Yapi Kredi leads modern, secure banking with Omnissa

Yapi Kredi’s extensive mobile workforce is transforming the landscape of modern banking in Türkiye—meeting customers where it’s most convenient for them, whether that’s online or in person. By moving beyond the traditional branch model, the bank is building seamless, flexible relationships that adapt to each customer’s needs. With employees working across the country, 9,500 devices to manage, and sensitive data to protect, the bank needed a unified endpoint management (UEM) solution to keep its employees online, its data safe, and its customers happy.

Supporting digital banking and financial inclusion in Türkiye 

Yapi Kredi’s focus on innovation is in line with the Turkish government’s emphasis on greater digitalization and more financial inclusion across the country. The company offers customers a wide range of flexible ways to access banking services that extend beyond the traditional branches. 

For example, Yapi Kredi has equipped field agents with Apple iPads so they can deliver banking services directly to customers for greater convenience and accessibility. Agents can visit customers at their own location—like businesses, shops, homes, and restaurants—to help with various banking requirements, and even sign-up new customers. But this commitment to user-friendly banking depends on constant internet access, data security, and effective management of mobile devices in use across the country.

Addressing device management challenges in a regulated industry 

Uğur Koçer, windows applications design and planning manager at Yapi Kredi Technology, the internal group responsible for providing technology solutions to the bank and its subsidiaries. His team manages more than 9,500 devices across the bank. That includes BYOD Apple iPhones and Google Android devices, Apple macOS machines, and a range of corporate iPads used by the bank’s remote sales force and mobile customer-service agents. 

Effective management of all these devices means securing customers’ financial data and the bank’s sensitive business information. While cybersecurity is in the hands of a specialist team at the bank, Koçer and his technology team bear responsibility for controlling device-level data access. The existing mobile device management (MDM) solution was unable to keep pace with the requirements of the bank. It was becoming complex to administer and lacked support for security protocols like multi-factor authentication (MFA). 

“We wanted a straightforward, effective way to manage both our corporate-owned and BYOD devices, regardless of manufacturer or operating system,” says Koçer. “In a regulated industry like banking, we also need to meet strict privacy and security requirements. Our system couldn’t manage our Mac devices, and we couldn’t add MFA. It was time to switch up.”

Omnissa Workspace ONE: the comprehensive, cost-effective UEM 

Koçer and his team decided to explore Workspace ONE UEM, building on the bank’s positive experience with Omnissa Horizon® 8. “A year or so earlier, we’d faced ongoing VDI issues, so we migrated everything to Horizon, guided by the Omnissa Professional Services team. As a result, the daily helpdesk tickets dropped significantly, and end-user satisfaction soared,” says Koçer. “This gave us the confidence to try Workspace ONE and take a unified approach.” A thorough proof of-concept with Workspace ONE showed the UEM solution offered a unified and intuitive way to manage devices, and the deployment quickly followed.

“A key reason we chose Workspace ONE is its ability to manage Macs alongside other devices—something lacking in many other UEM solutions. In a regulated industry like ours, a unified platform for iPads, Macs, Android, and Windows devices is essential. Workspace ONE also offers better value than other solutions on the market. It’s just more comprehensive and cost-effective,” says Koçer.

The process of deploying Workspace ONE proved to be straightforward. Instead of rolling everything out at once, the team deployed devices one by one, then in groups, testing each phase before scaling up, so they could fix issues before expanding. Built-in Workspace ONE tools also helped simplify deployment. 

“Omnissa Freestyle Orchestrator significantly reduced our reliance on manual scripting. Its intuitive canvas UI makes it easy to tag and group devices based on user profiles, allowing us to quickly deploy new devices with the right configurations and software. It’s streamlined our workflows and reduced operational effort,” says Ersin Durna, ITIL CSI certified systems engineer at Yapi Kredi Technology. 

Managing macOS devices for security and compliance 

With the new UEM solution in place, Yapi Kredi Technology has significantly improved the security of the bank’s macOS devices. These are predominantly used by developers to create and optimize the apps used by employees and customers, and so the devices store sensitive corporate data, including internal code. 

“A key benefit of using Workspace ONE is our ability to manage and secure macOS devices,” says Durna. “Its integration with Microsoft Active Directory (AD) enables user authentication, group management, and policy enforcement. We can better protect sensitive corporate data, and we have secure access for developers handling internal code.” 

All Mac machines are automatically enrolled into Workspace ONE as soon as they are switched on, which ensures that corporate security policies are enforced, including regular password changes. If the device is non-compliant, access is blocked. 

Yapi Kredi is also benefiting from Omnissa Intelligence which delivers insights and ensures device compliance through continuous analysis of user and system activity. For example, the bank’s developers working on the Mac devices have integrated the Omnissa Intelligence SDK and the Omnissa Workspace ONE SDK into their app development process. 

Durna says, “At first, our developers were a bit cautious about using the Intelligence SDK and the Workspace ONE SDK, but once they saw the insights provided—like real-time feedback on app performance and issues, plus greater control over network behavior and app restrictions—they quickly saw the value. It’s helped us improve stability, maintain compliance, and build better apps on our Macs.”

iPads fuel frontline workers’ efficiency and revenue generation

iPads are essential to Yapi Kredi’s mobile workforce, enabling the bank to serve its customers efficiently away from a traditional bank branch. “The iPads were a priority during the migration to Workspace ONE,” says Durna. “Our colleagues use them to provide on-the-spot financial services, to process transactions, and to onboard new customers—making them essential to driving revenue for the bank.”

Initially, Yapi Kredi implemented a per-app VPN to automatically secure connections when each banking app launched. However, the quality of Türkiye’s mobile networks can vary, and so relying on Wi-Fi is not practical. Instead, through the integration of Omnissa Intelligence, the bank has gained insights and visibility on its device fleet. The Omnissa Intelligence SDK enables Durna’s team to monitor network status and automatically restart connections if needed.

“Workspace ONE and Intelligence ensure uninterrupted access to important apps by resolving connectivity issues before users even notice them,” says Kaan Gürsoy, MS certified systems engineer at Yapi Kredi Technology and teammate of Durna. “It means our field workers can be fast and responsive in face-to-face situations with customers wherever they are.”

Türkiye’s first bank to use hybrid cloud for UEM

“We’re proud to be the first bank in Türkiye to embrace a hybrid cloud UEM solution, even within the constraints of strict banking regulations—and we believe others will follow,” says Koçer confidently. “If we hadn’t gone with a hybrid cloud model, we’d need far more infrastructure to manage. Now, we have fewer systems to monitor and maintain.”

Reduced IT operational burden, and more satisfied end-users

Importantly, Yapi Kredi Technology has activated MFA across all 9,500 devices, which wasn’t possible with the previous MDM solution. “Thanks to Omnissa Access, we now have MFA—something our MDM simply couldn’t support—adding a critical layer of security beyond just usernames and passwords,” says Koçer. “It’s given us greater confidence in protecting both our users and the bank’s sensitive data.”

The team now has full visibility and control over the iPads used by its remote and mobile workforce throughout Türkiye. This means the bank can detect issues as they arise, access logs, and resolve them in real time. Logs can also be instantly gathered from any location and issues analyzed quickly without user involvement, which reduces downtime.

The team also benefits from Omnissa Freestyle Orchestrator, a workflow orchestration platform service integrated into Workspace ONE. “Freestyle Orchestrator enables us to do things we simply couldn’t before. For instance, we can automatically detect newly enrolled devices running outdated OS versions and update them immediately—helping us stay ahead of security and compliance issues,” says Durna.

“We also have much greater control: in the past, we’d see issues but couldn’t do much. Now we can pull logs remotely and take action without disrupting the user. It’s saved us a huge amount of time—and the best part is, our users aren’t complaining anymore.”

Beyond the technology team, the shift to Workspace ONE has also had a noticeable impact on the end-user experience.

“Employees have adapted smoothly to Workspace ONE and feedback has been positive,” says Koçer. “They like the convenience of Workspace ONE® Intelligent Hub, which provides a single place to access all their resources, apps, notifications, and self-service options. Device deployment is now seamless, issues are resolved much faster, and they no longer struggle with reinstalling apps. We ran a survey which confirmed that users appreciate the upgrade—many even thanked us for the improved experience.”

Building an autonomous workspace

Moving forwards, Yapi Kredi Technology is considering the use of Workspace ONE to manage the Windows devices used by the bank’s knowledge workers, as well as Omnissa Workspace ONE® Assist to strengthen remote troubleshooting. The cybersecurity team is evaluating Omnissa Workspace ONE Mobile Threat Defense for mobile security.

Koçer and his team are also planning to use Freestyle Orchestrator scripts to manage devices on a more proactive basis. “Our goal is to create an autonomous system that proactively identifies potential issues and initiates automated preventive actions,” he says. “Workspace ONE UEM is an essential part of us achieving that ambition.”