In today’s global economy, many companies outsource their service departments to countries where labor is cheap to be more cost-effective.“Since the world is getting smaller with all of the latest high-tech developments in communication technology, it is not hard to have a company work for you a thousand miles away to make you more competitive in the world market,” says entrepreneur Tuncay Akbas, CSci’98.

Akbas is the founder of Sunrise Technology Group (STG), a software outsourcing company based in Istanbul, Turkey. STG provides off-site software engineering services to help its clients reduce their labor cost.

“Our clients don’t have to carry the cost of additional employees to complete a project,” Akbas explains. “By using STG, most of our clients save 30 to 40 percent on their labor cost. Besides that, we have so many engineers that are specialized in certain subjects to give our clients an advantage on their projects.”

Akbas says the biggest challenge he faces is losing the face-to-face interaction with his clients.“It is very important to understand what the client really wants, because we cannot ask questions every minute of the day since that partner is on the other side of the world,” Akbas says.

A native of Istanbul, Akbas founded the company in February 2005 after working a few years in the U.S. The company employs a staff of six in Turkey, plus one associate, Bora Sar, ME’01, located in Denver. Sar handles sales and support within the United States.

Akbas named the company after Sunrise Boulevard in Sacramento, Calif., where he worked before returning to Turkey. “It was my favorite part of the city.”