Adapting to new technologies

If you had told Andrew Elia when he was at university that he would be running his own global tech company, he wouldn’t have believed you. Now 20 years later, the managing director of Arishi talks about what drives him to be an Inspirational Leader.

Andrew Elia’s passion for tech and warmth for his team shines through. He is a firm believer in “no one person has all the answers” and that collaborative working is the way forward.

Andrew set up Arishi in 2002 but is a life-long technology enthusiast.

“I got into technology from an early age and I have been programming computers since I was seven,” explains Andrew, who went on to graduate with a computer science degree. Following university, he joined a tech firm as their fifth employee. Together they worked on accounts for Volkswagen, Football 365 and Arsenal’s first website.

“As part of a small company, we all wore many hats, so I did coding, client liaison, managed a team, and then moved into the commercial side where I learned more about the advertising sector,” he said.

After five years, Andrew decided it was time to set up his own business so, along with a couple of colleagues who moved with him, he set up Arishi in 2002. Starting with contract management for clients’ websites, they diversified into mobile development – which at the time was still quite embryonic – and embedded technology. This included providing a system that delivered audio for Mercedes Benz’s on-hold system to all its dealerships. In 2008, the team moved into augmented reality, being “lucky enough to be one of the first to deliver the technology”, before adding virtual reality and AI to their list of services.

“We are very aware that technology never stands still,” he said. “I make sure my team has an appetite for learning and enthusiasm for tech. It’s that malleability, that ability to adapt to new technologies that is our ace card.

“Metaverse is a hot topic right now. We try to be the voice of sensibility and ask clients why they want a metaverse, what problem they are solving and what it will bring to their business. It has to add value.”

Arishi delivers high-end software development and the technology behind complex creative projects. Its range of services include websites, ecommerce websites, mobile app development, virtual reality, augmented reality, bespoke software development, technical consultancy and due diligence, and infrastructure and hosting.

The firm is based across London, Abu Dhabi and Indore in India and has 20 employees –five in the UK, one in Abu Dhabi, with the rest located in India. The software developers and technical staff are handpicked and personally trained and there are plans to grow the overseas team further.

Andrew is fiercely proud of his talented, diverse team and challenges anyone who is “put off by the idea of our team in India because of their experience with call centres”. He encourages clients to get to know the Arishi development team. “Nobody has ever come away from that conversation without being very impressed,” he adds.

His talented team has the “ability to accelerate its learning at an incredible rate that is unique to us”.

“What we have tried to do from day one is empower the team,” he said.

“I always show respect to our team and I’m loyal to them. They take a pride in their work and love what they do.”

His leadership style is collaborative; he adds: “They are often my eyes and ears and see what I don’t see.”

Andrew said he looks for people’s potential rather than a finished package when he recruits.

“I’m a massive advocate for rough diamonds,” he said. “Someone suggested I have a chat with a guy who had dropped out of uni and was working in a pizza restaurant. He had an incredible ability with software. He could learn the technology we used very rapidly. He also had a real sincerity about him, and clients loved him.”

A member of the Chamber for four years, Arishi has become a patron this year.

“I’ve known Briege for 15 years and the ethos of the Chamber is the same as ours; when she told me she had become CEO of the Chamber, I knew I wanted to be involved,” said Andrew.