Our e-infrastructure is slowly improving
Our e-infrastructure is slowly improving
By Zatni Arbi
JAKARTA (JP): Now I no longer have to suffer from the always- on envy. After KabelVision installed my cable modem, I no longer had to limit my Internet time. No matter how much I use the Internet, the cost would be the same -- a little more than Rp 400,000 per month (including the cable TV service).
I have also subscribed to McAfee ActiveShield, which protects my PC from virus infections. When I received a file from a client recently, it recognized the macro virus right away. I can now tell it to scan my hard disks using the latest virus definitions they have. I can download white papers on new technologies.
Internet banking is another e-convenience that we will soon take for granted. Thanks to Klik BCA, I am now able to check whether my clients have transferred their payments to my account. I can also transfer funds as if I were using a BCA ATM, except that I am still sitting in front of my PC.
I can now do more things on my PC, and I am now expecting my phone bill to drop next month. If it stays the same next month, then something must be wrong with Telkom's billing system.
The cable TV-based Internet access is just one of the offerings that have become available to us in the last two years or so. Buildings, real estates, resorts, etc., will also have fast access to the Internet thanks to the availability of satellite-based Internet services. Internet cafes, known locally as warnet, also contribute significantly to the proliferation of the Internet throughout Indonesia. It is not too optimistic to expect that, the Internet will be everywhere in this country, and we can access it whether we are tethered to the jack on the wall or we are using a wireless connection.
Those of you who have started using SMS and WAP on your cell phones will agree that things are getting better. Improvements may come slowly, perhaps, when compared with our neighbors Singapore and the Philippines, who were able to take advantage of the new services earlier. We do see technology trickling down into our territory.
On the users' side, we are seeing a lot of improvements -- thanks to a more open and conducive investment environment. Let us just hope that there will no more shortsighted government policies and regulations that may hamper the growth of Internet access in this country.
What about the supply side? The last two years have also witnessed the birth of a number of dot-com companies. Some may be in trouble, but others are making the right move to wade the cash flow problems arising from hyperbolic optimism on the future of Internet businesses. However, another encouraging factor is the involvement of medium and large information technology (IT) vendors in encouraging e-commerce and e-lifestyle here. Seminars organized or sponsored by global players such as Cisco Systems, IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Oracle and others, which filled our schedules during the 1997 and 1998 problem years, have begun to show positive results, and they seem to be reinvigorating their activities in line with our recovery from the crisis.
Last week, for example, Oracle Indonesia organized its iDevelop seminar and exhibition series, which involved a number of its partners in Indonesia. While the seminars featured Oracle technologies for the e-Economy, the exhibition features solutions developed by local companies such as AG-IT, Berca and Pratesis. Pratesis, for example, showcased an application for distribution companies that was built on Oracle database. These local developers were members of a worldwide network the company calls Oracle Technology Network. Oracle boasts that 2,500 developers worldwide sign up for membership of this program, which is expected to have one million members by the end of 2000.
Just next week, the world's largest ERP software company, SAP, is also organizing a two-day seminar. The first day will feature SAP technologies, while discussions on the second day will be targeted to high-level executives. SAP has also made its notoriously expensive technology more affordable by launching its MySAP.com e-business platform. This platform enables Indonesian companies to collaborate with each other as well as with companies from other parts of the world and join industry- specific marketplaces.
Success in the e-Economy is certainly not dependent solely on technology. Businesses that want to make it in the new economy will need to think of different business processes, solutions, organization, systems and all their integration. More often than not, they will need external expertise and knowledge to help them design better processes and solutions. There are a number of management consultants around, and one of the players in the Indonesian scene is the 10-year-old, Netherland-based Magnus Management Consultants (MMC). MMC takes pride in its discipline in completing its projects. While the industry standard is 50 percent, MMC claims that it has been able to complete 95 percent of the project it undertakes in time and within budget.
By no means should we ever forget home-grown and regional IT players. Jatis, for example, was the consultant behind the construction of Klik BCA, one of the e-conveniences that I mentioned earlier. Other Jatis' clients include BII, Bank Mega, PT Kewalram Indonesia , BPPT, PT Travoo Online, AboutHR.com and EzyHealth Asia Pacific, Ltd. Having reidentified itself as e- Business enabler, Jatis has 150 professionals working in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Jakarta.
Clearly, all the recent developments in e-infrastructure and the active involvement of global, regional and local IT service vendors gives us strong reasons to be more hopeful. We still need to overhaul our extremely dilapidated national education system, which has not shown any positive change so far. We still have to push the political elite and bureaucrats to do their job for us. We have to prevent the Digital Divide from getting wider and deeper, but, overall, the positive signs are there already.