Bulutistan, which grows as a Turkish company that produces its own software and solutions and has strong R&D hardware; The “Bulutistan Customer Summit 2023”, which was started while celebrating the 100th anniversary of the republic and will become a tradition, brought together the IT industry in Turkey. In the event, which was held at Wyndham Grand Istanbul Kalamış Marina with the participation of nearly 400 industry representatives and where the future of the informatics industry was discussed; Bulutistan CEO Begim Başlıgil, Bulutistan Turkey General Manager Gökhan Gençtürk, Istanbul Topkapı University Rector and economist Prof. Dr. Emre Alkin and Chairman of the IT Industrialists Association (TUBISAD) Levent Kızıltan took part as speakers. Bulutistan CEO Begim Başlıgil, who took part as a speaker at the event where the near-term targets of Bulutistan were announced, stated that they aim to be in 22 cities in 7 countries by the end of 2023; Gökhan Gençtürk, General Manager of Bulutistan Turkey, stated that they are progressing step by step towards becoming a unicorn.
Bulutistan Customer Summit 2023 came to an end with the customer awards ceremony, which will be traditionalized by Bulutistan and given in 9 categories this year.
“As Bulutistan, we have grown 3 times compared to last year”
The keynote speaker of the event Gökhan Gençtürk, General Manager of Bulutistan Türkiyeexplained how Bulutistan has developed since its establishment 8 years ago. Gençtürk, stating that 2022 is a milestone for them and that they have achieved many important achievements, said, “As Turkey’s fastest growing technology company and one of the 20 fastest growing companies in Europe, they will triple in dollar terms in 2022, and they will be dedicated to the financial sector. We succeeded in implementing the finance community cloud infrastructure, increasing the number of our employees by 120 percent, increasing the number of our business partners by 350 percent, and increasing the infrastructure investments we offer by 3 times. In addition to these, we established the new campus of our operations team in Bilişim Vadisi. Our targets both at home and abroad are very high. At the end of this beautiful year, I was fortunate to take over the flag from our beloved CEO Begim Başlıgil as of March. In this sense, I am very happy and proud. Because it is very important for me to perform this task today in Bulutistan, where I was at the idea stage 8 years ago.”
“Our biggest dream is to be a unicorn”
Stating that their biggest goal is to be a unicorn, Gençtürk said, “We are a domestic capital firm that wants to be a unicorn and this is one of our goals. By achieving this success, we want to be the pride of Turkey in our sector. We cannot do this alone, we will achieve this success together with our business partners. Today, we serve 500 of Turkey’s top 1000 companies in 3 different geographies and 6 different data centers with our expert staff of 125, and Turkey’s largest 20 holdings work with us.”
Gençtürk pointed out that Bulutistan’s goal of keeping Turkey’s data in Turkey is possible with the infrastructure of the world’s giant service providers; “Bulutistan has evolved to a different place from the day it was first established. We can no longer just call it a cloud platform, but Turkey’s localized hybrid cloud platform, that is, the cloud ecosystem. In this ecosystem; We have services offered by our business partners over the cloud infrastructure. As a mission, we cooperate only with hyper-scale brands, which are our competitors and our business partners. One of the most important handicaps of our sector is the problem of keeping Turkey’s data in Turkey. While our customers want to keep their data here, they also want to access the services of hyperscale cloud service providers. Collaborations and investments we have made as Bulutistan make this possible.” Pointing out that their cooperation with IBM is an important example of this, Gençtürk stated that they offer an infrastructure to their customers over IBM Cloud so that their data stays in Turkey.
“We produce different services for the dynamics and expectations of different sectors”
Gençtürk explained the other parts of the ecosystem as follows: “We have made the finance community cloud infrastructure investment for the first time in Turkey for the financial sector and its players. The important thing here was compliance with the BRSA and the Central Bank. We have received all necessary approvals in this regard. Another service we offer within the ecosystem is our SAP Cloud platform. In the last 5 years, the number of our customers benefiting from this platform has increased to 70 percent. With a market share of over 50 percent in Turkey, we are currently continuing our services as a leader in this field. Another community cloud we have created is the retail community cloud, which we have invested specifically in the retail industry. As Bulutistan, we saw that; The needs and dynamics of the sectors are very different from each other. Apart from the regulations, performance expectations are also very different. We are making investments with this in mind and we are constantly improving ourselves.”
“Our priority has always been the needs of our customers”
Emphasizing that Bulutistan’s priorities have always been the needs of its customers since its establishment, Begim Başlıgil, CEO of Bulutistan “The first question we asked ourselves was: ‘What will we do differently and why should our customers prefer Bulutistan?’ While searching for the answer, we followed the reverse method and asked ‘What should we do?’ rather than the question ‘What should we not do?’ We focused on the question” and continued his words as follows: “First of all, we said that we should never ask our customers for commitments, we should not bind them with contracts. Secondly, we must not be closed; We said that when our customers entrust their data to us, we should be transparent and share the information immediately. Thirdly, we said that we should not shy away from taking responsibility; We thought that whether the problem is caused by us or not, we should not just say that it is not from us, we should be a real solution partner. And finally, we must not be unpredictable; We said that we should not make last-minute maneuvers or scare our customers about the price. We have been keeping this promise for 8 years.”
“Our target by the end of 2023 is to be in 22 cities in 7 countries”
Başlıgil also talked about the global expansion of Bulutistan; “We opened our CIS region in 2022 and started our globalization journey with great strength. Today, one out of every 10 holdings in Azerbaijan works with us. In addition, we are opening our MENA headquarters in Dubai. Coming this year in England. Our end-of-year target for 2023 is; Existence in 22 cities in 7 countries. As you will see, our dream of establishing an international Turkish brand is very big and strong.”
“Informatics and many different sectors will be dominated by artificial intelligence”
Making statements about the IT sector in Turkey Türkiye Levent Kızıltan, President of the Informatics Industry Association (TUBISAD), stating that there is a great change in the world of informatics, said, “When we look at the data of 2021 in the IT sector in Turkey, we see that the figures are as follows; everything developed very quickly and the market closed at approximately 26 billion dollars, i.e. 260 billion TL at last year’s exchange rate. In 2022, we estimate the Turkish lira market to be around 400 billion TL. Due to inflation and exchange rates, the information technology market has regressed somewhat; however, this is not something unique to Turkey, this scaling is done by comparing it with other countries in the world. After that, we are faced with an incredible change, and this change is artificial intelligence. We will see that many things have changed with artificial intelligence, and the process in daily life will go in a different direction. If we show business solutions to the decision makers working in the industry instead of explaining the technologies, the change in the industry and the industry can be much faster,” he said.
“Digitalization also means democracy”
Istanbul Topkapı University Rector and economist Prof. Dr. Emre Alkin Pointing out that digitalization is very important for our country, he said, “Bulutistan is under a great responsibility, because digitalization also means democracy. Digitization provides equal opportunities in matters such as finance, so a very democratic business is being done here.”
Emphasizing that the pre-earthquake income status of the provinces in the earthquake zone is not even close to the average of Turkey, Prof. stressed that much more is required for the development of these regions than building buildings. Dr. Alkin concluded his words as follows: “We cannot develop these regions by erecting 500 thousand houses and constructing highways; We need digitalization, we need to establish digital infrastructures, we need sports, health, education, art and culture. If we do not do this, a brain drain is inevitable.”
At Bulutistan Customer Summit 2023, in which Turkey’s important technology companies are stakeholders; Arista/Network Exclusive, Veritas, İnspur, Norm Digital and Atlas Space Platinum; Tecron Gold, Netsmart, ICT Technology Gold; Rigosis Information Systems, Rasyona, Equinix and Easy-IT companies took place as Silver Sponsors.
At the award ceremony held at the end of the event; Zorlu Holding, Boyner, Turkon Holding, Çalık Holding, Demirören Holding, Futurence, Kale Holding, Let It Come, Kale Clamp Mavi, Bizim Toptan, Flo, Agesa, National Factoring, HDI Insurance, Abdi İbrahim, Global Investment Holding, Kale Kilit, Endeksa , Ay Yapım, SabancıDx, Arabam.com, Eren Perakende, Uludağ Beverage, AGEAS and Yıldız Holding were presented with awards in 9 different categories.