The digital transformation is often confused with the digitizing process in Indonesia and therefore the people are often excluded.

Author: Ari Margiono

                                                                                                                                                JP/T. Sutanto

The recent data breach scandals have become a concern for many people in Indonesia.  Indonesia has experienced a series of attacks from hackers, one identified as “Bjorka” who claimed to have hacked various important Indonesian identity databases and sold them online.

These breaches took place amidst the heightened effort of the digital transformation in Indonesia.  Many public services have transformed into the digital spheres, including services from private sectors, especially emerging digital start-ups. The government has put digital transformation as one of its priority issues, since the appropriate implementation of technologies can help leverage the Indonesian people and economy.

So, why is Indonesia so prone to digital attacks?

There are technical answers to this, with many experts having discussed the issue, including opinions from technology experts in various fora.

This article attempts to present a different take: on the mistaken view we have been perceiving of the digital transformation thus far and how we can prevent this from further happening.

There are two important aspects that are worth mentioning in regard to this.

First, digital transformation is often confused with the digitization process in Indonesia and therefore the people are often excluded.

Digitizing is the process of converting existing analog business processes. It introduces new technology in the existing organizational process but it may not change the culture or the mindset of the people in the organization. New technologies may be applied, but the people and staff operate in the old non-digital mindset.

For example, how many of us have experienced the absurdity of requiring to submit paper copies of national IDs and hardcopy documents or entering the same information in a mobile application to access public or private company services in Indonesia?

This creates a “digitalization trap”; a perception that the digital transformation process is complete when a particular technology is used and installed. The sole focus on the technology process derails the important purpose of digitization, which is to ease the burden of analog processes experienced by end-users.

The digitalization trap excludes people, data security and privacy – relating to the concerns of end-users – which are often considered as a formality, if not a high priority. Many pay attention to the set-up of technology; if it is functioning, then the job is done.

Second, many often forget that the main purpose of the digital transformation is to create a new digital value proposition. Digitization is the first step towards the creation of new products or services that benefit end-users and a true digital transformation process is complete when end-users receive new meaningful digital value. For example, the creation of “super-apps,” such as Gojek and Traveloka, aim to create new digital value for end-users as a one-stop place for digital transactions that could not be done previously.

In a nutshell, the digital transformation should be user-friendly and people-centered, not technology-centered. As a people-centered process, the impact of the application of digital technologies should be considered carefully. Public and private decision makers need to weigh the pros and cons of digitalization. Ensuring data security and privacy rights before the process of digitalization is therefore a people-centered process.

It is imperative that both the public and private sector officials need to start changing their mindset.  Public and private decision makers need to embrace the human-centered innovation mindset in the digital transformation. A human-centered innovation mindset allows decision makers to pay careful attention to the needs of the end-user and place them above technology. Empathizing with the end-user is one way to trigger a human-centered innovation mindset.

Moreover, digital transformation practitioners need to be aware that the application of new technologies aim to ease the physical and emotional burdens of users. This includes safety, security and comfortability of end-users in accessing public and private digital services.

It is now time to include the people in the digital transformation process in Indonesia.


This article was published in thejakartapost.com September 26, 2022

Article link:

https://www.thejakartapost.com/opinion/2022/09/26/bringing-the-people-into-digital-transformation.html