IT solutions now integral part of doing business

IT solutions now integral part of doing business

Sudibyo M. Wiradji, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Information technology (IT) has lately begun to show its
irresistible force in Indonesia and has been adopted by many
companies as an integrated part of their overall business.

In the past, companies generally considered the IT division to
mainly be the concern of technicians, but as time has gone by,
and with the increasing range of problems that can be solved with
the assistance of this technology, many business executives have
finally woken up to the need, for example, for web-based
solutions.

Along with other corporate business divisions like marketing,
sales and services, IT is now regarded as playing an equally
pivotal role in boosting corporate performance. Therefore, many
large companies have drawn up business blueprints that place IT
at the forefront.

Imagine how difficult it was for one to track individual
customers manually when the number of customers reached into the
thousands. With database applications, however, tracking
customers only takes minutes.

A broad range of business solutions is now available on the
market to meet customers' need, such as solutions in the finance,
revenue, operations, logistics and human resources fields. Many
small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) and large businesses have
also taken advantage of business solution services related to
network infrastructure, like Internet Banking, e-Procurement, and
setting up corporate websites/homepages.

PT Oracle Indonesia, PT Cisco Systems Indonesia, PT Microsoft
Indonesia and PT SAP Indonesia are among the providers of the
sort of business solutions services that have been in increasing
demand from customers.

IT-based business solutions services started to enter the
market between 1997 and 1998 when many financially ailing
companies were taking efficiency measures to survive the
country's worst-ever economic crisis. These business applications
allowed them to detect and monitor the overall business
operations system so that management knew precisely which
division required cost reductions for efficiency's sake.

"With these systems, they (the company management) could
decide on the best action to take to generate profit or at least
to survive the crisis," said PT Oracle Indonesia's Marketing
Director Goenawan Loekito.

Despite the improving macro-economic situation, the demand for
IT-based business solutions services continues to increase from
year to year.

However, Indonesia's total Internet spending remains small.
Indonesians spent about US$1 billion for IT purposes in 2002
compared to the $2 billion spent by Malaysia and $3 billion by
Singapore in 2002.

According to the International Data Center (IDC), of the
country's total IT spending in 2002, the financial sector,
including the banking, insurance and financial services sectors
contributed 25 percent, the manufacturing sector 21 percent and
the communications and media sector 16 percent. The money was
spent on IT components, including setting up network
infrastructure, peripherals/scanners, IT services, PCs, storage
and software.

PT Microsoft Indonesia, in partnership with PT Astra Graphia,
offers QPR management software which can help corporate users
to monitor cost structure, business processes as well as
strategies and performance. With QPR software solutions,
customers can manage and predict their business in a more
effective way.

For human resources development, PT Microsoft Indonesia has
created a web-based application providing easy to use and
complete employee self-service (EES), covering such things as
expense claims, medical claims, leave and approval processes.

PT Oracle Indonesia's latest business solution, called e-
business suite, enables executives to analyze sales performance,
revenue position as well as customer segmentation.

The system also helps executives analyze other issues like the
business process flows, including the flow of goods, and cash and
sales, so that the management can detect if there are any
deviations and take necessary steps.

"Basically, we provide business solutions tailored to
companies' needs," Goenawan said.

Like software applications, business solutions also require
reliable IP-based network infrastructure to ensure that the
applications run well. Some Indonesian companies have installed
IP-based network infrastructure since the 1990s to support their
business applications.

The demand for IP-based network infrastructure has continued
to increase since then.

According to IDC, PT Cisco Systems, which specializes in IP-
based network infrastructure, still dominates the market, with a
61 percent market share for switches and over 94 percent for
routers as of September 2003.

Cisco Systems offers end-to-end solution intelligent
information networks. The solutions include LAN (Local Area
Network) Switch, IP Core Router, IP Communication Solution, Cisco
IP Telephony and IP Contact Center (IPCC).

By using IP telephony that employs centralized Cisco Call
Manager, a bank with an extensive network, for instance, no
longer needs to install the PBX system in each of its branches
because the Cisco network infrastructure applies "converged
network infrastructure" that enables the convergence of data and
voice in the Cisco network infrastructure.

"With the IP-based IPCC, the call center agent can be placed
anywhere provided that there is connectivity between the agent
and the call center," said PT Cisco Systems Indonesia Technical
Sales Director Budi Santoso Sutanto. .