Gorkem Ozdener

Consulting Manager

Turkey

Gorkem Ozdener was born, raised and still lives in Istanbul, Turkey. He studied computer engineering at undergraduate level in Istanbul university before entering the world of business analytics. After he completed the master’s degree on big data analytics and management in Bahçeşehir University. Gorkem loves almost any sporting activity, which take up most of his free time, from table tennis to basketball and pretty much anything in between. His current sporting focus is on darts, which he either plays individually or with his team in a local league. In addition to playing sports, he has been inspired by his family’s passion for music to play various musical instruments, including the piano and violin.

Gorkem started working at NTT DATA in 2021 where he currently works as a Business Intelligence Group Manager Consulting Manager.

Challenging myself in business and sport

Tell us about an interesting project

Well, I mainly work in analytics, however recently I have been able to get involved with a sustainability project. I was able to leverage Microsoft Sustainability Manager to contribute to the project by supplying sustainability analytics.

The project is for a large holding company here in Turkey. We are working to track environmental sustainability KPI’s for nine entities over various sectors withing the holding company’s group, which makes it currently the largest project of any kind here in Turkey. In essence, the client wants to track carbon emissions, materials waste, electricity consumption, etc. It’s exciting for me because not only is it different from my usual work, but I feel like I’m really contributing to society.

Describe a regular working day

My job is a mix of doing consulting work for a large overseas company using Microsoft Power BI & SAP Analytics Cloud and managing a team of about 20 people doing analytics work. That means that I need to manage my schedule each day to make sure that I tend to my client’s needs while also allocating time to check in with my team to see how they are doing in their work. It’s nice to touch base because we can also talk socially and maintain our bonds.

We have a fantastic office here in Istanbul, so I go there a couple of times a week when I need to be closer to the team and management group, but most of my time is spent at home. This is by choice, because I like to have the ability to optimize my day and do the best work I can without relying on a daily commute.

Why do you like to work at NTT DATA?

My motivation for working at NTT DATA in Turkey was to be part of a large global company and to grow as a person and professional in the technology consulting field. In other words, I need to be in the best company in the world for business analytics. So, for me, since I arrived as an ambitious person, the support of managers has been crucial to achieve my goals so far. They have encouraged me from day one to take on responsibilities and challenge myself. They provide me with great opportunities to do that and have even given me help to succeed.

Moreover, I love the atmosphere within the company and specifically with my larger team of about 50 colleagues. We try to meet whenever possible, to socialize and stay in touch. I even set up a snowboarding club and we have had excursions to so many great mountains here in Turkey. Coming to NTT DATA has been the perfect choice for me.