News & Blog

As we close in on our 27th year as a business, we are at a nexus of looking back as a 25 year old business and planning for a business that’s three decades in the industry. The pressure to innovate, grow and be agile are all buzz terms assumed of new businesses and least expected from more experienced ones.

All of the above aren’t automatic for businesses on either side of the spectrum. They are a result of intention, planning, culture and perseverance. As we look back on 2023 labeled “Year of Sustainability” in the UAE, we ask ourselves two key questions;

1 - How does a business sustain itself in extremely competitive environments?

2 - How can businesses that continually provide products with no circular economy/thinking ever truly be sustainable?

Part I

Hire and retain Great Talent. It is the single hardest thing to do as a business. Provide autonomy to innovate within each department. Set goals that make you a little uncomfortable! We are human, relationships are everything, both internally (within teams) and externally with our partners and our clients. It takes a big team to deliver a project successfully and having great relationships makes sleeping at night a little easier!

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been on the lips of the entire industry and we are no different in this regard. We’ve taken concrete steps to set up in KSA through the year and will be servicing our existing customers and industry partners at the start of 2024. While the market is a new and growing one for us, we have to be respectful of the incumbents and set about defining our own USP’s over time.

The Kingdom has been on a hiring spree for the past four years and there is a definite need for further talent and good companies to deliver the vision of MBS over the next decade. We, for one, are excited to explore both the business and touristic opportunities being created in a virtually unexplored country.

Each of the initiatives above have kept us agile and servicing new and existing customers across industries including; Government, Hospitality, Healthcare, Energy, and Facility Management companies where we continually expand our capabilities. We love to be able to meet the unique needs of each sector and work with manufacturers who share our dedication to quality and customer satisfaction.

Part II

COP28 has stolen most of the headlines at the tail end of the year. Held in Dubai, UAE - the country wanted to be seen as a beacon for driving environmental changes in the region. While the COP’s have come under criticism over the years (a trend I don’t see changing anytime soon), the truth is, environmental sustainability is intertwined with so much commerce & government policies & unseen agendas that decisions to go green are not as simple as flipping a switch.

We at “The Total Office” committed to using only environmentally sustainable products to take away the choice of a customer ever wondering if it was or not. This was not as simple as a statement made. We had to get a majority of the spec + sales team educated on what it meant to have a sustainable product. Have a running count of all products that were sustainable and applicable for which environmental framework ( BREEAM, LEED, Green Star etc). Have our quotation system updated to showcase that in real time. Even after that we were barely scratching the surface. The commitment made for operating sustainably in 2023 was truly humbling. The path ahead of us is long and a necessary one.