"My first year at Serban Group: learning, supporting, and transforming"

This week, we welcome Gabriel Sakata, Managing Director of Serban Group, as a guest on our blog. Over the past year, Gabriel has led the company’s strategy and operations during a period of profound transformation shaped by the rise of Artificial Intelligence. Curious to learn more about his vision and experience? We invite you to discover them in this article.

The starting point: People and learning

When I look back on my first year at Serban Group, the first thing that comes to mind is the people. Wonderful people who welcomed me with open arms, taught me what this company was all about, and helped me enter a world I hadn’t known before: the world of desktop virtualization. I arrived with experience to contribute and with a lot to learn. I’m especially grateful for the generosity with which they shared their knowledge with me.

Joining Serban Group meant accepting the challenge of participating in a transformation that the company had already been working on and was looking to accelerate. My initial responsibility focused on the sales team. To contribute, I needed to understand what we had built, what our customers valued, and how those who maintained that relationship day in and day out worked.

That early experience left me with a reflection that still stays with me: when you arrive with the responsibility of driving change, listening is a fundamental part of the job. Organizations have a history, a way of doing things, and people who have dedicated a great deal of effort to building them. Any evolution must start from there.

The challenge of artificial intelligence

In 2026, the challenge expanded. Upon assuming the role of Managing Director, operational responsibilities were added to my sales duties—and with them, a question that now occupies much of my attention: how to leverage artificial intelligence to improve the way we work and the service we provide to our customers.

It’s an opportunity that excites me but also raises questions. I see the potential to offer better services, reduce repetitive tasks, prevent errors, and devote more time to solving problems that require experience and judgment. Our goal is for that improvement to translate into more efficient operations and more satisfied clients. Turning that potential into results is part of the work ahead of us.

I also understand the unease this causes. The possibility of feeling replaced touches on something very personal: the value of what we do, our place on a team, and our professional future. As an organization, it confronts us with an equally uncomfortable question: How must we evolve to remain relevant?

Self-reflection and looking toward the future

I believe that those of us in leadership roles must make room for these concerns. Supporting this transformation requires explaining decisions, listening to doubts, and helping people develop new skills. We, too, must be willing to learn and reevaluate our own assumptions.

Furthermore, some decisions require great care. What information do we share with an AI tool? How do we protect sensitive data? Who validates its responses, and who is accountable for the decisions we make with its help? Incorporating these tools requires establishing clear boundaries, responsibilities, and controls.

For service and technology providers like Serban Group, I see an important part of the challenge here: transforming our own operations and supporting clients on a journey that is also new to them. Our expertise must guide us in identifying where AI can add value, recognizing where oversight is needed, and managing the risks at every step.

I’m quite self-critical, and when I take stock, I also think about everything we still need to improve. We’re right in the middle of this process, and there are still many unanswered questions. I think it’s important to acknowledge this just as naturally as we acknowledge the opportunity before us.

What I take away most from this first year is my gratitude to those who helped me understand Serban Group and the responsibility to continue building alongside them. The path of transformation is largely uncharted. My commitment is that we’ll travel it with curiosity, sound judgment, and enough confidence to discuss what works and what we need to correct.

That, for me, is today’s challenge: to dare to move forward, manage risks, and take care of the people who make change possible.