“Our new strategic initiative is aimed at offering a full spectrum of Managed IT services to our clients” – GCG Enterprise Solutions

CNME Editor Mark Forker managed to secure an exclusive interview with Hassan Allahham – Service Director, GCG Enterprise Solutions, who took the opportunity to layout the foreseeable horizon that GCG envisions, both in terms of its expansion plans, as well as the impact which its strategic shift is bound to create across the IT ecosystem.

Today, with greater competitive forces shaping an increasingly demanding commercial landscape, GCG is gearing up to make steady strides and diversify its service offering.

In doing so, GCG is undergoing a strategic expansion, elevating its established stance as one of the region’s most established Managed Print Services (MPS) providers, to becoming the preferred Managed IT Services partner for the region’s burgeoning SME community.

With 18 years of leadership experience within the region, out of which 14 have been devoted to supporting the growth and success of GCG, Hassan is an accomplished tech innovator, who has played a pivotal role in strengthening GCG’s capabilities, as well as its reputation for delivering a definitive business edge to its growing list of clients:

Can you please tell us more about how GCG is expanding its service offering

At GCG, our new strategic initiative is aimed at offering a full spectrum of Managed IT Services to our clients. This major step forward is fully aligned with our ongoing drive for embracing greater innovation to satisfy our customers’ needs.

You could say that perpetual growth and expansion has always been part and parcel of our DNA.

Traditionally, we have served as a leading force within the Managed Print Services sector, while taking on a limited scope of IT projects and services as well, to develop our vast legacy of success over the last few decades.

Our enhanced offering will witness us going full force to serve the growing business needs of our clients, delivering an unmatched and integrated approach towards cutting-edge developments and technological advancements focused on cloud services, IT infrastructure services, helpdesk support services, system maintenance & repair, as well as IT outsourcing services.

What are the reasons behind the strategic shift?

Having served the print services sector across the UAE and Oman since 1982, we have a very unique understanding of our clients’ business needs. This coupled with how quickly the world around us is evolving compelled us to do more to meet their future needs and aspirations.

Leveraging our unrivalled reach and portfolio to extend our service capabilities came as a very natural and organic decision, as we have the service process streamlined, and our platform is optimized for seamless delivery.

What is GCG’s unique value proposition compared to other market players?

The SME market needs an experienced partner that can deliver enterprise-grade, AI driven services, without the burden of the typical costs associated with enterprise level services providers.

What truly sets GCG apart is that with the new additional scope of services, and our expansion into the IT Services domain, we are now positioned as an unmatched partner, that can uniquely deliver low-cost and highly efficient IT services.

Smaller-scale SMEs can finally reap the rewards of being served by large scale capabilities and tools.

There is a world of difference between application providers and an enterprise-grade IT services provider. Our integrated approach covers all solutions and is not far from the Managed Services methodology.

Enterprise level services will be delivered exclusively to the SME market at a reasonable price.

What in your view are your customers’ ambitions, and what impact can GCG’s new service offerings create?

The SME sector’s reliance on technology has aways been high, but looking ahead it will grow exponentially. This is also a highly cost-aware and cost-sensitive segment where the need for greater efficiencies and competitiveness is crucial.

With GCG’s expanding services portfolio – we are poised to deliver greater accessibility than ever before to brand-agnostic, tailer-made solutions, which will meet our client’s exacting requirements for enterprise-grade service packages.

What are the exact expansion plans, and how well are those expansion plans progressing? 

We commenced on this drive with a great deal of enthusiasm and the market’s response has been very promising. Exploring our growth potential together with our existing clients has led to greater collaboration and strengthened our existing partnerships, while opening us up to new ones as well.

Within this context, we will continue to supplement our portfolio of best-of-breed global principals and partners to deliver cutting-edge services.

Internally, and from a resource allocation perspective, GCG’s staff headcount is steadily growing, and we are anticipating a growth rate of 10-15% for FY 2024 vs. 2023.

Naturally, our recruitment efforts will be centered on bringing together a robust and highly responsive team of specialists focused on cloud, cyber security, and IT infrastructure.

This will only add to our existing presence, where for every 10 square kilometers of populated space within the UAE, there’s a GCG field engineer currently deployed and on the job.