Supply Chain Management Transformation by Turkcell

Turkcell, the biggest mobile operator in Turkey, has experienced a significant transformation in its procurement and supply chain operations inspired by a radical ideological switch to the business itself. According to Ali Türk, Executive Vice President of Supply Chain Management of Turkcell states that Turkcell is a unique business, a digital operator, who are dealing not only with the mobile sector but also the commerce part: it’s one objective. With a focus on building high-quality internal support, technology, and network foundation, and meaningful, practical digital services, Turkcell has experienced a structural change that highlights the significance of procurement to its more extensive strategy. As part of supply chain management’s transformation as an imperative function, Turkcell organized a dedicated procurement organization to drive positive change. Meeting every week with the CEO, Murat Erkan, the committee makes important decisions on the company’s most vital purchases. While these make up 3 percent of the firm’s finances at large, their consolidated volume equates to 80 percent of the total made by Turkcell. All of the Turkcell’s top executives are completely involved in these methods, and they acknowledge and estimate all of the aspects of procurement investments and maneuvering. Not only that, but a combination of operations between units has been achieved through the selection of agile management methodologies, facilitating a consistent thread for supply chain management strategy to accompany throughout the organization.
These structural arrangements are bolstered by the application of disruptive technologies, operating efficiency, and transparency at Turkcell. However, the company executives stress that digital transformation is, to Turkcell, a tool rather than an objective. Digital transformation is a requirement to survive in the manufacturing arena and this era, enabling Turkcell to focus on optimizing costs in a sustainable arrangement, to increase incomes, and to enhance the level of quality Turkcell offers to their customers. A particular field of interest for Türk is robotic process automation (RPA) and the advantages it could have for internal teams. He adds that the purpose of this technology will be based on what those units themselves witness as the areas that would profit most from automation, and the clearing up of staff from repetitive tasks that it would qualify. Turkcell has procurement departments, logistics units, real estate, building, and site acquisition departments, and they are each highlighting their specifications. Once those needs are determined, they each collaborate with Turkcell’s ICT department to stimulate the gradual rollout of RPA through particular digitalization departments. For instance, supply registration, fee development, calculation of recurrent payments, operation of the delicate process, opening site acquisition, and particle sales orders; they’re all operational issues and ritual issues. Right now, Turkcell is developing some use cases, and they will promote those tasks to RPA.

Michael Stewart