CK Energy and Volthread Partnership on a Global Scale

Volthread

Mr. Cemal Tuncel, could you please briefly introduce yourself and tell us about your role at CK Energy?

Cemal TUNCEL @ CK Enerji

Hello, I am married and a father of one child. I have been working in the information technology sector for 27 years, holding various positions in technical and managerial roles in companies in the Integration, FMCG, Finance, Tourism, and Energy sectors. For the past 7 years, I have been serving as the IT System Architecture Manager at CK Energy company. In my role, I lead the System Management, Middleware Management, and Database Management teams. Additionally, I collaborate with other departments and stakeholders on architectural design, alignment, consolidation, efficiency, and operational sustainability of IT services.

Volthread

Can you provide information about the Information Technology (IT) infrastructure at CK Energy?

Cemal TUNCEL @ CK Enerji

CK Energy operates in 3 regions, 7 cities, and 120 districts, providing services to approximately 10 million subscribers. Ensuring uninterrupted and continuous IT infrastructure and operations for CK Energy, AEDAŞ, BEDAŞ, ÇEDAŞ, CK AKDENİZ, CK BOĞAZİÇİ, CK ÇAMLIBEL, AKDEN Enerji, BEDA Enerji, ÇAMLI Enerji, HİPAR, YENİÇERİ, SATERA companies is crucial. We manage the main data centers, disaster recovery centers, operating systems, data storage systems, network and cybersecurity systems, middleware, and database systems throughout their lifecycle and operational phases following the ISO27001 Information Security Management System and ITIL v3 service management methodology. We are aware of the complexity of our extensive IT infrastructure, which operates within the regulations, ensuring information and data security, and we plan and shape all our operations with this responsibility in mind.

Volthread

Is there a story behind the collaboration between CK Energy and Volthread?

Cemal TUNCEL @ CK Enerji

Yes, and it's quite an interesting story… After taking over IT operations and infrastructure services from a global integrator following the completion of the EBS (Integrated Information Systems) project, we identified areas for improvement in the management, monitoring, and proactive intervention of Oracle WebLogic application server products used in the middleware. We were looking for a specialized firm and specifically for detailed information about the Oracle WebLogic application. Shortly after, I filled out a form for WLSDM application's demo, which was around 23:00, expecting an international call. To my surprise, at around 23:15, I received a call from Mr. Fevzi Korkutata saying, "If you are available, we can start the installation and tests remotely right away." This moment still astonishes me. The analysis and bottleneck reports obtained from the WLSDM software product were evaluated, and the development teams were informed about the points that needed code patches. Identifying and solving the problem proved that we encountered the right company and product. Thanks to Volthread's domestic software solution WLSDM, we can detect field problems in advance and provide faster solutions for our staff and customers through the continuity of application systems.

Volthread

What achievements have you made in your ITSM process with Volthread Technology?

Cemal TUNCEL @ CK Enerji

In CK Energy companies, we operate ITSM processes based on the ITIL framework approach. After starting to work with Volthread, we included the middleware services managed within the software development teams into the infrastructure teams. Thus, we began to implement the separation of duties principle. Subsequently, we became capable of managing service strategy, service design, service management, and service transition processes in middleware services. We have seen improvements in service quality quantitatively in reports such as unplanned downtime periods, the number of alarms received at critical and warning levels, and response times of middleware services, all since we started working on ensuring that middleware applications, positioned at the core of the integration and interactions of critical IT services, provide uninterrupted and high-performance services. After bringing our monitoring processes for systems and critical applications to a certain level, we worked on automating our application operations. We have made improvements using automation without human intervention in ITSM application management processes, thanks to Volthread Technology. We, as CK Energy teams, aim to continue our efforts in this direction.

Volthread

Can you share your experiences regarding the monitoring and management of "Field Reading & Billing" operations with a domestically produced solution in Turkey?

Cemal TUNCEL @ CK Enerji

Field reading and billing operations, which are among the most critical operations of CK Energy companies, are at the forefront due to the high number of subscribers and the need for effective utilization of the workforce. Despite tuning and improvement efforts made after the EBS project transition, the reading/billing duration, which was averaging 6 seconds per meter, was reduced to averages of 0.5 seconds after the evaluation of WLSDM outputs and optimization efforts by specialized teams at Volthread, and improvement notifications/requests made to different IT teams (Software Development, Database Management, System Management) based on these outputs. The developments and improvements made in the Oracle CC&B product, which is currently in the lifecycle, enable us to detect situations that may be directly or indirectly affected and cause negative performance impact on the service. We can intervene proactively and reactively. The fact that WLSDM, a domestic and national software developed by Turkish engineers at Volthread, integrates so well with global products and adds high value to our team without adding an extra performance load to the system is a source of pride and motivation for us.

Volthread

How do you ensure the operation of your application operations and technological currency within CK Energy? Could you talk about your collaboration with manufacturers and Volthread Technology in this regard?

Cemal TUNCEL @ CK Enerji

The progress in hardware, software, systems, etc., in information technology is dizzying. So far, we have developed important projects with national and international solution providers. Our daily operations are quite intense and critical, so we can sometimes struggle to adapt to new technologies and keep our systems up to date. For example, regarding middleware and application servers, we try to benefit from Volthread Technology's expertise as much as possible. So far, they have supported us in workshops and technology updates on topics such as Microservices transformation, continuous integration, and continuous deployment. Trying to catch up with current technology with local companies makes it easier for us to progress.

Volthread

We would like to hear your advice on infrastructure and application operations for your colleagues and the industry.

Cemal TUNCEL @ CK Enerji

In IT infrastructures, if architectural level controls and designs such as the interrelations, integrations, mutual impacts of many different IT services, positioning of servers and components within the service, consolidation of redundant IT service requests responding to the same service, and establishment of lean and optimized IT services are not carried out, inevitably complex, unmanageable, and unsustainable IT systems will be formed. In the projects and operations we undertake in the companies we work for, these aspects are often seen as unnecessary chores, colloquially speaking, if they are not considered. While it might lead to reaching the goal quickly, in a project where the planning and design phases progress unsoundly or are completely omitted, after the live transition, both the teams responsible for the service's maintenance and support operations, and the end-users of the service will spend much more time and effort. Moreover, since the service is now live, it can sometimes lead to customer dissatisfaction, and even financial and reputation losses. Therefore, for anyone attempting to advance the project by skipping these stages using the method of 'the caravan moves on 😇', it would be the most valuable advice I can give to set as much as possible against them and thoroughly explain the possible problems that might be encountered later in projects and tasks implemented without them. Additionally, I would like to mention, I learned most of what I know in my youth through values such as reading, learning, researching, curiosity, and perseverance, in addition to these values, in teamwork and mentor-apprentice relationships, which I can say cannot be acquired or remain incomplete with them. I learned within these relationships, and I am saddened to see that this culture is now on the verge of extinction. I would like to request my colleagues who have over 10-15 years of professional experience and knowledge to try their best to preserve this culture. On the other hand, since the beginning of our involvement in domestically developed products in the IT and OT ecosystem at CK Energy, we have been one of the most supportive companies both in the R&D phase and in the live usage phase. The support from our regulatory bodies such as CBDDO and EPDK in recent years has delighted us and multiplied our hopes for the future. Although we encountered WLDSM product after the R&D stages, we continue to provide support in terms of analysis, feedback, user experience, and other areas to contribute to its continuous improvement. Despite being a software with very few competitors in its focused area, we are striving to take the product to even higher levels, aiming for its success both domestically and internationally, making our modest contribution for the benefit of our country. I am confident that my colleagues in the industry share the same sensitivity and approach. Respectfully...