S2 E1 - Discerning IT Sales While Adopting Digital Transformation

In this episode of The B2B POD, host Radwa Hassan and guest Abdullah Khorami discuss the changes in digital transformation before and after the pandemic. They explore how the pandemic has affected the mobility and location of employees and the changing ways that customers interact with services. Khorami notes that productivity has increased as a result of the pandemic experience, as people have more flexibility.

The episode also delves into the insights gained from research on people's behavior during digital transformation, from employees to CEOs. Khorami emphasizes the importance of understanding the needs and perspectives of different stakeholders, including the workforce and customers, in order to effectively implement digital transformation initiatives.

Throughout the episode, Khorami provides practical advice for businesses looking to navigate the complex digital transformation landscape, including focusing on core objectives, building strong relationships with IT vendors and partners, and staying up-to-date on the latest technologies and trends.

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Podcast Description:

The B2B POD is the finest resource for knowledge on anything pertaining to the B2B sector. The podcast aims at providing topical and dynamic content, making it a vital tool for entrepreneurs to stay updated. Listen in as our season's host Radwa Hassan, brings together a variety of guests each week to discuss the relevant challenges of the industry.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Radwa: Hello and welcome everyone to another great episode by the B2B pod. Have a very special guest with us for this episode, Abdullah Khorami who will talk to us about the Discerning IT Sales while adopting digital transformation. 

Welcome to the B2B Pod by the pulse of Dubai, with your host Radwa Hassan a podcast that touches upon everything that's going on in and around the B2B industry.

[00:00:30] Abdullah is a dynamic, highly motivated and experienced senior level sales and business development professional with a robust track record of successfully building key business relationships as part of the strategy to expand market share and drive new business revenue. He has 17 years of experience leading high performing teams in executing action plans to achieve aggressive 

[00:01:00] business targets with an emphasis on IT software networking and communications for high profile organizations such as VMware, British Telecom, Cisco, and National Commercial.

Additionally, he holds an EMBA in business administrations BS information management system, project management certification, and a candidate of DBA program. He is passionate about helping and driving transformational changes for many customers. 

[00:01:30]Throughout leading an outstanding regional team and fostering a results-oriented approach to achieving established targets and delivering on customer service excellence, skilled in interpreting sales and marketing data to transform figures into actionable results.

He will talk to us about the Discerning IT sales while adopting digital transformation. This is a very key topic to many business leaders organizations as we live through it and within it. So welcome Abdullah to our episode. How are you? 

[00:02:00]Abdullah: Hello, Sarah? Uh, hi, uh, Radwa hi everyone. I'm good. Thank you so much and um, thank you for having me in this great podcast.

Radwa: Thank you very much. And if I'm going to give a little bit of a background of the topic that we're, we're gonna discuss, we're, we're gonna talk through some of the key challenges, drivers and, and areas that really govern the digital transformation. 

[00:02:30] So we're gonna look at what the key areas are.

Where we have seen the changes when it comes to digital transformation pre and post pandemic. So this is one, one area, and really the flexibility that we have seen in terms of, uh, the mobility and the 

[00:03:00] location of the employees and really how. Technology has contributed to that very much, uh, the changing ways, um, that the customers deal with their services, how they have improved their services to their clients, how technology has contributed to that.

Um, and that would bring me to ask, uh, Abdullah what do you think the turning point from all the different elements of. 

[00:03:30] Collectively or individually that I have mentioned that you really believe is, um, evidence as to the change? 

Abdullah: Uh, alright, that's a very long question, but let me try, , let me try to go to, uh, get to it. So, uh, I would say, first of all, the, the changes that, uh, you mentioned in your questions pre and post the pandemic were many, but I can, I can talk about a few. 

[00:04:00] So, uh, you mentioned about the flexibility that, uh, you know, companies has had been adapting. and flexibility of working hours, flexibility of allocations, uh, flexibility of mind actually when, uh, they did, they think about, uh, how to deal with the operation, how to deal with customers, how to handle the new, you know, way of, of customers request.

[00:04:30] So one major change is definitely the flexibility that I've seen in customers and in in, in customers and their own customers. Number two, I think, uh, when it comes to technology, I have seen huge leap of faith where technologies or some of the technologies were nice to have, or it's okay to have, but suddenly it became must to have.

We're talking about, uh, virtual meetings where I usually, I used to ask customer to have online meetings, said, no, no, I wa I wanted face-to-face. Today when we ask for face-to-face meeting, they tell you, uh, how about we do it quickly and we do it online through, you know, the online, uh, video conferencing, uh, solution, which is great actually.

[00:05:00] It saves a lot of time and they take it seriously. 

Radwa: Yeah. 

Abdullah: As well. There are other, uh, you know, uh, technology solutions like virtual desktop where, you know, it enables, uh, a lot of people including great part of, you know, the female, uh, community to work from home and, and be more. , you know, contributing to, uh, to the world actually, especially in Saudi, for example.

And, and the, and the Gulf. 

[00:05:30] Radwa: Mm-hmm.

Abdullah: ladies or female force, were not at the right position. I think after the pandemic and with the major changes that happening in the region, we, we've signed a huge growth in the percentage of, uh, of that. Um, another point, uh, I. What I saw, part of the change is, uh, big part, big, big jump in the automation, uh, in processes, uh, policies, infrastructure where, uh, I wanted to do things easier, uh, quicker without the, you know, without, uh, losing much time, uh, for my customer to get their services or products.

[00:06:00] And one change in the mentality I've seen. That comes to managers basically is trusting productivity versus attendance. Where previously we had people, uh, what time did you come, uh, when are you leaving? Uh, today. They're looking into their productivity, they're looking into their achievement. Uh, so I think it's a good change.

[00:06:30] It's a healthy change where we trust, uh, people and we focus on the, you know, productivity rather than attendance. And, uh, you know, and wasting time at, uh, you know, and going from the office. 

Radwa: But Abdullah, do you believe that this change is going to last or gradually? People will start to go back to their norms as they forget about the pandemic experience and how really productivity has jumped up.

[00:07:00] Because people have more flexibility. And I know in many of the organizations you hear, uh, recruiters talking about how. The flexibility in the workforce is contributing to the brand reputation and how people are likely more likely to join certain organizations over others. I, I believe, uh, it, it's all about the managers and the way the, the companies do it.

So, for example, I've seen a lot of companies adopted in their systems, one day per week, uh, remote work or a couple of days per month, where they, they, their employees can work remotely. They can choose some other companies. 

[00:07:30] They already adapted in their HR systems. Uh, if you want to work all year from home, then it's okay, you just mentioned it.

You add it on, on in the system, and then we can reduce the, the office's, uh, footprint and reduce the sizes of the offices. While other companies, uh, requires people come because they, they're, uh, their job requires them to come. But I think it's already here. It'll not go. , uh, it for the, for the new joiners.

[00:08:00] It's part of the blood already for the old, uh, schools. Uh, maybe we, we, we see some, uh, resistance, I would say. However, I don't think it'll, it'll fade. I think it'll stay forever. Mm-hmm. ? I hope so, because I think it has given people more, aside from the flexibility, You, you feel that the organization is trying also to make the effort to make you feel more comfortable.

So some even organizations, I'm not mistaken if it's maybe Spotify, they're offering their employees to work from anywhere. 

[00:08:30] In the world. I mean, you would have a remote and, and, and I'm seeing a, a spike in the remote jobs that are now more available that you can hire people anywhere. 

Abdullah: Agree with you. Yeah.

I think it, it pays on the, you know, kind of business that they, the, uh, organization have then, uh, they have this flexibility. Some of them, they needed, uh, you know, facing, uh, customers where, you know, employees must be there. Some of them, they have the flexibility of doing a back office from where. 

[00:09:00] So, uh, based on the job that you perform based on the company's, uh, you know, overall line of business, I think this is flexibility I've seen in many customers in the region.

So I agree with you. Yeah, true. 

Radwa: So if I ask you what's a digital transformation journey? What are the type of insights, some of them from research on people's behavior during the digital transformation, from employees to CEOs that you can share and. 

[00:09:30] Did you believe that if people cope better or bring in that different experience of digital transformation to the organization, they can cope better with the challenges, best practices?

Abdullah: Okay, let me start with this. I think the word digital transformation means different things for different people. Hmm. And when I say different people. 

[00:10:00] Now I, I, I talk about the C level CEOs, right? So I, not every CEO has the same idea about the digital transformation. Some of them think of it as, um, as simple as, you know, I do automation and paperless relieve my operations as much as possible.

Some of them, they go ahead and think about, it's the like fourth industry revolut. , or it's the ai, uh, that I'm gonna bring to the world or, uh, something, uh, 20, 20 50, uh, business that I'm, I'm driving today. 

[00:10:30] So it, based on what the CEO thinks about digital transformation. So this is just a starting point and I think, yeah, I believe the CEOs are the leaders of change.

if the CEO is not at the right level, the whole organization does not shine. Okay. And, um, one part of, you know, uh, having a great CEO is basically, I think, uh, today they need, I encourage them, 

[00:11:00] they read more about, uh, technology. I encourage them to understand what technology is adding into their line of business.

I also encourage them to add in couple of of technologies, uh, around, uh, around the world. It helps a lot for them to challenge their own teams to understand what's going on. And some of them takes it to the, uh, second level by asking for vendors executive to meet on a quarterly basis. So, so they understand what other.

[00:11:30] Competition or similar industries, uh, across the world they're doing. So they learn and they go back to their teams and they challenge them. What are are you doing and how can we do, uh, similar business? Like what other, uh, you know, companies doing in the industry? Um, Internally, I think one of the main important thing that CEOs can do to basically make sure that they, they work toward the digital transformation in, in a good way is, uh, is training for the employees.

[00:12:00] Training, training, training. If I don't train my people, I would not expect, uh, more from them. Uh, second point is, uh, imagine that I have, uh, like four to five meetings with sea level per month. And when we ask about it. What is the digital transformation strategy? Find 1 0 5 has it ready? In today's world, I think this is not the right way to move forward.

[00:12:30] If the digital transformation strategy is not there for the company, I think this is a big issue for the company to move forward. Uh, last thing is automation. I think automation in, in the process and infrastructure is very important for any company to move forward, uh, with their business. 

Radwa: Great Abdullah I agree with you very much also on the point that not every CEO and leaders in an organization are very clear.

[00:13:00] I don't wanna say clear, but very clear and spot on with what they need. Transformation, uh, and it's, it's a 360 view. So looking at the digital transformation and an and its impact on the organization from internal, as you said, and external, how it will impact my employees, how it will impact us in our operational backend, and also the impact on our customers.

[00:13:30] Some CEOs maybe missed to create that link or. Believe that it is, uh, uh, more of a technology and a technical topic that they would delegate to others, and they would not go deep into the details. And that's what sometimes create that gap with the strategy. You have a beautiful strategy, but the execution and creating the what's in it for everyone who is involved is not there.

[00:14:00] Abdullah: So, so, um, two things I want to say here. First of all, uh, something related to the employees. I think the employees are the true user of each technology. are the eyes and ears of the companies outside. They understand what's going on in the market. They see their friends working outside. They're doing some different stuff with different technologies.

They have a great value to add to their own organization. Please go and talk to the right people in your organization if you see something new, something that you can enhance the processes, uh, some good ideas that you think that you, uh, can fix something that is not working properly in, in your company.

[00:14:30] I encourage the employees to take this advantage and, and talk to the right people in the organization. We've seen it and people are listening for a change. They need you to sometimes to come and, and pitch these ideas because you are the business people who's using this technology. So, um, you are the true, uh, driver of this technology.

[00:15:00] So if you have an idea, you always come to the right people within the IT team or the, you know, team and talk about it. Uh, for, for CEOs, some of them have, have the vision. Okay. And, and they have the will to change under power, the execute that change. Uh, and this is great, while others lack, uh, some of these, uh, you know, criteria and usually it'll make the will of change a little bit slower.

However, with the right sealable team, the CEO, COO, uh, CIO, they usually help each other to, to reach to that, you know, speed of change that usually the organization. 

[00:15:30] Radwa: Yes. Um, certainty. And it, it takes the will and the execution and not just a plug and play because it hits different components within the organization internally and externally.

So, yeah, I, I can't agree more if I ask you. Now we, we spoke about the CEOs and their engagement when it comes to district transformation. 

[00:16:00] Do you have an example of one of the organisations whom you have seen just really how they onboarded the district transformation and what were the key success factors that led to that?

Abdullah: Uh, so, uh, yes, definitely I think. So for, for me personally, uh, the organization that usually succeed are this organization who has clear KPIs, where has been laid down for, uh, senior management for, uh, employees. 

[00:16:30] So people understand what are the KPIs that the CEO has in on his shoulder in front of the board Now, If I say to the CIO and, and he said, I have a requirement, and I said, fantastic.

But please, before that, tell me what is your top three KPIs, your personal KPIs and your CEO's, uh, KPIs, believe it or not, not everyone knows it. 

[00:17:00] Uh, so you had to dig down asking about is he looking for, uh, increasing the market? How, what is a percentage? Is he looking for, uh, more branches to open? How many branches?

Is it about operational excellence or, uh, operational cost decreasing? What is the number that he's looking for? So understanding these KPIs is a vital, I think, uh, part of, uh, of having any successful digital transformation strategy implemented correctly. 

[00:17:30] Number two, I think. With each new project that is being built inside the organization, and this, this project should be linked into these KPIs.

I have a new project. Fantastic. This is great idea. I have these KPIs. Please show me the link. Explain to me how your project can contribute to one of my KPIs. Hmm. This is the case then. This is great. Then I know this is, this is, this project is going through, uh, the correct way of, of, you know, achieving my KPIs.

[00:18:00] Radwa: Yes. Yes. 

Abdullah: And. One thing some small companies or big companies do, basically, if they share these KPIs with their trusted technology vendors, believe me, technology vendors are dying to understand these KPIs so they can channel their portfolio, the technology, uh, portfolio into these KPIs, you would find IBM, uh, VMware, Cisco, and Nutanix.

[00:18:30] All these vendors going, saying, or Dell Technologies saying, okay, you have this kpi, I have these solutions that will fit into this. This will help in 10%. This will help in 3%. This will happen in hundred percent. Without this information, technology, vendors will keep selling. However, it might not be the right solution that will fit into the the right kpi.

Radwa: Yeah. 

Abdullah: And of course, uh, these KPI must be reviewed on a quarterly basis to understand where do we stand, how much achievement do we have? Uh, and so on and so forth. So, 

[00:19:00] Radwa: Perfect. 

Abdullah: To answer your question, yes, there are companies has been successfully implementing, uh, the, the digital transformation with the, with a clear strategy of, of implementation, thanks to clear kpi.

And I've been working with them, uh, in many countries, uh, in the Gulf, in North Africa, in, uh, Levant. Yes. Hundred percent. Awesome.

[00:19:30] Disclaimer: This show is brought to you by logicon, a leading demand generation company, providing solutions and synchronizing all your B2B needs. Logical. 

Radwa: If we look now as how can the organizations of the future thrive in this very high digital world? So what do you see are the top areas that they need to focus on and how to go about that? 

[00:20:00] Abdullah: I have a simple, say, say as if, if you don't change, the sun will sit sooner than you think. Yeah. and I, and I have, I have this story, so a friend of mine, he is uh, is around 15 something years old and his daughter is around 17 and 18. And I keep telling this story to all my customers because it's a true story.

And it, it touches the heart and the mind of the people. So his daughter is around 17 and 18 and, uh, she talked to her dad and she said, dad, they have three banks account. 

[00:20:30] Mm-hmm, he said, uh, daughter, I, I am 50 something and I have two. Uh, you are like, yeah, you are still 17 and 18, and you, you . And then she.

Well, the first bank account they had to open because the university asked me to open that bank account within the campus. Two months later, I found this bank that serve, uh, and gives youth programs, uh, specification, blah, blah, blah. And then I wanted, and I opened, uh, another account, and then a couple of months later, I found this amazing.

 [00:21:00] That delivers fully automated the service. I, I did not even need it to go to the branch to open the account. Everything has been delivered to me. It's an application. I loved it. So I'm moving forward. The moral of the story, this is the generation that we're, we're dealing with, right? If we don't change, they will go to someone else.

[00:21:30] There is no much reality as, uh, as it used to be before, if the service provider is not delivering the same, uh, quality, the better quality, the ease of, yeah, wondering. I will go to somewhere else and this is the generation that we're dealing with today. On top of that, , I would add you have smaller startups, very advanced customers today, tough competition, uh, even your employees ambitions to, to, you know, go and move if you don't give them the right technology, uh, solution that will enable them to do the work properly.

[00:22:00] Radwa: Mm-hmm. 

Abdullah: and, uh, also talking about the global market conditions. , the oil prices, the logistics, the uh, yeah. Upset, uh, situation in Taiwan and in, in the world, all affecting the customer behavior. You need to be as a provider on top of your game to be continuing that, uh, game. Other, other than that, yeah. And you will be, sh you will be losing, uh, the, the customer trust and you'll be losing your.

[00:22:30] Radwa: Yeah. And we have seen it with big, very big organizations that really, uh, decline steeply because they have now competition from strong competition from startups that started just like a few years ago. So you could have a, a longstanding organization that over a hundred years, and then you got someone 10 years ago starting in really massively disrupting your business.

[00:23:00] So the closer you are to the. The more you are connected with their real challenges, and that's what really organizations need to focus on. Customer centricity is not about just like, oh yes, customer is number one, but then you do something else. So I, 

Abdullah: I believe today's customer is looking for more transparency.

If you, if the shipment is late, please talk to me. Tell me the shipment is late. 

Radwa : Yeah. 

Abdullah: The last thing I wanted to do is to pick up the phone and call you if I can, if I can send the message. Chatting, uh, whatever application, and you come back to me with the right answer, with the transparency that I need, I'll be satisfied.

[00:23:30] Uh, I don't want to call, I don't want to send emails anymore. I don't want to, you know, it's, it's, I just want to, uh, have the status updated in my, uh, in my application and know what's going on. If there is a delay, please be transparent to the delay. Uh, and this is all part of the, you know, digital transformation story, uh, and the service that we deliver or people deliver to their own customer.

[00:24:00] Radwa: Of course, and this is very important. I mean, I'm a, I'm a big fan of Amazon's model and of course not everything that you're gonna buy, you're gonna get it through Amazon. So a story from my side, I opened digital accounts for my kids that took, uh, through one of the local banks. And it took me like, Five minutes literally to open the bank account.

It's an amazing product. Um, very happy with the product. We're very happy with everything but the delivery of the cards, that was really painful and it's done through a third party. And this third party is a, another local shipping company. One of the cards was held for more than a week. I did so many, um, follow ups through the call center.

[00:24:30] People are giving me misleading information. The delivery guys are getting all the time the wrong address because there's a glitch apparently in their system. And when I got really frustrated, I went on their website. I mean, to, to, to their bad luck I found. 

[00:25:00] That the number, the mobile number of the CEO of that service , literally Abdullah wouldn't, and I did.

I didn't imagine wouldn't, 

Abdullah: I wouldn't have an angry customer calling my CEO, although I had exactly Radwa: imagine, imagine, and I wasn't sure that this is the number of the CEO O and I said, okay, I'm just gonna give it a try. I'm really frustrated. And I called and he picked up and I. Uh, are you the CEO? Are you that person?

[00:25:30] And he said, yes. I said, okay. Thank God that I reached you . I'm very frustrated with so and so and so and so and so, and I called your, uh, team several times and he took my number and I found that the delivery guy bringing, of course, if the c o calls them to follow up, then they will reroute things to bring it to me.

So lessons. Take care of your customer. Don't let things escalate because now social media, not even If I had reached to the guy over phone, I could have posted a bad comment. 

[00:26:00] Customers now have the power to share their voice. More than ever you check the reviews More than anything, digital transformation is not just something nice or good technology that we're gonna keep as a back-end, but it's how you're engaging offline and online.

Abdullah: Correct, correct. 

Radwa: So 

[00:26:30] Abdullah: I think also, uh, in a part of the how organization, um, can thrive into this new digital world, I think, uh, so number one asset of each organization is the, is the employees, is the. I need to make sure that I have programs that, uh, you know, keep the talented, uh, people inside, whether they're retention programs, uh, talent programs, uh, uh, in such countries, uh, like, uh, Egypt, Turkey and North Africa and Levon.

Today we have devaluation, huge devaluation in the dollar. Yeah. And this is affecting the salaries. I need to make sure that my HR team has programs to keep my talent. 

[00:27:00] They would leave me if, if, if, if there is no program, there is nothing keeping me here. Hmm. Okay. I would leave for the money or for whatever, uh, that, you know, keep my eye, uh, rolling.

Yep. So, uh, this is one important aspect and I've seen it affecting too many customers, uh, uh, when it comes to it, uh, personal because people are, you know, hunting the good resources around the globe when it comes to it. Yeah. Number two, I think, uh, automation. Automation as, uh, as much as you can, if you can automate as much as you can.

[00:27:30] Uh, this will help putting the right people, doing the right things in instead of having a, a great resource doing a firefighting. Mm-hmm. I would rather have the same resource building, building me some new projects thinking, uh, profit center versus cost center. 

Radwa: Yes. Yes. 

Abdullah: People sometimes are afraid from the, from the automation.

[00:28:00] I think automation. Is a long overdue because I bring the, the good, talented people to do some good stuff. Not, and I don't want to bring them to do, to do some operational stuff. Mm-hmm. . And they, I think, I think, uh, companies should use, uh, quicker access to technology, public clouds, and when they talk about public clouds, Not necessarily meaning the global, uh, clouds.

Mm-hmm. outside the country. But these, uh, some of them are already available in your own countries, uh, especially maybe in Gulf. We've seen it in Qatar, in Saudi, in UAE, and in Bahrain. And now I have, I've heard this survey in Amazon also is starting an old. . 

[00:28:30] Radwa: Wow. 

Abdullah: So these, these node on top of whatever local providers, the, the big telcos in the countries do Tek, stc, uh, uh, they already have their own, uh, you know, uh, infrastructure.

In Egypt, we have E - Finance, the first, uh, sovereign cloud that has been built. So please use these public cloud. because they're not, uh, they're not as cheap as you think. However, they will give you quick access to market. They will make sure that you are on top of the technology. Uh, they will, uh, help you to, uh, get a, get a better, uh, you know, market share for the future as well.

[00:29:00] Radwa: Yeah, yeah, most certainly. And that would bring me to. The very key question about the massive amount of technology [00:29:30] trends that even customers are confused about. It's just like it's changing by the day. Really. I don't think it's anymore that it would take 10 years for technology to be well matured. . But now with that amount of technology and the different trends from your experience, how do you normally go about that?

Consulting your clients or making sure that a trend is not just a hype. 

Abdullah: Okay, so let me talk about something I'm familiar with and I'm talking about the public cloud versus private cloud. Yeah. Okay. Because I think this is one of the trends that, uh, is happening today. So let's go back 20 years ago where, uh, you have too many servers.

[00:30:00] And too many vendors. You have Dell, Lenovo, i, b m, uh, so, and h p e. So you have too many, you know, providers and each one of them has their own operating system. And then there are companies like, uh, virtualization companies, uh, came across and they standardized the operating system on that server. So now doesn't matter what servers you get, it's the same operating system.

[00:30:30] Today our servers is the clouds. So you have too many. And you have too many operating system on these clouds. So there are companies again today that are streamlining the, uh, operating system on these clouds. Like, uh, where I, I work at VMware and we have this, and we have also, uh, competition. They're doing the same. 

[00:31:00] But with such technology you can use one application from Azure because they are good at that application and one application from Amazon because you need this extra, uh, feature while you need something locally from, uh, STC and your treasury if your banking are using a cloud in, in uk. So you will be ending up by dealing with multiple cloud, you know what we call it?

[00:31:30] Multi-cloud. Okay. With different systems. So you need to have a tool that will help you. to normalize all these, uh, operations and make sure your team can use the same different cloud, the same uh, mentality and the same advancement. So this is something available today in the market, and I think not only VMware provide that.

However, uh, this is something where people should talk about and understand and they should use it and try it and at least have their team tested to see the value [00:32:00] that it provides. Doing that will help definitely. The customer think out of the box, because today I'm not thinking, uh, out of the box because I have a limitation.

Once you understand there is no, uh, limits of whatever, uh, service you can use, the thinking will be changing. Therefore, the way you deal with your market is, is, is gonna be changing as well. 

Radwa: absolutely spot on. And I believe this is the really very good summary on that topic. And if I ask you about some examples of any of your clients cloud journey has been really positive because it's a bumpy journey because of the trends, the implementation.

[00:32:30] There's so many things that you of course are very knowledgeable, but, and the multi-cloud vision. . So referring to one of the, um, the vendors over another, to any cloud provider they want to work with, what would you bring as a good practice that you have seen? 

[00:33:00] Abdullah: So I am a big believer in the hybrid model, meaning, 

Radwa: Hmm.

Abdullah: Customers must have their own on-prem data centers. Yes. Cause of multiple reasons. And, uh, we can take the, uh, the political story that happened between. Uh, Russia and Ukraine and the services has been stopped as, as, uh, a good example. People who already had the hybrid model, what they did because of the situation, they just moved their workload from whatever global, uh, data center.

[00:33:30] They moved it internally back, it was easy to move or they moved it somewhere else because the technology allowed them to do so. So they kept working and the services was up and running. And, uh, we had customers in, in Russia. , they moved their, uh, application in 20 minutes from, uh, cloud A in the US to cloud B in Alibaba and China, for example, because of the situation.

Radwa: Yeah. 

[00:34:00] Abdullah: Which situation? Yeah. Uh, another example I think in, in the region itself, uh, we have, uh, customer started. So the way that the, that I believe that you go for public cloud is you first you need to open and build your own private cloud. Okay? Certain, once, once you do, You would understand what is exactly required from the public cloud, and then you can build your extended DR or disaster recovery, uh, service from, uh, any other provider in, in any cloud, uh, whether it's locally or globally, if, if the regulations, uh, allowing you to, so in the past three to four years, I think I had minimum five to seven customers per year doing the, this private cloud, uh, journey.

[00:34:30] So today, I, I believe we have too many customers in banking industry, in government sector, and retail and, uh, you know, uh, transportation. They already have the first step, which is the, their own private cloud. 

Radwa: Hmm. 

Abdullah: Now it's a matter of how much I want to go for their public cloud. Is [00:35:00] it one application? Is it too many applications?

I'll tell you one funny story. So when you say government customers, they say, no, no. Uh, public clouds, we don't, we don't use it. It's, uh, out of the regulation, blah, blah. And then I ask three question. Hmm. How about your, uh, 360, uh, five, the, Microsoft ? Where does it stand? Email. Alright. Okay, so this, this is the email.

Then how about this specific service that this department use? Ah, but they use, uh, blah, blah, blah. And, uh, and you find out minimum, minimum that have seen three applications or four applications is already on the. 

[00:35:30] Radwa: that are very sensitive, by the way, I mean if your chat or email that is on the cloud, that is mostly all the communication that's happening internally.

Abdullah: So, so what I say to my customers, dears, you are already there. Yeah. What we are trying to do, this circle will get bigger and bigger. So you need just to make sure that you understand how to deal with it before the storm get bigger, how to control it, how, how your team can, uh, have the right tool to. To customize it, control it, build on it as well, 

[00:36:00] Radwa: most certainly. And, um, very interesting discussion and really great stories. I, I love when stories are brought within the conversation because I think. People remember the stories more than anything, but I would like to wrap up by asking you what are some of your personal tips and trick that you use for sales and you would like to share with our audience?

[00:36:30] Abdullah: So, uh, I usually say, uh, . I'm gonna be opening up my, uh, my notebook now. So . Yeah, . So usually 

Radwa: That's the secret recipe. 

Abdullah: So, um, I, I believe that, uh, people buy from people because of five things. Mm-hmm. usually if you go around left and right, uh, up and down, usually it's one of the five. Right. And even if you can take it on a personal level as well.

[00:37:00] So number one, uh, people buy because they have a legitimate require. Okay. Yeah, so if you understand there is a legitimate requirement and you have the product or service to sort that out, then there is a need, there is a case, and then you move forward. 

Radwa: Mm-hmm. 

[00:37:30] Abdullah: Number two. They have a problem, it's an E emergency and they have an issue and you have the solution for it.

So they will buy. So this is a different sales tactic, a different persona, a hat that you need, uh, to wear. So problem management is different. So sometimes you need to step up or if your customer does something and then you collect later on. So you need to be more agile in that area. Alright, number three, they buy because their management decided to.

That's it. 

Radwa: Yeah. 

Abdullah: Alright. So you have to do it and you have to do it this way, so they don't have a chance. And this is another way of doing it. Number four is, uh, peer pressure. Yeah. And when you talk about peers, I talk about. Internally inside the, the organization, for example, uh, different department that's competing and he's doing this and you're doing that.

[00:38:00] So you need to be shining or different companies are competing. So I use the staff tech if, uh, if I know two customers are competing and I told the guy, by the way, your competition is doing 1, 2, 3, we can help. to, uh, compete with that if you do deploy these services and solutions and products. So this is a tactic sometimes is very helpful if, if, if the right people inside that organization is there.

[00:38:30] So if they're aggressive into their competition behavior. 

Radwa: Yeah. 

Abdullah: The last one, which is my favorite, which is I believe many people still don't have it. It's building their legacy. People would like to build the legacy with, with whether you are a junior, uh, mid level or senior. Sometimes you want to put your stamp, uh, footprint inside this organization.

[00:39:00] So you want to build a legacy for your name. Oh, I have been building this project. I made this, I've made that. And if you find that person, then you can build something great. Then you can build something big. And I don't shy behind the numbers. I don't, I'm not afraid to say, you know what I'm looking for, uh, $5 million deal with you.

Radwa: Mm-hmm. 

 [00:39:30] Abdullah: Oh, this is too much. No, it's not too much. Let me explain how can build the value into that 5 million. Let me show you how this is your Yeah. You know how this, I mean, yeah. So, so these five, these five. Will usually help me to, to do my sales and I also, uh, train my team to do so and to understand the persona of their customers, therefore, for them to understand how to move forward as well.

[00:40:00] Radwa: I really like the part about building the legacy because this is very important, building a legacy and protecting that legacy in the sense that you're co. With a positive, of course, behavior and attitude that really leaves in the end a legacy. That people will just remember you with and that you can pass on to others in the workforce.

So this is a great point. Abdullah, really thank you so much for this great episode. Very rich in engaging content and conversation. Had the pleasure to have this episode with you. Thank you so much. 

[00:40:30] Abdullah: I would like again to, uh, thank you for giving me the chance, uh, to do this podcast. I believe, uh, I was, uh, happy to, to engage with such, uh, you know, uh, uh, personality as yours.

I think, um, uh, If I, I had a chance to add more to for our audience, that would be great. If any other requirement, uh, you know, happen to come in the futures, I'm also ready to to to do another episode of required. 

[00:41:00] Thank you again and uh, have a great day everyone. Thank you so much Abdullah, and really, uh, it would be our pleasure of course to, uh, host you and for our listeners.

Uh, please, uh, if you have any questions for Abdullah, share with us and um, we'll be happy to get back to you. Thank you so much for listening. 

[00:41:30] Ending: Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the B2B Pod by the pulse of Dubai, with your host, Radwa Hassan. This show is brought to you by Logichron. If you aren't already, make sure you subscribe to our podcast on Spotify, Google, or Apple podcast.

If you have any questions or suggestions, you can visit us on the podcast.ae and follow us on social media. At the B2B pod. See you next time.