Gülsün Gönültaş Akhisaroğlu, Hayat Holding Global CIO, stated that new applications that define a paradigm independent of time and distance in working life and increase employee experience, collaboration, individual and team productivity, and technologies such as AR/VR make the digital office concept a reality, and added: “Information Technologies.” With the support of this transformation, the GIG economy created by sources that provide technical services and sell information, such as these, will change the way they do business and will accelerate digital transformation by facilitating companies’ access to the competent resources they require in the transformation process.”
Gülsün Gönültaş Akhisaroğlu, who earned her master’s degree in computer engineering at Dokuz Eylül University after completing her undergraduate education in computer engineering at Ege University, has spent more than 25 years working in the field of information technologies in various sectors such as automotive, defense, and energy.
Since July 2019, Akhisaroğlu has served as Hayat Holding’s Global CIO. She understands the business plans of the organizations for which she works and oversees the application of new technologies, particularly digital solutions, for the transformation of the organization, systems, and processes. Gülsün Gönültaş Akhisarolu, a successful female professional, spoke with us about Hayat Holding’s digital transformation plan, the 2020 CIO Award, and its future aspirations…
What alterations and transformations did you go through during the pandemic?
As Hayat Holding Information Technologies, we have modified our priorities, standards, and ways of doing business in this new environment where all procedures and habits have changed dramatically due to the epidemic. With the epidemic, we’ve seen a shift in client experience and expectations. In terms of Hayat Holding and Information Technologies, we have responded to change by thoroughly understanding the shift and its consequences and reflecting them in our products and services. With our Information Technologies team, Hayat Holding is spearheading the digital transformation. Our efforts to position Information Technologies as a strategic business partner to business units help us achieve our goal of fostering synergy and a collaborative working culture with business units. Our Hayat Holding Digital Transformation Program was named H4Y4T D161T4L, and we began our digital transformation journey with the projects we established under this program. People, not technology, drive digital transformation. Aligning people’s approaches, company culture, and the way business is done is frequently the most difficult undertaking when developing and implementing a digital transformation strategy. We brought together the elements of people, strategy, innovation, and technology in our digital transformation program in a program that is suitable with our business culture. In addition, we can count the projects we completed as Information Technologies during this time period, such as contributing to product development from customer requests and comments in unstructured data format using RPA applications with Hayat Kimya teams and improving production processes and quality with Kastamonu Entegre teams by using image processing and analytical methods.
As the first action, Hayat Holding, which elevated our Information Technologies organization from the service function category and expanded confidently around the world, has a command of our Hayat Holding companies’ business strategies and will carry these strategies even further with digitalization, disruptive technologies, and data. We choose to put it in the ‘position. We began the restructuring of the Information Technologies organization with the backing of our executive board and management. One of the most essential aspects of our company’s digital transformation has been the transition of information technology into a strategic business partner. This piece was given the title H4Y4T D161T4L IT. H4Y4T D161T4L IT was established on three principles: “One Team,” “One Platform,” and “Standardized Process.”
E-commerce and digital platforms have grown significantly in tandem with changes in consumer access to products and buying channels. Hayat Kimya has continued to reach out to customers directly via e-commerce channels and marketplace applications. When we examine the supply chain from the consumer’s perspective, we strive to get the goods ordered by our customers as soon as feasible and at reasonable rates. In this regard, we oversee a significant Global Supply Chain operation that includes raw material procurement, international procurement and production management, semi-finished product production, finished product production, storage, shipping, and delivery to the end client. We implemented cloud-based dashboard projects throughout this time period to help our Global Supply Chain teams operate their businesses more effectively and agilely. Furthermore, our SAP S/4 HANA transformation, which includes the Global Supply Chain management project, is progressing quickly, with an emphasis on process improvement and optimization.
The necessity for our teams to function in a hybrid order is one of the issues that began and continues with the pandemic. Because of our continued production, there is a need for a shared working platform for our teams that continue to work in our production facilities and offices, as well as our teams that continue to work from home. We launched our H4Y4T D161T4L WORKSPACE project, which satisfies the needs of our teams in 14 countries on a worldwide scale for video conferencing, texting, voice conversations, and working together in a single space on a common platform. With this project and infrastructure, we delivered a digital working and collaboration platform to all of Hayat Holding’s teams. We’ve launched a comprehensive information security program to promote healthy hybrid working, remote working, and remote support. Our plan includes an emphasis on information security. We have established an information security approach that supports our firms’ business aims as part of our Digital Transformation program. We have positioned various security solutions, audit and control systems that provide IT&OT integration in our manufacturing facilities, incorporating new technologies such as AR/VR and IoT structures, while being mindful of our risks and supporting remote access and cooperation.
What has changed in your industry in the last ten years, when you examine digital transformation in terms of your industry?
In terms of production operations, data collecting began in every field in the previous time by installing customer relations management, supply chain management, production tracking systems, and enterprise resource planning software. Data has just begun to be collected down to the sensors in production and stored on big data platforms, thanks to advancements in IoT and cloud technology. The data gathered at the start provided us with a picture of what happened in the past and present. With the advancement of telecom and communication technologies, as well as the expansion in 5G applications, data storage and processing capacity and speed, we can claim that data collected in institutions has now been transformed into guides that steer the future with Advanced Analytics apps. End-to-end big data and advanced analytics applications, uninterrupted production operations, predictive maintenance, and even end-to-end customer experience optimization initiatives are all possible. Organizations that understand their data and manage it using analytical methodologies will offer speed and flexibility to their institutions in the next years. The most significant change in production processes produced with automation and robotic systems and assumed to be totally mechanical, in my opinion, is data-based optimization, transformation to remotely managed and autonomous systems. Technology has grown more accessible and usable as it has advanced and expanded. It is no longer sufficient to have technology; rather, it is necessary to produce sustainable solutions by employing the appropriate technology in the appropriate context. I believe that firms that understand both business and technology and employ them effectively will create value and differentiate themselves in the marketplace.
How do you incorporate next-generation technologies, such as data analytics and automation, into your processes?
We are launching RPA and automation initiatives in all relevant areas, both in information technology and business processes, as part of our Hayat Holding Information Technologies strategy. We provided automation of repetitive information technology operations and procedures through our Information Technologies ITSM platform. RPA applications are used to automate business activities. H4Y4T-e is the moniker we gave to our Hayat Holding RPA system. H4Y4T-e handles the repetitive job of our digital collar employees and business units, freeing up time for their blue and white collar coworkers. We completed 50+ RPA projects in 2020, saving both time and money. Furthermore, we have improved quality by lowering the margin of error.
We concluded our infrastructure investment by developing Hayat Holding’s Big Data and Advanced Analytics team and decided on our big data and analytics platform. In both Hayat Kimya and Kastamonu Entegre, we began efforts in the field of production optimization. During the year, we will also add analytics and optimization projects in the sectors of Marketing, R&D, and Supply Chain in our portfolio. Hayat Holding has begun its transformation into an organization that knows and controls its data, adds value to its operations with data, and turns every touch point with its customers into value and innovation as a result of the journey we began with our Big Data and Advanced Analytics team.
When you look at it specifically from your industry’s perspective, where do you see the gaps in technology that need to be filled?
Companies attempt to cut costs and build sustainable operations while developing their products and services in supply and manufacturing processes ranging from demand through value and service. I believe it is critical to build digital and data-driven ecosystem relationships at various stages of the demand-to-delivery value chain, and that work in this area is required. Companies will gain a competitive advantage by focusing on their work and sharing the mastery they have gained in their respective fields with the digital ecosystem data collaborations and win-win principle they will create, and they will provide both process improvement and product and service differentiation. As in any other industry, the increased digitalization and automation of production processes necessitates the development of digital capabilities and data literacy among production teams. There is a shift from technical and labor-intensive modes of operation to data and interpretation-based modes of operation. People are vital in the digital transformation process; more work should be done on developing digital skills of employees for the adaptation and correct use of changes in production methods. Otherwise, it will be difficult to locate skilled workers, and unemployment rates will rise.
We’re also wondering about your intentions for 2021… What do you expect to change in your industry and technology in Turkey this year?
Hayat Holding Global Information Technologies Project Portfolio for 2021 in the field of Corporate Solutions on a global scale, projects to renew the applications we use such as the SAP S/4HANA transformation, projects to expand to countries such as the implementation of applications such as Human Resources and Field Sales applications used in Turkey in all countries on a global scale
We carry out Industry 4.0 transformation initiatives in collaboration with our manufacturing and automation teams, as well as our Industrial Information Technologies team, which we established under the Information Technologies body. We create our company’s Big Data investment with our Advanced Analytics team and add Advanced Analytics projects to our portfolio. We continue to work in several areas to improve production quality, such as image processing projects, projects to eliminate production interruptions by leveraging data obtained from automation and analytical models, predictive maintenance projects, and energy optimization projects. With these initiatives, Hayat Holding’s transformation into a digital factory and data-driven organization continues.
2020 has been a year fraught with uncertainty. The way organizations function, as well as how they produce and service, have altered by 2020. With the benefits it gives, the new working order and kinds of service that began with the pandemic will become habits. Remote working apps, which have been utilized in many nations around the world for many years and were first introduced in Turkey during the epidemic, will be employed in Turkey in the future. While many small and medium-sized businesses save office expenditures and transition to totally remote working techniques, manufacturing and large-scale organizations will continue to work in a hybrid order by defining work and function. While the pandemic made us appreciate nature’s beauty, it also demonstrated the importance of modern technologies in doing our jobs and meeting our demands. AR/VR technologies, for example, make the concept of the digital workplace a reality by defining a paradigm independent of time and location in working life and increasing employee experience, collaboration, individual and team productivity. With the support of this transformation, the GIG economy created by sources that provide technical services and sell information, such as Information Technologies, will change the way of doing business and accelerate digital transformation by making it easier for companies to reach the competent resource they require in the transformation process.
The emphasis on employee wellness has boosted the demand for digitalization and remote management of manufacturing plants. The transition to digital and autonomous factories will continue at a rapid pace in the coming years. In place of traditional applications, one of the most affected areas has begun to convert into digital supply chains with end-to-end visibility, agility, and optimization. IoT, 5G, advanced analytics, and the cloud will help to convert the supply chain into value-creating consumer-oriented supply networks. Supply Chain management optimization will be on the agenda since consumers demand the greatest product at the best price in the shortest amount of time. Organizations who manage the supply chain in the most effective manner will be the ones that guide commerce in the future. Among my hopes are the increased use of blockchain technology in supply chain, logistics, and financial services, the employment of drones or robots in contactless delivery and payment systems and last kilometer delivery operations, digitalization, and data-based optimization studies in all sectors.
Companies will be able to integrate digital and data into their products and services, build end-to-end transparent and traceable systems with the data they collect in every field, and manage potential dangers and risks with more agile and adaptable techniques. Furthermore, as digitalization and cyber dangers increase, I predict “Zero Trust” approaches to become more common in the realm of information security.
“When I first started working at Hayat Holding, I had a desire of accomplishing our firms’ digital transformation.”
We’d like to congratulate you again on receiving the CIO Award. Can you tell us about your initiative that earned you this award?
We began the drafting of the H4Y4T D161T4L Strategy and Digital Transformation Roadmap in order to unite the Digital Transformation initiatives we will carry out under an unified strategy and a single transformation program. Within our Information Technologies team, we developed a team. We met with all units, beginning with our CEO and Executive Board and progressing through Global Directorates, Country General Managers, and all functional teams. We prepared our strategic priorities, digital transformation areas that support strategic priorities, information technologies and digital transformation strategies that will realize the transformation, and the Digital Transformation Roadmap covering the next 7 years, addressing transformation needs, in this study. When I first came at Hayat Holding, I had a vision of realizing our enterprises’ digital transformation. Today, we have a strong Information Technologies and Digitalization Strategy that is integrated with Business Strategies and is approved and supported by management, a comprehensive Digital Transformation Roadmap that spans 7 years, and, most importantly, a motivated team and business partners who share the same goal and will realize the transformation together. In its first year, our H4Y4T D161T4L Strategy and Digital Transformation Roadmap work earned us honors. We are honored and delighted to receive the 2020 CIO Award in the category of CXO Medya Turkcell Special Award for our thorough Digital Transformation work. Furthermore, our H4Y4T D161T4L Strategy and Digital Transformation Roadmap program was won in the IT Governance category at the IDC CIO Summit 2021 project awards, and one of its associated projects, H4Y4T D161T4L Workspace, was awarded in the Future of Work- Borderless Organization category.
Briefing with the CIO
Can you sum up your firm and yourself in three words?
My company is people-oriented, innovative, and daring.
I am a value creator, an inspiration, and a transformation leader.
What was your most recent read, and would you suggest it to our readers?
I’d like to recommend two novels that I recently read, as well as one whose concepts I admire: In terms of cultural change and shifting habits, I found digital transformation studies to be useful. The Power of Habit (Why We Do What We Do and How We Change) – Charles Duhigg, which I found valuable in focusing on how to enhance team motivation in remote and hybrid working processes. Drive (The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us) – Daniel H. Pink, whose concepts I accepted and promoted to my teams in the early 2000s; The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey.
What was your dream job? What drew you to work in information technology?
My ideal job would be to work in science and technology, establishing systems that would assist the globe, developing answers and inventing new ones. My grandfather, Ibrahim Gönültaş, encouraged me to study and work in the field of information technology. He always felt that information technology is the future.
Can you think of three people who have had a big influence on your career?
With love and mercy, I remember my grandfather, Brahim Gönültaş, who mentored and always supported my career in the field of information technology. Mr. Erbil Aknc, who was my role model in my management path with his management approach and values while I worked at General Motors, deserves my appreciation and admiration. I’d want to thank my dear wife Kerim Akhisarolu, who has always been by my side and supported me in my work decisions, and with whom we have faced problems and celebrated victories both in our business and in our personal lives.
