CHANNEL CHIEF
For OSAMA ALHAJ-ISSA , Regional Channel Director, Middle
East, Turkey & Africa at HPE Aruba, a management approach to build
and sustain high performance teams who can grow business faster
than the average market growth rate is what is important to him.
D
Describe your current job
role and the parts that are
somewhat challenging? When you look back at your
career what has been the most
memorable achievement?
In a channel-leading role for a huge region
such as the Middle East, Turkey and Africa,
you need to consider varying strategies and
resources to address the goals you plan to
achieve in the year and longer term. In my
role, I need to create annual SMART plans
with each of the teams and functions within
the channel and across other teams – mainly
sales, marketing, finance and operations.
The challenge is to sometimes keep all
the parts going in the right direction while
you focus on priority issues such as revenue
bookings that impact everything else if it
is not happening correctly and on time.
Another challenge comes from third-party
related issues, such as change of rules and
regulations, or lack of visibility, and how
long you need to wait for them to clear
authorisations or shipments. I was recognised as the best channel lead
among my peers from EMEA four years go
in London and this is a huge success for
me and my team considering that it was
in comparison with channel leaders from
established Western European countries and
emerging Eastern European countries. Also,
the shift from local channel lead to regional
channel director role in 2011 was a main
career milestone that changed everything
for me in my career.
People need to
be trusted and
empowered to bring
their best and this has
proved true especially
with talented people.
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS
Issue 22
Osama AlHaj-Issa, Regional Channel Director,
Middle East, Turkey & Africa at HPE Aruba
What made you think of a career
in technology?
I am a computer engineer, having graduated
from KFUPM. I have been working in
technology with leading companies such as
Microsoft, HP, Cisco, EMC and HPE Aruba
since 2011. Technology for me is like water
for fish. I find it like my natural habitat and
have never worked in another field.
What style of management
philosophy do you employ at
your current position?
Aruba, as a technology provider on a high
growth curve, needs all business functions
to gear up to growth. As this is the north
star to follow, my management approach
is to build and sustain high-performance
teams who can grow business faster than
the average market growth rate. This is
a long-term approach and it needs close
attention to people, markets and trends.
Each of these three components have to be
carefully planned and managed to optimise
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