to converse on the status of projects, and what challenges need to be addressed. Furthermore, clients are kept up to date through weekly status reports which analyze what work has been completed, where efforts were directed for the week, along with dependencies for the clients to act upon.
Collaboration Across Time Zones and Platforms
Optimus Information uses technology to come together and spread information across a multitude of platforms. For instance, internally you can see birthday messages posted on Google Plus, schedule a meeting overseas through Zoom, keep up to date with your colleagues through Slack, and track your metrics on Zoho. Moreover, the use of Azure boards provides lucidity in work. A ticketing system assigns a ticket to each collaborator amongst the projects.
Through this common board, collaborators can see which tickets are assigned to whom, and what the progress is on each task. As a result, allocating tickets is based on individual capacity along with how many projects they are working on. In addition to filters, there are separate boards per project. These boards optimize differentiation and keep an organized way of merging a multitude of channels. Technology and collaboration in the workplace happen homogeneously. To reach overseas, Zoom ensures all calls are easily accessible. This allows for the Vancouver and Noida office to have a seamless partnership.
Daily huddles keep our teams up to date on each project
Technology is constantly evolving. In order for a company to remain at the forefront of the industry, information must be accurate and up to date. Collaboration allows for knowledge to be shared, cultivating a culture of continuous learning. Optimus utilizes technology to pass forward the information efficiently. Each individual has their own strengths, and by combining their unique standpoints it accelerates the achievement of common goals.
The Optimus Family: Interning in Noida
UncategorizedFrom the moment we stepped on to the plane, there was always a looming fear of “will I fit in?” It was extremely intimidating to embark on a journey that we were both unfamiliar with. We knew that we would stand out and feel somewhat alone. However, what we thought we knew couldn’t be further from actuality as soon as we stepped off the plane.
Optimus’ Company Culture
You will always finding smiling faces on the floor.
The Noida office emphasizes the importance of developing a strong family and friend culture. When you start your first day at Optimus, you are not just a number in the system; You are a part of the Optimus family. Every morning, a friend will come to your workstation and invite you for coffee or tea. At first, we thought this was a “Welcome to Noida” initiation. However, this is just a standard, friendly gesture that we see each day; three weeks later, the hospitality remains the same. Every day, they share breakfast, gather over lunch, and cultivate a work environment of high productivity and creativity.
Post-lunch at an amazing South Indian restaurant with Sarthak, Olivia’s supervisor, and his team.
It is difficult to contextualize the feeling of working at Optimus through word; to truly understand, you can synthesize by imagining having a fantastic day with a group of your closest friends. To add to the fun, everybody always shares new and exciting findings to help boost the community goal of continuous learning. This environment leads to a heightened vocation, where you want to engage with more colleagues, join in on the Fun Friday Activities, and get the most out of what the job has to offer. This company culture is the foundation for building meaningful careers.
The team shares some laughs during a weekly 4:32 knowledge session.
To summarize, we may look different, we may sound different, and we may tolerate spices differently, but everybody from the office accepts us for who we are. So, do we fit in? In short, we don’t. However, in an organization that promotes individuality and self-leadership, fitting in is not a primary concern. Our main goal is to feel like we belong. Luckily for us, we have never felt more at home.
A quick click with Ruchi, Laura’s supervisor, in our kurtas on Republic Day.
Microsoft Makes a Significant Investment in Canadian Cloud
Announcements, Press ReleasesMicrosoft Cloud Services has been a core contributor to the growth and development of numerous Canadian organizations and is steadily making more investments in Canadian Cloud. Recently announcing their first Canadian Azure Availability Zone in the Azure Canada Central region and an Azure ExpressRoute in Vancouver, this expansion will provide Canadian businesses greater access to new innovations to accelerate their development.
An Availability Zone consists of one or more data centres equipped with independent power, cooling, and networking. Microsoft says it’s the only cloud provider in Canada to offer Availability Zones and disaster recovery with in-country data residency. In addition, this will be the largest expansion of its Canadian-based cloud computing infrastructure since the launch of the first data centre in Canada in 2016. According to Microsoft, this expansion will increase computing capacity by an incredible 1300%.
While Azure ExpressRoutes already exists in Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec City, this is an important investment for the West Coast. A service that primarily provides a private connection between an organization’s on-premises infrastructure and Microsoft Azure data centre, Azure ExpressRoutes provides more reliability, speed, and lower latency for users. Organizations in Vancouver will now have a secure network connection into Azure without having to cross the country.
The new Azure Availability Zones and ExpressRoute services are set to go live by the end of March.
For more information email us at info@optimusinfo.com or read more here:
Microsoft announces Canadian Azure Availability Zone, and Azure ExpressRoute in Vancouver (IT World Canada)
Microsoft Makes Significant Investments in Canadian Cloud to Fuel Innovation In Canada (Microsoft News Center Canada)