2021 will be the Breakthrough Year of IAS

Founded as a software company that produces Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions, IAS Holding offers many innovative products and services, including IoT, big data, artificial intelligence and cloud solutions, in addition to caniasERP. IAS, which provides services in 16 languages in 31 countries with more than 1000 customers, more than 30 thousand users and more than 50 business partners worldwide, aims to grow at least 100 percent in the countries where it operates this year. Yaşar Hakan Karabiber, Chairman of the Board of IAS, explained the services offered by the company and their targets.

Mr. Karabiber, first of all, can we get to know you? What kind of education did you get, when did you start your business life?

I was in Turkey till my university education. Later, I won a scholarship and continued my education at Karlsruhe Technical University, Germany. I studied Industrial Engineering and Computer Engineering. I started working as a student. While I was studying, I was working for various IT and software companies. My first place of work after school was again at the university: I started my doctoral studies. Later, I left there and started to work in a large corporate resource planning firm, which is now our competitor. After my experience there, I established my own company.

So how did the IAS idea come out? Could you please summarize the establishment story of IAS and the stages it has taken since its establishment?

It was a time when Windows changed the whole process with new user interfaces. I thought I could create a better, more user-friendly and faster system. IAS stands for Industrial Application Software. Until then, I had always consulted large, industrial companies abroad. I wanted the new software I wrote to have an industrial solution. I set out with the idea of producing a software that could produce solutions to industrial needs that I had observed and experienced until that time and I established IAS.

The information sector directs both the economy and other sectors today. In this context, can we learn about your innovative products and services that move the sectors forward?

IAS is a company that offers technological solutions regardless of the sector. For this reason, we cannot talk about a single sector in which we operate. Currently, we have customers from almost every sector in both the production industry and the service area. We always develop our products as flexible, customizable, developable, easy to integrate and user-friendly. Our biggest advantage in this regard is that we have our own software development platform TROIA and our own database iasDB. When we set out on this road, this was our main goal: we analyze the needs of our customers in the finest detail, and we can quickly adapt the necessary developments to their business processes. Thanks to the TROIA Platform, it is very easy to customize the standard modules of our ERP solution caniasERP, which are fully integrated with each other. Moreover, we free our customers during the development process. Privatization requests can be carried out by experts in the field of IAS, as well as companies can create their own IT teams and make the improvements they want proactively, thanks to TROIA, which is offered to customers with open source code. We continue to renew and improve our products and services every day in line with our experience of more than 30 years and the feedback and demands from our customers. I can say that we have always signed forward-looking projects to "prepare our customers for the future". On this path we set off with the vision of Industry 4.0, we respond to all the needs of our customers with our many products such as caniasERP, IoT, big data, cloud, AI, iasDB, canias IQ, web client, e-Government application integrations, as well as consultancy and training services.

What are your projects that you have achieved great success in the country?

As IAS, we carry out very important projects with very large companies both at home and abroad. In recent years, we serve our customers not only with our ERP solution, but also with our innovative products that will respond to the needs of Industry 4.0 as a whole. We handle issues that require digital transformation such as ERP, IoT, business intelligence, cloud, and big data in a holistic manner in our large projects. It would not be right to give the names of our customers here. However, I can say that we accompany large companies from almost every sector, which are leaders in their fields, in their digital transformation journey. Thanks to its flexible and proactive structure, canias4.0 Technologies can be easily customized according to the needs of companies of all sizes and sectors, as well as the solutions offered in the standard. For this reason, I can say that global-scale large companies prefer canias 4.0 without hesitation. Every day we add new ones to our projects. Our teams, company and projects are always on the acceleration of growth in direct proportion.

What strategy do you follow in order to serve your customers more effectively? (Office etc.)

As IAS, when we started a cooperation with a company, we aimed to offer rational, innovative and practical solutions to all the needs of the company, and to achieve this at the most affordable costs. For this reason, we offer all the solutions our customers need in their Industry 4.0 journey with our holistic solutions under the canias4.0 roof. In addition, our company's experience of more than 30 years and its experienced consultancy staff always guide our customers. In addition, thanks to the IAS Business Academy (IBA), companies know how to use the product when they meet canias4.0 technologies. Our customers, on the one hand, start to receive their training at IBA during the planning and implementation process. Thus, we minimize the resistance to be experienced during the implementation process. Company employees adapt to our products much faster. In summary, we plan all the needs of our customers in advance and offer 360-degree solutions to them. We benefit from our many years of experience based on both global and Turkey as well as in doing so. We always put emphasis on flexibility. Because we know that every company, every sector has its own specific needs. Our aim is to produce the most effective solution in the fastest way and offer it to our customers. We serve companies by following international business principles with our existing 12 offices and all our business partners.

IAS is also making a name for itself in the global market. Could you tell us about the countries you operate in and your projects there?

We provide services in 16 languages ​​in 31 countries with more than 1000 customers, more than 30 thousand users and more than 50 business partners around the world. We continue our operations with success in the global arena with our business partners and 12 offices around the World located in Germany, Turkey, India, United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Switzerland and United States. In order to provide better quality service to our users, we continue our efforts all over the world without slowing down, and we are increasing our partner network and the number of our offices and employees in the global day by day. Our area of ​​activity is rapidly increasing with the projects we have started both in our global offices and with our partners. This year, we focused on our operations especially in the South Korean market. Here, we have an important project that we work with our business partner. We think that the scope of these projects will grow in 2021. We can also share these project details in the future. However, I would like to inform you that we have started our cooperation with the most important automobile manufacturer in the world and this cooperation will soon have a much greater scope. Our other focus countries include Germany, England, Lithuania, Pakistan, Spain and France.

The pandemic, while deeply affecting all industries, required digital transformation. How have you been affected by the pandemic as IAS? How did you close 2020?

For years, IAS has been asking companies, business partners and even their competitors operating in their own industry, "Are you ready for the future?" The pandemic that unexpectedly emerged in 2020 proved how important this problem is. Because the companies that have turned to the future, understood the technology well and made the necessary investments gained a great advantage in this process. Today, it is obvious that the technologies that come to the fore with digitalization and Industry 4.0 gain more importance. Many companies have experienced this personally and prioritized to concentrate their investments in this direction with the pandemic process. As IAS, we did not slow down in our work despite the pandemic in 2020. We quickly adapted to new conditions and ways of doing business and successfully passed this challenging process thanks to the right planning, rapid adaptation and advanced technology products we developed. In 2020, we increased the turnover of our company by 35 percent and our teams grew by 50 percent. We know that 2021 will be a busy, challenging but successful year as well. We will continue our progress in the new year and expand the volume of our operations. This year, we aim to grow at least 100 percent in all countries where we operate, and this goal is not far off for us!

Which markets are your focus in 2021? What will your new investments be?

With Industry 4.0, we have focused on issues such as IoT, machine learning and big data, which are frequently brought to the agenda. Actually, these are the issues we have been working on for years. We believe that we will start to reap the results of our work in 2021. In 2020, despite the pandemic, we carried out very successful projects, especially in IoT. We will increase the scope and number of these projects significantly in 2021. On the other hand, one of our main goals while developing iasDB was to have the freedom of movement in our work in areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data. We have already started to take advantage of this. You will often hear about our projects in these areas in the future.

Today, ways of doing business are changing rapidly, digital transformation is gaining momentum. What are your recommendations to companies in this transformation process? How do companies catch the future?

In order to execute a successful ERP project, the company must first analyze and determine its own needs and future goals. It should find answers to questions such as “What do we expect from ERP software ?, Where and in what scale will our company be in 10 years from now ?, What are our goals ?, What are the problematic points in our current business processes ?, What do we need?”. Afterwards, they should do a detailed research for the ERP software that suits them best. In addition to their standard solutions, they should choose a software that can be tailored to the needs of the company at a low cost and quickly, flexible, customizable, and capable of meeting all current and future needs. In addition, they should analyze the expertise of the technology firm's consultants, their international success, and whether they are in line with international standards. ERP software is not like a product you will buy and start using, or a device that you plug in and run. It is necessary to see ERP and indeed all digital transformation projects as long-term collaborations. As technology develops rapidly, it is necessary to be open to change and to work constantly in order to keep up with it.

How do you start your day as a busy worker?

I definitely start the day with coffee with milk.

How do you spend a working day?

I spend 70 percent of my day focused on work, 20 percent on R&D and reading, and 10 percent with my family.

Well, what time do you end the day?

I start the day between 05.00-07.00 in the morning. In the evening, I finish the day between 22.00-01.00.

How do you manage your time?

I manage time with a plan. I try to conclude by making annual, monthly, weekly and daily plans.

What do you suggest to your team for a better work environment?

Always choose the right people to work with for our managers working in our company. Work with well-intentioned, hardworking, qualified, ethical people ".

Is there a business book that you have recently read and impressed with?

I usually read technical books. I am currently reading Bernard Marr's book "Key Performance Indicators" for the development of our canias IQ product.