3 minute read
AT THE FOREFRONT OF TRANSFORMATION
ARMED WITH MORE THAN TWO DECADES OF OPERATIONS, ASBIS MIDDLE EAST AIMS TO REINFORCE ITS UNWAVERING POSITION AS THE MARKET’S LEADING AND MOST STABLE DISTRIBUTOR.
Advertisement
Twenty-one years ago, ASBIS Middle East was born with just two people and a small office in Jebel Ali. Today the distribution behemoth boasts close to 100 staff, more than five support offices, fully equipped warehouse and offers pioneering products and solutions in advanced technologies across verticals. ASBIS commenced business in 1990 in Belarus. In 1995, it incorporated its holding company in Cyprus and established its headquarters in Limassol. In 1998, the company expanded its operations to the Middle East.
Hesham Tantawi, Vice President, ASBIS Middle East, Turkey and Africa (MEA), says, “With experience of 29 years in the region and 21 years in the Middle East, we have cemented our position as a strong and stable distributor. We have experienced big changes in the market each year, and we have been able to stay at least one year ahead of these transformations in the last 15 years or so.”
Tantawi explains that this was only possible by “forecasting and studying the factors that affect the market”.
“It is important to view and understand the whole picture and not look at things myopically,” he adds. Over the years, several market factors such as reseller runaways to global economic crisis have affected ASBIS’ business. However, the distributor was able to successfully overcome these challenges by staying committed to its core principles of being a reliable and responsible company for its customers. Tantawi says, “We faced numerous challenges and at times it did take a toll on our operations. But we were able to address them effectively by devising strategies in place and marching on ahead.”
The current IT channel market also continues to be challenging as regional political and economic developments have a direct impact on partner business. That being said, there are also huge opportunities, mainly from new and emerging technologies as well as evolving business models.
GITEXEDITION | 3
According to Tantawi, partners continue to deal with three main issues – finance, logistics and acquiring knowledge of new technologies.
He adds, “ASBIS Middle East remains committed to address these challenges. Throughout the year, we organize education programs and have opened our new ASBIS Academy for partner and staff training on advanced technologies.
“Financially we support the market with credit, facilities and special finance programs for high-end servers. We also maintain our supply chain in a healthy way and aspire to be a one-stop-shop for all our partners, from a logistics perspective.”
Over the past year, the regional distributor has significantly grown across its business units such as Volume, Value and Printing divisions. It has also expanded its network and server business considerably. Tantawi says when the firm was set up in the Middle East, he couldn’t have imagined the kind of growth the company would have. “We have grown from bottom to top. We will continue to lead the distribution space in the Middle East region.”
He says going forward ASBIS Middle East will spearhead business transformation in the region.
“The market can expect to see us innovating and differentiating our offerings in terms of technology, trainings and portfolio. We are keen to work even more closely with our channel partners to help them enhance their net outcome together with us. We look forward to creating deeper relationships and building our growth together with our vendor and channel ecosystem over the next 20 years,” Tantawi adds.
Top vendors: Intel, Seagate, AMD, Lexmark, Ubiquiti, TP Link, Toshiba
Key markets: UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria
Key business divisions: Volume, Value, Printing
Primary technology: Hardware, Components, Storage, Printing, Networking, Software, Security & Accessories
Key verticals: Resellers, Public, Healthcare, Education, Telecom & Enterprise
