Firm sees benefit of tele-conferencing
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The need for a faster and more efficient communication system has led some companies to apply mobile technology in their workplaces.
Mobile working systems are believed to be able to improve a company's sales activities, enhance customer satisfaction, create savings and better control and increase employee productivity.
PT Sinar Niaga Sejahtera (SNS), a distribution company for PT Garuda Food, recently applied such technology to create a faster "real-time" communication system with its 78 outlets in the country's eight provinces.
The company is using Microsoft's Live Communication Server (LCS) 2005 -- a service enabling enterprises to communicate with their subsidiaries at different areas and customers through instant messaging -- in a bid to improve its distribution operation.
SNS Managing Director, Hardianto Atmadja, said since using the tele-conference service, the company was able to slash its telephone bills and spending on business trips, as well as enhance its employees' computer skills.
"Employees who previously were technology illiterate, now can easily access computers and communicate with their colleagues," he said.
LCS is one of three products offered by Microsoft through its Office Real Time Communication (RTC) series, which include Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 and Microsoft Live Meeting 2005.
The Office Communicator program is an integrated communication application equipped with real-time communication modes, providing access to instant messaging, voice-, video- and web- conferencing.
Meanwhile, the Live Meeting program is an advanced technology form of the company's web-conferencing that supports online meetings and collaborative sessions, where participants don't have to be in the same place at the same time.
The three services went on the domestic market on March 11.
PT Microsoft Indonesia Vice President Ari Kunwidodo said the company has started to develop RTC in line with the projected growth of web-conferencing by 175 percent by 2008.
"In the Asia-Pacific, 70 percent of people communicate in audio conferences, 26 percent are video conference users and the rest use web conferencing," he said.
Ari said the service not only worked on the large-scale level, but also in smaller companies with less than 100 employees.
"The product also requires a low investment," he added.
According to Hardianto, SNS has invested around US$5,000 to apply the service. The company has an average investment for IT development of around 0.3 percent to 0.4 percent of sales revenue.
He said SNS investment for IT development this year reached $1 million, while the company's revenue is expected to reach Rp 2.3 trillion. (001)