Why Brexit has brought this Turkish MSP to the UK

Runibex opens office in London to take advantage of closer ties between the UK and Turkey

Turkish managed service provider (MSP) Runibex has launched into the UK as a direct result of Brexit, according to director Kaan Sen.

Sen told CRN that since the EU referendum the UK government has moved to strengthen trade relations with Turkey, which is not a member of the EU.

Soon after the referendum, foreign secretary Boris Johnson said he wanted a "jumbo" trade deal with Turkey, which has encouraged Runibex to bring its cloud expertise to the UK.

"The Department of International Trade announced Turkey as one of the primary trade partners of the UK after Brexit, so this was an important move," Sen explained.

"They value Turkey in that sense. You get European quality for less money in Turkey, so we think that our set of expertise has a resonance in the UK.

"We are the biggest managed service provider of AWS in Turkey. All our businesses put cloud in the centre of the strategy. We saw the development of cloud maybe five or six years ago and built our business around it."

Istanbul-based Runibex Technology Group is an AWS and SAP partner with four subsidiaries, focusing on e-commerce, SAP consulting, cloud-based business analytics and cloud hosting services. Sen did not reveal the size of the overall group, but said it turns over seven figures a year.

Runibex has now opened an office in London and plans to have around six employees by the end of this year. By the end of 2018 Sen hopes that the UK arm of the business, which will focus solely on managed services, will turn over €1m (£880,000).

Professional services director Martin Robson added that he believes Runibex has a unique selling point in the UK because of its affiliation with both SAP and AWS.

"We particularly specialise in SAP on AWS and there aren't that many companies that have both that [SAP] competency and that managed service provider certification with the combined skills set, so that is certainly one area where we feel that we can add value."