Two Reasons to Celebrate – The IAMCP Honours Optimus Information at Microsoft Inspire 2018
“I’m delighted to see Optimus Information recognized at Microsoft Inspire,” said Awards Chair and former IAMCP President, Gail Mercer-MacKay. “Not only is the company creating incredibly sophisticated and innovative solutions for their customers, but they are also transforming their own workplace to be more inclusive. It is a testament to the leadership at Optimus that the entire team is dedicated to both pursuits. Congratulations!”
Optimus Information has been awarded two awards at the 2018 Microsoft Inspire Partner Conference in Las Vegas. Founder Pankaj Agarwal was named a Man of WIT finalist for the inaugural #WITsUP awards program with IAMCP WIT. Optimus Information took the Canadian Bronze honour in the global IAMCP P2P awards. The awards were handed out in separate ceremonies at Inspire.
Man of WIT Finalist: Pankaj Agarwal
2018 marks the inaugural year for the IAMCP Women in Technology (WIT) awards1, where amazing people who support the WIT community are recognized.
For the Man of WIT category, the following description was offered:
The Man of WIT recipient is not afraid to discuss diversity publicly and leads by example in his own organization and industry. WIT is all about diversity, inclusion and equality. Therefore, we want to recognize a male leader who has stepped up to make a difference for WIT. He has led by example in hiring, pay equity and having the conversation that makes a difference not only in his business but the tech community. He believes in WIT and STEM initiatives for women and more importantly, he acts to make it happen.
Pankaj Agarwal was nominated for the IAMCP WIT, Man of WIT award because of his dedication to gender diversity, not only at Optimus Information but in society at large. With a goal to create a workplace where employees feel valued through their contributions, Pankaj and his fellow Optimus Information founders felt strongly about building a fully gender diverse staff right from the beginning.
Earlier in 2018, Optimus Information was proud to announce that a 50/50 gender parity among staff had been reached! As a forerunner of this initiative, Pankaj encourages the entire organization to continue to improve diversity efforts.
Personally, Pankaj is passionate about STEM and its importance to current and future generations. He actively supports the Future Science Leaders program at Science World2. The program encourages youth to build careers in science. Together, that team has brought the program from concept to working stage and is committed to growing it 10X.
Pankaj supports a school in one of the poorest regions in India, paying for the education of young girls whose families cannot afford to send them to school.
WATCH: The following video talks about Optimus and the diversity initiative
Congratulations to Pankaj and the entire team at Optimus Information for your commitment and dedication to achieving gender diversity in the workplace.
IAMCP P2P Awards – Bronze – Canada Region: Optimus Information
“We are very proud to be named the Bronze winner for Canada in the 2018 IAMCP P2P Awards,” said Pankaj Agarwal, founder of Optimus Information. “We place an incredibly high value on delivering innovation for our clients, and partnering is essential to our success. Together with MSFT Gold Partner Squirrel Systems, we did more than migrate our customer from on-premises to the cloud – we truly transformed their business. The process also generated new solutions for both Optimus and Squirrel, and will serve many more customers in the future.”
Optimus Information partnered with MSFT Gold Partner Squirrel Systems, the world’s leader in Point of Sale technology for the hospitality and restaurant industry, to move from a legacy on-premises solution to a SaaS Cloud.
“This was a monumental transformation effort. But we would not be doing this or be in production without Optimus. We turned to them from the start and said, ‘We want to do this – where do we start?’ Their team is outstanding and know Azure well. They have a strong discipline around modernization. They deliver incredible levels of quality and are deeply embedded with us. It is a partnership that has brought tremendous business value.” Joseph Cortese, Vice President Research & Development, Squirrel Systems.
Launched in 2015, the IAMCP Awards Program3 is designed to encourage and recognize Association members for the outstanding, innovative and creative products and services they deliver through trusted P2P and channel relationships. Winners and finalists benefit from increased recognition through press and social media. Winners are announced during the annual partner conference, Microsoft Inspire.