Talya Bilişim, which owns the "Elektra" software used by nearly 4,000 hotels including Turkey’s largest, and the "Medisoft" software used by nearly 200 healthcare institutions, is preparing to increase its overseas activities in the new period. Talya Bilişim Managing Partner Nilüfer Durukal said, "The new year will be a year of expansion for us. Our agenda firstly includes Africa, followed by Balkan countries. The IT sector is among the sectors with the highest awareness regarding e-transformation in Turkey. Sector players are deciphering the codes of the new era and are pioneering within the private sector by adapting new ways of doing business and management models to their institutions. One of the companies moving in this direction is Talya Bilişim, which produces solutions for the tourism and accommodation sector. We spoke with Talya Bilişim Managing Partner Nilüfer Durukal about the company’s services and new goals. Here are our questions and the answers we received:
Can you briefly tell us about your company?
Talya Bilişim was founded in 1993 in Ankara. Today, it has transformed into a software known by the Elektra brand and used by nearly 4,000 hotels, including Turkey’s largest hotels and hotel chains, holding a clear leading position in the market. In 2005, we decided to enter the healthcare sector as well and started developing our hospital software, Medisoft. Medisoft is now used by nearly 200 healthcare institutions. Our company employs a total of 96 people, 80% of whom are technical staff. We continue to serve with our offices in Ankara, Istanbul, Antalya, and London. We grew by 22% in 2019 and are targeting 28% growth in 2020.
What kind of services do you provide to your customers?
Our software is designed to enable a facility in the tourism and/or healthcare sector to manage all its operations electronically. Our aim is to ensure that the businesses we serve deal with only one company for their software needs during the digital transformation process. In this context, we first perform a needs analysis, then installation and usage planning, and implement the programs together during the commissioning process. Our after-sales support services can be provided via remote access online, by phone, or on-site.
What applications do you offer for the tourism and accommodation sector?
We have always been pioneers in tourism technologies in Turkey. Elektraweb is a program with very advanced online capabilities. It includes an online reservation engine and channel management together. Thus, the hotel can manage its room inventory in the most efficient way by taking simultaneous bookings from its own website, all online sales channels like Booking, Expedia, and walk-in guests. Additionally, Elektraweb’s artificial intelligence feature compares the prices and occupancy rates of surrounding hotels and provides sales price recommendations to the hotelier. Besides these, Kimlikokur speeds up the guest check-in process, iSafe offers internet security and logging solutions, OPEX manages technical service, fault tracking and work management, Travelaps is our travel portal solution, and EasyPMS is our hotel management system software launched internationally — all are among the solutions we offer for the tourism sector.
What benefits does digital transformation bring to companies?
The digital world has created significant differences in the purchasing decisions and methods of end consumers. This has led to changes in marketing and sales methods. We observe how hotels and agencies that fail to grasp the power of digital transformation in the tourism sector lose their impact in the market. Recent developments in Turkish tourism have made hotels understand how vital it is to invest in their own brands.
We have observed that hotels using our online sales and revenue management applications have experienced over 20% increase in reservations and more than 35% increase in revenues.
Transformation in invoicing processes also leads to savings and efficiency gains. Electronic invoice and dispatch note applications provide significant ease in terms of time, storage, and management. Undoubtedly, the most important benefit is protecting nature by reducing paper usage. We have an ongoing strategic partnership with Efinans in digital transformation.
Do you have new projects planned for the future? Can you tell us about them?
2020 will be the year of expansion for Elektraweb and EasyPMS. We will continue to represent our country at international fairs such as ITB in Berlin in March and HiTEC in the USA in June.
What are your growth targets abroad?
Talya Bilişim has been operating in international markets for a long time. Our products are used in countries including the UK, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Iran, Thailand, Italy, Azerbaijan, Russia, Somalia, and Cyprus. The number of hotels using Elektra in Azerbaijan has exceeded 50. We will soon start installation at a 380-room five-star hotel in the Caribbean. Our immediate agenda includes Africa first, followed by Balkan countries.
Recommendations for turnkey digital transformation solutions
The roadmap for digital transformation begins with well-defined internal processes. Choosing the right partners as companions is also important. For this, I always recommend prioritizing those who provide turnkey solutions with a holistic perspective. To ensure the horizontal and vertical integrations—which are indispensable for digital transformation—proceed smoothly and easily, it is advisable to prefer web technologies. Migrating company IT systems to the Cloud should be taken up as soon as possible, and choosing the right products and services for this is a top priority.
