Stars of the ICT sector, adding value to the economy
The results of the Top 500 ICT Companies Turkey 2020 Research, which determines the predictions and characteristics of the market by ranking the largest 500 companies in the ICT sector in terms of turnover in general and the categories in which they operate, were announced at the ceremony held on September 8th. The ‘phygital’ (physical and digital) ceremony, which was held for the first time this year under the main sponsorship of KoçSistem, started with the solo guitar performance of Artist-Information Technician Taylan Dedeoğlu. In the opening program of the ICT 500 Award Ceremony, where M2S Research and Marketing Services General Manager Özlem Unan first shared the sector figures, BTHABER Corporate Group Chairperson Murat Göçe, Procter & Gamble Turkey, Caucasus and Central Asia Chairperson Tankut Turnaoğlu, KoçSistem General Manager Mehmet Ali Akarca, Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan and Presidential Digital Transformation Office President Dr. Ali Taha Koç took place in the ceremony with their speeches. Just before the award ceremony, Müfit Can Saçıntı, known as the “Mandıra Filozofu”, met the audience with his performance “I’m Against Awards :)”.
Pandemic was profitable for the ICT sector
Carrying out the ICT 500 research M2S Research and Marketing Company General Manager Özlem Unan shared extremely important data about the sector before the opening speeches. Stating that the pandemic period has positively affected the ICT sector, Unan said that: “The total revenue of the 500 companies in the last ranking in 2020 was 170.6 billion TL; compared to 2019, the growth was 29% in TL terms. The growth of the ICT sector in the last 10 years was 179%. Half of the companies in the ranking achieved a growth of 25% or more on TL basis. The highest growth in revenues is 467%. 41% of the companies in the ranking are Turkey-based manufacturing companies. Along with the pandemic, the increase in remote working, especially the growth of e-commerce, has led to an increase in cyber-attacks for both personal and corporate data thefts. The coming years will be a period where data is gold and everything will be based on the internet of things, artificial intelligence, data processing, management and cyber security.”
After Unan, the opening speeches were made. In his speech, BTHABER Corporate Group President Murat Göçe emphasized the importance of the research in bringing entrepreneurs and investors together and said: “ICT 500 Research not only helps the development of the sector with the most accurate information obtained from official documents, but also helps our entrepreneurs who need investment, to find investment opportunities. Today, some entrepreneurial companies will try to get investment by making presentations to investor companies.”
“Future is built through innovation”
Procter & Gamble Turkey, Caucasus and Central Asia Chairperson Tankut Turnaoğlu, who took the floor after Murat Göçe, said that: “As P&G, we wanted to be here today, because building the future is based on innovation, and those who build innovation are, of course, our entrepreneurs whose enthusiasm and curiosity never ends. So we are all here today to build innovation.” Emphasizing that ICT 500 serves as a very important guide, Turnaoğlu stated that: “Our Oral-B brand, which we sponsor ICT 500, is one of our successful brands that combine technology and even artificial intelligence to make everyday life easier. There are four main areas in P&G’s 184-year history, and all of these areas are developing together with the IT industry today. The first is products. An Oral-B toothbrush has started to move into the field of artificial intelligence today.
Our second transforming field is commerce. We have all seen together how fast digital commerce has shifted, especially with the pandemic. One of our biggest channels is digital commerce right now. The third area is the supply chain. The supply chain is changing from A to Z with the ICT industry today. The fourth area is communication. We build systems that combine both our past experience and what the new world brings and make it the most efficient. Our strenght, which enables us to add value to the lives of 5 billion people in the world today, comes from our innovative genes. Today, I would like to thank you, all the members of the sector, who created the breakthrough in the field of informatics with ICT 500 in Turkey and made us look to the future with hope.”
Special and category awards handed over to the winners
In the ICT 500, awards were handed over to companies that reached the top in 84 categories, 12 of which were in the PLUS category and 8 in the Special Contribution to the Turkish Economy category.
At the ceremony, Zafer İnkaya and Ertan Barut, who have worked in the IT sector for 35 years, were given the “35 Years of Labor” awards. In the category of BTHaber Newspaper special awards, the “Pioneer of Digital Transformation in Education” award went to Erdeniz Ünvan and the “Bureaucrat of the Year” award went to Prof. Faruk Bilir.
According to the results of the research in which each company is evaluated in its own category; awards were given in the categories of Distributor, System Integrator and Business Partner, International Based Manufacturer/Manufacturer’s Representative, Turkey Based Manufacturer, ICT 500 Plus and Contribution to the Turkish Economy.
