‘Technological Renaissance came with the Pandemic’ was discussed in KAGİDER Digital Talks

KAGİDER (Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey) continues to address the current problems of the business world by holding 'Digital Talks' in a live broadcast meeting.

The topic of the panel, which was broadcast live on Tuesday 28 April between 11.00 and 13.00 was ‘Technological Renaissance in SMEs that came with the Pandemic’. The online panel started with the opening speech of KAGİDER President Emine Erdem and KAGİDER Vice President and President of the Technology and Digital Transformation Strategy Group Tijen Mergen. Guests on the panel which was moderated by Ahu Bade Nilgün, KAGİDER member and NBSHR General Manager and Start-Up Mentor, were Sabancı Dx Sales and Product Assistant General Manager Management Özlem Kalkan, Sales Network Group Founder Ergün Güler and Microsoft EMEA Modern Workplace Solutions Business Development Manager Yeliz Turunç.

'Public support and innovative new business models are important'

In her opening speech, Emine Erdem underlined the need for public support and innovative new business models during the pandemic and normalization processes: “In this period of time, our field of action is highly restricted and the world economy is predicted to enter a recession. The IMF predicted that the global economy, which grew by 2.9 percent in 2019, will shrink by 3% in 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak. IMF's Global Economic Outlook expects 5% shrink for Turkey's economy and 17.2% unemployment rate. Of course, our biggest wish is to defeat the epidemic as soon as possible and return to the normal course of our daily lives’.

Tijen Mergen said in her speech: ‘In this process, the responsibility of entrepreneurs is heavy. On the one hand, they are trying to get used to the new system and on the other hand, they are working to protect their employees. Third, they strive to maintain their psychology, like all of us. For this reason, we try to share information about what entrepreneurs and managers should do in the business world in our “KAGİDER Digital Talks” meetings. In this panel, we are especially happy to make a contribution that will contribute to this matter’.

'We should follow customers' needs rather than trying to guess them’

Ergün Güler, founder of Sales Network Group, underlined in his speech based on the Argus Growth Agency report that shopping trends will change in the new period: ‘The importance of zero-friction shopping, that is the simplified way to shop like the customers want, when they want. At this point, payment systems also need to be updated. We have to remove all barrieres for the customer. We will see that flexibility in shopping, subscription systems, speed, virtual reality and transparency principles come to the forefront of discussions. Perhaps we will worry about trying on clothes, so as some brands have started to use virtual reality method will be needed. In the coming period, consumers may choose to rent or subscribe to some of their needs instead of buying them. Topics such as shared kitchen, shared clothing, and accessories can be brought to the agenda. They may want to buy social distance in restaurants, airplanes, and sports halls. First of all, we are going through a period that we need to follow, not guessing what our customers' needs will be’.

Human resources should quickly take the issues of ‘Digitizing Field Staff ‘and ‘Workplace Analytics’ on their agendas.

Yeliz Turunç, Microsoft EMEA Modern Workplace Solutions Business Development Manager said, ‘With the crisis, the first reflex of the companies was, to quickly implement the necessary tools for the employees to continue their work. As Microsoft, we address communication and collaboration needs with ‘Microsoft Teams’. In fact, unlike the alternatives, we position Microsoft Teams not only as a remote meeting - communication tool but also as an application platform where an employee can perform all end-to-end business processes. Including remote workers in these platforms, it should be ensured that the works become more agile and productive. On the other hand, although it seems that productivity has increased with the start of 7/24 working from home, it can be seen that after a while, employee satisfaction will decrease and employers start to lose employees. In order to measure this situation proactively and take the necessary measures, Human Resources departments should prioritize ‘Working Environment Analytics’.’

‘Those who have advanced in the digitalization journey in production and who can act agile and provide production alternatives have come to the fore in the crisis’

In her speech, Dx Sales and Product Assistant General Manager Management Özlem Kalkan said: ‘Not only SMEs but also large companies are seriously affected by the process in the production sector. According to estimations; China accounts for 29% of the world's production. In February and March, capacity utilization in China has declined to 60%. Production capacity in Turkey has also fallen to 61%, 13.4% compared to the previous year and by 13.7% compared to the previous month. However, in this process, there were brands that transformed their production lines and stood out during the crisis. Those who provided fast solutions, who improved their automation processes and digitized their supply chain according to the new dynamics came to the forefront in the pandemic process.’

‘KAGİDER Digital Talks’ will be held every Tuesday between 11.00 - 13.00, with new speakers and topics.