Should you buy a PC this year?
By Zatni Arbi
JAKARTA (JP): My friend Maureen from Singapore wrote in a recent e-mail to me that she believed the global IT companies were, in general, not really suffering from the crisis torturing our economies in this region. That's good news, as we want them to stay around.
Most of the large IT vendors that I know -- Intel, IBM, HP, Cisco Systems, SNI, Compaq and Oracle -- seem to know that they should not give up their presence in Indonesia even though the going is getting really tough. The sales of PCs have reportedly dropped as much as 70 percent in the last few months as prices have risen fourfold. Every one of these IT vendors seems to share the conviction that, when the tide changes, those who stay will stand to gain the most from the eventual economic rebound.
HP, for instance, seems particularly determined to stay through this difficult time. Needless to say, sales of their printers, PCs and servers must have dropped significantly, as people will think hard before making any investment in these items nowadays.
But HP has assured me that they are committed to the Indonesian market. There's been some changes in their local management, as well. My good friend Mr. Khoo Teng Liat is no longer with HP, and I am going to miss him. His place as the country manager for Indonesia has been filled by Mas Iskandar.
If you would like to see their latest PC, printer, scanner, large-format printers and other products, just come to Shangri-La Hotel here this Wednesday. HP will hold a series of seminars and product exhibitions for all of us.
It is so fortunate that the other large IT vendors are not deterred by the crisis, either. IBM and Lotus Development, for instance, recently introduced Lotus Domino for their popular AS/400 servers here. Datacraft, the total solution provider, also expanded their business here in cooperation with Cisco Systems.
In a significant way, these companies are helping Indonesians cope with our problem. They hire local staff and they continue to train and prepare them for the latest technologies.
And, indeed, our need for IT will never get any smaller. When the crisis is over, which we may not be able to experience in the very near future, IT will be even more needed as the economy picks up. IT is the answer to our productivity problem, something that has plagued our workforce for a long time.
Do PCs really boost our productivity? Honestly speaking, I still hear people ask this question. They think that the Internet is just a waste of time, and that computers will just rob their kids of precious moments spent on other activities. As one of our readers pointed out in the "Letters" column, it is difficult to really appreciate what a personal computer can do for you unless you really use them. In her case, a course at a local computer education center was what it took to make her appreciate the machine's capabilities.
True, the more things you do with your computer, the more help it will give you. I use two PCs and a notebook to accomplish a lot of things. My life and work revolve around these machines. I know for certain that I would not have been able to achieve whatever I have achieved in my life without the help of these boxes.
For instance, I have long stopped going to Jl. Palmerah to submit my weekly articles for this daily. I just zap them through the Internet and save myself a lot of time and money. A lot of other work that I do is submitted through e-mail. My fax machine is rarely used.
I even keep track of my expenses, payables and receivables on one of these PCs. I don't really use specific personal accounting software such as Quicken or MS Money, I just devise my own systems in Excel. If you worked for a number of clients as I do, you would know how easy it would be to forget who has paid you and who has not. I don't have this problem, as every transaction is recorded on my Excel sheets.
There are a lot of other things that a PC can do to make you more productive. If you have been following this column for some time, you will have a lot of ideas about how you can get the most out of the box. There are dictionaries and encyclopedias on CD- ROMs that you can use for reference.
Do you need to find a better word to express the idea that you have in your mind? Just load American Heritage Dictionary and click on its WordHunter button. Do you need to know the name of Jonathan Swift's closest friend, whom people think he might have married? Just load Compton's Multimedia Encyclopedia.
So, do you need a PC this year? If you can afford to buy even a used one, I think you do. When the crisis is over, I believe we will have a totally different ball game. The economic and social reforms that the crisis will force on us will end with demand for higher productivity.
Whether you are an executive of a large company or a home- based consultant, you will need to be productive. Be you a government official or hospital administrator, you will have to be productive. And a PC can help on this count. That is why you should still buy a PC this year, if you don't have one already.