e-business will soon take a rebound<\/p>\n
----------------------------------------------------------------<\/p>\n
In cooperation with the Asian GLOBE-The Jakarta CEO Club and
\nMarkPlus & Co. management consulting firm, this new column is
\ndesigned to look at the visions and strategic views of CEOs of
\nIndonesian and multinational companies operating in Indonesia. It
\nwill appear every Thursday with the support of marketing guru
\nHermawan Kertajaya. Following is the first piece on the CEO of PT
\nSAP Asia in Indonesia, a subsidiary of the Germany-based e-
\nbusiness software solutions provider. It's compiled by The
\nJakarta Post reporter K. Basrie.
\n----------------------------------------------------------------<\/p>\n
Over the past few years, the world witnessed the ugly ruin of
\nthe online businesses. Many firmly insist that the online world
\nhas just been something of a bust. So what went wrong?<\/p>\n
Many blame the failure on the costs which were higher than
\nexpected and the benefits more elusive than anticipated.
\nLiquidity, rather than the build-out capabilities, quickly became
\nthe number one priority for many dot-companies as they struggled
\nto survive.<\/p>\n
Most of the dotcoms were geared on how to gain capital from
\nthe market rather than how to give value to customers.<\/p>\n
Will the future still have a gloomy look after the well-
\npublicized sad story of the Internet world? Early efforts have
\nstumbled, to be sure. But many now doubt it. They say there'll be
\na change very soon.<\/p>\n
Take a brief look at world-class companies around the globe.
\nFrom procurement to product design to supply chain management,
\nthe Internet and e-business have changed the way organizations
\noperate and enterprises serve customers and win the rigid
\ncompetition.<\/p>\n
The community, still small but growing , has the belief that
\nthe e-business is a permanent feature on the business landscape
\ntoday and tomorrow.<\/p>\n
Krisnendu Datta, managing director of PT SAP Indonesia,
\nbelieved that the real players of e-commerce are beginning to
\nevolve and return in different forms.<\/p>\n
\"As that evolves, we'll see people's confidence coming back
\nand doing more of e-commerce based solutions into their
\nbusiness,\" he said in a recent interview.<\/p>\n
SAP, Datta went on, survived from the bubble burst because \"we
\ndid not jump into the dotcom bandwagon and try to play the IPO
\ngame and try to run and acquire few companies with high market
\ncapitalization, rather we focused on how we could enrich our
\nsolutions using e-business technology using the e-commerce tools
\nand then go back to the same and other customers with added
\nvalue.\"<\/p>\n
According to him, it's hightime for any companies in Indonesia
\nto go for e-business.<\/p>\n
A rich bachelor will never be ready to marry, Datta said.<\/p>\n
\"So, I don't' think there's one particular time to go for e-
\nbusiness. The time is now. The time is always there.\"<\/p>\n
One, he added, can choose areas where he can go by looking on
\nat his own business models by looking on what he can achieve in
\nthe end and e-business should not be driven by technology or me-
\ntoo business.<\/p>\n
And globalization also offers opportunities and challenges,
\ninstead of risks alone.<\/p>\n
\"As a global player, our main challenges in SAP is not the
\nhardest of the (Indonesian) government. Our main challenges are
\nhow ready the market is, in term of people's ability and what the
\nIT does for them.\"<\/p>\n
Datta, who has been in the IT industry for 14 years, reminded
\nthat growth is not the sole goal in the business world since
\ngrowth is sometimes uncontrolled and non-profitable.<\/p>\n
\"That's why growth alone is not the only thing that we should
\nchallenge in business.\"<\/p>\n
Based on his experience, there are two fundamentals ways to
\ngrow.<\/p>\n
\"First grow in your solution set by offering more products and
\nsolution within the same customer base or within the same
\ngeography or you enhance your geography with the same solution
\nset.<\/p>\n
Do either one or you can do the combination. In case of SAP,
\nwe're doing both,\" Datta said.<\/p>\n
In today's world of e-business, the traditionally sequential
\nand stable links between internal departments in a company and
\nexternal business partners cede the to complex, multilevel supply
\nchain networks. SAP offers products that will allow companies to
\nmanage a wide range of highly diverse systems from a multitude of
\nvendors -- systems that run in different technological
\nenvironments.<\/p>\n
Indonesia, Datta said, is home to roughly 4,000 firms with an
\nannual earnings of between US$30 million and $40 million, which
\nhas become the main targets of SAP Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"About 60 percent of the market is still untapped,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He, thus, invited IT players to grab the big opportunities.<\/p>\n
\"The question is the timeframe. This market still needs
\ncertain amount of awareness, infrastructure, knowledge based for
\nIT to grow and that takes time,\" he said, adding that the perfect
\ntime to get in would be over the next five years.<\/p>\n
But he suggested that knowledge is a crucial element for any
\ncompany to grow and develop in such a competitive era.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, knowledge does not appear in the balance sheet.<\/p>\n
Today, he said, knowledge management is not about acquiring
\nknowledge alone but sharing knowledge to others, including to the
\nemployees.<\/p>\n
Having tens of knowledge workers is much better and more
\npowerful than having one knowledge manager, he said.<\/p>\n
Well, while there's uncertainty about the speed of change,
\nthere's no question about the direction of change. And let the
\nrich bachelor make his own judgment.<\/p>\n
================
\nFor the information box:<\/p>\n
PT SAP Indonesia is a 100-percent subsidiary of SAP AG, the
\nworld's leading provider of e-business software solutions
\noperating in 67 countries. Already in Indonesia since 1997, the
\ncompany has 40 employees, 200 partner consultants with 75 clients
\nand some 110 installations.<\/p>\n
Datta has been in the IT industry for 14 years including in
\nhis motherland in India and several countries in the region. A
\ntop graduate from Calcutta University in India majoring in
\nphysics, he get his MBA certificate from the European Management
\nSchool on Surrey, U.K.<\/p>",
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