Sermin Küçükyüce, Deputy Director General of Business Solutions of Doğuş Technology, one of the few R&D centres in Turkey in 2017, was a guest of the April issue of the magazine named Platin. Küçükyüce participating in a study on "Women Leaders of Technology", gave an interview on the human-oriented culture and gender equality works of Doğuş Technology.

1) Can you talk about the corporate story of Doğuş Technology?

Founded in 2012 with the excitement of creating value for Doğuş Group companies in the field of information technology, Doğuş Technology is an IT company and provides services for all kinds of infrastructure works and systemic and software products in the field of information technology. As of 2018, we started to provide services outside the group in the field of information technology in addition to the brands of Doğuş Group as well. We currently have at least 450 employees. We are a young and dynamic company, and the average age of us is 33. Actually, thanks to this young staff, we are passionately chasing after new technologies. So much so that we have become one of the few R&D centres in Turkey in 2017. Our areas of expertise include the business process automation as well as designing, developing, building, maintaining, updating, and troubleshooting of the demands for the reporting, security, software, and information systems. 

Founded in 2012 with the excitement of creating value for Doğuş Group companies in the field of information technology, Doğuş Technology is an IT company and provides services for all kinds of infrastructure works and systemic and software products in the field of information technology. As of 2018, we started to provide services outside the group in the field of information technology in addition to the brands of Doğuş Group as well. We currently have at least 450 employees. We are a young and dynamic company, and the average age of us is 33. Actually, thanks to this young staff, we are passionately chasing after new technologies. So much so that we have become one of the few R&D centres in Turkey in 2017. Our areas of expertise include the business process automation as well as designing, developing, building, maintaining, updating, and troubleshooting of the demands for the reporting, security, software, and information systems. 

2) What kind of investments do you make in the sector as Doğuş Technology? (Products, services…)

We, as Doğuş Technology, have been taking responsibility for the professional and personal competence development of young people and their inclusion in the business world since 2017, with our ‘’Entry to the Future’’ Programme. We have been offering contributions to ecosystem such as transferring experience, qualified business development and network access by organizing acceleration programs for the internal and external participants. We have been accompanying our customers and business partners on their digital journeys with our corporate products and solutions that centre data and added value in the growing and constantly improving technology services market. By prioritising the development of the scalable products in the local and global market, we have been striving to make the cloud-based services widespread and maximize the gains of all our stakeholders.

3) What kind of sectoral position do you have with the solutions and services you offer? 

With the products and services, we have offered in a wide range from cyber security to data analytics, from infrastructure solutions to software development services, we are among the leading organizations in terms of vision and alignment in the technology sector.

4) What kind of technological company culture do you build in terms of current and potential employees?

Together with being a technology company, we always put people at the centre of our work and our working culture. In today's rapidly changing world, I can say that the basis of our culture involves listening to our workmates, shaping, and developing our practices in line with their needs and expectations, creating areas where our workmates can pursue their passions and share their ideas freely and creating the areas that constantly support their development, and also providing the necessary flexibility for this.

5) What have you done about the representation of the leadership roles of women? What can be done in a sectoral manner in this regard? 

In fact, our company has a good ratio with approximately 40% female and 60% male employees, considering the dynamics of the sector it is in. We even have an equal rate in the C-level management position of our company. Still, we have been working for a while to receive the Equality for Women at Work Certificate within the scope of the Sustainability initiative Gender Equality focus area with the aim of balancing these rates at all levels. Our priority is to observe the gender ratios of our employees on the basis of the title and the department in managerial decisions, and to plan the necessary improvement actions in every field in line with these statistics as well as to maintain the existing ones. Although there is no article contrary to gender equality in our general policies (recruitment, wage, training, promotion, etc.), we try to ensure as much equality as possible in the number of women and men, especially in applications made to departments such as system infrastructure.

6) It is striking that there are few women leaders in the sector. How can women put themselves forward on the road to leadership?

Above all, women leaders in the world of technology should realize that they have a voice in the future. It's not just about developing new products; it's about achieving successes that can change the world. This requires courage above all else. Technology is advancing at such a rapid rate that we do not have the luxury of waiting for opportunities to come to us. We should not be afraid to pursue our passions, take risks and try. My biggest advice to women leaders: Don't let prejudices stop you.  Think gender-neutral about your career. Be determined and resilient to difficulties. In this journey, surely be a part of the development of other women, provide mentorship to them and transfer your experiences. Be sure that at the end of the day, the pleasure of what you have accomplished, the new ideas you have put forward, or the value you have created will be like no other.

7) Can you talk about your goals for 2022?

In 2022, the issue of putting our new products and services to the market that has emerged from our in-house incubation processes will be at the forefront of our agenda. We will have a year in which our business development activities abroad will gain momentum and our investment and growth focus will be strong.