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Welcome to VivaScoop, your monthly rundown of everything Vivacity Technologies.
Spring officially arrived and the weather has been warming up nicely in Kamloops. With the warmer weather we’ve seen a flurry of activity at Vivacity. Between work on ongoing projects with Simpcw Resources Group and Saulteau First Nation, as well as preparing to deploy our first instance of VivaCitadel with the City of Kelowna. In addition, the VivaTeam have been exploring fun new team building activities, including spending time at the Kamloops Food Bank, as well as some lighthearted laser tag .
To learn more about our monthly activities, herewith VivaScoop March!
Making IT a Strategic Partner at Simpcw Resources Group
Vivacity is approaching the 2-year mark of our engagement and relationship with Simpcw Resources Group (SRG). In those two years, we completed and delivered a comprehensive IT Assessment, began and extended our role as SRG’s virtual Chief Information Officer (vCIO), and worked with SRG to build internal IT capacity and implement a range of IT initiatives.
In light of the amount of progress we've made together, we wrote a case study detailing the work we have undertaken and where SRG stands today. The case study is now live on our website! You can read about what it takes to bring IT from a pain point to a priority, and the positive impact a vCIO can make on your IT environment.
Presenting VivaCitadel at MISA Ontario
In June, I will be travelling to Niagara Falls to represent Vivacity Technologies and our new product, VivaCitadel, at the MISA Ontario Annual Conference. I have the privilege of presenting with Jazz Pabla, the CIO for the City of Kelowna, about our pilot project of VivaCitadel and its upcoming deployment in Kelowna. This will be our first opportunity to speak with representatives from Ontario and the eastern provinces about VivaCitadel and to share all the hard work we’ve been doing to improve the property information request process for both citizens and city staff alike. We’ve been speaking with municipalities across the country about their property information processes, and we’re so excited to take what we’ve learned with VivaCitadel and share it with a new audience.
We would like to say a massive thank you to the MISA Ontario team for giving us the opportunity to come and share our progress and learnings with their membership. You can read more about our session with Jazz on the MISA Ontario event website!
Supporting the Kamloops Food Bank
As part of our sponsorship for the 8th Annual TRU Privacy and Security Conference, we decided to make a $1,000 donation to a local charity, and our booth attendees voted that we donate to the Kamloops Food Bank. We love having the opportunity to give back to our local community here in Kamloops, however, the team felt like we could contribute more than just the money. Given this, we wanted to give some of our time as well! We scheduled an afternoon to go as a team and volunteer with the Kamloops Food Bank.
As we heard from the Kamloops Food Bank team, the work they do would not be possible without an army of volunteers. The amount of food that passes through their doors each week is significant, and they would not be able to provide their services as efficiently without extra hands to help sort and distribute food.
When we arrived at the Food Bank, they had just received a large shipment of perishable goods that needed to be sorted for the next morning’s opening, but no one to sort it. We rolled up our sleeves and got to an afternoon of sorting. By the end of our session, the VivaTeam had made it through nearly the entire delivery.
We were honored to have the opportunity to make an impact in our community, and a massive thank you to the folks down at the Kamloops Food Bank for having us!
Adopting Corporate Social Responsibility Practices at Vivacity
At Vivacity, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has always been something we’ve taken pretty seriously, but have never really publicly talked about. We’ve recently been looking at integrating the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Inner Development Goals (IDGs) into the culture at Vivacity to foster environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and economic success.
We believe strongly that having People, Profit, and Planet in mind at the same time is critical today to running a successful and 21st century business.
Key initiatives we’ve undertaken include adopting flexible work-from-home policies to reduce emissions, working in co-operative buildings with energy-efficient designs, supporting local food banks - both monetarily and through volunteer work, donating to local charities instead of purchasing merchandise and contributing waste to landfills, and engaging in waste reduction and water conservation efforts.
For organizations looking to embrace CSR practices, Vivacity's approach might offer some practical tips:
Invest in Energy Efficiency: Implement energy-saving measures in office designs and operations to lower energy consumption and costs.
Support Local Communities: Engage in charitable activities, such as donating to food banks, to address local needs and foster community relations.
Align with Global Goals: Look to incorporate SDGs and IDGs into your business strategy to support your CSR efforts.
Commit to Transparency: As you progress, develop a framework for sustainability reporting to track and communicate your CSR performance openly. Adopting these strategies can enable organizations to not only bolster their CSR efforts but also to motivate others within their sector and the wider community towards sustainable and responsible business practices.
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Vivacity Technologies Ltd., Fraser St., Kamloops, British Columbia