Anna Zaalishvili: Technical Acquisitions Need to Be Targeted at the Future
Interview with Anna Zaalishvili, Co-founder and Director of Azon
Tell us briefly about your company, what is Azon all about?
Azon is a computer hardware company that supplies equipment to law firms on a corporate basis. We help small, medium and large businesses make future technical investments, and we are the official and trusted partner of brands such as Dell, HP, Asus, Lenovo, Acer, Huawei, Microsoft and more.
Describe your management style, how has it changed from the beginning? Do you have any ‘’I wish I knew then…’’?
Our management style is orientated towards simplifying customer communication, decision-making, and purchasing. In our field, it is very important that technical acquisitions are targeted toward the future. This is certainly helped by having qualified employees, personal corporate managers who continuously assist customers. Of course, we have changed, grown, come a long way, which has increased our experience, we have gained the status of a trusted company with a high standard of service in the market, and the greatest achievement is, of course, the honor of working with our customers.
First of all, the company ought to maintain our trustworthiness, which of course is defined by the behavior of all of us, the people working in this company. I would like many technology projects to be implemented in the country, which will help us keep pace with technological development at the same pace as it develops worldwide.
How did you get your first customers?
I remember our first customer really well, and I can’t say we had much trouble attracting them; we offered our services, they trusted us, and we did more than the whole team expected, we think our motivation outweighed our inexperience. From the first days, the company had loyal customers, and we appreciated it, we still do, and always will. The technical solution is expensive for everyone, so our goal was to get the right results at the best possible cost.
What methodologies and techniques do you implement to adopt novelties?
The first source is, of course, foreign brand representatives who run seminars very active in our region, and our company is one of the first to know what products should come out in the near future. We attend all the technical workshops and provide the most up-to-date information to our users, which is also the basis for our future relationship. Our company has never been behind the news; on the contrary, we are on a path of rapid development in this regard.
What’s still missing for Georgia to fully mature in the technological field?
First of all, there should be places in Georgia where the younger generation will be able to get higher or practical education in IT. This is the first and most important step that companies in this field should take together. It’s very easy to find all kinds of information in the online space, which greatly simplifies knowledge acquisitions, but IT is an inexhaustible field, and we need to make sure we are up to date with the news in technology, daily. Fortunately, our country is paying attention to this issue, and most importantly, we do our share of things that will be useful for our promotion.
What challenges do you encounter in this field?
As the director, it’s a day-to-day challenge to maintain a high standard of customer service, provide innovation for the customer, and be competitive. It is important for me to stay in touch with the customer, and most importantly, take into account their feedback.
As you know, IT is the fastest-growing field in the world, we need skilled IT managers, engineers, technicians in the country. However, there is no technical platform for that, and creating one will play a big role in our further steps.
How do you define success in a company?
The key to success in our company is the people and companies that trust and actively use our services. For me, this is the most important and primary factor in determining success - who trusts us, how efficiently and rapidly we communicate with new customers. These people define our success, and I always thank them for their support.
Will your company be expanding, bringing on any new products or new services?
Fortunately, we have very big plans, our service’s demand grows, and we are staying competitive. Therefore, we started the year 2020 with the addition of new directions, starting a large scale work, and we decided to test our strength in terms of infrastructure and technical services to offer to our customers, and we plan to provide comprehensive information about new technologies and increase the awareness of this field for the next generation.