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Welcome to Volume 2 of Vtrio E-zine. Our E-zine has officially completed one year. Congratulations to the team for keeping it going, evolving, and making it a platform that captures our achievements, aspirations and our journey together
The first quarter of the year is almost done, bringing both momentum and challenges. We are delving deeper into the AI trials, and it feels very exciting. Now, the real task begins—turning trials into lasting impact. Internally, AI is also transforming the way we work, with new tools, discussions, and a deeper curiosity across teams.
That said, the start of the year hasn't been without its hurdles. Some downgrades, delays in upgrades—realities that remind us why we must be at our best. Tough times don't last, but resilient teams do. This is when we continue to prove our commitment by delivering exceptional value and reinforcing the trust our customers place in us.
We're also looking ahead to the future—carefully planning our next steps, including intern recruitment. It's not just about bringing in new talent; it's about making sure it's the right fit for both sides. Thoughtful decisions today will shape a stronger tomorrow.
And of course, we can't talk about the past quarter without mentioning the Goa trip—a memory etched in all our minds! The energy, laughter, and togetherness made it an experience to cherish. It's a reminder that while our work unites us, our shared moments strengthen us.
As we move forward, let's continue to learn, adapt, and grow. The road may not always be smooth, but with our collective strength, I believe we're on a path to something truly good.
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Vinu Joseph, co-founder of Vtrio, talks about how AI is transforming industries and the unique approach Vtrio takes to help businesses tap into its potential. He shares how the company is making AI both practical and impactful for different sectors, helping clients stay ahead in a rapidly changing world.
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Q:
Vtrio has a strong track record of delivering customer-centric solutions. How is this philosophy shaping your approach to AI, particularly in identifying the right opportunities for integration? What makes your AI strategy well-suited to address the unique needs of different industries?
Vinu: We are actively exploring AI-driven solutions that can bring tangible value to businesses. Our strategy is to identify areas where AI can improve efficiency, enhance customer experiences and create new growth opportunities. While we are in the process of refining our offerings, our focus remains on practical AI applications tailored to industry-specific needs. Our differentiation lies in our ability to integrate AI seamlessly into existing business ecosystems while ensuring transparency and ethical considerations.
Q:
How is AI reshaping industries, and how can businesses make a meaningful shift? How does Vtrio support them in this transition?
Vinu: AI is revolutionizing industries by automating repetitive tasks, personalizing customer interactions, and improving decision-making with data-driven insights. Businesses should prepare by identifying AI-driven efficiencies in their workflows and exploring scalable AI adoption strategies. At Vtrio, we are researching and prototyping AI applications tailored to various industries, ensuring our clients can integrate AI solutions in a way that aligns with their business objectives.
Q:
Vtrio has been evolving for over 20 years. How do you see AI shaping industries compared to past technological shifts?
Vinu: Over the years, we've seen multiple waves of technological evolution—Web 2.0 changing how we interact online, cloud and mobile apps redefining accessibility, and blockchain introducing decentralized possibilities. But AI feels different. It's not just another emerging tech; it's a fundamental shift that will reshape industries, automating tasks, enhancing decision-making, and creating new business models.
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Q:
How does Vtrio guide businesses new at AI in a way that's both practical and aligned with their goals? How do you see AI creating value in different industry contexts—both now and as those needs evolve?
Vinu: For businesses new to AI, the key is to start with small, high-impact projects. We work closely with clients to identify areas where AI can provide quick wins - whether it's automating repetitive tasks, enhancing data-driven decision-making or improving customer experiences. Our approach is to make AI adoption seamless, practical and aligned with business goals.
Given our experience across sectors like e-commerce, entertainment, and healthcare, we've seen how AI can unlock domain-specific opportunities—from personalized shopping experiences and intelligent content recommendations to predictive analytics and operational efficiencies in healthcare. Our broad industry perspective enables us to design solutions that not only address immediate challenges but also lay the foundation for scalable, long-term growth. Ultimately, our goal is to help businesses—regardless of where they start—leverage AI in a way that drives meaningful outcomes for their customers and stakeholders.
Q:
Navigating the rapidly evolving AI landscape can be challenging. How do you stay ahead of these changes and what strategies do you employ to keep your team updated?
Vinu: Keeping up with AI is both exciting and challenging, especially with how fast the technology is evolving. We are keeping a close watch on AI regulations to ensure responsible implementation. Our team is constantly researching and learning as we explore AI's potential. We are actively experimenting with AI agents, working with models like Claude for code generation, and testing various automation techniques. By staying engaged with AI advancements and collaborating with industry experts, we aim to build a strong foundation for innovative AI-driven solutions. More than anything, we foster a culture of curiosity and innovation—
because in AI, standing still means falling behind.
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Q:
Could you walk us through Vtrio's internship process step by step? What can a new intern expect from start to finish?
Swathy: Absolutely! We have a well-structured 6-month internship program. It all begins with campus applications and screening – we invite final-year B.Tech students (usually with strong academics and a passion to learn) to apply, and we shortlist based on their resumes and grades. Next comes an aptitude test to evaluate their problem-solving skills. If they do well, we move on to technical interviews where our engineers assess coding abilities and project work (we love hearing about hackathons or college projects).
Then there's an HR interview where we check for communication skills, cultural fit, and the willingness to learn new things. Once selected, interns join us and onboarding kicks off: we introduce them to Vtrio's culture, the team, our tools, and workflows. We assign them a mentor and some initial training modules to get them up to speed on our tech stack. After that, it's straight into project work – we don't believe in benching interns, so they start contributing to real projects pretty quickly, under guidance. Throughout the internship, there are regular evaluations and check-ins to track progress. Finally, at the end of six months, we do a final review of each intern's contributions and growth. It's a comprehensive process from application to final evaluation, designed to help fresh talent integrate and shine.
Q:
Vtrio is looking to partner with top colleges. Why do we specifically target them?
Swathy: The students, from these colleges, will have solid fundamentals and are eager to learn. Partnering with these colleges also makes sense because their curriculum encourages practical projects, which means students are well-prepared to handle the work we do. Plus, being local, students often prefer to stay in Kochi. That aligns with our goal of training interns who can potentially join us full-time. It's a win-win: we get bright, motivated freshers, and the students get an opportunity right in their backyard to work on real-world projects with us.
Q:
What's the motivation behind focusing on freshers through campus hiring? Why bring in so many new graduates?
Swathy: We love the energy and adaptability that fresh graduates bring. When we hire from campus, we're getting young talent who are quick learners and technologically agile – they can pick up new frameworks or languages faster because they've just been in learning mode at college. Freshers also come without any fixed mindset from previous workplaces, so we can mold them to our culture and processes more easily. It's incredibly rewarding to see someone straight out of college grow into a productive developer in a matter of months. Also, by recruiting at the campus level, we catch promising talent early before they get scooped up elsewhere. In short, freshers bring enthusiasm, a willingness to experiment, and a hunger to prove themselves – all of which gel well with Vtrio's dynamic environment. I personally enjoy mentoring them and watching their rapid growth curve!
Q:
What happens after the internship is over? How do interns transition to the next stage?
Swathy: Our internship is very much a pipeline for full-time roles. After six months, we evaluate each intern's performance across the board –
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technical skills, improvement over time, quality of work, teamwork, and how well they fit our culture. High performers are usually offered a permanent position with us. In fact, some of our current employees started as Vtrio interns. For those who get an offer, the transition is seamless because by then they're already working on live projects and know the team well. Even interns who may not continue with us walk away with a certificate of completion, lots of practical experience, and guidance on where to improve. But our goal is definitely to absorb as many great interns as possible into the Vtrio family. It's satisfying when an intern earns a full-time role – it means our training paid off and we've nurtured a new professional for the long term.
Q:
What are some challenges you face in running this internship program and hiring fresh talent?
Swathy: One big challenge is finding the right talent. We get a lot of applications, so our aptitude test and technical test is really important to identify who has the problem-solving spark we need. Designing a fair test and interview process is crucial – we want to give every capable student a chance to shine, even if they're nervous. Another challenge is candidate location preference. We invest a lot in training, so we hope interns will stay on with us in Kochi after the internship. Sometimes a great candidate might be tempted by opportunities in Bangalore or elsewhere.
We try to address that by giving them an awesome experience here – exciting projects, a friendly workplace, exposure to interesting work like AI development and direct client interaction. By immersing interns in Vtrio's culture, we hope they see a future with us. Retention is always on our mind; we work hard to make interns feel valued and see the growth path here, so that staying in Kochi with Vtrio is an attractive choice for them. It's challenging, but when we get it right, we end up with loyal team members who grow with the company.
Q:
Looking beyond the internship program, what's the broader direction of HR at Vtrio? What makes Vtrio's work culture unique in your view?
Swathy: We're focusing on initiatives that keep our team engaged, growing, and happy. Going forward, we're strengthening our learning and development programs – not just for interns but for all employees. We want to foster continuous upskilling because technology is always evolving. We're also working on refining our recruitment to bring in diverse talent and ensuring our HR policies support a good work-life balance.
In terms of work culture, I'd say Vtrio has a uniquely open and collaborative atmosphere. We have a flat structure where everyone's ideas are heard – you'll see freshers and senior architects brainstorming together. There's a real sense of trust here: even interns get to directly collaborate with experienced engineers and international clients, which is pretty uncommon in many companies. That openness and exposure help people learn fast and feel valued. Moreover, we emphasize a "
grow together
" mentality – the success of one team member is celebrated by all. I think what makes our culture special is that mix of professional growth with a personal, supportive touch. People genuinely care about each other's progress. It's a place where you can challenge yourself with cutting-edge projects and still have the support of a close-knit team – and as HR, I'm proud to help nurture and preserve that culture as we continue to grow.
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Mastering Infrastructure Management:
The Ansible Approach |
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In today's increasingly complex digital ecosystems, infrastructure management has become a critical challenge for organisations of all sizes. Traditional manual approaches are no longer sustainable, prompting a shift toward automation tools that can transform how we deploy, configure, and maintain IT environments. One of the leading solutions in this domain is Ansible.
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Ansible is an open-source automation platform developed by Red Hat that has fundamentally reimagined how we approach infrastructure management. It provides a simple yet powerful framework for configuration management, application deployment, and task automation, making it an essential tool for modern IT operations.
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Core Architectural Advantages
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One of Ansible's standout features is its
agentless design
. Unlike many traditional configuration management tools, Ansible does not require software agents to be installed on target systems. This approach reduces system overhead, simplifies security, and eases both setup and ongoing maintenance. It also ensures broad compatibility across different operating systems.
Ansible also utilises a
push-based configuration model
, where changes are actively pushed to target systems. This allows for real-time updates, precise control over deployment processes, and immediate verification of system states.
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Key Features and Capabilities
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At the heart of Ansible's functionality are
playbooks
—human-readable YAML files that describe automation jobs in a declarative manner. These playbooks support complex workflow orchestration and make deployments repeatable and consistent. They also lend themselves well to version control, enabling teams to track changes and maintain infrastructure as code.
Ansible boasts an
extensive module ecosystem
with hundreds of built-in modules supporting automation across a wide range of environments. These include cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, as well as network devices, databases, containers, and security tools.
Another critical feature is consistent state enforcement. Playbooks can be run multiple times, and systems will always converge to the desired state. This significantly reduces the risk of unintended configuration changes and supports the creation of stable, reliable infrastructure environments.
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Configuration management
is one of Ansible's primary strengths. It helps standardise server setups and ensures consistency across development, staging, and production environments. It also automates the installation and updating of software.
In the realm of
continuous deployment
, Ansible integrates seamlessly with CI/CD pipelines to support automated application deployments, infrastructure provisioning, and the seamless scaling of resources.
For organisations managing
hybrid
or
multi-cloud environments
, Ansible enables multi-cloud orchestration. It allows teams to manage resources across different cloud providers while maintaining consistent configuration policies and supporting hybrid cloud strategies.
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Getting Started with Ansible
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Ansible is accessible and flexible, with installation supported on Linux, macOS, and Windows (via Windows Subsystem for Linux). The basic workflow includes installing Ansible, defining inventory files, creating playbooks, and executing automation tasks.
To make the most of Ansible, it's important to follow
best practices
. These include using version control for playbooks, adopting role-based organisation, leveraging Ansible Galaxy for shared roles and collections, and implementing secure credential management.
Ansible also supports dynamic inventory, allowing real-time infrastructure discovery and native cloud resource management. This makes automation flexible, scalable, and adaptive to changing infrastructure landscapes.
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Challenges and Considerations
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Like any powerful tool, Ansible comes with its challenges. There is an initial learning curve, and playbook design requires careful thought. Security must be considered throughout, and teams need to invest in ongoing skill development to fully harness its capabilities.
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Ansible represents more than just a tool—it's a paradigm shift in how organisations approach infrastructure management. By abstracting complex tasks into
simple, readable configurations
, it enables teams to focus on innovation rather than repetitive manual work. Implementing Ansible can transform infrastructure management from a technical burden into a precise, scalable automation ecosystem.
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Q: If you could swap lives with any fictional character (movie, TV series, or books) for a day, who would it be? And why? Ananthakrishnan: If I could , I would be batman , so that I can both be rich and a super hero without any superpowers ! also I could ride some cool cars/ mobiles. Q: What's your go-to comfort food or snack? A: Couple of soft kerala parotta with beef, I can do this all day! Q: What's a fun fact about you that most people don't know? A: I get hungry when I am tensed. |
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| Q: Is there a song that perfectly sums up your current mood or phase of life? A: The Malayalam song "Mandaara Cheppundo" from the movie Dasharatham. Q: If you could go back to your college years for one day, what would you do differently (or the same)? A: If I had a choice , I will definitely spend more time with my friends in the evening. Q: What hobby or pastime do you wish you had more time for? A: I wish I had the time and peace of mind to watch my kind of movies. |
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