Survei Ipsos Soroti Tingkat Kepuasan Pengguna Terhadap Layanan Dompet Digital di E-commerce

ShopeePay, uang elektronik milik Shopee, disebut sebagai e-wallet dengan penetrasi terbesar selama tiga bulan terakhir. Sebuah survei menyebutkan bahwa ShopeePay memiliki pengguna dengan tingkat kepuasan tertinggi.

Survei berjudul “Kepuasan, Persepsi, dan Loyalitas Pengguna Dompet Digital di Indonesia” ini dilakukan oleh Ipsos in Indonesia. Dalam survei ini, Ipsos mengukur beberapa hal mengenai penggunaan dompet elektronik di Indonesia mulai dari penetrasi, frekuensi penggunaan, kepuasan, serta pengalaman pengguna.

Ipsos melakukan survei secara daring sejak 16 Oktober sampai 23 Oktober 2020. Sampel yang mereka gunakan mencapai seribu responden dari seluruh Indonesia dengan batasan menggunakan layanan dompet elektronik dan belanja di e-commerce dalam dua tahun terakhir.

Managing Director Ipsos in Indonesia Soeprapto Tan mengatakan, pihaknya melihat ada peningkatan penggunaan dompet elektronik secara signifikan di Indonesia sejak dua tahun terakhir. Peningkatan itu makin tinggi ketika pandemi Covid-19 melanda sehingga mengharuskan banyak orang beralih ke pembayaran non-tunai agar terhindar dari penularan virus. Ia menyebut setidaknya 44% penduduk Indonesia lebih sering memakai dompet elektronik selama pandemi.

“Berdasarkan hal tersebut, Ipsos in Indonesia berinisiatif untuk mengadakan survei lebih lanjut, untuk mengetahui merek dompet digital apa yang memiliki kepuasan, loyalitas, dan persepsi pengguna yang paling unggul,” jelas Soeprapto.

ShopeePay mendominasi

Survei Ipsos menemukan lima besar layanan e-wallet di Indonesia, yakni GoPay, Ovo, Dana, LinkAja, dan ShopeePay. Meski belum terlalu lama muncul, survei mendapati ShopeePay justru mendominasi di setiap aspek penggunaan dompet elektronik. Associate Project Director Ipsos in Indonesia Indah Tanip menjelaskan, dari aspek kepuasan terhadap merek e-wallet. ShopeePay menempati peringkat satu untuk kepuasan ini dengan skor 82%. Angka itu jauh melebihi pemain lain seperti Ovo (77%), Gopay (71%), Dana (69%), dan LinkAja (67%).

Menurut Indah ada beberapa faktor yang menyebabkan kepuasan pengguna ShopeePay lebih tinggi dari yang lain. Sejumlah faktor itu di antaranya adalah layanan yang mudah digunakan, mudah top up, waktu top up real time, dan banyaknya tawaran promosi saat menggunakannya.

“Terakhir ShopeePay ini selain bisa digunakan di toko online, mulai digunakan di banyak toko offline,” imbuh Indah.

Ipsos juga menyoroti aspek loyalitas pengguna dalam penggunaan dompet elektronik ini. Ipsos mengukur kesetiaan pelanggan ini memakai Net Promotor Score (NPS) guna memahami bagaimana loyalitas pengguna terhadap suatu merek dompet elektronik.

Country Service Line Leader Customer Experience, Channel Performance, and Observer Ipsos in Indonesia Andi Sukma, menjelaskan NPS ini bisa mengukur reaksi pengguna atas penggunaan layanan. Semakin puas dan setia pengguna, semakin besar kemungkinan mereka merekomendasikan produk tersebut ke orang lain. Sebaliknya, jika produk itu tidak memuaskan pengguna dan menimbulkan sentimen negatif, kecil kemungkinan produk itu akan direkomendasikan.

“Bayangkan ini terjadi di seorang yang tergolong influencer,” ucap Andi.

Dalam aspek ini, ShopeePay lagi-lagi unggul dibanding yang lain. Skor NPS ShopeePay berada di angka +42% dari 598 responden, Ovo +34% dari 684 responden, Gopay +28% dari 580 responden. Dana dan LinkAja menyusul di belakang.

“Semua pengguna sebenarnya setia dengan layanannya masing-masing. Akan tetapi ShopeePay punya skor NPS paling setia,” ujar Indah menambahkan.

Berkat pertumbuhan pesat Shopee

Melejitnya kepopuleran ShopeePay tentu saja tak lepas dari performa Shopee sebagai e-commerce. Bertahun-tahun bersaing ketat dengan pemain besar lain seperti Tokopedia dan Bukalapak, Shopee saat ini berhasil mengungguli kompetitornya itu.

Indah menjelaskan bahwa hal itu pula yang berhasil mengangkat ShopeePay dalam waktu singkat. Shopee memperoleh lisensi uang elektronik dari Bank Indonesia di akhir 2018. Layanan itu baru benar-benar optimal berjalan sepanjang tahun lalu.

Menurut Indah Shopee berhasil menggaet banyak pengguna karena bertebarnya harga promo yang hanya bisa digunakan dengan pembayaran ShopeePay. Contoh paling umum adalah gratis ongkir dengan ShopeePay. Selain itu Shopee juga dianggap cukup agresif dalam menggaet merchant offline agar memakai dompet elektronik mereka.

“Hal itu bisa meningkatkan trial rate, dari yang cuma coba-coba lalu malah ketagihan. Itu juga yang membuat mereka menjadi promoter,” terang Indah.

Survei Ipsos ini juga menyimpulkan bahwa ShopeePay adalah merek dompet elektronik dengan penetrasi penggunaan tertinggi selama tiga bulan terakhir dan paling sering digunakan pada Oktober lalu.

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Menunggu Hadirnya Generasi Baru “Angel Investor” di Indonesia

Periode awal menjalankan startup begitu krusial dalam segala aspek. Memperkenalkan produk ke pasar, memvalidasi model bisnis, merekrut SDM yang tepat, dan menjaga keandalan layanan, adalah sedikit dari contohnya. Namun dalam fase awal itu, faktor pendanaan adalah salah satu yang paling penting. Bicara tentang pendanaan di fase awal, maka wajib melihat peran angel investor di sana.

Bisa dibilang angel investor adalah investor dengan risiko terbesar dalam siklus bisnis startup digital. Menaruh modal ke startup anyar berarti bertaruh akan ide dan potensi startup serta kemampuan pendirinya. Seringkali kepercayaan bahkan mereka berikan ketika belum melihat produknya. Namun risiko yang besar ini membawa potensi keuntungan yang sebanding.

Menariknya di Indonesia, eksistensi angel investor masih jauh dari sorotan. Padahal dalam ekosistem startup keberadaan mereka terbilang penting. Masih banyak yang belum diketahui dari angel investor di Indonesia. Kami bicara dengan beberapa angel investor untuk mengenal lebih dalam skena di dalam negeri.

Masih terbatas

Alexander Rusli adalah salah satu pebisnis yang mulai mulai aktif sebagai angel investor. Selesai lengser sebagai pimpinan Indosat Ooredoo, Alex langsung melirik bisnis digital. Alex tercatat sebagai pendiri Digiasia dan investor di 11 perusahaan lain. Ia memperkirakan ada beberapa hal yang menyebabkan nama angel investor tidak begitu terdengar di Indonesia. Pertama karena adalah khawatir kegagalan di satu startup terdengar orang banyak. Kemungkinan lain, menurutnya, adalah mereka tidak ingin “diserbu” oleh orang-orang yang tidak diinginkan.

“Mungkin mereka investasi itu dengan alasan macam-macam, seperti hubungan khusus dengan founder, senang dengan industrinya, [atau] hanya coba-coba. Memang struktur angel investor di Indonesia ini belum matang khususnya untuk digital investment,” ucap Alex.

Venture Partner MDI Ventures Aria Setiadharma membenarkan umumnya lingkungan angel investor di Tanah Air masih didominasi investor tradisional. Mereka adalah pebisnis atau anggota keluarga konglomerat atau yang lama berkecimpung lama di industri besar di Tanah Air. Menurut Aria, dengan latar belakang seperti itu, ekosistem angel investor tidak berkembang secepat di negara-negara lain seperti Singapura contohnya.

Aria bercerita kehadiran kantor raksasa digital di Singapura melahirkan generasi investor baru. Individu yang dulu bekerja di Google, Facebook, ataupun Netflix membuat semacam venture funding untuk membesarkan startup-startup baru yang potensial.

“Siklus itu belum terjadi di Indonesia. Yang punya uang itu kebanyakan masih dari properti, perbankan, dan pertambangan. Dari sana saja mindset-nya sudah berbeda,” imbuh Aria.

Sebastian Wijaya, yang akrab dengan skena angel investment, mengakui tingkat kesulitan startup baru memperoleh pendanaan dari angel cukup tinggi. Menurutnya, pokok permasalahan terletak pada faktor kedekatan seseorang. Ia mengakui untuk mendapatkan investasi dari individu ini bergantung pada kekuatan koneksi ke orang-orang yang tepat.

Masalah ini timbul karena platform ataupun badan yang mengelola angel investment masih terbilang sedikit. Bisa dibilang entitas pengelola paling dikenal di Indonesia sejauh ini hanya Angin.

“Jadi untuk suatu startup mendapatkan angel investing itu benar-benar tergantung kepada koneksi ke orang yg tepat. Setahu saya jika koneksi tersebut sudah terjalin, tingkat kesuksesan startup mendapatkan funding cukup besar,” tukas Sebastian.

Menunggu generasi baru

Walau secara umum angel investor masih banyak berasal dari orang-orang yang tidak berasal dari bisnis digital, saat ini mulai bermunculan gelombang baru angel investor di Indonesia. Mereka ini adalah eksekutif dan pendiri startup yang mencoba peruntungan dengan memutar uangnya di startup baru.

Laporan DealStreetAsia menyebutkan CEO Kopi Kenangan Edward Tirtanata, CEO Adrian Gunadi, dan pendiri Koinworks Willy Arifin sebagai contoh yang mewakili generasi baru tersebut. Dalam laporan itu diketahui, kegiatan Edward sehari-harinya tak lagi diisi Kopi Kenangan, tapi juga mengurus investasinya di sejumlah startup, seperti BukuKas, GudangAda, OtoKlix, dan Klinik Pintar.

Di samping nama-nama tadi, ada juga mereka yang dulunya memegang kursi pimpinan di startup besar namun sudah keluar. Beberapa nama yang cukup mewakili adalah Achmad Zaky dan Rohan Monga.

“Sekarang mereka ingin coba make money dengan investasi di industri serupa. Itu juga satu kategori yang sudah mulai banyak. Seperti para pendiri startup unicorn yang mulai investasi di banyak startup juga,” ujar Alex menanggapi kemunculan generasi baru angel investor.

Gelombang baru investor ini tentu membawa semangat baru di lanskap bisnis digital. Ada beberapa alasan yang mendorong kondisi demikian. Pertama mereka memiliki pengalaman dan pengetahuan relevan di startup mereka. Bagi startup baru, bimbingan yang tepat bagaikan jarum kompas untuk mengarungi berbagai rintangan.

Alasan berikutnya adalah jejaring yang sudah dibangun investor dari kalangan profesional dan pendiri biasanya sudah cukup matang. Hal itu bisa menjadi modal tambahan bagi suatu startup yang ingin menggelar babak pendanaan lebih lanjut. Selain itu, menurut Aria, karakter investor dari kalangan tersebut lebih sabar dengan perkembangan startup yang dimodali, mengingat butuh kepercayaan lebih kepada para pendirinya dalam menahkodai perusahaan.

“Selama angel investor ini masih pakai pemikiran lawas, enggak akan jalan ekosistemnya. Ya tapi bukan berarti tidak ada yang oke. Kalau angel investor-nya di sini bisa ambil backseat, lebih enak untuk startup itu sendiri,” jelas Aria.

Kehadiran gelombang baru angel investor di lanskap bisnis digital Indonesia bukan berarti dapat menyelesaikan semua masalah. Akses ke angel investor di Indonesia masih relatif sulit. Keberadaan organisasi angel investor, seperti Angin, kian dibutuhkan.

“Kita memang belum ada banyak tokoh pendiri yang sukses exit seperti di AS. Kita perlu tunggu beberapa tahun lagi ketika lebih banyak founder yang exit ataupun IPO, pasti suara angel investor di publik akan lebih terdengar,” pungkas Sebastian.

Localio to Develop Marketplace Platform for Home-Made Culinary Business

It is not new knowledge that household activities during the pandemic are busier than normal days. Cooking activity is one of the most dominant. The benchmark is the number of home culinary businesses that have grown significantly during a pandemic. Localio tries to catch the fortunes of this trend.

Localio is a digital startup that was just established in July. This startup was founded by Andry Suhaili, Sebastian Wijaya, Donald D. Kusumo, and Handoko Kusumo as a marketplace for the home culinary business. Although at first glance it is no different from the GoFood and GrabFood platforms, they insist that the Localio business is different. One of them is the localization of their product.

“Basically Localio is a local homemade marketplace, helping MSMEs meet their communities,” said Andry, who plays the CEO.

The initial idea for Localio came from the Andry family who intended to sell their home cooking but had difficulty finding a large niche market. To enter platforms such as GoFood or GrabFood, according to Andry, is quite difficult because it requires a long queue.

Departing from that problem, he and his friends made research about the difficulties experienced by the home culinary business. After that they found a number of similar problems including the difficulty of the home business in marketing and there was no single platform for them.

Product segment

Andry admitted that there are already other platforms such as GoFood, GrabFood, and other e-commerce that can be used by home culinary businesses. However, according to him, the platform above does not really suit the needs of a home business. With Localio, Andry said that his party can help home businesses from promotions, attracting customers, online business training, to courier selection.

Since their target audience is micro and even ultra-micro businesses, Localio does not charge any fees to merchants who join. Nor do they seek to profit by applying commissions.

“We are not taking commissions, but we see opportunities in infrastructure, for example with suppliers,” Andry added.

What Andry means by infrastructure is the ecosystem that Localio is building. Andry explained that there are three main pillars that will become the Localio ecosystem, namely fulfillment, finance, consulting and advertising services. Advertising includes their current business model.

The fulfillment in question includes the supply chain that connects sellers to food vendors, delivery, and provision of satellite kitchens. This supply chain thing, they call it LocaSupply, is still a work in progress. Andry said that his party plans to partner with Wahyoo for this product.

Which is quite interesting in the delivery options. Andry said that they prepared courier options using bicycles, scooters and pedestrians. The pedestrian option arose because the food delivery distance in Localio was only 3 kilometers. In addition to the choices of couriers, they also took Gojek and Help as additional options.

“Our existing business model is Live Streaming, LocaAds, and delivery.”

Business plan and target

Localio started out in a relatively small business. They started their business by hooking up with a seller in the Tanjung Duren area, West Jakarta. Then they hooked up with other home businesses in the Kelapa Gading, Pluit, PIK, Sunter, and Pasar Minggu areas.

CTO Sebastian Wijaya said that his party now has a number of sellers scattered outside cities such as Sidoarjo and Medan. However, for now they will still focus on expanding their reach in the Jabodetabek area. Meanwhile, until December, they are at least targeting to expand to Bandung, Surabaya, Bali and Singapore. They chose Singapore because according to them the conditions of the home-based culinary business there are also improving, plus Sebastian who is currently living there.

Apart from expansion, Localio also plans to attract professional chefs who were laid off from work during the pandemic to join their platform. Later the chefs will be accommodated into their own canals.

By mid-October, Localio had won 1000 sellers. They are targeting to reach 4000 sellers by the end of the year with the expansion they have planned. This growth target will also be used to attract investors. Currently, the capital in Localio is still in the bootstrap phase with additional capital from Win Ventures.

“In the future, we want to form a home-based business ecosystem. Overall, we want to be a platform that connects local MSMEs, promoting them from an unknown food business to becoming a global player to exporting abroad,” said Andry.


Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

The Future of Impact Investment in Indonesia

How many startups and investors in Indonesia are using an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) approach or better known as impact investment in running their business? The answer is indeed limited. There are many factors to cause this. However, the digital economic entities are recently paying attention to this aspect.

In fact, Indonesia is not as mature as developed countries with regulations that “force” more players to make impactful investments. Apart from the current digital ecosystem which is yet to mature, there are a number of factors that hold the rise of impactful investment.

Piotr Jakubowski founded nafas with a focus on raising public awareness of the importance of clean air. Nafas allows an individual or corporation to participate as a sponsor in providing air quality sensors.

What becomes a challenge, says Piotr, is that often environmental impact initiatives such as the one he built through nafas are associated with company’s charity or CSR program. It is yet to be the main objective of an entity.

“The future of this category is clear. Science has confirmed the urgency of a number of environmental issues that can result in the growth of a for-profit business model that will focus on avoiding harm to our planet,” Piotr explained.

Crowde also nurtured the importance of green business. Head of Impact Investment, Afifa Urfani said that the urgency of holding the value of sustainability is not only for the purposes of company branding which is temporary but also for long-term interests.

Afifa takes an example of how Crowde, which focuses on credit in the agricultural sector, also implements reasonable restrictions on the use of chemicals, analyzes the impact of climate change on agriculture, mitigates risks related to climate change, such as the impact of prolonged drought on capital, and the formation of green scoring to assess the capital of a sustainable plan.

“For example, we invest a certain amount of money for a conventional business. Indeed, the income will be large and quite instant, but investing in a sustainable business looks heavy in the future, it can get low maintenance costs afterward,” Afifa said.

From an investor’s point of view, belief in the importance of impact investing can determine the sustainability of a company both resource and financially. This is held what ANGIN believes in.

ANGIN’s Impact Investment Lead, Benedikta Atika, noticed that impact investment growth in Indonesia maybe around 5-10 years behind other countries with more mature markets, however, there’s still some space for impact investment to grow in Indonesia.

In the early stages of private investment, Atika sees that many digital economy players in the country are starting to look at the environmental impact on the business they are in. The growth of the sustainable agricultural sector, waste management, and circular economy represent a positive movement of impactful investment.

“Apart from that, we also observed that several VCs who previously did not pay special attention to environmental impacts are now starting to have exposure, either having a special team related to impact investment or ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) investment. They even launching a new fund for this approach,” Atika added.

Bagan di laporan ANGIN yang menemukan investasi berdampak di Indonesia makin bergairah setiap tahun.
ANGIN’s report shows that impact investing in Indonesia gets more excited every year.

Overall awareness

Even though it is called impact investment, the awareness of its importance must start from the business players. Crowde and nafas represent this by implementing sustainability values ​​into its business model.

Atika said, aligning perceptions of investment opportunities with the business entity’s mission of sustainability is a challenge. Based on the Investing in Impact in Indonesia 2020 report, there is indeed a gap in the perceptions of the two parties. One is very focused on how big the impact of the solution they can provide, the other prioritizes the scalability of solutions that can reach a wider market in the hope of bringing greater financial benefits.

Atika believes, as long as the business model and strategy to be implemented by startups are sustainable, investors’ trust will follow.

“In fact, commitment to the environment must come from the startup and be embedded in its business model, not as a “mandate” from investors. This commitment will then be reflected in the business strategy and implementation,” Atika said.

Crowde has applied that. They have won the trust of a number of investors. Trusts earned because their entire team has equal awareness of the importance of the impact of their business on the agricultural environment

Crowde is one of the few startups that has compiled an environmental impact report on the business they run. The distribution of knowledge and awareness is not only held by company officials, but also by all employees.

“For example, the approval of a draft budget for farmers’ costs for capital by using certain chemicals that have passed the dose will not reach the CEO’s ears. It takes awareness not only from agents in the field but also from supervisors at HQ,” Afifa added.

Pandemic accelerates process

The market’s flavor can determine investment appetite. Shifts in community behavior will affect business people in sustainable issues. We can take an example of the increasing public enthusiasm for clean energy products which is finally captured by new energy startups. However, it usually takes a long time to shift human behavior into a new habit.

Pandemic accelerates this process. Piotr said public awareness of clean air began to increase rapidly since the Covid-19 outbreak took place. A study from Harvard University showed there was a higher death rate from Covid-19 in areas with more concentrated PM2.5 pollution.

Afifa also sees the same thing in the agricultural sector. When the pandemic hits the global economy, investment in the food sector comes into the spotlight. Increasing productivity has always been the main focus of the food sector, almost without intersect on the sustainable aspect. In fact, Afifa mentioned, there are quite a lot of incentives from the government and the private sector to encourage investment in startups that hold sustainable issues as stated in the SDGs.

“Before the pandemic, investment in the agricultural sector was considered a ‘futuristic’ concept for future generations – which is clearly a misconception. However, with a huge hit during the pandemic, finally, investment in the food sector has become the main focus for economic growth, not just inclusively but massively,” Afifa said.

Growing awareness in the digital economy ecosystem also requires a long-term approach. Atika noticed that people often only rely on financial reports as a reference for operating expenses. Whereas health, welfare, and access can also be counted as non-financial burdens.

These indicators should be used to measure whether their business can contribute better to their environment. In addition, pursuing sustainability values, according to him, can still go hand in hand with the financial targets of a business entity.

“Again, reflecting on the mission and vision of the organization about what approach is the most feasible to do, both in terms of solutions, value chains, and business processes,” Atika said.


Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

Ambisi Localio Bangun Platform Marketplace untuk Bisnis Kuliner Rumahan

Sudah bukan pengetahuan baru bahwa kegiatan rumah tangga selama pandemi berlangsung jadi lebih sibuk dari hari normal. Kegiatan masak-memasak salah satu yang paling dominan. Tolok ukurnya dari jumlah bisnis kuliner rumahan yang bertambah signifikan di masa pandemi. Localio mencoba menangkap peruntungan dari tren tersebut.

Localio adalah startup digital yang baru berdiri pada Juli kemarin. Perusahaan rintisan ini didirikan oleh Andry Suhaili, Sebastian Wijaya, Donald D. Kusumo, dan Handoko Kusumo sebagai marketplace bisnis kuliner rumahan. Meski sekilas tak berbeda dengan platform GoFood dan GrabFood, mereka bersikeras bisnis Localio berbeda. Salah satunya kelokalan produk mereka.

“Pada dasarnya Localio itu marketplace homemade lokal, membantu UMKM bertemu komunitasnya,” ujar Andry yang berperan sebagai CEO.

Ide awal dari Localio bermula dari keluarga Andry yang berniat menjual masakan rumahan mereka namun kesulitan untuk menemukan ceruk pasar yang luas. Untuk masuk ke platform seperti GoFood atau GrabFood pun menurut Andry cukup sulit karena perlu antre cukup lama.

Berangkat dari masalah itu, ia dan teman-temannya membuat riset tentang kesulitan yang dialami bisnis kuliner rumahan. Setelahnya mereka menemukan sejumlah masalah serupa termasuk kesulitan bisnis rumahan tersebut dalam memasarkan dan belum ada satu platform yang mewadahi mereka.

Segmentasi produk

Andry mengakui bahwa sudah ada platform lain seperti GoFood, GrabFood, serta e-commerce lain yang bisa dipakai bisnis kuliner rumahan. Namun menurutnya platform di atas belum begitu sesuai dengan kebutuhan bisnis rumahan. Dengan Localio, Andry mengatakan pihaknya dapat membantu bisnis rumahan mulai dari promosi, menjaring pelanggan, pelatihan bisnis online, hingga pemilihan kurir.

Oleh karena target pengguna mereka adalah bisnis mikro bahkan ultra mikro, Localio tidak mengenakan biaya kepada penjual yang bergabung. Mereka juga tidak mencari keuntungan dengan menerapkan komisi.

“Kita memang tidak tidak ambil komisi, tapi kami lihat peluangnya di infrastruktur, misalnya dengan supplier,” imbuh Andry.

Yang dimaksud infrastruktur oleh Andry adalah ekosistem yang sedang Localio bangun. Andry memaparkan ada tiga pilar utama yang akan menjadi ekosistem Localio, yaitu fulfillment, keuangan, jasa konsultasi dan iklan. Iklan termasuk model bisnis mereka yang sudah berjalan saat ini.

Fulfillment yang dimaksud termasuk rantai suplai yang menghubungkan penjual ke vendor bahan pangan, pengantaran, serta penyediaan dapur satelit. Perihal rantai suplai ini, mereka menyebutnya LocaSupply, masih dalam proses. Andry menyebut pihaknya berencana menggandeng Wahyoo untuk produk tersebut.

Yang cukup menarik di opsi pengantaran. Andry mengatakan bahwa mereka menyiapkan pilihan kurir menggunakan sepeda, otoped, dan pejalan kaki. Opsi pejalan kaki muncul karena jarak pengantaran makanan di Localio tadinya cuma 3 kilometer. Di samping pilihan kurir tadi, mereka juga menggandeng Gojek dan Help sebagai opsi tambahan.

“Model bisnis kami yang sudah jalan itu Live Streaming, LocaAds, dan delivery.”

Target dan rencana bisnis

Localio memulai bisnisnya di lingkup yang relatif kecil. Mereka memulai bisnisnya dengan menggaet penjual di wilayah Tanjung Duren, Jakarta Barat. Lalu menggaet bisnis rumahan lain di wilayah Kelapa Gading, Pluit, PIK, Sunter, hingga Pasar Minggu.

CTO Sebastian Wijaya mengatakan, pihaknya pun kini sudah memiliki sejumlah penjual yang tersebar di luar kota seperti Sidoarjo dan Medan. Namun untuk saat ini mereka masih akan berfokus untuk memperluas jangkauannya di wilayah Jabodetabek. Sementara hingga Desember nanti mereka setidaknya menargetkan bisa ekspansi hingga ke Bandung, Surabaya, Bali, dan Singapura. Mereka memilih Singapura karena menurut mereka kondisi bisnis kuliner rumahan di sana juga sedang meningkat, ditambah Sebastian yang sedang bermukim di sana.

Selain ekspansi, Localio juga berencana menggaet koki profesional yang diberhentikan dari tempat kerjanya selama pandemi untuk bergabung ke platform mereka. Nantinya para koki tersebut akan diwadahi ke dalam kanal tersendiri.

Sampai pertengahan Oktober, Localio sudah berhasil meraih 1000 penjual. Mereka menargetkan dapat meraih 4000 penjual hingga akhir tahun dengan ekspansi yang telah mereka rencanakan. Target pertumbuhan itu nantinya juga akan dipakai untuk menarik minat para investor. Saat ini modal di Localio masih di fase bootstrap dengan tambahan modal dari Win Ventures.

“Ke depan kami ingin membentuk ekosistem usaha rumahan. Secara keseluruhan kami ingin jadi platform yang menghubungkan UMKM lokal, mempromosikannya dari bisnis makanan yang tidak terkenal menjadi pemain global hingga ekspor ke luar negeri,” pungkas Andry.

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On Gojek’s Efforts Against Social Engineering

Starting in the Slack’s chat room, a hacking act succeeded to penetrate Twitter’s layered security in mid-July. The attack took over a number of large profile Twitter accounts such as Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Barack Obama, and many more. As well as humiliating Twitter’s reputation as one of the world’s leading technology companies, billions of rupiah have vanished in the form of bitcoin due to the attack.

Saying the attack as hacking is quite inaccurate because the perpetrator did not attack the platform’s security holes. What happened to Twitter in that attack was social engineering. This social engineering attacks human negligence in quite a variety of ways. The perpetrator deceptively managed to earn the trust earned from Twitter employees and used the information he obtained to bypass the platform’s security system. In the ISACA State of Cybersecurity 2020 report, Part 2: Threat and Landscape Security Practices, social engineering is called the number one digital security threat in the world. This encourages the belief that humans are the weakest chain in a digital security system.

Identifying social engineering

What happened to Twitter is also common in other digital platforms, including in Indonesia. If the attack makes employees a foothold to jump over the platform’s security system, there are many cases that attack platform users. In general, user literacy levels are much more diverse than those working in technology companies. Therefore, it is not surprising that social engineering attacks happen to common people. Domestically, this attack trend is increasingly evident. As one of the largest digital platforms in Indonesia, these happen a few times with Gojek users.

The Center for Digital Society (CfDS) from Gadjah Mada University considers social engineering techniques as fraud which is performed by penetrating security networks through user manipulation to obtain classified information. Indeed, the mechanism is not as complicated as a hacking attack. However, as previously stated, this method is widely used because it takes advantage of the victim’s ignorance of the digital ecosystem.

CfDS researcher Tony Seno Hartono revealed some concepts used in social engineering techniques. Phishing is the most common cause. In this case, the perpetrator uses telephone, email, or other media to gather information about the target of the attack. The next mode is SMShing, which mechanism is similar to phishing but using SMS. Furthermore, there is pretexting which relies on a narrative that convinces the victim to retrieve information. Lastly, there is an impersonation. This mode is done by pretending to be someone to collect information from the target victim.

Seizing the victim’s trust is the red thread of all these cases. Making victims off guard and gaining important information regarding personal data, one-time passwords (OTP), and other sensitive data makes it easier for them to penetrate the platform’s security system. For perpetrators, these social engineering techniques are more practical than hacking into security systems. In the context of the digital ecosystem in Indonesia, the threats these social engineering techniques pose can have a huge impact.

Fungus in the rainy season

The form of crime always adapts and develops from time to time with the conditions of society. The fertility of this social engineering method of deception. Indonesia is currently home to Southeast Asia’s largest digital business ecosystem. The We are Social 2020 report shows that there are more than 175 million internet users, thousands of digital startups, and six unicorns in Indonesia. Temasek and Google‘s research stated that the value of the digital economy in Indonesia has reached US$40 billion last year and potentially to double to US$133 billion by 2025.

Although, digital literacy in the country is quite far from sufficient. CfDS stated that digital technology security competence in Indonesia is quite basic and still in middle categories. This is directly proportional to cyberattacks targeting internet users in the region.

The Covid-19 outbreak has become a catalyst that accelerates society’s adaptation to the digital economy. The situation that requires most people to do activities from home forces them to adapt to using all kinds of digital services. This large migration can certainly be interpreted as an opportunity for cybercriminals. The large number of new users who are yet to understand much about digital solutions is an easy target for users of social engineering.

Gojek acts against social engineering

Of the many digital businesses in Indonesia, Gojek is one of the driving forces. Gojek is a decacorn with 20 different services with 3 super apps for customers, driver-partners, and merchant partners. They have also expanded to other countries in the region such as Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, and Thailand. By the end of the second quarter of this year, their application has been downloaded more than 190 million times, with more than 2 million drivers, and 500,000 GoFood partners. A study by the Demographic Institute of the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia in 2019 found that Gojek’s contribution to the national economy has reached IDR 104.6 trillion.

Imagine millions of rotating transactions in one day is enough to convince digital bandits to aim at Gojek users as targets. Gojek acknowledged the threat was real. In fact, Gojek makes three approaches to protect its service ecosystem: technology, protection, and education. The technological approach is the foundation of the security system. They added some innovations such as number masking, two-factor authentication, chat intervention, fingerprint features, face verification, and piracy prevention. GoPay’s  SVP IT Governance, Risk & Compliance, Genesha Nara Saputra explained their team always keeps an eye behind the scenes on the latest attack trends and improves the capabilities of the security infrastructure. However, Ganesha believes that all the technical sophistication they provide can be useless when the perpetrators of social engineering attacks target their common users.

“In the case of social engineering, there is only one effective way, it is education. It has been recognized by the world that this human is the weakest chain. That’s why the key is practical education,” Genesha explained.

Regarding this educational approach, Gojek emphasizes four things for its users. Those are including not to transact outside of the application, secure personal data, use a PIN for every transaction, and immediately complain to customer service or the police when there is something suspicious. This is indeed targeting Gojek driver-partners and merchants too. Of the social engineering cases that happened to Gojek, the perpetrators often target the victim’s electronic wallet.

One of the significant improvements Gojek managed in maintaining the security of its ecosystem is the ability to detect fictional orders. In the past few years, fictitious orders have become a scourge for driver-partners. Another thing is the use of illegal applications such as Fake GPS or most popular among drivers with the term “tuyul”. The illegal application allows rogue drivers to manipulate their location. Gojek’s Head of Driver Operations Trust & Safety, Kevin Timotius said the progress came from the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence that they developed in the Gojek SHIELD technology.

“We have utilized machine learning and artificial intelligence technology to detect and crack down on various fraudulent acts that harm driver-partners, including fictitious orders and the use of illegal devices. Previously, similar technology has also helped improve partner security through face verification and phone number disguise,” said Kevin.

Regardless, social engineering scam remains a latent danger that lurks any user of digital services. This technique is less affected by the sophisticated security infrastructure used by digital startups like Gojek as this act targets a person’s psychology.  This problem can be suppressed only with qualified digital literacy.

However, digital platforms cannot run solely. They need a helping hand from industry, government, non-governmental organizations, and the community to prevent the proliferation of cases of social engineering in Indonesia.


Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

Blibli dan Indodana Luncurkan Fitur PayLater

Fitur PayLater juga menjadi pilihan Blibli. Adopsi fitur PayLater ini dilakukan dengan menggandeng layanan fintech lending Indodana. Ini merupakan langkah Blibli dalam memperluas akses kredit individu yang terintegrasi dalam platform e-commerce.

Blibli menjadi e-commerce kesekian yang mengadopsi fitur PayLater. Blibli PayLater mengusung konsep registrasi yang cepat, biaya administrasi yang murah, serta metode pelunasan yang beragam. Fitur anyar ini mereka tujukan kepada mereka yang selama ini belum memiliki akses ke fasilitas kredit.

“Blibli PayLater mendorong inklusi keuangan dengan membuka akses ke fasilitas kredit institusional ke pelanggan yang belum memilikinya,” ucap Vice President of Business Development Blibli, William Hadibowo pada Jumat pekan lalu.

Blibli PayLater menawarkan fasilitas kredit dengan batas maksimal Rp8 juta. Adapun opsi yang ditawarkan kepada pengguna untuk melunasi kredit dalam 30 hari dan cicilan berjangka 3, 6, dan 12 bulan. Opsi PayLater ini melengkapi fasilitas pembayaran di Blibli menjadi 10 metode pembayaran.

Fitur “belanja sekarang, bayar nanti” ini sejatinya sudah Blibli luncurkan sejak Mei lalu. Blibli mengklaim peminat fitur baru ini terus meningkat sejak saat itu. Mereka menghitung pengguna fitur PayLater bertambah 63% tiap bulan dan sudah tersebar di 22 provinsi.

Peluncuran Blibli PayLater ini juga tak lepas dari faktor pandemi Covid-19 yang belum henti sampai sekarang. Menurut William fitur tersebut membantu rumah tangga dalam belanja kebutuhan sehari-hari. Dari data yang mereka berhasil kumpulkan, penggunaan Blibli PayLater mayoritas untuk membeli barang kebutuhan sehari-hari seperti minyak goreng, gula, dam beras.

“Terlebih lagi, Blibli PayLater mendorong inklusi keuangan dengan membuka akses ke fasilitas kredit institutional ke pelanggan yang belum memilikinya. Berlanjutnya aktivitas konsumsi ini penting bagi pemulihan ekonomi di new normal,” imbuh William.

Senada dengan William, VP Indodana Jerry Anson menyebut, kerja sama mereka dengan Blibli adalah bentuk dorongan mereka terhadap perekonomian Indonesia yang lesu akibat pandemi berkepanjangan.

Pada Juli lalu, Indodana telah mengemukakan rencana mereka untuk fokus menggenjot kredit konsumsi lewat PayLater. Indodana yang sudah mengantongi izin dari Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK) mengatakan pada tengah tahun lalu bahwa PayLater menjadi pilihan mereka untuk mendorong penetrasi produk ke masyarakat lebih luas.

Sebelumnya Indodana telah menggandeng anak perusahaan Blibli, Tiket.com, dengan kemitraan serupa.

“Besar harapan kami produk PayLater hasil kerjasama dengan Blibli ini bisa membantu masyarakat dalam mengatur keuangan dan menjembatani kesenjangan inklusi keuangan di Indonesia yang berdasarkan Bappenas diprediksi akan mencapai Rp1.400 triliun dalam 5 tahun ke depan,” tukas Jerry.

Sebagai platform e-commerce ternama di Tanah Air, keputusan Blibli mengadopsi fitur PayLater terhitung lebih lama ketimbang kompetitornya. Tokopedia, Bukalapak, dan Shopee telah lebih dulu mengumumkan fitur PayLater mereka.

Application Information Will Show Up Here

Upaya Gojek Melawan Ancaman Rekayasa Sosial

Berawal dari kamar percakapan di Slack, sebuah aksi peretasan berhasil menembus keamanan berlapis milik Twitter pada pertengahan Juli kemarin. Serangan tersebut mengambil alih sejumlah akun Twitter berprofil besar seperti Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Barack Obama, dan banyak lagi. Selain mempermalukan reputasi Twitter sebagai salah satu perusahaan teknologi ternama dunia, uang miliaran rupiah melayang dalam bentuk Bitoin dari serangan tersebut.

Menyebut serangan tersebut sebagai peretasan sebenarnya kurang tepat sebab pelaku tidak menyerang celah keamanan platform. Apa yang terjadi pada Twitter pada serangan itu adalah rekayasa sosial atau social engineering. Rekayasa sosial ini menyerang kelengahan manusia dengan modus yang cukup beragam. Pelaku dengan tipu dayanya berhasil memperoleh kepercayaan yang ia peroleh dari karyawan Twitter dan memanfaatkan informasi yang dia peroleh untuk menembus sistem keamanan platform. Dalam laporan ISACA State of Cybersecurity 2020, Part 2: Threat and Landscape Security Practices, rekayasa sosial disebut sebagai ancaman keamanan digital nomor wahid di dunia. Hal ini menebalkan keyakinan bahwa manusia adalah rantai terlemah dalam sebuah sistem keamanan digital.

Mengidentifikasi rekayasa sosial

Apa yang terjadi pada Twitter itu juga jamak ditemui di platform digital lain termasuk di Indonesia. Jika serangan tersebut menjadikan karyawan sebagai pijakan untuk melompati sistem keamanan platform, kasus serangan yang menyerang pengguna platform tak kalah banyak. Secara umum, tingkat literasi pengguna jauh lebih beragam ketimbang mereka yang bekerja di perusahaan teknologi. Maka tidak mengherankan serangan rekayasa sosial lebih ramai menimpa masyarakat awam. Di dalam negeri, tren serangan ini makin nampak. Sebagai salah satu platform digital terbesar di Indonesia, kasus yang menimpa pengguna Gojek pernah terjadi beberapa kali.

Center for Digital Society (CfDS) dari Universitas Gadjah Mada merumuskan teknik rekayasa sosial sebagai penipuan yang dilakukan dengan menembus jaringan keamanan melalui manipulasi pengguna untuk mendapatkan informasi rahasia. Memang mekanismenya tak serumit serangan peretasan. Namun seperti disebutkan sebelumnya, cara ini banyak dipakai karena memanfaatkan ketidaktahuan korban mengenai ekosistem digital.

Peneliti CfDS Tony Seno Hartono memaparkan sejumlah modus yang dipakai dalam teknik rekayasa sosial. Phishing merupakan modus yang paling banyak ditemui. Dalam modus ini, pelaku menggunakan telepon, surel, atau media lain untuk mengumpulkan informasi mengenai target serangan. Modus berikutnya adalah SMShing yang mekanismenya menyerupai phishing hanya saja memakai SMS. Selanjutnya ada pretexting yang mengandalkan narasi yang meyakinkan korban untuk mengambil informasi. Terakhir ada impersonation. Modus ini dilakukan dengan cara berpura-pura menjadi seseorang untuk mengumpulkan informasi dari target korban.

Merebut kepercayaan korban menjadi persamaan dari semua modus itu. Membuat lengah korban dan meraih informasi penting mengenai data pribadi, kata kunci sekali pakai (one time password/OTP), serta data sensitif lainnya memudahkan mereka menembus sistem keamanan platform. Bagi pelaku, teknik rekayasa sosial ini lebih praktis ketimbang mereka meretas sistem keamanan. Dalam konteks ekosistem digital di Indonesia, ancaman yang dibawa oleh teknik rekayasa sosial ini bisa berdampak begitu besar.

Cendawan di musim hujan

Bentuk kejahatan selalu beradaptasi dan berkembang dari waktu ke waktu dengan kondisi masyarakat. Suburnya penipuan dengan metode rekayasa sosial ini. Indonesia saat ini adalah rumah untuk ekosistem bisnis digital terbesar di Asia Tenggara. Laporan We are Social 2020 mencatat pengguna internet di Indonesia sudah lebih dari 175 juta pengguna internet, ribuan startup digital, dan enam unicorn. Riset Temasek dan Google menyebut nilai ekonomi digital di Indonesia pada tahun lalu mencapai US$40 miliar dan berpotensi berlipat menjadi US$133 miliar pada 2025.

Kendati begitu literasi digital di Tanah Air masih jauh dari cukup. CfDS menyatakan kompetensi keamanan teknologi digital di Indonesia di kategori dasar dan menengah. Hal ini berbanding lurus dengan serangan siber yang menyasar pengguna internet di sini.

Wabah Covid-19 menjadi katalis yang mempercepat adaptasi masyarakat ke ekonomi digital. Situasi yang mengharuskan mayoritas orang berkegiatan dari rumah memaksa mereka beradaptasi untuk memakai segala jenis layanan digital. Migrasi besar tersebut tentu dapat ditafsirkan sebagai peluang bagi pelaku kejahatan siber. Banyaknya pengguna baru yang belum banyak mengerti seluk-beluk solusi digital adalah sasaran empuk pengguna teknik rekayasa sosial.

Langkah Gojek melawan rekayasa sosial

Dari sekian banyak bisnis digital di Indonesia, Gojek merupakan salah satu motor penggeraknya. Gojek adalah decacorn dengan 20 layanan berbeda dengan 3 super app untuk pelanggan, mitra pengemudi, dan mitra merchant. Mereka juga sudah ekspansi ke negara lain di kawasan seperti Vietnam, Singapura, Filipina, dan Thailand. Hingga akhir kuartal kedua tahun ini, aplikasi mereka sudah diunduh lebih dari 190 juta kali, dengan lebih dari 2 juta pengemudi, dan 500.000 mitra GoFood. Studi Lembaga Demografi Fakultas Ekonomi dan Bisnis Universitas Indonesia pada 2019 menemukan kontribusi Gojek terhadap perekonomian nasional menyentuh Rp104,6 triliun.

Membayangkan jutaan transaksi berputar dalam satu hari saja sepertinya sudah cukup meyakinkan para bandit digital melirik pengguna Gojek sebagai target. Gojek mengakui ancaman itu nyata. Sejatinya Gojek membuat tiga pendekatan untuk melindungi ekosistem layanannya: teknologi, proteksi, dan edukasi. Pendekatan teknologi menjadi fondasi Gojek dalam sistem keamanan. Sejumlah inovasi mereka buat seperti penyamaran nomor, two-factor authentication, intervensi chat, fitur sidik jari, verifikasi wajah, hingga pencegahan pembajakan. SVP IT Gobernance, Risk & Compliance GoPay Genesha Nara Saputra menjelaskan di belakang layar tim mereka selalu mengawasi tren serangan terbaru dan meningkatkan kapabilitas infrastruktur keamanan. Namun Ganesha menilai segala kecanggihan teknologi yang mereka sediakan dapat sia-sia belaka ketika pelaku serangan rekayasa sosial menargetkan pengguna mereka yang masih awam.

“Untuk kasus rekayasa sosial ini memang cuma ada satu cara efektif yakni edukasi. Sudah diakui dunia bahwa manusia ini adalah rantai terlemah. Makanya kuncinya cuma edukasi,” terang Genesha.

Perihal pendekatan edukasi ini Gojek menekankan empat hal untuk pengguna mereka. Keempatnya adalah tidak bertransaksi di luar aplikasi, mengamankan data pribadi, menggunakan PIN setiap bertransaksi, dan segera mengadu ke layanan pelanggan atau kepolisian ketika menghadapi sesuatu yang mencurigakan. Edukasi ini tentu juga dimaksudkan kepada mitra pengemudi dan merchant Gojek. Dari sekian kasus rekayasa sosial yang pernah menimpa Gojek sebelumnya, acapkali pelaku mengincar dompet elektronik korban.

Salah satu peningkatan signifikan yang dilakukan Gojek dalam menjaga keamanan ekosistemnya adalah kemampuan mendeteksi order fiktif. Pada beberapa tahun lalu, order fiktif sempat menjadi momok bagi mitra pengemudi. Hal lain yang juga berkembang adalah pendeteksian penggunaan aplikasi ilegal seperti Fake GPS atau populer di kalangan pengemudi dengan nama “tuyul”. Aplikasi ilegal itu memungkinkan pengemudi nakal mengubah lokasi keberadaan mereka sesuka hati meskipun mereka berada di lokasi lain. Head of Driver Operations Trust & Safety Gojek Kevin Timotius mengatakan, kemajuan itu muncul berkat pemanfaatan machine learning dan kecerdasan buatan yang mereka kembangkan dalam teknologi Gojek SHIELD.

“Teknologi machine learning dan kecerdasan buatan telah kami manfaatkan untuk mendeteksi serta menindak berbagai tindakan curang yang merugikan mitra pengemudi, termasuk di antaranya order fiktif dan penggunaan perangkat ilegal. Sebelumnya teknologi sejenis juga telah banyak membantu meningkatkan keamanan mitra lewat fitur verifikasi wajah dan penyamaran nomor telepon,” tukas Kevin.

Terlepas dari itu semua, teknik penipuan rekayasa sosial tetap menjadi bahaya laten yang mengintai pengguna layanan digital mana pun. Teknik ini tidak begitu terpengaruh dengan infrastruktur keamanan yang canggih yang dipakai startup digital seperti Gojek sebab teknik ini mengincar psikologi seseorang. Hanya dengan literasi digital yang mumpuni persoalan ini dapat ditekan.

Meskipun demikian, platform digital tak bisa sendirian. Mereka perlu uluran tangan industri, pemerintah, organisasi swadaya masyarakat, dan masyarakat itu sendiri untuk mencegah menjamurnya kasus rekayasa sosial di Indonesia.

Data Security Optimization in the Fintech App

Data security for a digital startup is a must. Apart from protecting company assets, data security also serves as a guarantee of trust for their customers.

This factor is becoming increasingly relevant for fintech startups. It is common knowledge that companies engaged in the financial sector. Therefore, data security in fintech is absolutely not something that can be negotiated.

Andre Pratama as Acting CTO of UangTeman explained that preventive measures against data leakage are a very important requirement. Andre shares his knowledge and experience in data security in the latest #SelasaStartup edition.

In general, issues in data security come from internal and external factors. Andre said that vulnerability from within could be the biggest problem in his field. Without a strict surveillance system, vulnerability holes can appear here and there. Apart from needing capable tools, the internal integrity of the company needs to be nurtured from the start.

“I think there are a lot of tools out there, but if the integrity is not maintained, it will be conceded too,” said Andre.

Secure from the inside

There are several steps a company can take to prevent security vulnerabilities from emerging. One of the first steps is to make sure the entire employee team is safe from the worst.

According to Andre, these steps can be started from making a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) or a confidentiality agreement with employees. The next step is to create a system that prevents problems that can arise accidentally.

An example of this step is not allowing laptops that employees use to connect to WiFi. Even if you need access to WiFi, it can only be used by certain people with clear purposes. Another example is erasing the contents of the blackboard after a meeting and requiring that minutes of meeting (MoM) only circulate within the company.

From the infrastructure aspect, there are steps needed. As a fintech, Andre said that his party has created a layered security system for every transaction that occurs. Likewise, in the data itself, everything is encrypted and hashed.

Collaboration with the third party

Vulnerability is also very possible when a startup wants to collaborate with third parties. The confluence of methods and technology between the two parties allows for loopholes that intruders can enter. Therefore, preventive measures are also needed.

Andre emphasized that before starting the cooperation, NDA must attend first. Then he assessed that the company must see whether the API that each uses is open or encrypted, whether the API can be installed directly or must register first, whether the API already uses https or not. Although it seems complicated but steps need to be taken.

“Usually intruders will take APIs that are still hollow or only http. It’s better to be strict than easy but vulnerable,” he added.

Data safety from and for all

The platform certainly has the responsibility of storing and using personal data that has been provided by its users. They are also bound by a number of regulations made by the government and associations.

However, in terms of preventing user awareness, it is also expected. Due to the fact that a number of data leak modus operandi can occur taking advantage of the user’s lack of knowledge of personal data security.

At UangTeman, according to Andre, education on data security applies to borrowers and lenders. They also provide education to both parties. The most basic example is a one-time use username and password (OTP) that no one can know. In addition to education like that, UangTeman also uses a forced system to protect the security of user data.

“We also do soft force for customers. So we detect from our mobile app if it takes too long to log in and just stay silent, we will force quit,” Andre concluded.


Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

Kata.ai Joins a Strategic Partnership with Instagram for the Latest Innovation

The good news arrived from Kata.ai. A startup that focuses on developing conversational artificial intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP), was selected as one of the few technology companies to benefit from the Instagram Messenger API.

A concrete act as Kata.ai become the only Indonesian based partner for Instagram is a new feature on Kata.ai’s omnichannel dashboard called Kata Instagram Solution. This service allows business owners who use Kata.ai to connect Instagram’s direct message for the omnichannel platform.

“Kata Instagram Solution allows business owners to manage messages and conversations from consumers in a sustainable and more effective manner. This will make it easier for them to create higher interactions and serve customers better,” Kata.ai’s Co-Founder & CEO Irzan Raditya said in a written statement.

This partnership did not happen overnight. They have already established good relations with Facebook – as the parent company of Instagram – when they were appointed as official WhatsApp Business Solution Provider partners in 2019. Irzan also explained that they have been working with Facebook several times to help their clients integrate and build solutions on Facebook Messenger’s platform.

He further explained, through the word Instagram Solution, business owners who use Instagram can handle conversation messages on social media creatively and boost customer engagement via Direct Messages. The new Kata.ai service has been effective for their clients to use.

“As for the products currently being developed, business owners can use the Omnichat word product to be able to manage incoming inquiries through the Diret Message API,” he added.

The fact that Kata.ai is selected as a platform that can use the Instagram API is arguably significant. It is well known that Instagram is the most popular social media in the world after Facebook. Their monthly active users are more than one billion with an average usage of about 53 minutes per day. In Indonesia alone, it is estimated that Instagram is used by 69 million users.

There is an increasing trend of customers contacting business owners via direct messages compared to telephone or email. That’s why Kata.ai expects big on this new product. In late 2018, Instagram made a survey regarding the number of businesses using Instagram. The results show that 52% of business owners are directed their consumers to their Instagram business profiles. “Therefore we can see the potential is quite large and it is important for business owners to have an integrated messaging platform of conversation.”

Instagram also welcomes its collaboration with Kata.ai. They confirmed that this collaboration is indeed possible to help businesses and their customers to interact more closely.

“The Messenger API for Instagram service enables business owners and developers to manage communication with customers on Instagram at scale,” Konstantinos Papamiltiadis said as a VP of Platform Partnerships at Messenger.

Kata.ai is the only company from Indonesia selected by Facebook in this program. Apart from Kata.ai, several other companies were selected, including Hootsuite, Zendesk, GoDaddy, MobileMonkey, and Sprinklr.

Kata.ai plans to develop this new product with other features according to the demand of its users. However, Irzan said that currently the Kata Instagram Solution service is limited to enabling business owners to manage incoming inquiries via the Direct Message API.


Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian