Sribu Founder Ryan Gondokusumo on SribuLancer as His Market Expansion Strategy

Freelancing is a recent phenomenon that is becoming very prevalent. People have discovered reasons to be self employed rather than be bound to companies. More than a few took their first steps by taking side jobs before finally committing to become full time freelancers. They argue that freelancing fits their characters better or the income from freelancing already meets their needs.

There are various professions available, such as IT projects developer, web designer, content writer, and translator. From the companies’ point of view, the freelancers are needed because they can work per project. Responding to this trend, Ryan Gondokusumo, the founder of Sribu, decided to expand his business by introducing SribuLancer.

The potential of this kind of business is huge, considering that there are more and more companies need freelancers and no local company has accommodated those needs yet.

“When we look for freelancers through Google, sometimes we do not get proper results and when we randomly look for freelancers there’s a chance that they don’t do the job after they get paid. As a result, we wasted time and money. Therefore, we see an opportunity from this existing problem”, Ryan told DailySocial recently.

Ryan also took this step to expand the market. According to him, the difference between Sribu and SribuLancer is that SribuLancer accommodates not only design jobs but also programming or software development, writing, video-making, voice over, data entry, and many more. “One thing for sure, at the time these services can only be performed and delivered online. We expect the experience and skill sets that we have in outsourcing and crowdsourcing can be useful in developing the SribuLancer platform”.

Ryan has no plans to to merge these two companies. SribuLancer will be a different platform. “Sribu has been known as the crowdsourcing contest platform with a focus on design and we will leave it be. Meanwhile, SribuLancer will focus on becoming a freelancing or outsourcing platform. The positioning of each platform is very clear.”

At the moment, SribuLancer is in beta as the company is still testing the market. “As we go, we will discover the response through our survey and gradually aim to reach the product market fit. Only then will Ryan begin advertising the service through Google, Facebook, and other online outlets.

Thus far, we’re familiar with Freelancer.com which has the same model as SribuLancer. In general, both websites offer identical services. The freelancers may search for projects based on categories that match their skills.

The monetisation method of both websites is also similar, by taking a commission from completed jobs. The companies may post available projects which freelancers can apply. However, SribuLancer will keep the information of payment a secret until the jobs are completed. This is to guarantee that the employers get the jobs done, and the freelancers get their payment as well.

SribuLancer sets its commission at 10-15 percent, but it is still adjustable at the moment since it is still in the market testing stage. In this regard, SribuLancer will see how the market responds. At first, people may register for free, but it is not out of the question that SribuLancer will introduce premium service in the future.

Ryan said that the full version of SribuLancer will be launched in two or three months from now. “The plan is we will prove our business model before finding out whether we can gain initial traction while improving our current MVP and find out which functions are needed by potential users on client and freelancer sides on the SribuLancer platform”

[translation by Rifku Aria Nugraha and Aulia Masna]

Ryan Gondokusomo Hadirkan SribuLancer Sebagai Strategi Perlebar Pasar

Pekerja lepas (freelancer) adalah sebuah fenomena yang belakangan ini makin marak. Mereka mempunyai alasannya tersendiri untuk memilih menjadi pekerja lepas ketimbang terikat kepada suatu perusahaan. Tak sedikit dari pekerja lepasan tersebut yang mengawalinya dengan mengambil side job, atau kerja sampingan di luar pekerjaan tetapnya, hingga akhirnya memutuskan menjadi pekerja lepas penuh. Mereka menganggap freelancing lebih sesuai dengan karakter atau penghasilan yang diperoleh sudah bisa memenuhi kebutuhan.

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24 Hour-Call Center Allows Ezy Travel to Grow Significantly

To be successful, an online business must be addressed seriously even though it was started from hobbies, not merely something on the side or something casual. This is what we can learn from Ezy Travel. Prior to becoming a successful business the way it is today, Ezy Travel failed because it wasn’t paid enough attention.

Ezy Travel itself was originally established in 2008 which began as a hobby for its founder who had been in the travel industry for quite some time. Eric Tjetjep Wai Kin, Ezy Travel’s founder, had been managing his family’s 47 year old travel business, Dwidaya Tour. Ezy Travel was conceived initially as the online arm of Dwidaya to expand the business and capture new customers.

When DailySocial visited Ezy Travel’s office recently, Eric told us that when Ezy Travel was established in 2008, he did not take it seriously. As a result, Ezy Travel was forced to go out of business in 2009. It wasn’t until 2011 that Eric made a second attempt to launch the business with a lot of changes and fixes. This time, he decided to take it seriously and it managed to do well.

What is Ezy Travel exactly? Well, you can say that Ezy Travel is an integrated destination for travelers as this site not only offers flight ticketing services but also hotel and tour package reservations and it is a service that puts forward practicality and customer satisfaction.

Doddy Lukito, CTO of Ezy Travel, said, “we are different from other similar services in the sense that we have already had the contents of our services even before we went online. We provide all tourism services in one website. In fact, we are going to launch our new services, which are cruise and travel insurance services.”

Now, Ezy Travel is currently preparing a mobile application which will be launched at the end of this year. “Our website is responsive already, so we intend to put even more values to our upcoming mobile application. We want to provide not only booking services, but also information about tourism sites as well as departure reminder. So, it’s not only used to book, but there are also additional values for the customers” Doddy added.

24 hour-Call Center
When we had a chat with Eric and Doddy, they told us a fact, which is, Indonesian customers tend to call even though they have booked the services online already. “There are many orders via phone, they usually browse our services and call us afterwards,” Doddy said.

Therefore, to accommodate the condition, Ezy Travel focuses on building top quality call center that is able to handle those orders.

The call center itself is now available for 24 hours, and divided into three shifts. “We invested a lot in the call center service, we even require the officers to build relationship with the customers. As a result, 30 percent of our customers always return to us over and over again.” Doddy said. “They (call center officers) are there to serve the customers,” Eric added. The call center officers in fact become the first one to attract loyal customers.

Payment Ease
Besides offering top quality call center service, Ezy Travel also offers easy payment. To complete the payment, customers may choose one of several methods, ranging from credit cards, bank transfer, to Indomaret. “Not only hotel booking, to pay for a tour customers may also pay at Indomaret,” Eric said.

According to Eric, at the moment personal ticket indeed still dominates the total transaction, but tour packages gives the company more profit. “There is more than one ticket for a tour package.”

He also added that the transaction may increase up to 300 percent in the upcoming school holiday and Idul Fitri. In this regard, domestic holiday still be people’s favorite and the destination might vary, depends on the trends. “When going to Raja Ampat becomes a trend, then there will be a lot of people choosing it as their destination.”

Ezy market itself serves all areas of Indonesia, but most of the orders still come from Jakarta. “In low season, the total transaction may reach IDR 1 billion,” Eric added. Furthermore, he also said that Ezy Travel always breaks new records of transaction each and every month since the services were launched in last February.

Online Travelling Business and Its Potential
According to Ezy Travel’s data, Doddy said, there are 600 thousands of tourists in Indonesia in a day. That is a huge market. There are a lot of companies start to target this market, from online ticketing services, hotel booking, to tour packages offerings. However, even though the competition is tough, Eric remains optimistic because he believes that the market is huge.

The strategy that Ezy Travel is applying now is to strengthen their internal divisions, such as operation division, technology division, and marketing division. Once they feel that it is strong enough, they will start to expand their business by targeting more segmented markets.

“We offer one stop shopping services now, but we also have the plan to establish several websites which offer specialized shopping services,” Doddy said. He then added by saying that there are many concepts of traveling business, so there are a lot to develop. “We are preparing many concepts. Just you wait” he added.

[Photo Illustration: Shuttershock]

[translation by Rifki Aria Nugraha]

Ezy Travel Tumbuh Pesat dengan Layanan Call Center 24 Jam

Untuk bisa sukses, sebuah bisnis online harus ditekuni secara serius meski boleh saja dimulai dari hobi, bukan sekedar pekerjaan sampingan, apalagi iseng-iseng. Ini pelajaran yang bisa dipetik dari perjalanan Ezy Travel. Sebelum menjadi seperti sekarang ini, Ezy Travel pernah gagal karena tidak dikerjakan dengan serius.

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Fokus Pada Pemasaran Digital Menjadi Kunci Sukses Bisnis Brodo Footwear

Banyak cara yang bisa dilakukan untuk memacu pertumbuhan bisnis bagi para pelaku usaha kecil dan menengah (UKM), salah satunya dengan cara fokus dalam pemanfaatan pemasaran digital yang kian beragam saat ini. Berbicara mengenai hal itu, salah satu pelaku UKM yang menarik perhatian kami ialah Brodo Footwear. Melalui pemasaran digital, Brodo kini sukses menjalankan bisnis sepatu kulit yang bisa menarik perhatian para angel investor. Continue reading Fokus Pada Pemasaran Digital Menjadi Kunci Sukses Bisnis Brodo Footwear

Toko Perhiasan Online Orori Akan Kembangkan Sayap Buka Layanan Gadai Pada 2015

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Strategi GrabTaxi Untuk Kuasai Pasar Indonesia

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Kompasiana: Kampanye Hitam VS Kampanye Negatif

Jika diperhatikan, masa pemilihan presiden di Indonesia rasanya tidak pernah seseru dan semenarik tahun ini. Salah satu penyebabnya, memang karena Pilpres 2014 hadir di era sosial media sedang meraja.Media sosial saat ini ramai berisi tentang isu seputar, pemilihan presiden mendatang. Sebagian besar dari list pertemanan kita, sibuk ngomongin politik. Mulai saling komentar, berbagi link berita, atau tulisan. Menariknya, saat jelang Pemilu 2014 ini, Kompasiana, salah satu situs penyedia blog, mendapat lonjakan peningkatan traffic pengunjung.

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Sosok Ideal Menkominfo Mendatang di Mata Pelaku Industri Digital

Kalau kita perhatikan pilpres 2014 kali ini lebih menarik dibanding pilpres-pilpres sebelumnya. Trend media sosial tentu menjadi salah satu faktor yang membuat persaingan menuju RI1 kali ini menjadi lebih seru. Tak hanya dua tokoh yang bertarung disebut-sebut punya elektabilitas yang bagus, dua-duanya punya pendukung yang hampir sama vokalnya di media sosial.

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