We had a pleasant interview with Mr. Yonca Aközer, General Manager of Alkaş, about the sector, business world and Future Commerce 360.

What is Digital Network Alkaş (DNA)? What kind of need was it born of?

As it is known, as Alkaş, we have been serving especially the retail and real estate sector with fair organization, sponsorship, event and consultancy activities for many years.
The digitalization accelerated by the pandemic has also found its counterpart in the conference world and has led to the emergence of an innovative solution. We, as Alkaş, wanted to gather all our services together and reach the information and content of the sectors we serve in a busy business tempo from a point.

We moved our network power to digital under the roof of Digital Network Alkaş. In addition to providing special services to its members, we can say that this platform is a versatile channel where the business world can perform and manage all digital activities.

In Digital Network Alkaş (DNA), there is DNA TV, where you can access sectoral conference archives, our digital stage where you can make your events live interactively or broadcast the event if you wish, and an infrastructure where our members can hold meetings in a video way. In the Sector News section, our members can access content, information and follow the most up-to-date sectoral reports. In addition, there are also blog posts and interviews of visionary names of the business world and our friends from the media.

In our DNA journey with the pandemic, we have carried out 208 live broadcasts with 686 speakers and 170 supporting brands with 51 thousand 101 instant watches.
In short, we can say that it is a common mind, sectoral content and cooperation platform for the business world working with the DNA membership system.

What do you aim to add to the business world as DNA?

With the pandemic, we have opened our eyes to an even more curious future. We could not do all the physical conferences and fairs we held during the pandemic period. For this reason, we continued to hold conferences and hold them online in order to continue our business, to present the vision, to be aware of world trends, not to stop opening up to abroad and trade. These online conferences actually led us to build a platform. We are already holding our own conferences. With the request to hold other conferences from us, we have made a content platform where our followers are together, where they can make b2b and watch from the archives due to busy business life. Digital Network Alkaş is a content platform established for companies that serve the common sense in business life to make b2b, watch conferences, review reports, follow blog posts and news. Therefore, we, as Alkaş, will no longer be holding conferences in one place. We will be holding live conferences in both physical and Digital Network Alkaş.

In addition to these, we will give a free content to the public every month on the Digital Network Alkaş website. In September, we will publish Mr. Cem Boyner’s video in 2019 as part 1.

In short, we will collect the information and content to be shared for the business world on a platform and ensure that the relevant sector representatives have a short way to reach the information. In 2019, on the FutureCommerce360 stage, we asked Mr. Cem Boyner, “What kind of future do you foresee?” He said that it was difficult to predict today, that he could only predict 2 or 3 years and that he could not see more, that we were still at the beginning of the change. Then 3 months passed and the pandemic happened. This was an indication of what a visionary speech he actually made. That’s why we will ask Mr. Cem again this year.

Can we get information about the FutureCommerce360 Conference that will be held physically and online on September 27, 2022 (Tuesday)?

This year, after two years, we will be realizing FutureCommerce360 as a hybrid for the first time. In 2019, we physically held our first FutureCommerce360 event at Grand Pera Labor Stage, where we talked about the future with nostalgia. Immediately afterwards, the digitalization accelerated by the pandemic with the realization of the pandemic also found its counterpart in the conference world and provided an innovative solution. We held the FutureCommerce360 Conference in 2020 and 2021 with 8 live broadcasts online on the Digital Network Alkaş (DNA) platform, which is a part of this solution. This year, the conference; On September 27, 42 Maslak Shopping Mall will be held on the ESA Arena stage with a limited number of physical participation as a hybrid and will be broadcast simultaneously on Digital Network Alkaş.

The FC360 actually addresses a lot of issues. With the slogan “Trade of the Future, it will be a conference where we will talk about the “future” completely. In this period when change is very fast, it is actually an event where we try to open our vision, discuss future clues, look to the future with our present eyes, and this year, as every year, will bring together many visionary, expert sector stakeholders.

What is the topic of this year’s conference? Can you give information about the content?

The motto of the FutureCommerce360 Conference on September 27 is “The Future of Commerce in the Future.”
Our main moderator of the conference was determined as Bloomberg HT Economics and Technology program presenter Hande Berktan. Corpera Consulting Managing Partner Dr. Ceyhun Emre Doğru will share research and comments on consumer trends in 2022, customer expectations, and how the Z and Alpha generation will shape the trade of the future.
Alkaş&HAN Spaces Chairman Avi Alkaş and Boyner Group CEO and Chairman Cem Boyner “The Future of Work Through the Eyes of the Boss 2.. Section” in this session, which is a continuation of their visionary speech on the FC360 stage in 2019. In addition, for those who missed the session that took place on the 2019 stage and want to watch it again before the 2022 stage, we have launched it under the title of “Video of the Month” special for members in DNA.

ACRES Technological Solutions, Business Development and Company Partner Mustafa Cem Alfar will be with us with the session title “Oops, My Company Was Hacked!”
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality CTO Dr. Erol Özgüner and Teknosa General Manager Sitare Sezgin will discuss the applications that carry the customer experience to the highest level thanks to advanced software and ERP applications and more in the session titled “Customer Experience, Design, Management and Transformation” moderated by Medianova CEO Serkan Sevim.
In the “The Power Transforming Retail: Fintech Ecosystem” session, it will be discussed how payment technologies that end the shopping process in retail and e-commerce affect trade. In the “Future of Trade, Trade of the Future” session, which will be moderated by Hakan Şık, the founding partner of the Tokeen.io, the investments of brands that have stepped into the future of trade today will be discussed.
MEF University Vice Rector and YetGen Founder Prof. Dr. Erhan Erkut will take part in the “Education of the Future, Future of Education” session.
In the “New Generation HR: Human, Robot and Culture” session moderated by Zehra Oney, President of the Women in Technology Association, Akbank Human and Culture Deputy General Manager Pınar Anapa and Robot Employment Agency Founder Canan Alkın will share their comments.

CEVA Logistics, Sales and Business Development Vice President Murat Karadağ will discuss logistics, warehouse management and supply chain management processes in the session titled “Is Faster, Easier, More Understandable Service Possible?” and then “Changes in E-commerce Law: “Are We Subject to This Law?” session will seek answers to the question marks of the sector.

While Park Palet Founder Alp Çiçekdağı will discuss the title of “Are Your Warehouse and Logistics Solutions Ready for Cross-Border E-Commerce Road?”, Hasan Önal, Head of Cross-Border E-Commerce and New Generation Technologies Department of the General Directorate of Exports of the Ministry of Commerce, will inform the participants in the session titled “Cross-border e-commerce and Future Trends”.
In the last session, Next Academy Founder Levent Erden, META Country Director and Inveon Founder and Managing Partner Yomi Kastro will close this year’s FutureCommerce360 conference with the title of “How Will the Future Come?”

The event, where transformations in retail and e-commerce will be discussed, will start on September 27 at 09:00. FutureCommerce360 Conference will be held online at 42 Maslak Shopping Mall, ESA Arena and Digital Network Alkaş with simultaneous live broadcast.

We are counting down to the FutureCommerce360 Conference, where innovative ideas in e-commerce will be discussed in 360 degrees with valuable industry leaders.
You can get detailed information about our activities by following our social media accounts (@digitalnetworkalkas) and becoming a member of our Digital Network Alkaş website (www.digitalnetworkalkas.com).

FUTURECOMMERCE360 – YONCA AKÖZER

What are your opinions about the new business models in the world and in Turkey? What do you think the future of business will be like?

Nowadays everything is changing very fast. First of all, the usual trade will gradually decrease and turn into a completely digital world, but the aim of doing all this is; I think it will transform trading making it faster, easier and more useful.

We want the possibility of Turkey becoming a center due to its logistic location. We also think that Turkey has such a potential. When we look at the world, we have seen that the balances of countries have changed (China, America, Russia, Ukraine) and that the troubles experienced by countries that we think are far away affect the whole world. It will be a trade that must be built on the basis of trust. Now we all know that the borders have been lifted. So I think that you don’t have to go to that country to trade in other countries, that the borders are even more open, and that we are facing a fast-changing world. These are all great opinions, but we also face the danger of food and our world presence diminishing.

For this reason, I believe that every stakeholder should turn to technologies that will protect the world’s assets as soon as possible and conduct our trade with this sensitivity.