Hazim Bumin
Hazim Bumin has been with Vaillant Group for only a few years – a time that has been defined by a constant process of analysing, developing and challenging ideas. “Thinking outside the box” is vital to him and his team, and he is sure it is also a key factor in ensuring the company’s future success.
Creating solutions rather than solving problems
The digital world surely isn’t uncharted territory for Hazim Bumin. Before joining Vaillant Group as head of marketing in 2016, the industrial engineer had worked as a general manager for Uber in Turkey and as managing director for the reservation platform Quandoo.
Today, he is leading product and brand marketing, market research, PR, business development and sales steering functions for Vaillant Group in Turkey as well as heading projects regarding the digitalisation of products and services – a position that requires a constant balancing act between focus and farsightedness, strategy and flexibility.
Flexibility comes naturally to the father of a six-year-old son. “My son and wife live in the Netherlands, because she works there”, he says. “It’s a bit tricky, but we have been living in this kind of family structure for about seven years now and we make it work. My wife and I both travel a lot, but we enjoy spending quality time whenever we’re together, usually every two weeks.”
In the meantime, he focuses on bringing Vaillant Group Turkey forward and into the digital age. And in his professional, just as his personal life, he’s not one to stick to tradition for tradition’s sake. “There’s no point in knowing everything if you don’t share it with others. I love brainstorming sessions, putting all the knowledge and experience of our team members together, turning it upside down, trying out all the possible perspectives – and then creating something new. I feel suffocated when there’s no room for out of-the-box thinking.”
Thinking differently, he says, is not just a main driver for creative processes, but also when it comes to corporate strategy and long-term business success. When asked about Vaillant’s role in the digitalisation of the heating market, Hazim’s answer is straightforward: “We have been an innovator in this industry for 146 years. Pioneering spirit is in our DNA, and it has resulted not only in great products, but also in best-in-class services – because we combine a creative mindset with a customer-orientated philosophy. Now, digitalisation is transforming the heating market, and we will lead this transformation yet again.” However, Hazim knows that the digital transformation is neither a quick win nor is it managed easily: “What got us to where we are won’t necessarily get us to the next stage. We constantly have to sharpen our abilities. This is because it has never been as easy as today, even for small companies, to make an impact, to disrupt and challenge the big players – we’ve seen what has happened to companies like Blackberry and Nokia. We can never rest on our laurels. In order to continue leading our industry, we need an entrepreneurial spirit, ambition and passion. We need to be fast. We need to be agile. We have to keep trying, bringing different thoughts and ideas together – and not be afraid to fail.”
Problem solving is circumstantial. Creating, on the other hand, has no boundaries and motivates everyone involved.
,
This may sound simple, but above all, it is a cultural issue: only an atmosphere that encourages entrepreneurial spirit and open-mindedness can be the breeding ground for digital innovation. “I like to think and dream with people. When we are working on something, we often go in circles, discussing it again and again. I like to think while talking and to create a good atmosphere while brainstorming. I try to convey my passion to the team and to sell the objective to them first, so that we all create together.”
A strategy that has panned out well so far, with a number of digital solutions having been launched in the Turkish market in the past years. “We are continuously optimizing the tools for our dealers – from websites, to microsites or apps. We launched the e-Shop and revolutionized the way our dealers browse and buy our products. Our local Vaillant Club loyalty app transformed the way that we engage with our B2B partners. Our end customers can access self-service websites via QR-codes on their boilers and complete or initiate many after-sales operations on their own. Moreover, we launched WhatsApp business for our call centre and are now accessible 24/7 from any digital platform. We try to respond to all customer requests within 15 minutes.”
All of these ideas, according to Hazim, are the result of looking at the details and trying to find, as he calls it, an “unorthodox but effective solution”. Solutions that sometimes answer an actual problem, but often just do something better than what had been there before. “I believe in creating solutions rather than solving problems. As soon as you focus on a specific ‘problem’, you limit your thoughts. Creating, on the other hand, has no boundaries and motivates everyone involved. The digital era is providing us with endless opportunities to analyse and improve all B2B and B2C customer journeys.” Hazim says. And he is sure: the best is yet to come.
