CHANNEL CHIEF
CHANNEL CHIEF
Driving forces
OEMs are pushing their
products and services from
the cloud to the B2B or B2C
market, making the channel
less partner-intensive,
perhaps diminishing their role.
From the US Patent Office
and the founding of EMW
to a love of motorcycles,
Serjios El-Hage talks about
trust, changing landscapes,
winding down, doing more
with less and doing it right
the first time.
Serjios El-Hage, Founder & CEO of EMW.
E
MW has been in operation
since 2004 and, as the name
suggests, EMW, or East Meets
West, was incubated in the United
States in 1994. Serjios had contracted
the company back in 2003 to install the
largest PABX in Iraq while managing
Avaya’s Government Solutions Division.
They were very impressive and highly
professional. In the UAE at that time,
most local systems integrators (SIs) were
either data or voice centric, not both.
He found the opportunity to combine
the two technologies . . . and the rest is
history. EMW Middle East was founded
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to fill this gap as convergence experts
with three other members; two are still
with the company to this day. In those
days, clients were not willing to take
the leap and change from their legacy
systems, not because of the technology
but they could not trust a qualified SI to
do it for them, which gave EMW an early
head start and, today, it is still reaping
the benefits
Serjios’ most memorable achievement
was getting the company’s first client
in 2004, which is still with EMW
today. “This client was our bedrock,
upon which we’ve built our success
and reputation throughout our journey
together,” he says. “Our capabilities
later on became synonymous with the
group, which is truly an achievement.
The trust and expectations we’ve built
in such a short period have taken some
well-known and established competitors
years to accomplish. Today, EMW
as a brand is approved by all major
conglomerates that have built iconic
projects for the UAE economy, thrusting
it forward, particularly in Dubai in the
hospitality sector, giving my team and I
an enormous sense of achievement and
pride. Our claim to fame is simple: we
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NTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS
do more with less and we do it right the
first time.”
But what first made him think of a
career in technology? “Ever since I can
remember I wanted to be an engineer,
but in which domain I did not know. I
went to the US and studied computer
engineering; believe it or not, my first
hands-on encounter with technology
was because of English in my freshman
year using WordStar, word processing
software, to solve the issue of revising
and editing essays. Two weeks after
graduation, I landed my first job at the US
Patent Office, working on the state-of-the-
art RAD system that stores and retrieves
patents. After seven years working in
the US, I moved overseas, working for
major US technology companies based in
Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Germany and,
lastly, Dubai, which I have made home for
the last 16 years.”
Nothing ever goes perfectly all the
time and most people have things in
their past they would change if they
could. In Serjios’ case, he’d want to
do things earlier. “I always wanted
to start my own business because the
more you succeed the more you want to
achieve. The experience you gain as a
founder is totally different from that of
an employee due to the fact you have to
build everything from scratch, setting
expectations for every aspect of the
business, which becomes overwhelming
especially when your business is
constantly growing year-on-year. Had
I today’s team back then, I would have
definitely done it much earlier.”
And what does he think the current
hot technology talking point is and
why? “With technology,” he says, “what
is hot today might seem legacy a few
years from now. I think of it this way: no
matter what technological advancements
are here today to solve, or enhance, or
advance the needs and wants, you must
have people to execute them. Therefore,
the talking point is not what technology
is hot, but who can you trust to make
these technologies work as they should.
You could have the hottest technology,
but if it is not implemented and
supported correctly, it is only as good as
the box it came in. Technology therefore
is a means to an end.”
Does he have any predictions about
the future landscape of the channel?
“The channel in any organisation
should have the mandate to keep
stakeholders informed, incentivised
and synchronised. It is a complex
and demanding role with constant
updates and upgrades, and sometimes
a complete overhaul, which tends to
put a strain on those leading it as well
as those receiving it. I might admit,
over the years, we have dealt with many
channel leaders but only a few were
effective. Their landscape is definitely
changing since OEMs are pushing their
products and services from the cloud
to the B2B or B2C market, making the
channel less partner-intensive, perhaps
diminishing their role.”
As any good leader knows, it’s
important to have a work/life balance
not just for employees, but for the
leader themselves, so what does Serjios
do to de-stress and unwind? “Stress is
a superlative term that is loosely used
whenever abnormal behaviour occurs. I
deal with it by focusing on the best-case
scenarios rather than worrying about the
worst that could happen,” he divulges.
“When managing a business, issues are
bound to happen that are outside your
control. I work them through to the best
of my ability; never give up no matter
what and learn from them to proactively
avoid them in the future. Most of my
spare time is spent outside the office and,
weather permitting, I like to enjoy a ride
on the wild side on my Harley Davidson
Road King CVO.” ¢
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