Ironbark, Atma Jaya to help small firms

JAKARTA (JP): Australia's Ironbark Software System and Management PTY Ltd signed yesterday a memorandum of understanding with Inkubator Bisnis Atma Jaya to help small information technology businesses in Indonesia.

"We'll set up a partnership with small businesses here to research and develop software services that can meet the local demand," Ironbark's managing director Chris Findlater said here yesterday after the signing ceremony.

Ironbark has business interests providing software services, hardware, installation and networking systems.

Through the cooperation, Findlater said, Ironbark would also help small businesses enter the global market for software services.

Catholic University Atma Jaya's Inkubator Bisnis, which was set up last year, helps small businesses find financial sources, marketing and improve staff quality. It also help them develop partnerships with foreign firms.

Findlater said Indonesia was potentially a very good market for information technology services.

Agung Iriantoko, an Inkubator consultant, said the potential market for these services here was US$30 billion, but only about $1 billion had been tapped.

"We have yet to educate the market. People here are not aware that they can cut their costs significantly by using information technology," he said.

He cited as an example a state-owned company with offices all over the country. It could save hundreds of millions of rupiah if it had a networking system through which it could send messages to its provincial offices.

He said Inkubator would also sign an agreement with Bank Dharmala, Bank Exim (Export Import), Bank Mashill and Bank BCA to become financial sources and financial arrangers for the small businesses. (bnt)