Business directory on CD-ROM helps you find leads

Business directory on CD-ROM helps you find leads

Zatni Arbi, Columnist, Jakarta, zatni@cbn.net.id

Seven years ago, I worked in partnership with a friend from
Singapore and started a small direct mail business in Jakarta. We
hired three young girls whose job was mainly to collect names,
addresses, phone numbers and company names and enter them onto
our computers. The lists were then stored in a database that we
offered to customers who wanted to promote their products and
services through direct mailing.

Unfortunately, I soon found out that the work was quite boring
and took too much of my time. So, I resigned and went back to
being a contributor and writer, which is far more interesting.
However, during the few months I worked with this friend I
learned more than just a few things. I learned that the lists had
to be regularly verified and updated. I also learned that the
databases could be very useful -- especially for businesses that
were interested in targeted marketing.
* Database of businesses

Last November, I received a B2B Indonesia Business Directory
2002-2003 CD-ROM from PT Dataindo Inti Swakarsa (PT DIS).
Somehow, the CD-ROM got lost underneath stacks of magazines and
company profiles on my shelves, and I just found it again last
week. As this product is still relevant, I installed it on my PC
and tried it out to see what it had to offer.

PT DIS, in cooperation with the Indonesian Ministry of Trade
and Industry and some other organizations, has built an
impressive database of Indonesian companies that can be used for
multiple purposes. You can use it to market your products, find
the right suppliers, contact the right persons, check out tax and
duty tariffs, etc.

The B2B Indonesia Business Directory on CD-ROM can be
purchased in five different access levels: Standard, Classic,
Gold and Platinum. that's four!With the CD-ROM, I got the
standard access level. It had a list of 60,000 names of companies
and organizations -- including business associations such as the
Association of Indonesian Retailing Merchants. It also has the
names of 80,000 executives, too. There is also a list of 10,000
e-mail addresses. Well, this is something that I would really
like to ask marketers not to use as freely as they wish, because
we already have so much spam in our Inboxes that it has become a
very annoying problem. The list of e-mail addresses may be useful
for very specific purposes, but certainly, unsolicited e-mail is
hardly welcome any more.

The database also has 300 industry sectors, 10,000 product
types and 6,000 brands. With an upgraded access, such as the Rp
5.5 million Platinum, a much broader range of data will become
available to you, including Indonesia's Export and Import Tariffs
and Taxes, and comprehensive trade statistics for the last five
years. The Gold access level, which would cost you Rp 1.1
million, will allow you to print mailing labels directly from
inside the program, for example.

* Ease of use

Installation of the B2B Indonesia database was eventless. If
you purchase an access level higher than the standard, you will
be required to contact the publisher to get the access password.
You can choose English or Indonesian during program installation
and use.

During installation, B2B Indonesia asks you whether you want
to copy the databases onto your hard disk. If you do, you will
not have to insert the CD-ROM each time you want to use the
database. Besides, the search will be much faster, too. However,
it will take up 400 MB of hard disk space. If you are a mobile
professional who regularly uses the database, you should just do
it.

As I learned during the few months with the direct mail
company, a database like this will not be of much use unless the
data is current. There is a facility inside the program that
companies can use to update their data online to ensure the
accuracy of the database. For a premium, they will also be placed
on top of the list and printed in bold red characters for
prominence. It means that the user of this database can be sure
of the accuracy of the data.

To find the address of The Jakarta Post, for example, you can
use different approaches. You can use the Tree and scroll down to
the letters TH, and then click on it. The program will give you
the list of organizations with names starting with the letters
TH. Or, you can enter the name in the box provided on top. You
can even enter the name of an office tower, such as Chase Plaza,
and the program will give you a list of all the tenants in that
building. Enter the name of a street, and you will get the names
of all companies in that street.

This CD-based database can also be very useful if you want to
look up the categorization of industry and business sectors. It
also contains data on other countries, although it may not really
be the latest. Perhaps a Web search engine will give you more up-
to-date results.
* Wish list

This database contains a variety of information, and the
program has a lot of features. A casual computer user will not be
able to use it confidently without the help of an easy-to-follow
manual. The booklet in which the CD-ROM was shipped did not
really provide the instructions on how to use the software. I
guess, a simple manual would help tell users not only what is
available on the CD-ROM but also how to access them.

A company profile of the publisher is also absent. For a
product like this, I think a brief description of the publisher
should be included under "About Us". Furthermore, in terms of
software design, it would be nice if the user interface could be
made a little more flexible by allowing you to move the panels
around.

More serious is perhaps that, when searching a long list, it
is impossible for you to multitask as the program keeps appearing
on the top of the other running applications on the screen. It is
not possible, for example, to read e-mail while B2B is searching
the list of goods imported from New Zealand.

Apart from these gripes, B2B Indonesia Business Directory on
CD-ROM is a really useful product. It is more than just a yellow
pages directory, as it classifies the companies according to
their business sectors, etc. It can be a very helpful marketing
resource, too. But, then again, if you use it for your marketing
campaigns, please do exercise discretion in using those e-mail
addresses.