Though colleagues often admire her calm leadership and ability to “hold it all together,” she opens up about the quiet moments of doubt, the internal tug-of-war between roles, and the quiet power of reconnecting – with herself, with her purpose, and with the people around her.

Could you share a bit about your journey to having such a diverse family with both biological and adopted children?

After having three biological sons – one from a previous marriage and two from the current one – my partner and I still felt our family wasn’t quite complete. We had always hoped for a daughter, and when we realized the probability of having a girl through pregnancy was quite low, we began seriously discussing adoption.

We went through numerous evaluations and checks and eventually obtained the necessary certification that allows for adoption.

We waited patiently for two years without finding a suitable match. I remember the day we finally received the call about a little girl available for adoption – it felt like our dream was finally coming true. However, during the discussion, we learned she had two brothers. After talking it through as a family, we made what turned out to be one of the best decisions of our lives: to adopt all three siblings together.

Now with six children – three biological sons and three adopted children including the daughter we had hoped for – our family feels wonderfully complete.

At work, you’re seen as a strong, capable leader. At home, you’re a mother of six. Do you ever feel like you’re two different people?

Of course, these are different roles, and I do try to separate the two while still being present in both. Balancing my role as a project manager with being a mother of six requires intentional boundaries and support systems. I’m fortunate that my workplace offers flexible arrangements that accommodate family needs when they arise. Over time, I’ve learned that clearly separating my professional and family responsibilities helps me be more present in both areas of my life.

Are there specific skills you’ve developed as a mother that have unexpectedly enhanced your effectiveness as a project manager, or vice versa?

Yes, I often find myself applying parenting techniques in professional settings and bringing project management frameworks home, sometimes without even realizing it until later!

One framework that I’ve noticed applies in both worlds is what parenting experts call the three Cs: connection, control, and competence. I initially learned about this approach for child development, but I’ve discovered it’s remarkably effective with professional teams as well.

Beyond this, crisis management is perhaps the most transferable skill I’ve developed. When you’re raising six children, you learn to become adaptable to unexpected changes and emergencies, and this has helped me stay calm under pressure at work. Last, but not least, both roles have strengthened my emotional intelligence.

What helps you stay connected to yourself when work gets intense or life gets loud?

What’s been absolutely essential for my well-being is establishing regular “me time.” My husband and I have a routine where each of us gets one evening a week that’s completely our own. This dedicated time to recharge isn’t negotiable in our family calendar—it’s as important as any work meeting or children’s activity.

During my “me time,” I reconnect with activities that feed my soul but often get pushed aside in day-to-day life. Sometimes that means spending quiet time in nature, where I can breathe and process my thoughts without interruption. Other times, I’ll meet with close friends for coffee and conversation. These simple activities help me relax and remember who I am beyond my roles as mother and professional.

I’ve come to understand that self-care isn’t selfish – it’s essential. Taking time for myself allows me to show up more fully for everyone else in my life. When I’m exhausted or stressed, I simply don’t have the emotional bandwidth to support my children or contribute meaningfully at work. Self-care gives me tools to manage difficult emotions rather than being overwhelmed by them.

My husband and I also prioritize our relationship amid the busyness. We schedule regular date nights to maintain our connection – sometimes it’s just a simple walk together after the children are in bed, other times it’s dinner out while a family member watches the kids.

People often admire everything you manage. Do you always feel that admiration matches how you see yourself? Have you ever questioned whether you’re a “good enough” mom or leader? How do you work through those moments?

I appreciate that, but there sometimes is a gap between how I am perceived and my own internal experience, because moments of self-doubt and vulnerability are inevitable.

I have to admit that in the beginning of our adoption journey, both my husband and I felt a bit lost. We never second-guessed our decision to adopt, we were very clear on that, but we did doubt our abilities as parents.

After some discussions with our children, and among ourselves, we realized that we had set some very high expectations. What helped immensely was redefining what “success” looked like for our family. Rather than striving for some perfect vision of blended family life or flawless work-family balance, we began celebrating small victories and focusing on the positives: that we had a large, warm, welcoming family, with lots of support!

Is there anything you would like to share with colleagues who are balancing a leadership role with family responsibilities? 

From my experience, to have a balanced family life, firstly you need to look after yourself and your own wellbeing because children are like a mirror – they reflect everything back at you.

What I’ve learned through raising six children while managing projects is that authentic connection requires intentionality and it rarely happens by accident in either environment. For me, creating genuine connection begins with clear prioritization. Each day, I assess what needs my focused attention most urgently. Sometimes work demands take precedence, and other days family clearly needs to come first. The key is being fully present wherever I am. When I’m leading my team, I’m fully engaged with them. And when I’m home, I try to be completely present with my children rather than constantly checking emails.

Building strong support networks has been absolutely essential for maintaining these connections. At work, this means developing relationships of trust with colleagues who can step in when family needs arise. At home, I’ve learned that asking for help actually strengthens rather than weakens connections. My sister and mother have been incredibly supportive with childcare, and we’ve utilized services to manage some household responsibilities.

Perhaps most crucial to maintaining connection in both spheres is nurturing my partnership with my husband. We approach parenting and household management as a united team, regularly checking in with each other about needs and challenges. This strong foundation at home gives me the emotional resilience to connect authentically at work, and the leadership skills I develop professionally often strengthen how I relate to my family.

The post Connecting All Parts of Self: Marina’s Story of Motherhood, Management, and Mental Wellbeing appeared first on R Systems.

They break their own systems on purpose!

Yeah, that’s right!

It might be hard for you to believe, but companies like Netflix practice something called Chaos Engineering, which is a proactive strategy of injecting failures deliberately into the systems to test how they behave under stressful conditions. The idea might look simple but it’s extremely powerful.

Based on simple concept; if you can prepare for failure, you can survive it!

What is Chaos Engineering?

Before diving deeper, let’s quickly break down what Chaos Engineering means.

Chaos Engineering is a disciplined approach to identifying a system’s ability to withstand turbulent conditions. By intentionally introducing failures into a system, businesses can literally test their system’s resilience under stressful conditions.  

Instead of waiting for something to break unexpectedly, engineers simulate real-world problems like server crashes, network delays, or entire region outages to observe how the system responds. The goal is to identify weaknesses and fix them before they impact users.

Key Principles of Chaos Engineering

• Build a hypothesis – Predict how the system should behave under failure.
• Simulate real-world conditions – Introduce disruptions (e.g., latency, dropped packets, server shutdowns).
• Run experiments in production – Or as close to production as safely possible.
• Monitor and measure – Analyze how the system reacts.
• Learn and improve – Use the findings to strengthen system architecture and recovery processes.

Breaking with Purpose: The Philosophy Behind Chaos Engineering

You could predict how your systems will behave under stress, before the stress hits with Chaos Engineering. It’s not about breaking systems recklessly, it’s about introducing controlled failure to expose weaknesses and strengthen a system’s ability to withstand and recover from disruption. Think of it as a business fire drill for a technology stack, controlled, intelligent, and immensely valuable.

With DRaaS and Chaos Engineering combined, organizations can prepare for disaster. These methodologies validate real-world readiness and uncover vulnerabilities before they can impact operations.

Why It Matters

• Prepares systems for the unexpected
• Uncovers hidden bugs and vulnerabilities
• Improves reliability, availability, and user trust
• Helps teams build confidence in their systems

The Secret Behind Netflix’s Smooth Streaming: Controlled Chaos

Netflix, one of the pioneers in the OTT streaming service, doesn’t wait for a system to fail in the wild due to server crashes, network delays, or entire region outages. Instead, it leverages tools like Chaos Monkey, which randomly shuts down services in production to test the system’s resilience against unexpected instances and ensure graceful recovery without affecting user experience.

In simple terms, Chaos Monkey is like a mischievous virtual monkey that randomly causes disruptions in Netflix’s computer systems. It sounds counterintuitive, but the purpose of Chaos Monkey is to intentionally create controlled failures to test the resilience of Netflix’s infrastructure.

For example, they might randomly disconnect a server or overload a system, just to see if everything keeps running smoothly. If it does, awesome! If not, the engineers can swoop in, figure out what went wrong, and make it even stronger for next time.

This way, Netflix ensures your binge-watching never gets interrupted, even when things break behind the scenes.

Next time your favorite show streams seamlessly, remember; Netflix breaks things first, on purpose!

Ready to build chaos-proof systems? Connect with us to explore how Chaos Engineering and DRaaS can future-proof your infrastructure.

The post What is Chaos Engineering and how Netflix uses it to make its system more resilient? appeared first on R Systems.

It’s exciting to see the growing interest among women in exploring and pursuing careers in technology, especially compared to when I first entered the field over 20 years ago. I started as a software developer for a media company, and there weren’t many other women in the same shoes as me at the time. I had to learn, test boundaries, and grow over the years to become CEO of R Systems’ European operations.

My experience has taught me that building a successful career in the technology industry requires dedication, confidence, and a willingness to learn from new experiences and others. That’s why I love encouraging women who may want to follow in my footsteps or chart their own path in the technology industry to always seek growth opportunities, find supportive mentors and allies, build their resilience, and most importantly, trust themselves and their abilities. They belong in the industry and deserve their seat at the table, creating the innovations that will drive our world forward.

Since I joined R Systems nearly 23 years ago, addressing gender bias has been a critical priority for the company. Our team has always aimed to ensure that women have a seat at the table – especially in leadership roles and our projects – making this a key focus for the organization. There are many benefits from having women at the leadership level in our industry. From my experience, women leaders are specifically recognized for creating growth opportunities, offering strong mentorship, and fostering an inclusive and supportive environment for their teams. That leads to increased creativity, productivity, and good customer relationships.

Critical Steps for Tackling Gender Bias in the Technology Industry

Gender bias remains a critical issue in the technology industry and has been since I joined the field more than 20 years ago.

There is still often the tendency to consider women less skilled for technical roles, which is why women feel the need to work more to prove themselves. Organizations must provide clear feedback and recognition for their contributions, ensuring that both their achievements and their peers’ awareness of those accomplishments are amplified.

As a result of this, however, women tend to exclude themselves from growth opportunities. I have seen and experienced firsthand how women often feel the need to prepare more and gather more experience before they ask for promotions.

To help overcome gender bias and the self-perception gaps women face, organizations and managers in the technology industry must:

• Clearly communicate role expectations and have open discussions about where they can enhance their skills or gain new experiences
• Openly encourage women to apply for new positions even if they don’t feel fully there
• Regularly offer  mentorship opportunities and training programs so that women can easily obtain new skills and expertise

Each of these steps ensures that an organization benefits from the diversity of perspective, approach, and creativity brought to the teams by including women.

The Need to Strengthen Maternity Leave, Offering A Better Process for Confident Transitions and Returns

Many women are delaying maternity for career progression. However, these do not need to be mutually exclusive. Years ago, we examined maternity leave at R Systems to ensure that our team could help facilitate a seamless transition for women within the organization as they take leave and enable them to effortlessly resume their roles upon their return.

At R Systems, we aim to support women throughout their maternity journey. This involves open discussions about their plans for absence and what they hope to do upon their return. We emphasize timely handovers before maternity leave and maintain continuous communication and dialogue during their absence regarding organizational changes that might affect their roles. Finally, we ensure a gradual integration and handover of responsibilities to be assumed after maternity leave.

I encourage other companies in the technology industry to review their career path, evaluation, and maternity leave processes and assess how these practices affect women in their organizations. This is a critical – and, frankly, straightforward – starting point for companies to ensure that they can continue to benefit from the experience, expertise, and leadership that women bring. More importantly, it helps eliminate biases and barriers that may hinder career growth, ensuring that women not only have a seat at the table but also thrive in their careers.

The post Two Decades of Progress: Raluca Rusu’s Perspective on Women’s Leadership in Tech appeared first on R Systems.

• A strategic lens on GenAI’s end-to-end impact across the SDLC ,  from intelligent requirements capture to self-healing production systems.
• Clarity on how traditional engineering roles are evolving and what new skills and responsibilities are emerging in a GenAI-first environment.
• A technical understanding of GenAI-driven architecture, code generation, and testing—including real-world patterns, tools, and model behaviors.
• Insights into building model-aware, feedback-driven engineering pipelines that adapt and evolve continuously post-deployment.
• A forward-looking view of how to modernize your tech stack with PromptOps, policy-as-code, and AI-powered governance built into every layer.

The post From Specs to Self-Healing Systems – GenAI’s Full-Stack Impact on the SDLC appeared first on R Systems.

• Adapts learning to each student’s pace, style, and knowledge level.
• Automates content creation using Generative AI for quizzes, summaries, and interactive modules.
• Provides 24/7 support with conversational AI (AptivChat) for academic, time management, and emotional wellness assistance.
• Integrates seamlessly into existing LMS, SIS, and institutional tech stacks—no rip-and-replace required.

Transforming Outcomes at Scale

• Closes engagement gaps through contextual nudges and multimodal content.
• Empowers educators with predictive insights for early interventions.
• Boosts institutional ROI through better learner retention, faster content production, and optimized resource allocation.

The post OptimaAI AptivLearn appeared first on R Systems.

1. The Shift to Intelligent Learning

• Traditional digitization isn’t enough—education needs real-time adaptability.
• AI transforms static platforms into responsive, personalized learning environments.
• The global EdTech market is moving towards immersive, emotionally aware ecosystems.

2. Impact Across Personas

• Educators: Gain real-time insights, reduce admin workload, and dynamically adjust instruction.
• Learners: Experience adaptive paths, voice-enabled support, and gamified engagement.
• Administrators & Parents: Access predictive dashboards, behavioral insights, and 24/7 visibility.

3. The OptimaAI AptivLearn Advantage

• Delivers a unified, AI-powered ecosystem tailored to each stakeholder.
• Enables hyper-personalized content, real-time feedback, and intelligent nudging.
• Seamlessly integrates with existing LMS, SIS, and analytics tools to future-proof learning.

The post Beyond One-Size-Fits-All: Inside the Era of AI-Personalized Learning appeared first on R Systems.

• Assess your current AI maturity
• Identify agent-ready use cases
• Get a step-by-step deployment blueprint
• Align leadership on ROI and governance

Why Choose ARA?

• Prepares you for 40%+ agent-driven workflows
• Maps automation opportunities across functions
• Delivers build vs. buy clarity
• Accelerates time to value

What You Get

• Readiness Heatmap – High-impact agent zones
• Role Mapping – Voice, analysis & reporting use cases
• Gap Analysis – Fixes before agents scale
• Future-State Scenarios – Visualize and plan agent-led operations

Your Benefits

• Readiness Score – Track where you stand
• Opportunity Map – Know where to act
• Deployment Plan – Phased rollout, governance, integrations
• Executive Guidance – CXO-level strategy & ROI tools
• Benchmark Dashboards – Compare readiness vs peers

The post Agentic Readiness Audit appeared first on R Systems.

Understanding Microservices Architecture: The Agile Evolution

Think about those moments your typical digital platform truly gets tested. The Black Friday checkout frenzy. The song that suddenly owns everyone’s playlist on Spotify. The Netflix series that sparks a global binge. These aren’t just traffic spikes; they’re the moments that reveal your underlying potential. Can your architecture handle the pressure with grace?

The old answer – the monolith – often defaults to brute force: over-provisioning. Keeping the entire stadium lights on full blast for a handful of people. It’s a costly insurance policy that often doesn’t pay off, and more importantly, it doesn’t inherently make you faster or more adaptable to new market demands.

The Power of Distributed Strength in Microservices

Microservices architecture offers a more elegant and strategically advantageous solution. Build specialized teams, each owning a key capability. Catalog. Recommendations. Payments. Each operates independently, allowing for parallel development and faster iteration cycles. When a new feature needs to be rolled out in the catalog service, it can be developed and deployed without requiring a full system update, significantly accelerating time-to-market. This agility allows businesses to respond rapidly to customer needs and gain a competitive edge. (Richardson)

Netflix, a veteran of the digital frontier, learned this lesson early. The monolithic path was a scaling dead end and a speed inhibitor. Their move to microservices wasn’t just a tech upgrade; it was a strategic embrace of resilience through distribution; the ability to innovate and release features at an unprecedented pace, fueling their exponential growth. Small hiccups in one area don’t disrupt the whole experience, and new ideas can be tested and deployed rapidly. (Netflix TechBlog)

Designing for Connection: The API-First Approach in Microservices

How do these independent pieces work together seamlessly and quickly? Through clear, intentional conversations: API-first development. Design the way they’ll communicate before you build the individual components. This creates clarity, allows teams to move in parallel without waiting on each other, and builds an agile digital platform where every part knows its role and how to connect efficiently. It’s like planning the routes before the explorers set out, ensuring everyone knows the destination and the path. This parallel development directly translates to faster feature releases and quicker responses to market opportunities.

Letting the Cloud Be the Engine: Focus on What Truly Matters

Now, imagine taking away even the worry of the underlying machinery. That’s the quiet power of serverless. AWS serverless lets you build microservices that scale effortlessly with demand. The infrastructure fades into the background, allowing your team to focus purely on delivering value. (AWS Serverless)

For that Black Friday rush, serverless microservices architecture means your checkout scales automatically, behind the scenes. No frantic manual adjustments needed. No late-night fire drills to spin up more servers.  The system breathes with the demand, then gently settles back. Smart. Efficient. The hallmark of truly scalable software systems.

The Unseen Hand: Orchestrating Complexity into a Smooth Experience

A network of independent services needs coordination. A service mesh acts like the subtle conductor of your microservices orchestra. It manages the flow of requests, enforces the rules, and provides the insights you need to understand the intricate performance and identify areas for optimization that can support growth. (Service Mesh Ultimate Guide)

Spotify, masters of delivering seamless audio at scale, rely on deep visibility into their vast microservices landscape. Understanding the connections and performance is key to ensuring a smooth experience for millions and identifying opportunities to personalize and enhance the user experience, directly contributing to user retention and growth. (Spotify Engineering)

The Future Isn’t About Size, It’s About Smart Evolution

This move to microservices, powered by API-first development, the agility of serverless, and the orchestration of a service mesh, isn’t about adding complexity for its own sake. It’s about building a digital foundation that’s inherently more adaptable, more resilient, and ultimately, more reliable for your users. Driving business growth through faster time-to-market and the ability to quickly respond to evolving customer needs. It’s the core of intelligent enterprise modernization that directly impacts the bottom line.

R Systems helps enterprises navigate this crucial evolution. We see beyond the technology to the fundamental shift in how value is created and delivered in the digital age. It’s about empowering your teams and your architecture to be nimble, responsive, and ready for whatever comes next.

The post Breaking the Monolith: Why Microservices Are Key to Future-Proofing Your Digital Strategy appeared first on R Systems.

It’s always-on digital economy, so downtime is no longer a minor inconvenience; it is a significant threat to business continuity. This is why Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) has evolved into a strategic pillar that protects businesses from the unexpected, such as cyberattacks, system failures, or natural disasters.

DRaaS: The Backbone of Business Continuity

DRaaS has gained momentum in recent years, primarily due to the increasing awareness of the importance of data security and business continuity. As businesses face a growing number of threats, from cyberattacks to natural disasters, traditional recovery methods are proving too slow and too expensive.

DRaaS is a cloud-based solution that delivers on-demand data protection and disaster recovery over the internet on a pay-as-you-go model. It allows enterprises to outsource their entire DR planning and execution to expert third-party DRaaS provider. By replicating and hosting both physical and virtual servers, DRaaS enables seamless failover during disasters, minimizing downtime and reducing Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs) and Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs).

With the need for 24/7 availability and the increasing threat of cyberattacks, DRaaS adoption is accelerating. The global DRaaS market is projected to grow from $10.7 billion in 2023 to $26.5 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 19.8%, according to MarketsandMarkets.

What makes DRaaS a game-changer for businesses

1. Cloud-Powered Reliability

   DRaaS delivers disaster recovery and high availability through the cloud, ensuring critical applications across platforms like IBM i, AIX, Linux on Power, and x86 remain protected and recoverable, both within your data center and across regions.

2. Real-Time Replication

   DRaaS replicates your critical business data and IT infrastructure in real time to secure, offsite data centers or the cloud. In case your primary systems fail, you can instantly switch to the replicated environment, minimizing downtime and ensuring business continuity.

3. Rapid Recovery from Disasters

   Whether it’s a ransomware attack, power outage, or natural disaster, DRaaS allows businesses to activate recovery protocols swiftly. With no need for additional hardware or facilities, DRaaS slashes CapEx and OpEx. You pay only for the resources you use, with rapid recovery capabilities that dramatically reduce RTOs and RPOs.

4. Geographic Diversity for Greater Resilience

   One of the most powerful features of DRaaS is geographic redundancy. Backup environments are stored in locations far removed from the primary infrastructure, sometimes in completely different countries. This geographic diversity protects against regional disasters that could otherwise affect both your main and backup systems.

5. Cost-Effective and Scalable

   Unlike traditional DR solutions that require significant investment in secondary data centers and infrastructure, DRaaS offers a pay-as-you-go model. You get enterprise-level protection at a cost-effective price, and the solution can scale with your business needs.

6. Seamless Integration

   The cloud is at the core of DRaaS, with both public and private cloud models gaining traction. Modern DRaaS platforms offer built-in and third-party integrations, providing businesses with flexible, plug-and-play solutions that seamlessly align with their existing tech environments.

Future-Proofing Business Continuity with DRaaS

In a world where 96% of organizations faced at least one incident of downtime between 2019 and 2022, preparing for the unexpected is no longer optional. The cyber threats are evolving rapidly, and disruptions have become more frequent, so business resilience in 2025 hinges on proactive planning, not reactive response.

Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) empowers businesses to protect critical operations, minimize downtime, and recover swiftly, without compromising agility or overspending. It’s not just a safeguard; it’s a strategic advantage.

With deep expertise in cloud-based DRaaS, R Systems helps organizations build strategies that scale with their needs. Whether you’re looking to modernize your infrastructure or partner with a reliable DRaaS provider, R Systems delivers the experience, tools, and cloud capabilities to keep your business streamlined and running.

Safeguard your business with cloud-powered resilience—partner with R Systems for smarter, faster disaster recovery.

The post Why DRaaS is a Game-Changer for Business Continuity in 2025 appeared first on R Systems.

• Efficient Course Management: Streamlined creation, modification, and approval of course structures, syllabi, and learning materials.
• Optimized Backend Performance: Improved enrollment processing and real-time dashboards for better decision-making.
• Enhanced Workflow & Notifications: Effective communication and workflow management for timely alerts and notifications.

Customer Value

• Improved Student Engagement: Enabled smooth enrollment and course participation for students, enhancing the learning experience.
• Empowered Faculty: Provided faculty with robust tools to design and manage curricula.
• Centralized Academic Operations: Integrated processes across multiple platforms for a more unified experience.

Financial Performance

• Cost Efficiency: Reduced administrative overhead and improved efficiency in academic management and student tracking.
• ROI Improvement: Better decision-making and streamlined operations leading to operational savings.

Innovation Highlights

• Custom Learning Management System (LMS): Tailored to the needs of students and faculty, ensuring a personalized learning journey.
• Seamless Integrations: API-based integrations with external tools like DocuSign and Smarter Measure to streamline operations.
• Advanced Reporting & Dashboards: Real-time insights for better decision-making and student success tracking.

The post Smarter Learning, Stronger Outcomes Optimizing Digital Education Infrastructure appeared first on R Systems.