Andal joins BSA in bid to boost sales
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Local software provider Andal Software has signed an agreement to join the Business Software Alliance (BSA) for Indonesia in a bid to boost sales, which have been affected by piracy.
The company, which offers Microsoft-based software packages, is the first Indonesian software provider to join the BSA -- a non-profit organization promoting the safe and legal use of software, copyright protection, cyber security, trade and e- commerce.
Andal Software director Indra Sosrodjojo said on Thursday that by joining the BSA, his company hoped to improve sales, which had plunged due to the rampant use of unlicensed software.
"We have lost (through piracy) opportunities to sell our software," he said without specifying his company's financial loss due to piracy.
"We hope to increase sales and grab our potential market -- local small-scale businesses and people in the lower income bracket," he said, adding that locally packaged software had a 10 percent share of the country's software market potential.
According to market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), 87 percent of software installed in computers in the country last year was pirated, causing the software industry to suffer a loss of US$183 million. Indonesia ranked fifth in the world and third in Asia for the highest incidence of software piracy.
Andal Software, which provides software solutions for enterprises and the mass market, plans to change its software application for the mass market to dot net from DOS.
"We will launch dot net, which will be released with the price of Rp 10,000 (US$1.03) per disc, in September," said Indra, adding that his company also aimed to sell enterprise solutions of up to 200 units.
BSA Asia Marketing director Roland Chan explained that the 27- member organization had worked closely with the government, the police, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights's Directorate General of Intellectual Property Rights and the Association of Computer Software Indonesia (Aspiluki) to fight piracy.
"We have been running a Software Asset Management (SAM) program by holding seminars to improve companies' awareness of using legal and licensed software, as well as to initiate a policy on piracy," he said.
Chan encouraged the public to report on the use of unlicensed software to its hot line: 0-800-1-BSA-BSA, assuring confidentiality.
"BSA offers a reward of up to Rp 50 million for solid facts leading to successful legal action against a company using pirated or unlicensed software," he said in a statement. (001)