WEB 2.0 FROM BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE
The Implementation of Web 2.0 in Four Organizations
in Indonesia
Introduction
Technology now holds important role for organizations by providing strategic advantages such as facilitating problem solving, increasing productivity and quality, increasing speed, improving customer service, enhancing business communications and collaboration, and enabling business process restructuring.
In term of improving customer service and enhancing business communications, the organizations are thanking web 2.0 for making those tasks easier. In Indonesia, we can send our complains, additional query without queuing on the line or the phone line, right to customer service just by sending email to the company like Indovision. Within 24 hours, emails are replied to customers, and this is improving customer service and simultaneously increasing service speed.
As for enhancing business communications, Kecap Bango successfully builds a community in a virtual social networking. There are 3.978 members of Festival Jajan Bango account in Facebook. Interactive communications are shared on the account. Unilever spread their messages via facebook and in the same time they absorb aspirations from community. Take Festival Jajan Bango Bandung for example, 381 members are rsvp to attend the event with 181 rsvp ‘maybe attending’ status. This is one example of the virtue of using virtual social network in Indonesia.
Just like any other thing, Web 2.0 has two sides. It offers many advantages but in the same time, it contains disadvantages too. Interactive ways in communicating sometimes can create crisis. This is happened to Omni International Tangerang Hospital. Indonesian customer movement is creating history in Ibu Prita Mulyasari case. She was sued for sharing her complains about Omni Tangerang bad services via email to her friends. Supporting movement for Prita Primasary is cornered Omni Hospital into crisis. In facebook, within weeks the cause ‘Dukungan Bagi Ibu Prita Mulyasari, Penulis Surat Keluhan Melalui Internet Yang Ditahan’ has reached more than two hundred fifty thousand members. In the same time, the cause ‘Say No to RS Omni International Tangerang’ also gathered more than thirty thousand members. Not to mention bloggers who put solidarity banner on their pages.
Omni International Tangerang Hospital is now in crisis as their corporate image keep on decreasing. It is crisis because Omni Hospital is in business service. Business service always related with good services. The Prita Mulyasari case shows the other side of Web 2.0 that two ways interactions in Web 2.0 can decrease business and put company into crisis.
Knowing that Web 2.0 has two sides : advantages and disadvantages, this paper is trying to picture Web 2.0 from business perspective. especially the implementation of Web 2.0 in Indonesia. How organizations in Indonesia implement Web 2.0 and to what purpose and what benefit they gain, will be described in this paper.
I. Web 2.0 Definition and Comparison
Tim O’Reilly defines Web 2.0 as follows:
Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as a platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform.
In other way, O’Reilly states Web 2.0 is a set of economic, social, and technology trends that collectively form the basis for the next generation of the Internet, a more mature, distinctive medium characterized by user participation, openness, and network effects (O’Reilly Radar, Principles and Best Practices, 2007).
Web 2.0 offers services or applications:
1. Blogs (short for web blog).
The term of blog, was coined by John barger in 1997 and refers to a simple webpage consisting of brief paragraphs of opinion, information, personal diary entries, or links, called posts, arranged chronologically with the most recent first, in the style of an online journal (Doctorow et al., 2002). Most blogs also allow visitor to add a comment below a blog entry.
2. Wikis
A wiki is a webpage or set of WebPages that can be easily edited by anyone who is allowed access (Ebersbach et al., 2006)
3. Tagging and social book marking
A tag is a keyword that is added to a digital object (e.g. a website, picture or video clip) to describe it but not as part of a formal classification system.
Social boookmarking systems share a number of common features that allow users to create lists of ‘bookmarks’ or favorites’, to store these centrally on a remote service (rather than within the client browser) and to share them with other users of the system (Milen et al., 2005).
4. Multimedia sharing
One of the biggest growth areas has been amongst services that facilitate the storage and sharing of multimedia content. Well know examples include YouTube (video), Flickr (photographs) and Odeo (podcasts).
5. Audio blogging and podcasting
Podcasts are audio recordings, usually in MP3 format, of talks, interviews and lectures, which can be played either on a desktop computer or on a wide range of handheld MP3 devices. Originally called audio blogs they have third roots in efforts to add audio strems to early blogs (Felix and Stolrz, 2006). Once standards had settled down and Apple introduced the commercially successful iPod MP3 player and its associated iTunes software, the process started to become known as podcasting.
6. RSS and syndication
7. Newer Web 2.0 services and applications
From the business point of view, Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams in their best selling book “wikinomics” have mentioned many international brands that use Web 2.0 such as IBM, Novartis, Dell, as Enterprise 2.0.
According to them, Enterprise 2.0 is a kind of new business entity which opens the door to the world to innovate together, especially with customers, sharing resources, mass collaboration, and does not act as a multinational company but as something new, as a truly global company.
Here are some indications about company that applies Enterprise 2.0 in Wikinomics:
1. Open
2. Peering
3. Sharing
4. Act Globally
Comparison
Web 2.0 is the developing of Web 1.0 as shown in the image bellow:
The image compares Web 2.0 with Web 1.0 and explains how things have changed since the web culture has revolutionized. Webmaster and user interaction no longer depends on direct means of communication rather a whole new system of social interaction has evolved that includes really simple syndication (rss feeds) and also the use of social networking sites. Or in simple words, we can say:
• Web 1.0 was about reading, Web 2.0 is about writing
• Web 1.0 was about companies, Web 2.0 is about communities
• Web 1.0 was about client-server, Web 2.0 is about peer to peer
• Web 1.0 was about HTML, Web 2.0 is about XML
• Web 1.0 was about home pages, Web 2.0 is about blogs
• Web 1.0 was about portals, Web 2.0 is about RSS
• Web 1.0 was about taxonomy, Web 2.0 is about tags
• Web 1.0 was about wires, Web 2.0 is about wireless
• Web 1.0 was about owning, Web 2.0 is about sharing
• Web 1.0 was about IPOs, Web 2.0 is about trade sales
• Web 1.0 was about Netscape, Web 2.0 is about Google
• Web 1.0 was about web forms, Web 2.0 is about web applications
• Web 1.0 was about screen scraping, Web 2.0 is about APIs
• Web 1.0 was about dialup, Web 2.0 is about broadband
• Web 1.0 was about hardware costs, Web 2.0 is about bandwidth costs
II. Benefit Using Web 2.0
Mc Kinsey, a management consulting firm advising companies on issues of strategy, organizations, technology and operations, had held 2 surveys about how business using 2.0. Here are some benefits for the companies according to the survey in the year 2007 & 2008:
1. To communicate with customers and business partners and to encourage collaboration inside the company.
2. To achieve tighter integration with suppliers companies are using web services, peer to peer networking, collective intelligence, RSS.
3. To help manage knowledge internally using web 2.0 technologies for designing & developing new products.
4. To aid entry into new markets
III. The Implementation of Web 2.0 in Indonesia
In Indonesia, we can find many organizations implement Web 2.0 or Enterprise 2.0. Bellow we can find four cases that use Enterprise 2.0 for business goals:
1. Toyota Bercerita
Toyota Bercerita is a corporate social responsibility program from PT Toyota-Astra Motor. This is a story telling competition program among kindergarten teachers in Jabodetabek. The program had been running twice from year 2008. In year 2008, Toyota Bercerita had used above the line tools by placing advertisements in several Tabloids and Magazines to publicize this program. To generate participants, Toyota Bercerita Program distributed posters to kindergartens all over Jakarta.
This year as economic downturn happens all over the world, marketing and communications budget are downsizing. This situation is a challenge for everyone in the market. How to market the products/services and how to maintain good corporate image within budget limitation are the most important issues. Therefore, in year 2009, Toyota Bercerita public relations program was focusing on cyber public relations campaign and below the line tools. To disseminate program, and to create public awareness, instead of placing ‘the expensive’ advertisement, Toyota Bercerita Program chose to use cyber public relations activities such as:
- Disseminate issue via certain mail lists
- Using facebook as a social virtual networking: account and group Komunitas Bercerita Anak.
In Komunitas Bercerita Anak Group, Toyota Bercerita has 560 members, while account Komunitas Bercerita Anak has 328 members. Although sounds small in quantity (only hundreds), many members in group are those who have concern in children education, especially in story telling.
Group Komunitas Bercerita Anak
Account Komunitas Bercerita Anak
2. Sushi Tei Indonesia
Sushi Tei is a Japanese Restaurant. In Indonesia, they targeted middle up class as their customers. To communicate with customers, Sushi Tei created facebook account. In the account, they promote sales discount, promotions, introduce new menu, introduce new outlet, etc. Almost every posting receives good respond from the fan. The number of the Sushi Tei Indonesia fans has reached more than thirty seven thousand members.
Besides promoting the food, new menus, event, and sales discount, Sushi Tei also use facebook to get to know customers’ need by having discussion board ‘Suggestion for Sushi Tei Indonesia’. Fans are posting suggestions, critics, and also complains which always been answered by Sushi Tei Management.
Discussion board ‘Suggestion for Sushi Tei Indonesia’
3. Citizen Journalism in Kompas.com
Digital world has impact on media. People now prefer e paper to real paper due to the economic reason and changes in reading habit from paper to e paper. In Indonesia this habit is increasing simultaneously with the growth of internet penetration that is now reaching about twenty million users. Kompas.com is an online news portal. Many channels are available from football, entertainment, images, mobile, blogs, etc.
In wikinomics, organizations need to apply openness and sharing in order to succeed in building community (customers). Kompas.com dedicated one channel for Citizen Journalism to mark Kompas participation in openness and sharing criteria as described in wikinomics. Now, everyone can post news to Citizen Journalism in Kompas.com.
Citizen Journalism in Kompas.com
4. PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia
Among many tools to disseminate brand awareness, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia chooses an interactive site www.myflexi.com to activate brand awareness of Flexi (CDMA phone). Interactive channels are available in the site. Forum channel is available for participants to discuss any topics. We can ask any question or even ask help and will get respond from participant and or administrator.
Myflexi.com provides blogs for everyone on the site. Other available channels are My Flexi, Picture, and Flexitone.
Forum in www.myflexi.com
IV. Summary
The implementation of facebook in Toyota Bercerita Program is a sample how Web 2.0 answered today’s problem: budget cutting due to the world economic downturn. Using Group Komunitas Bercerita Anak and Account Bercerita Anak, Toyota can communicate this program to targeted public. It is a targeted public because members of the group are people who care for their children education via story telling.
Sushi Tei Indonesia smartly communicates their marketing and communications program via Facebook. New product/menu also introduces via facebook. Compare to using advertisement, facebook is a smart choice. It is effective and efficient, effective because members are fans of Sushi Tei Indonesia (target market) and It is efficient compare to put placement in print media.
Kompas.com answers the e-paper trend reading using Web 2.0. Readers can participate uploading news via Citizen Journalism.
Flexy, a CDMA product from PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia uses interactive site to activate brand awareness and to grab community. Existing community already built up in the forum and the blogs. Prospecting customers of Flexi are invited because the site provides some facilities to non Flexi users.
Toyota Bercerita, Sushi Tei Indonesia, Citizen Journalism from Kompas, and Flexi cases mentioned above, have shown us the benefit of Web 2.0 and that Indonesia is moving toward the digital world. Information and technology are spreading all over the globe. So does Web 2.0 technology (or Enterprise 2.0 from business point of view). As multinational companies implement Enterprise 2.0 in their headquarters, Web 2.0 is also implemented globally. Toyota and Unilever implement Web 2.0 in Indonesia. State own company like PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia and biggest print media in Indonesia, Kompas.com, implement it.
However fruitful Web 2.0, organization should be aware of the open, peering, and sharing principles of Web 2.0. The Prita Mulyasari Case is an example how cyber activities which includes Web 2.0 can put organization into crisis. In this wikinomics era, organization needs to be more careful about the quality of product and service, brand promises, and company policy. Otherwise, cyber customer movement can hit our business.
Reference:
Introduction:
Important role of technology: Information Technology for Management Turban, Leidner, McLean, Wetherbe, Wile International. Preface vii
Indovision: www.indovision.tv
Festival Jajan Bango: www.facebook.com
Cause ‘Dukungan Bagi Ibu Prita Mulyasari, Penulis Surat Keluhan Melalui Internet Yang Ditahan: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/290597/29742896?m=c1a15eb1
I Web 2.0 Definition and Comparison
Definition:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html
Enterprise 2.0:
“wikinomics”, Don Tapscott, Anthony D. Williams, published by Penguin Group. Indonesian edition by PT Bhuana Ilmu Populer.
Comparison:
http://www.sizlopedia.com/2007/08/18/web-10-vs-web-20-the-visual-difference/
http://joedrumgoole.com/blog/2006/05/29/web-20-vs-web-10/
II Benefit Using Web 2.0
http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/bto/pointofview/pdf/how_mckinsey_web_2_point.pdf
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Business_Technology/Application_Management/How_businesses_are_using_Web_20_A_McKinsey_Global_Survey_1913
III The Implementation of Web 2.0 in Indonesia
Toyota Bercerita:
Group & account: www.facebook.com or http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1423293510&ref=ts and http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=46983064641&ref=ts
Sushi Tei Indonesia: www.facebook.com or http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/pages/Sushi-Tei-Indonesia/88796630065?ref=ts
Citizen Journalism: http://www.kompas-tv.com/content/blogcategory/32/140/
Flexy:http://myflexiland.com/community/forum/topic.php?forumId=MTM=&forumTopicId=MTIwMTA=
