Interview : Pengalaman Angga menjadi Expat

February 5, 2018February 7, 20181 Comment

Interview with Angga Permana. Pengalaman seorang milenial menjadi expat di luar negri.

Cerita kali ini adalah sebuah interview pengalaman Angga menjadi expat di Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Sharing kali ini mungkin akan memberi manfaat bagi yang banyak. Bagi teman-teman yang ingin memiliki kesempatan bekerja diluar negri, teman millennial yang ingin compete globally, juga bagi teman HR akan membuka sudut pandang yang menarik dari cerita ini.

Saya mengenal Angga sejak masuk dalam team digital dan social media di Putera Sampoerna Foundation. Dari intern hingga menjadi karyawan tetap dengan posisi Social Media Specialist. Sebuah peran yang tanggung jawab dalam 2 hal yang besar, yaitu content dan pengelolaan channel social media.

Angga pernah aktif di Couchsurfing Writers Club, Rotary in Action (Rotaract) club of Semanggi, komunitas Gerakan Indonesia Berkibar. Sejak lebih dari 2 tahun yang lalu, Angga telah bekerja pada sebuah situs eCommerce bernama iPrice yang bertempat di Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Kali ini dalam kesempatan yang sangat mendadak, saya diajak makan siang bersama. Kebetulan Angga ditengah cuti kembali ke Indonesia mendapat kesempatan untuk berbagi pengalaman bekerja di Luar Negri sebagai Expat bersama Rotaract Semanggi, komunitas kepemudaan dibawah asuhan Rotary chapter Jakarta yang memiliki fokus pada youth empowerment and education.

Karena ada waktu cukup luang antara makan siang dan acara bersama Rotaract saya langsung mencoba kesediannya untuk berbagi dalam wawancara. Saya tertarik untuk wawancara Angga dalam 2 cerita. Pertama, berbagi pengalaman dan tips menjadi Expat dan yang kedua, berbagi pengalaman dalam perannya sebagai Content Lead pada sebuah situs eCommerce, iPrice. Kebetulan saya sedang menulis sebuah pembelajaran yang akan rangkai dalam serial #TyasEcommerceProject. Stay tune for this ya. So, let’s get to it, shall we.

Tyas :

Lets start with why ? Kenapa nih Angga tiba-tiba pengen bekerja diluar negri? Kenapa di KL, dan apa yang membuat Angga memutuskan dan berani untuk bekerja di luar negri.

Angga :

Sebenarnya ada 2 hal yang mendorong saya untuk mencoba kesempatan ini.

Pertama dalam pencarian pengalaman baru yang bener-bener baru, out of the ordinary, out of comfort zone saya, bahkan kalo bisa sangat berbeda salah satunya yang memiliki culture differences. Makanya saya mencoba-coba mencari pekerjaan di luar negri dalam harapan mendapatkan pengalaman yang sangat berbeda dengan yang saya dapatkan sebelumnya.

Kedua, saya ingin explorasi ilmu yang saya miliki sekarang dengan ilmu baru. Karena sebenarnya role yang pertama saya apply bukan role yang pada akhirnya saya dapatkan. Karena saat saya di hubungi ternyata pekerjaan yang saya apply sudah terisi namun mereka tertarik karena terlihat dari pengalaman saya dalam CV, untuk memberikan kesempatan di posisi content. Editorial, content copywriter.

Tyas :

Ok, Angga punya banyak alasan yang mendorong untuk mencoba bekerja di luar negri. Mandiri, pengalaman baru, kesempatan baru. Tapi apa sih yang membuat Angga yakin, okay sepertinya I am positive and sure to move to KL with iPrice. What makes you certain? Apa pertimbangan utama ?

Angga :

Mungkin pertama tidak bisa saya pungkiri, perbedaan gaji yang sangat beda dengan yang didapatkan di Jakarta. Mungkin karena pengalaman saya menunjukkan juga saya dapat meyakinkan bahwa ilmu sayang saya miliki sangat bermanfaat bagi perusahaan bisa menjadi nilai plus.

Dan saat saya negosiasi. Keberhasilan saya bernegosiasi atas nilai dan value saya. Percuma apabila pengalaman banyak dimana-mana tapi negosiasi tidak berhasil convinced pihak pewawancara maka tidak akan naik kelas atau dibayar 2 kali lipat saja “fine”. Padahal dengan negosiasi kita bisa mendapatkan kesempatan untuk 3 kali bahkan 4 kali lipat. Itu yang mungkin yang membuat saya bener-bener yakin saya pindah.

Tyas :

Kesempatan untuk bargain dan pada akhirnya mendapatkan hasil, a very good deal. Menurut aku, itu jarang sekali dapat kesempatan untuk berbagi.
Karena yang saya bayangkan adalah, kesempatan ini benar-benar purely new to each other. I don’t know you, you don’t know me. So anything is possible. Berapa kali tuh Angga interview, bisa ceritakan prosesnya ?

Angga : 2 kali . Pertama melalui skype dengan VP. Kedua dengan CEO langsung.

Tyas :

Cukup tinggi ya yang meng-interview ya. Baru abis itu dengan HRD. Angga boleh ceritakan apa saja sih yang ditanyakan dan menurut Angga, apa saja yang penting yang dapat menjadi pelajaran bagi kita semua ? Sangat penting untuk di dorong kedepan pengetahuannya.

Angga :

Pertama, saya ingin menjawab tentang apa saja yang paling penting saat diwawancara.

Research yang mendalam tentang pekerjaan itu sendiri. Kebetulan dalam pekerjaan saya, editorial content itu cukup luas dan terus terang belum memiliki pengalaman yang banyak sehingga saya perlu mempelajari lebih lanjut. Walaupun di pekerjaan sebelumnya memang sebagian dari pekerjaan saya banyak menulis tapi partly untuk artikel publish di website atau editorial social media.

Nah disini lebih complek karena bagaimana saya perlu tahu hubungannya dengan SEO, keywords, and bagaimana content dapat bersaing diantara puluhan ribu artikel yang tersebar di internet dalam tujuan dapat rangking top 10 di google, caranya bagaimana. Maka melalui research saya mencoba melihat beberapa kasus dan mecoba menanggulangi kasus tersebut.

Tyas : Did you learn by your own ? Making a case and solving it ?

Angga :

Yes. I learn from the internet. In the internet there are so many cases to learn, so I took the cases, and make it my learnings, how to overcome the problem and issues.

Tyas :

Ok, abis itu kamu badanin latihannya ya ? Latihan, coba make a case and share how to solve and defend that case ?

Angga :

Betul. Setelah kita riset, kemudian strategi. Kita perlu menawarkan strategi apa yang perusahaan itu belum terapkan. Dalam rangka apakah strategi itu dapat berhasil atau diterima bagi perusahaan tersebut.

Tyas : Jadi kayak, I’m going to be a solution for you.

Angga :

Yes. Bukan hanya menerima jobdes aja, tapi kita juga memberikan solusi for the company.

Nah, abis itu pastinya perusahaan akan memberikan challenge atas case yang sedang dibicarakan, nah sebeberapa besar kita dapat meyakinkan, misalnya apakah strategi tersebut penting bagi perusahaan tersebut untuk diterapkan saat itu. Apakah cocok dan sesuai dengan model business perusahaan tersebut. Nah itu yang saya maksudkan challenge dan strategi untuk dapat memberikan jawaban yang kreatif.

Tyas :

So you have to make a case, then you have to have a stand point, dan tahu bagaimana menjawabnya untuk menjadi sebuah solusi.

Angga :

Iya jadi saya mencoba mencari angle sebanyak mungkin pertanyaan yang mungkin akan ditanyakan. Sebanyak mungkin saya coba untuk dapat siap dengan jawabannya. Jadi saya siapkan potential-potential question and answers yang dapat saya latih sebelum masuk interview.

Tyas :

So, part of your homework was not only doing the research, tapi mencoba semua study case dan mencoba menggodok ulang, membayangkan apa yang akan ditanyakan mereka dan mencoba menjawabnya kembali abis itu kamu coba latihkan kembali melalui membadani kembali. Keren banget !

Angga :

Setelah itu ada indepth interview. Prosesnya debate. Jadi saya harus bisa mempertahankan argument yang saya berikan. Has a firm stand point of my own opinion. Atas suatu fakta yang saya ambil. And then saya kembangkan kembali dengan contoh kasus lagi jadi lebih indepth dan saya kembangkan dan lebih dalam lagi. Nah itu yang sebenarnya mereka cari. Karena disesuaikan dengan market mereka, dan aktualisasi kerja di lapangan.

Tyas : Saya jadi penasaran apa saja yang ditanyakan oleh VP dan CEO nya saat itu ?

Angga :

Untuk VP, saat itu beliau yang menjadi manager saya langsung. Jadi ini interview langsung dengan user. Dan karena beliau memang the expert dalam bidangnya, beliau paham bagaimana membuat quality content. Jadi yang ditanyakan adalah strategi konten, khususnya how to craft ideas, in details mulai dari headlines, hingga jumlah kata, keywords, headlines yang cocok, ending closing dan lainnya. Dia pun memberi contoh untuk kita bicarakan bersama dan memberi argumen.

Tyas :

Jadi bener-bener executional ya ? Its not just about the strategi but also how you execute those strategy and how you defend that execution. Nah ditanyakan ga sih ke Angga apakah setelah melakukan strategi hasilnya apa, atau what was your achievement misalnya ?

Angga :

Betul. Dan achievement atau results dari past experience ditanyakan, tapi kebetulan yang ditawarkan berbeda dengan pekerjaan sebelumnya. Jadi saya sempat jelaskan juga bagaimana saya bekerja diperusahaan lama, culture-nya, tapi tidak mendalam, lebih indepth soal pekerjaan yang mau saya dapatkan.

Tyas : How long does it takes, the interview ?

Angga :

Dengan VP 1 jam, dengan CEO, cuman 5-10 menit krn by phone. Lebih ke pertanyaan apa motivasi, atau lebih pengen tau pribadi saya seperti apa.

Tyas :

Pastinya Angga juga banyak pertanyaan. Did they give you a chance to ask? And what was the questions ?

Angga :

The questions. Knowing it’s a tech start-up so anything can happen. Yang saya tanyakan lebih ke security. How secure is the company. How do they see the company in a few years.

Kedua, kualitas interview bagaimana. Apakah puas atau tidak, apakah saya qualified atau tidak ?

Ketiga, 1 semester pertama, apa yang akan dikerjakan, akan menjadi KPI. Task apa saja yang menjadi challenge.

Tyas :

So you want to show them, that you too want to prepare and want to know more what will be your task.

Angga :

Yes, saya ingin terlihat proactive. Nah setelah itu, saat wawancara VP dia memberikan test. Mulai dari test nulis dalam waktu 3 jam, produksi artikel dengan kualitas yang bagus, lengkap dengan kebutuhannya sesuai dengan actual pekerjaan nantinya. Misalnya research keywords, supaya bisa rangking top 5-10 google. Test reviewing article.

Setelah submit, after 1 mingguan, baru ada info lolos go into the next stage. And then ada clarification dokumen, admin dan lainnya. Lalu berikutnya baru negosiasi gaji, benefit dan lainnya dengan HRD.

Tyas :

Apa saja yang menurut Angga penting dalam hal negosiasi ? Yang sering dilupakan orang.

Angga :

Pertama, visa kerja. Bagaimana prosesnya, apa yang perlu disiapkan, dan lainnya.

Kedua, salary termasuk whole package. For example benefits, seperti insurance, bonus, dan mereka memberikan penjelasan secara details, flexiblitas kerja juga benefits. Annual leaves dan lainnya.

Secara terpisah saya menanyakan kembali perihal living cost dan tempat tinggal apakah diberikan tambahan atau tidak. Dalam pengertian bahwa Angga adalah single dan belum berkeluarga. Bagaimana perihal benefit tempat tinggal, biaya tempat tinggal atau cost living di tanggung iPrice. Apakah juga termasuk dalam package ?

Itu nggak ditanggung mbak, jadi memang kita bayar sendiri dari gaji kita. Tapi memang setiap bulan selalu dapet bonus bulanan. Nah bonus bulanannya itu cukup untuk cover biaya sewa apartment sama ongkos pulang pergi kantor, treatment-nya seperti allowance.

Kalau yang aku dapet itu bonus besarnya 20-25% dari jumlah yang kita dpt setiap bulan, nah bonus ini memang cukup banget untuk bayar tempat tinggal dan ongkos transport. Jadi dari gaji itu paling dipake buat makan, belanja sama nabung sih. Tapi memang biaya pengeluaran terbanyak memang di makan sih.

Karena penasaran saya jadi bertanya, apakah ini termasuk kebijakan yang disesuaikan dengan keuntungan / keadaan perusahaan atau tidak, jadi memang sudah part in benefit.

Betul ini bagian dari kebijakan perusahaan. Setiap department berbeda cara penilaiannya, ada yg memang berdasarkan performance ada juga yang memang udah ditulis di kontraknya.

Tyas : Bagaimana apabila dibandingkan dengan pengalaman Angga di Jakarta ?

Angga :

In general sama. Beda adalah, mereka berani bayar tinggi karena expektasi ilmu dan knowledge yang saya bawa ke perusahaan. Saya sempat ada beberapa penawaran di Jakarta yang akhirnya saya tinggalkan, karna batasan nilai yang ditawarkan kepada saya atas ilmu yang sama, karena mereka melihat level posisi tanpa melihat skill yang saya tawarkan.

Beda dengan yang sekarang, terlihat semakin skill yang saya tawarkan terlihat bagus dan bermanfaat, semakin flexible. Jadi tidak terpatok akan limit gaji atau posisi.

Tyas :

Kalau kita kacamatanya kita balik ya. Kalo kita lagi di Jakarta, orang dari diluar (maksud saya expat) yang ditawarkan pekerjaan, kan sama persis seperti Angga kan ya. Yang dicari adalah skill. Jadi seharusnya, pertanyaan seharusnya sama. Dan kalo diberikan pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang tepat, mungkin ada orang Indonesia dengan skill tersebut. Cuman tidak ditanyakan atau tidak dipercaya, misalnya.

Angga : Betul.

Tyas :

Living abroad. Pastinya Angga punya adjustments. Bulan pertama atau tahun pertama. Boleh di ceritakan proses adjustments di bulan pertama, tahun pertama hingga sekarang. Sekarang Angga udah berapa lama ?

Angga :

Sekarang udah 2 tahun 3 bulan. Sebenarnya perubahan dimanapun selalu ada ya. Perubahan pertama adalah makanan. Beda banget di Indonesia, makanan yang tersedia hambar tidak sekuat rasa makanan yang ada di kita. Jadi saya sulit banget mencari makan diawal saya disana.

Kedua, culture. Indonesia kita mengenal orang Indonesia yang ramah, murah senyum. Sedangkan di KL, adalah tabu senyum dengan orang luar atau tidak dikenal. Dikira kita flirting atau suka dengan yang kita ajak senyum. Pengalaman awal di bulan-bulan pertama saya membuat saya perlu menjaga perilaku saya.

Ketiga, kecepatan dalam bekerja. Sering saya dibilang lambat. Padahal maksud saya sopan. Tapi disana tidak dibutuhkan.

Tyas : Di kantor skrg ada orang Indonesia ?

Angga :

Kurang lebih 15-20 orang. Di semua department. Kecuali HR dan office management. Yang banyak marketing, categorisation, coupon, design, IT. Ada yang berkeluarga, ada single fighter. Ada berkeluarga bolak balik Jakarta. Yang berkeluarga belum tentu dengan jabatan tinggi, karena istrinya juga bekerja di Malaysia. Anaknya di berikan sponsor oleh kantor kebetulan Ayahnya di iPrice.

Tyas :

Dari pengalaman Angga, boleh ceritakan hal yang baru yang dirasakan saat awal-awal masuk start up seperti perusahaan yang Angga saat ini bekerja ?

Angga :

Perbedaan kultur, cara bekerja mungkin itu perlu suatu proses pembelajaran sendiri. Saya terbiasa bekerja dengan proses, dimana biasanya belajar kan bisa nanya, berkali-kali. Sedangkan disini saya harus bisa segala sesuatu dengan cepat. Dikasi materi cepet, know what to do and how to do dengan cepat. Sekali beres. What you expect. Proses belajar harus lebih cepat. Itu yang harus saya adaptasi. Jadi self training saya diluar jam kantor. Karena mau nanya kesiapa, teman saya juga ga ngerti. Jadi saya harus self learning.

Tyas :

Bayangan aku, Angga lebih focus ya. Kamu alone disana. What more do you have to do. To whom do I ask. Dulu tinggal nengok kiri kanan, telfon, tinggal nanya. Nah klo kamu bener-bener ga paham, and you cannot ask your friends, who do you ask ?

Angga :

I escalate to my boss. My supervisor. Dengan kondisi saya sudah explore dan mencoba tapi masih tidak bisa, apa yang harus saya lakukan.

Tyas :

Saya kepengen angkat dari iPrice adalah culture dalam bekerja. What do you like about the culture working at iPrice ? Any uniqueness di iPrice yang dapat di bagi untuk dipelajari.

Angga :

Selain flexible. Flexible in work 8-9 hours. As long as you meet the target. Flexible ide dan tidak berpatok pada birokrasi atau SOP. Flexible to explore seluas-luasnya. Asal dapat dipertanggung jawabkan dan ada laporannya. Work at Home sebulan sekali sehari. Work based urgency and importance.

Management terbuka dan open minded in iPrice. No personal judgement. It’s all about your performance.

Rewards. Selain promotion dan kenaikan gaji. Di iPrice ada “Lion and Rooster”. Tiap minggu saat town hall meeting diberi kesempatan bagi para Lions and Rooster untuk berbagi atau sharing baik buruknya dalam minggu ini.

Bagi para Lions, bilamana terdapat keberhasilan atau success atau prestasi dalam bentuk apapun selama seminggu. Tidak selalu management atau team lead saja yang dapat memberikan apreasiasi tapi siapapun dapat memberikan nominasi Lions Reward untuk siapapun yang berpretasi atau melakukan hal yang dianggap luar biasa di satu minggu itu.

Sedangkan rooster, bagi mereka yang membuat kesalahan, tapi bukan berarti tidak dimaafkan. Bedanya, tidak datang dari management atau HR atau supervisor tapi diberikan kesempatan bagi individu yang ingin yang maju kedepan and admit their mistake, share their problems and move on. Showing that mistakes are there for learning. It is okay to do mistake as long as you learn from it. And gives also a lesson to the whole company. Sends a positive message to the whole team.

Tyas :

Menurut saya, untuk Lions Reward is about Value of Appreciation. Dengan harapan mungkin dapat memberikan inspirasi dan semangat bagi semua. Penghargaan tersebut tidak perlu dirasakan atau tunggu 6 bulan saat jadwal assessment atau akhir tahun untuk melihat keberhasilan setiap individu. Dan memberikan atau menularkan semangat positif. Acknowledgement, praises seen by all.

Untuk Roosters, menurut saya, its about fairness. By sharing in front of people mendorong kedewasaan tiap individu terhadap staff. It’s very good ya. Gives a messages to all.

Angga :

Di iPrice juga ada system confession. Mirip system pengakuan. Sebuah platform sharing tentang bagi yang membutuhkan tanpa memberikan data dari siapa yang memberikan informasi tersebut. Anonymous. However, saat team meeting akan di tampilkan di layar. Any dislike, bottleneck problems, individuality problems. Memberi tempat untuk dapat memberi pengakuan atas suatu permasalahan yang dia hadapi atau mendorong orang untuk introspeksi tanpa feeling any pressure and without any details. Moderated by HR. Jadi any pelecehan atau yang diluar sopan santun akan pasti di delete. Ada sortir tiap minggu tiap kali sebelum di share dan dibicarakan.

Oh iya, team bonding budget juga ada. Apakah itu buat nonton bareng, makan bareng atau jalan-jalan diberikan budget. Pada dasarnya yang saya rasakan, iPrice is about the people first. I think when people are empowered then they do good work. Motifasi dijaga.

Tyas : Now last are the tips. Bagi tips dong Angga.

Angga :

Research selalu menjadi hal yang paling penting. Dalam hal mencari pekerjaan ada 2 cara sebenarnya untuk mendapatkan sesuai dengan yang kita mau.

Pertama mungkin network. Apabila pertemanan dan kenalan kita bagus, kita bisa mendapat kesempatan dari situ.

Kedua, apabila kita harus self search beberapa langkah yang dapat dilakukan adalah,

Pertama, melalui search pada situs-situs tempat mencari pekerjaan. LInkedin, jobsdb, dan lainnya. Lalu, search keywords yang berhubungan dengan yang kita mau. Misalnya “Indonesian Speaking” bukan berarti pekerjaan tentang content writer berbahasa Indonesia atau translator atau customer service, tapi bisa juga consulting, atau IT juga ada pilihan project berbahasa Indonesia. Atau tambah keywords berdasarkan pekerjaan yang yang specific yang kita saja yang bisa, memberikan kesempatan yang lebih tinggi.

Kedua, sort by location. Jadi kita mulai dengan “Indonesian Speaking” lalu “Kuala Lumpur” nanti akan menunjukkan pilihan perusahaan sesuai dengan yang kita tertarik.

Tyas :

Tambahan pertanyaan setelah wawancara adalah, karena penasaran, berhubung Angga tergolong millienials. How long would you stay in one company ?

Angga :

Sebenarnya saya akan stay apabila saya bisa meniti karir dengan baik di satu tempat. Tapi memang saya punya mimpi besar atau plan besar. Melalui plan besar itu saya memiliki beberapa target seperti ambil Masters dan melanjutkan karier saya pada tempat yang dapat memberikan pelajaran yang berarti bagi mimpi besar saya kedepannya.

Pada akhirnya saya pun ingin kembali ke Indonesia memberikan semua yang saya pelajari. Membangun Indonesia.

Thank you Angga for your sharing. It was such a fruitful discussion and I am very sure there’s a lot of people out there that would appreciate what you shared. Wish you success in whatever you do in the future. For sure, I will be watching 🙂

Interview ini cukup panjang, tapi saya coba buatkan kesimpulan dalam blog post berikutnya, tips jadi expat di luar negri. Mudah-mudah dapat memberi manfaat ya.

See you guys on my next post !

Digital and Social Media Team

January 12, 2018May 7, 20186 Comments

What are the role and responsibilities of the Digital and Social Media Team?

Companies and their change agents still face big challenges in the pursuit of digital transformation, including a lack of digital talent and expertise (31.4%), the perception that digital transformation is a cost center and not an investment (31%), and general culture issues (31%).
While companies are making attempts to modernize employees’ skillsets for a digital economy with new training programs (62%), only about half are investing in new digital talent. The employee experience is a crucial, yet often overlooked element of a successful digital transformation.

As a continuance of the Centralised Digital Services post #7, we now enter discussions on how we manage our skilled human resource, the Digital and Social Media Team. These guys are the ones who live and breathe digital and has the necessary skills that needs attached to it. Because they are the ones who sew it all together; digital and social media strategist in customer experience, user experience and user interface. Above all, they are the change maker.

With all the challenges we’ve met,

Challenge 1. Representative of the brand online, channels, functions and voice.

Challenge 2. Everybody wants to go online.

and with the services that we need to provide, we divided our role into 2 parts. A main role and a supporting role.

Main Role. A programmed activities or regular routine, we call Always On activities.
Supporting Role. By Request activities from based on any tactical, a request that came in, from campaign based activities, a supporting project, digital asset developments or simple announcement.

Each role has 3 aspects that are essentials to support each brand online presence

Digital Community Management

Everybody has a role as the dedicated admin that could serve as the representative of the brand and channels of the brand, to be voice on editorial and activity online. And on this part each digital assets or social media channels has their own digital community management based strategy.

We would also require to deliver planning for digital activation for any thematic or tactical needs that are suitable and based on the digital community engagement level at that time.

Manage to do online listening, monitoring and deliver monthly and by request reporting on the digital and social media side of marketing and communications. This is why hootsuite becomes a valuable tool for us managing all digital communities at once. It is hard to manage online manually. That is why we would start and also use free tools to support in managing the all the voice at once.

Digital Asset Management

We are the care taker who operated and manage by digital and social media channels based on the agreed digital big picture plan. The digital big picture plan is important to identified to make us understand what is ideal for the owner for the brand versus how they serve the business. Building the digital assets will required stages in developments as we are also the project leader for any digital asset developments to manage the digital big picture that required User Interface and User Experience information identified and also the required road map planned ahead.

Content

Editorial management and developer for each brand’s online presence with always on thematic content to support, yearly, monthly, weekly and daily feeds and also any by request content. For content to fit in with the audience it needs strategy. Not just saying “Good Morning” each day or executing 3 post on a channel.

For content material we partner with the creative divisions mostly for design based content. But for the editorial transcript we manage to produce on our own. So we have also the ability to write and storytelling as we execute to each channels including words for SEO.

All three aspects, digital community, digital assets and content management must come together and sync in harmony. That is why it is important to have structure and strategic thinking. To have discipline and be detailed.

The above content strategy architecture is from the Altimeter research. And the concept on how to orchestrate it all together.

Based on our learnings of facts from the Altimeter Research from Brian Solis, essentially what we need for digital transformation on any organisation are,

The People meaning the leaders, the champions, the change maker, the change agent and also the teamwork
Orientation which means the directions and guidelines.
Understanding the Work Process and in my case to support the digital architecture connected to the business.
A firm agreement on the Objectives, why and what.
Discipline on Structure in seeing everything and managing to make sense in as efficient and effective as possible.
Insights and intent gathered and identified each project or from incoming inputs.
The Technology itself, understanding the the concept the tool or the asset.
And at the end the Execution is what matter the most, implementation, learning, monitoring, and so on.

But the real key for me based on my learning experience is that going online means you got to tidy up your offline. Because there will never be any digital transformation if your business is not ready. As a company, or as a brand.

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce the digital and social media team members who make it all happened. Due to the change in business strategy at PSF, we are no longer work together as a team. Yet we maintain our friendship. I am very proud as they became their own leader in their own way.

Muhammad Fikri

A true community leader and one of the best in his field. Only Fikri can manage to have the network, the relationships, the skill and the knowledge to build communities engagement with most of the communities in Indonesia including bloggers and netizen. Fikri resigned from PSF for a scholarship program as he pursue his Master’s Degree in the Netherlands. Fikri is now the Head of Community Management for BukaLapak, one of the largest social commerce in Indonesia.

Noviana Eva

Eva continued to join me at Pita Kuning, a foundation for children with cancer from underprivileged families as Marketing Communication and Community Manager. Now she is the Product Marketing Specialist IUWASH PLUS at USAID still in the social industry.

Kristin Amelina

Passionate in helping other, Kristin initiated a savings box for whoever came in late has to donate money. Each month the money goes to Save a Teen, an education program for gifted smart teenagers from underprivileged background. Now Kristin is the Deputy Marketing Manager at Beritagar.id.

Angga Permana

Angga is now living abroad at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as Editorial Content Team Lead for iPrice Group Sdn Bhd. A superb writer, Angga was our very own private English teacher for our team. He has helped his peers to learn English better every week when we were at PSF.

Asep Trisusanto

Acen has accomplished so much after PSF. Producing 2 books, climbed Mount Everest, Anapurna and as founder of Jalan Pendaki, a community based brand is taking it to another level, now going ecommerce. Acen is now Head of Social Media at Beritagar.id.

Muhammad Bari

This smart dude, started out as an intern. During those time he manage to graduated from the University of Indonesia. This soccer player is now the Digital Copywriter Supervisor for PT Indocare Citrapasific.

To learn more about them click on each of their names.

The dream team

Thank you. Thank you. And thank you for reading all my series of #TyasDigitalProject posts. It was truly one of the best adventure I ever had. Off to the next now 🙂

See you on my next post !

Centralized Digital Services

January 12, 2018October 30, 20182 Comments

#TyasDigitalProject #7

What is the Digital and Social Media Division Roles and Responsibilities ?

Based on page 9 from the Altimeter Research, executives and senior leaders now drive Digital Transformation Initiatives. Change agents are heralded as the  human sparks for the digital transformation of an enterprise. Champions for digital transformation are on the front lines to comprehend the impact of and potential for disruption in their work and their organisation at large. Change agents are instrumental in moving organisations along the maturity model from the Business as Usual stage through Present and Active.

On page 28 from the Altimeter Research, Steering Committees on the Front Line of Managing Digital Transformation. The earliest forms of digital transformation take root in pockets and corners throughout a business as change agents experiment with digital possibilities in their own work sphere. As they learn and gain traction, they seek to enlist colleagues within their group and supporting business units.

The above facts from the Altimeter shows how it should happen ideally on an organisation. On our case, there was no Steering Committee just support from the management leaders on any initiatives done by Digital and Social Media team.

Based on my experience, Digital and social media division was part of the Centralised Marketing and Communication Department. Previously, it was an initiative from the PR division to support any communication requirements through online. Being with the new division set apart, we need to define the new roles and responsibilities of the Digital and Social Media Division. It would also define based on what was agreed on the management meetings on the first 3 months I have arrived at PSF, the findings of the current condition of the organisation and what was the needed on our daily basis or the requirements knocking on our door. But first we would also should reflect our role with the roles given by our peers at CMC, brand management, PR and creative division. As we understand, we are a team of services and so any KPI of the digital and social media division will reflect theirs and vice versa. And when we look at it a bigger picture, also as part of the organisation. We must never forget that any projects or any activities that has any goals towards the mission will be reflecting each other KPI’s of the organisation. The main goal is good management, as efficient and effective as possible.

Let’s talk about the challenges.

Of course the scope was mainly marketing and communication. But we understood very well that we can never be avoid the outcome on whatever activities or information we throw out online. For example, any question regarding donations or tuition fee or any customer services matter and so on, we need to be ready. We cannot neglect them; we need to know what to do, and we have to answer them no matter what. No matter if we provide the actual service on offline or not. When you open the faucet; water will come pouring out. Once you open the online channel, your audience would always use easiest access to ask or share a point of view. That is why Customer Experience is very much needed to understand however the offline is ready or not. The main objective is to be prepared. Know what do to, where to go and how. Because at that point, the misconception is digital = marketing, only. Challenge 1.

In addition to that, managing digital and social media was that not necessarily only managing the digital channels itself but also managing the people on each channels, their incoming questions, their feedbacks, the voice, networks, the relationships, the perceptions that arise, the discussions, and so on. In this case, the same level of importance is to manage the followers or we can would describe them our audience on each channel. And the way to manage them is similar like handling a community.

Crafting a Digital Strategy, by Altimeter.

Challenge 2. Looking at the whole picture, ideally each brands are responsible for their own channel. Granted that everybody wants to go online. It was an argument of division of the responsibilities, the understanding of whose budget for any online activities meaning the budget priorities, and catching up on the knowledge. We must move forward, and we cannot wait. So we had to make a decision, but with whatever the action that we obtained, I was determined to make it a learning process for all, and not just for the Digital and Social Media team only. Having that as one of the goal, the service support we provide will also need to accommodate whatever was lacking while the organisation begins to learn.

However small the Digital and Social Media Division was, the answer to the above challenges is management resource. Centralised Digital Services is how we support through skilled human resource, managing production and tools. Based on the above findings, we have managed to established the structure of support services as follows,

Centralised content management

We manage, develop, execute editorial content for daily social media feeds based on the Thematic Yearly, Monthly, Daily messages that needed to be always on regularly. We also provide any by request editorial content that needed to be announced or activated on social media from any functions of the brand. Including, supporting as live reports and article coverage.

Editorial plan management that are centralised are important as we match each brand’s thematic message or campaign that fits in with the aiming and agreed yearly goal or KPI of company. We should always look all the view it in a bigger picture yet develop it suitable for each brand agendas. The goal is to match all correspondences to the same voice consistently. At least for the 1^st step, when who we are should represent the digital community that the company or the brand wants to attached, identify the content itself as it the key currency to open doors and building a strong platform for its online presence, through communication itself.

Centralised maintenance and new developments

With so many digital assets to manage, we started to search vendor that could support more to the technical aspects. The role to support are not only new developments but also maintenance upgrade. With centralised maintenance support we were able to reduce cost from 15mio rupiah per month to 2 mio rupiah per month per main website.

Our partner, Gagas Imaji, made a management tool for us and any other department to file in any projects or any needs regarding digital. It is to support us to manage better in the end. This tool of course makes it easier to manage the monthly quota for maintenance needs, understand the progress and workflow . And this is also to support procurement policy that we needed to comply.

Centralised payment gateway

With 10-14 brands on the go, understanding the needs to be ready for customer experience we initiate a partnership programs with payment gateways with us corporate level. That way, everybody can use the services and it will save time and hassles. These partnership learnings involve IT, Legal and Finance department in which the we spearhead the project. For customer to be able to donate or pay their tuition, now or then, it was initiated for us to be prepared. Truth be told, it was one complicated project and it took so many back and forth never ending meetings. However happy to say both division was so supportive and eager to learn. At that time, the payment gateways ready for PSF was Paypal, BCA CC & Recurring and BCA KlikPay.

Centralised digital partners

We started to connect with supporting partners to support and try to cater the needs for each brands. Trials and learnings to understand more about social media management tools and also online data management tools. the exploration alone took us at awe of the learning and most of all t he possibilities of what we can do based on the investment alone.

Questions like, what they can do, what are their services and advantages, what is the difference between directly partner with google and media agencies, plus minus, the comparison between products, and so on. With Hootsuite, we got a good first starter deal of discount package, many thanks to Tommy Galantomos, Alex Tangidy and Crystal Jiang for your kind support, trainings and endless skype call and google hangouts, you guys were always there for us.

And in the end, it is all about the network we need to build and established that one day should benefits us.

Centralised Digital Community Management.

We manage digital communities for each brand and ensure the consistent voice on each online channels, therefore we are the admin and we have the ability to moderate, listen and manage the audience on each digital community on each channels.

And to serve any functions going online, we are the also the online representative that coordinates with each functions of the brands that provides offline. We initiate for each brands or business units to work together through a draft agreement of service level.

To support this function we have an additional role that we provide. A direct access and network of social communities related with the organisation. We manage and build relationships with bloggers, netizen, leaders and activist from many social communities that relates with our pillars in PSF.

We have four pillars to serve. And each pillars has their own initiative activities. From education, women empowerment, entrepreneurship to compassionate relief. Indonesia is a large country with an exception trait and characteristic. Kinship, togetherness, a part of the family. We like to get together. All the time. We love to come together as opposed to standing alone. We love to be associate with a group as part of the family. This is why we have so many sorts of community based activities around Indonesia. And that is also why Indonesia users based on social media are mostly higher than other countries.

Social media again as a technology channel that is user based tool. And to manage all the voices online is just like managing a community. That is why we started to hire social media specialist or we can say passionate people of social media that is also a part of many community. They known and is a part of a social movements or community. So when we need to engage or other departments needs a certain type of audience it is easier to approach and invite.

Along the way, the team, initiate an opportunities that could bridge together between netizens, online influencers, senior bloggers with PSF as an organisation. Certain activities of PSF Bloggers competition and PSF Senior Bloggers and Influencers Gathering allows us to build relationships, introduce on a personal level, share our side of the story, and explain what we do, why we do it.

Indonesian Senior Bloggers and Online Influencers. Above, Left to Right, Bangwin, Moltulz, Kreshna Aditya, Ndorokakung, Amril Taufik, Iman Brotoseno, Didi Nugrahadi, Below, Left to Right, Ainun Chomsum, Valensia JustSilly, Simbok Venus.

PSF that was previously known as far out there, nobody knows who you are, got a chance to share our story of what we envision and the missions through PSF Pillars. The first level of engagement was surely established after this. Engagement here means, get acquaintance, a comprehensive knowledge, build relationship. Of course what is important to understand that how this relationship could grow for later opportunities like collaboration in the future or would become more easier for PR team if need for a crisis. It is also important that it allows everyone from PSF to start building that relationship however it was initiated by the Digital and Social Media team.

PSF Media and Bloggers Camp

Obrolan Langsat to introduce Bait Al Kamil.

The edubloggers. A group of bloggers that is passionate about education in Indonesia

So based on the ability of Digital Centralised Services, we were able to identify the layout all establishments from from digital infrastructure development to digital activations and implementation support.

And as result, on the last year we have accomplished this.

Next, the Digital and Social Media Team.

The Mapping

January 12, 2018January 12, 20183 Comments

#TyasDigitalProject #6

How to map out the digital transformation for the company.

Customer Experience (CX) remains the top driver of digital transformation but IT and marketing still influence technology investments.
Only half (54%) of survey respondents have completely mapped out the customer journey.This means that many companies are changing without true customer-centricity.

These are the key findings from the Altimeter Research, somehow I feel this quote from Seth Godin suits where we need to start.

Because then the question next is, why do you need to make this product. Or this program. Or this initiative. Why this is good. Do you know who your customer is ? Are you building a business for money or to make a difference ? And in then end, what kind of solution are you giving to your customer ?

I could go on and on but I feel we can understand that product and customer is inseparable. And the customer journey in matching solutions or value to your customer will never end. And so there is a need to understand clearly. What is Customer Experience or Customer Journey ?

What is the difference between Customer Experience and User Experience ?

Article Title : Customer Experience vs. User Experience: Why the Difference Matters

As the above picture based on linked article stated, the customer experience represents every step of the journey from when users are running price comparisons, to when users try the product, to when users may resort to customer service if their needs aren’t met.

The UX is the customer/user’s experience with a specific product, for our purposes, a website, app, or software. The design of the interface — its usability, information architecture, navigation, comprehension, learnability, visual hierarchy, etc. — all combine to create the UX, whether positive or negative. The goal of the UX designers, then, is to make sure the brand designs products that solve the right problem in an efficient and enjoyable manner.

Now, yes Digital and Social Media division role was to serve the Marketing and Communication department in the first place. But I learned that marketing is just one part of the equation. An integral part nonetheless but just one part. At that time, I knew that we just need to start at one point. I do feel it’s ok to start with marketing or any other parts of the organisation, for example with PR or customer service. As I have always said in many occasion, we gotta start from somewhere.

Now why is this understanding important. Why not concentrate with just marketing and communication. Again and again, I would always say, that when a brand is opening itself to online it is just like opening a faucet. Other questions that might not be just about the marketing campaign or the thematic information would enter endlessly. And we can never neglect that. After all, using a brand name represent everything that is to the brand. However it does not mean we have to do everything. Every single function to the organisation. But being someone who understands the possibility means we need to manage it well. In objective to manage our audience expectation well.

And I do believe as we learn more from the process of digital transformation, we learn from the opportunities that benefits us, we would want to invest more to the next stage of the digital transformation process itself. Most probably with all division to take part of the digital transformation, maybe start up a committee or one day digital and social media would be a department itself. This is me thinking out loud, thinking forward and visualise the future.

Based on the fact that digital and social media is a tool to accommodate a pathway of customer experience or a channel to opportunities like sales, customer services, marketing etc, we need to understand how it works, starting from the business process. It would also take some understanding on how a company understand their customer. In this case how Putera Sampoerna Foundation process a social initiative or an education program. When we understand how this business process from A to Z, therefore we then understand how one product connects with another product and becomes a representation of the missions in serving the bigger dream, the vision. I hope I’m making some sense.

Of course seeing something missing or identified things lacking of a certain proses is normal. And wherever we go we would seek ongoing process of inputs and planning or implementations of adjustments. However, it is not rare that my findings are becoming another different challenge that actually are not within my territory.

For the record, the IT department was truly a great partner for the Digital and Social Media team. I guess geeks do stick together.

Eva, Pak May, Kristin

Putera Sampoerna Foundation (PSF) has 4 pillars to activate their missions which are education, women empowerment, entrepreneurship and compassionate relief with 10 total social initiatives brands ; PSF Corporate, Save a Teen Program, Sampoerna Academy, Sampoerna University, Koperasi Jasa Siswa Bangsa, School Development Outreach, Indonesia Berkibar, Sahabat Wanita, Mekar, and Bait Al Kamil. And everybody wants to go digital.

To be able to plan and develop anything digital it starts from screening, identifying and understanding all the things, the process of the business, but also to understand the brands, each parts of the organisation, the insights, what is what, why is why and so on.

All work processes are established mainly to serve each purpose together and become one collaborative effort as an ecosystem. And in an ideal situation, when we are able to identify and agreed each customer journey of each product or program, we are able to build and map stage by stage. And then, to develop a road map that works for everyone as effective and efficient as possible. That is the ideal way. Most of the times the sequence on getting to understand the journey or getting the information are not in ideal order. So in my experience, for a certain project the development of the digital concept are based on the business objective.

Sometimes as i gathered all the informations, I began to divide them into different compartments. In my head, in my notes. Some might be important, some might be useful for later, will see. It’s really important to have structure, one to understand the basics, why and how and secondly to make everything become sense as we relay back to the objectives on each projects and of course the company. Digital channels whether functions to be as a communication tool or for any other supporting process for example customer service, sales or anything else, in the end has to link to a purpose. And for a corporation with many brands, business units and supporting operational units working together based on the company’s mission, it is crucial that we have the digital architecture identified based on the customer’s journey.

As digital and social media are only channels based on my learnings this allows me to foresee and understood better, the actualisations of each brand and all supporting functions of the organisation. Understood what is systematically missing.

I was in a situation that I felt compelled to make things better. Or to do the best that I can do. However i was very much supported by the management when it comes to implementation or doing the actual work it becomes tricky and full of challenge. Knowledge management was one of my identification and recommendation that I raised on my first year. Due to many changes happening like staffs turnover or changes in brand identity or change in business strategy of the company. Lesson learned, knowledge management was implemented on my next project at Pita Kuning. This is the same reason why I had to initiate the development of digital and social media guidebook, crisis guidebook and policy. Sometimes, things just needed to be push forward.

At the same time, I found The State of Digital in Companies by SocialBakers

And I used this to guide where we were on building digital and social media for the company. At my last year, there are points of stage that has already entering 2^nd and 3^rd stage. However, some status on the early stages was not entirely there yet.

I cannot say that I was able to identify the whole Customer’s Journey for PSF. And I will not share the actual digital architecture of PSF here. However I will share what the digital architecture was build upon. It was built based the the needs of marketing and communication purpose on all brand, how it connects with each other and continuously updated regularly based on these status :

What the brands it stands for
What are the Digital and social media channels of each brands. Such as, Main websites, supporting websites (microsites, blogs), applications, social media channels, internal channels or supporting tools.
The mapping connection between each brands and its channels all together as a journey.
The numbers of digital and social media channels on each brands and all together including supporting channels was identified.

The developments of digital channels infrastructures, learning process, education process was done simultaneously all together and it was truly one hell of a ride. And that is why the digital and social media team was able to learn so quickly. Our learning curve was the implementation itself.

Through the help of Gitong from Gagas Imaji our web developer agency we had the opportunity to meet with Dondi Hananto. And he shared how and the stages in digital assets development really relies on the customer journey itself.

“Building solution through product management really is the fusion between technology, what engineers do and the business side”, Marissa Mayer.

And in the end, based on my learning, if we have reach to a point where we are already managing all functions of the brand through online and we have also managed our target customers through online, is when we are ready to monetise the situation or digital community.

Next, the Digital Centralize Services.

The education process

January 12, 2018January 12, 20182 Comments

#TyasDigitalProject #5

How do you educate digital and social media for business for an organisation?

While companies are making attempts to modernize employees’ skillsets for a digital economy with new training programs (62%), only about half are investing in new digital talent. The employee experience is a crucial, yet often overlooked element of a successful digital transformation.

The facts above from Brian Solis’ Altimeter fits in with my next process. The education process.

The process of education is not simple at all. Getting people to switch the mindset, making people understand, making people want to learn more. That is another level of strategic planning to do.

There is no way not to move forward even though the knowledge is so little. Project development would be carried out and could be a learning curve for each members on the project. And the results good or bad could also be a learning for all.

But the real education activities should still start as early as possible so that the organisation would meet in sometime in the middle of the process. After all, the management wants to monetise as soon as possible.

I divided the education process into 2 parts. Series of training or talk show. And Socialisation. And for this we partner with the HR department. Why, we data all the staffs that was trained, got the socialisation. And for new staffs, we embedded digital and social media introductory part on their new orientation sessions. We’ve also made some adjustments on to the new staff contracts to make sure social media was part of the regulatory that all staffs must comprehend. For the remaining staffs was digital and social media was updated on the Company’s Regulations.

Socialisation.

On every opportunity or new project, we start off with a socialization. The background for socialization itself is to build a common understanding among stakeholders on the project and also related supporting departments. The information given are

Basic understanding about digital and social media
The understanding of the organization big picture in digital, also known as the PSF digital architecture and information map.
What is Centralized Digital Support ?
The digital and social media guidebook and
Digital roles and responsibilities

Yes, this is a lot. And I learn that we cannot go through in one go. But all of these information matters to build the learning and secure the project. The mistake was to share everything on to one go. So sometimes I would see the type of project, the type of business, who are the audiences and what kind of information do they need at this moment. In some cases I would inject some points informations in the middle of another sessions meeting or sometimes a discussion just to get to a point.

Through this opportunity we hope it will open their eyes and meet expectations in objective to build a good team work on every project. This socialization process is only to inform, trigger discussions to gather each stakeholders have a sense of ownerships.

At some business units we do it at least one time. But for other business unit that is unique such as school ; we customised how we share and deliver it a couple of times. For example, what we did for the high school unit was to execute three times, one for the management, one for the board of teachers and one for a group of students that we feel could strategically support this project. For students, we targeted the session with the media team and school journal team. Drive a social activity in creating content amongst students and that was indeed a fun idea.

Training and Talkshow sessions.

On another level of education process, what we did to open the eyes and heart on the middle management level we started off with a couple of introduction sessions. I understand very well that in some cases, it is better to educate through outsiders who are known to have the experience rather than only share them by me or the digital team. On June 13, 2014 we initiate a general talk show for our internal management levels that consist of board directors and middle management or might I say, each of their champions. I invited 2 speakers that is suitable for this situation who could provide their expertise advice professionally. BCA is Indonesia’s largest commercial bank and not long before that time they were also in the same situation in going digital. With so many concerns, worries, they asked for some advice before going digital and the consultant was yours truly Abang Edwin, my husband. BCA then later became the best online customer service based on Social Bakers’s monitoring report 3 months after they went online. And I thought that should be a good learning for us at PSF and thankfully they both were available at that time and agreed to come and share their experience. From BCA mas Duardi Prihandoko, now is the Head of Digital Marketing for BCA Bank shared his experience and insights that was beneficial for us. And thankfully since it was an open session the question that was raised was also educating some leaders and not only the spoke person at that point. Naïve questions like, if a crisis being happen online, shouldn’t it be a digital problem? I remember Bangwin, made a writing based on this talk show experience and it also raised discussion online. The misunderstanding or misconception regarding what role or functions can digital and social media is really interesting to discuss further. But I think you get what we were experiencing at that moment.

Other educations sessions were series of trainings held for middle management including Department of Centralized Marketing and Communication itself. One of the agency that support us and gave a really huge understanding was from mas Tuhu Nugraha Dewanto, Chief Operational Officer of Upnormal Pingfans, writer of WWW.HM Defining your digital strategy. And other supporting trainings are for the digital and social media team from hootsuite to SEO & SEM.

Besides all of the above, regularly, we also held some sharing sessions internally for the department of CMC mainly to create a common understanding therefore could drive solution better.

Referring back to Brian Solis 2016 state Digital Transformation, one of the top drivers are new standards in regulatory and compliance. And education alone will not hold out consistencies when in the end ownership of the digital channels should be on the business units or brand itself. We want to make sure we have given also the tools and guidelines as an easy way to look up to anytime and for any needs. Since numerous project was being implemented within each year, again, it is our responsibility to initiate a guide book and policy to manage the level of understanding and consistency within the organisation.

We start initiate a book of guidelines as a based to know what to do, how to do and as an add on book to any findings, requirements and also to build consistencies in guiding the principles of each brand essence.

The main objective on this early stage was to be able to do these pointed highlights.

Accurately and consistently represented in such communications
Clarity roles and responsibilities regarding the work and mission
Clarity Work Flow
Crisis Management
Reduce risk and legal exposure for the business
To avoid dispute employer and employee

So after all my learning with various business units, challenges and insights, a quick recap on how to educate digital and social media, my tips in orderly and all of this is a combine requirement,

strengthening the knowledge,
guard with guidelines
and customised each project based on their background.

After all it is all a learning process. Nevertheless, given or by experience.

Next, The Mapping.

The findings

January 12, 2018January 12, 20182 Comments

#TyasDigitalProject #4

What does it take to do a digital transformation on an organisation?

Let’s read each points on the above key findings as those struggles has impacted us as well.

Before sharing the implementation process, let me share our findings that common to happened within the organisation. I divided into some examples of human challenges.

1^st example.

In some meetings, as I shared some examples of a digital platform or what it can do for our benefit, usually I would do to trigger discussions, it is not rare that the feedbacks from the project owner that we serve would often happens like this :

Project Owner : “very nice, I want that, go ahead Tyas, you make I just follow.”

Project Lead (Me) : *___*

Or,

A Senior Manager : “There’s no way anyone could ever finished 3 projects plan in one week.”

I’m not saying that, of course we can negotiate the timeline based on priorities but it’s the attitude that moves me. Of course being a leader we have a bunch of other responsibilities or routines that needs our attention. I also have a background in advertising where we were mostly need to handle so many accounts at the same time. Juggling so many things was an everyday regular routine. Whoever has been in the advertising industry knows how it feels like in the circus. Making the impossible, possible hence in terms of managing deadline.

So for me it was also getting to understand the people and the culture. And how things are being kept based from the attitude and performance of most staffs. My feelings were more of so,

2^nd example.

Let’s say there are people not quite convinced about the importance of digital and social media. Or how business translation through digital and social media. Being someone new and introducing something makes us an easy target. It is a process of people to get to know you better. Sarcastic comments, being laughed at in the middle of a meeting, I could go on but you get the picture, I hope. Anyway. For me, it’s mostly about handling a situation by ignoring the negatives and focusing on the work. A true professional by the end of the day will come to his or her true senses. If not, then that person is questionable. My point of view if I may add, there are so many opportunities of intimidation, overused of power and it is so easy to fall into it. How to avoid it, just look back into the bigger picture and how the real important people are rooting for you. To meet the expectation of the given role and be professional. There is nothing more classy or powerful than to ignore them, showing performance, forgiveness and grace to someone who does not deserve it.

Apart from people, there are also much discussion about who’s owning the budget, taking ownerships on the projects, minimum understanding for the importance to the business, wanting to know more, and not having available content or business information on each department. Of course there are so many reason behind all of is. I think each company has their own challenges on managing operational and work process. So it is normal. Is it ?

Despite of all happening, these findings, to be frank, I was having the time of my life. I enjoyed every minute of it. It was the bigger picture that drives me. So cuts and bruises was okay. Blood, sweat and tears, but it was all worth it. Every time I look back I cannot stop being grateful for the opportunity. The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.

One of the moment was when I had to build a bridge between two big important departments and apparently what I did was good as I walk back to my desk and found this on my computer that made everything become worth it.

There were times when I just don’t know what to do or how I needed to act upon a situation or a person and was just at a point of exhaustion. Yes, there were some occasions like that. Maybe, it is normal in these situations especially when you are introducing something new. However, for me as long as I am needed, my contributions are perceived as valuable and, I am appreciated for what I do, then there’s no reason to complaint.

Next, The Education Process

The support

January 12, 2018January 12, 20182 Comments

#TyasDigitalProject #3

How important is leaderships support on digital transformation.

The CMO vs. CIO: Digital transformation is largely led by the CMO (34%) not the CIO/CTO (19%).
Some executives are beginning to own digital transformation efforts, and the Chief Information Officer (CIO) is most often at the helm (28%). As all companies increasingly become “technology companies,” the roles of the CIO and IT department are more important than ever — but true success in digital transformation is an enterprise-wide, cross-functional endeavor.

The above facts from Brian Solis brings us to discuss what I think is the most important aspect on digital transformation or any needs of change on an organisation in that matter. Without any force of leaderships there will never be any actions to start or evenly tough to start.

This is why I think it becomes the main important point. It is true that digital transformation is not just a change in technology adapted on the process of business but a change management itself. It should start from the top and fully supported by the leaders on the organisation through a shared work planned. Not only the support but are with you all the way. Establishing presence, sharing guidance, discuss directions, sharing insights and all the efforts we do are always understood or supported.

I started around early August 2012. The division of Digital and Social Media was under the department of Centralized Marketing and Communication or we call in short as CMC. Inside CMC there are other departments such as, brand management (that was divided into two parts since there are four pillars of social initiatives with ten brands to cover), and then there are PR division and Creative Division. The department was headed by a Marketing Director however much of the activities and directions was much influenced by Ibu Nenny Soemawinata as PSF’s Managing Director based on her rich experiences in the world of marketing and advertising. As time goes by, she also took the part of Marketing Director to fill in the vacancy on CMC department.

If you asked me who supported right from the start, to be frank I would have to give my thanks and appreciation to these two person.They are, Ibu Seskia A. Balfas as we call her Ibu Kiki, she is the HR Director and Bapak Sakto Wibisono as IT Director or you can also say CTO refer to Brian’s article. The collaborated initiative with the two department Human Resource and Information & Technology was established from the start.

I will always remember how fortunate to have the opportunity given so many directions and discussions of planning with Pak Sakto and his team. We have the same understanding that to introduce something new like digital and social media needs 2 points of perception needed :

The same understanding of digital and social media, and
A sense of togetherness in running it.

And both are not an easy thing to do on a organization with around 800 more or less personnel. We agreed together and through their support, Ibu Kiki and Bapak Sakto I was given a chance to speak up to the Board of Directors of PSF on their management meeting.

Yes, we did not waste any time at all. I have gotten the opportunity to present and explain about digital dan social media on the monthly management meeting. Generally, the management meeting are only attended by members of the Board of Directors and sometimes their senior management levels occasionally based on the needs or a topic to be discuss.

I was only given 30 minutes’ time. With a lot to share and explain, I need to choose what are the best material to bring. At that moment the understanding of why it is important to go digital was well established among the leaders, or else they wouldn’t hire me in the first place. I also understood that they must’ve already been share so many facts and data or research by agencies or some sort. So the next question to answer was how to do it.

Let’s come back to the statement “lack of expertise, literacy, and understanding of digital trends” as one of the key drivers on digital transformation. Although digital and social media is basically used and entrenched on our daily lives, to educate digital and social media on to a business organization has some stages to make. And on this opportunity I need to make an eye opening session to open up the minds of the decision makers, the top of the top.

It is also important to establish the understanding of what are the functions of digital and social media. And I felt that this understanding is essential and had not yet much being shared at that time.

I am not saying I am an expert on social media. But awareness is key. One’s level of understanding or expertise could help connect the dots between knowledge and strategic planning. Sometimes a little more knowledge is just enough to make a difference. Because that knowledge could open the minds and then trigger discussions towards the directions of a bigger plan. The problem of just seeing one point of view is lagging any potentials. Potentials of opportunities. IMHO.

Info. Social media is a user based tool. When user becomes a community and grew larger as a group, then it has the opportunity to become more. And that has a quality of community building.

Aside from my own experience, I also lucky to have a partner/husband that also share the same experience in digital and social media, in Indonesia, he is well known as an expert in digital community hence gave in a lot of discussions and input for me as we exchange opinions or thoughts.

We both agreed that during those times there are still many misconceptions and misunderstanding on what is social media and its functions, furthermore, how to manage it. It is also often many mistake happening to the people they trust in managing it. For example, the appointed agencies or the department of marketing itself on one’s company. I also need to establish that social media is not only a marketing tool.

Eventually, I brought two set of presentation decks with each titled, “How to manage social media” and “How to measure social media”.

These presentations help me to establish understandings with the board members.

An understanding that managing social media it is not JUST about managing the channels, like twitter, facebook, Instagram or youtube. It is about managing the discussions, managing the people talking the discussion, managing the relationship of the people sharing discussions, managing the collaboration being made after discussions, managing the negative or positive impact sentiment, managing the teamwork afterwards, the networking, managing ideas and others that grew and discussed naturally, organically. And that is the based strategy. It is the same or similar like managing a community.

I also share about why and how to manage based on the size of a community versus how to manage the depth of each opportunity discussion happening on social media on that meeting.

Whereas on social media measurements was a basic introductory about the terminology that usually are used such as conversion rate, impression and its differences in using it on each channel on social media. And then also a bit of quick explanation about CTR, SEM & SEO, CPC and CPM, to cover the just to know basis.

On that management meeting, as I recall it was on Senin, 1^st of October 2012. It was less than a month since I entered PSF on the 1^st week of September 2012. Ibu Nenny, a few times, helped to explain and guide the discussions. And that made me stunned and almost fainted because of the overjoy happening inside of me. Luckily, Ibu Nenny did know how hard my heart was beating at that time.

Ibu Nenny also explained the importance and how Bapak Putera Sampoerna wanted this foundation to have that moment of opportunity through digital and social media. Thus it was important to work together. At that moment I felt like a rock star. And I really feel that momentum was very important for me as I would very much agree with Brian Solis in the cmo artikel that “digital transformation is just as much about change management as it is about technology.” And Ibu Nenny has supported Digital and Social Media team all the way from the start to the end.

So what was agreed on that management meeting? Not only that all board members have the same understanding and the same commitment, I am asked to prepare what is the next step and also meet with all brands to developments of each digital presence.

That through that one chance, continued my opportunity to present the next planning on digital dan social media management first stage and that happened on 21^st of January 2013, around 3 months after. Yeay !

Next, The Findings.

The starting point

January 12, 2018January 12, 20181 Comment

#TyasDigitalProject #2

Digital Transformation, the starting point.

I remember I was very excited to start my new role. New workplace. New environment. New company culture. And handful load of just pure joy. I was ready to do anything. New job meant new role to fulfil. I had an opportunity and I was determined to make the best out of it. Because I knew someday, this experience would benefit me one day. With everybody going digital that time there is no right or wrong. And I feel that is the greatest advantage ever.

September 2012. Where was digital and social media at this stage ?It was the emerging time for digital and social media in Indonesia. And possibly the world. Everyone was getting on to jump digital. So it was an exciting time for new opportunities because of the possibilities at that time and the belief that everyone was force to be open minded about anything digital.

I look back and dig on what happen on 2012 and this is what I found hereShift on text messaging happening made quite a disruption on Indonesia’s biggest telecommunication company. The digital media landscape, YAHOO! made some investments globally and locally in Indonesia influence the market place and put a positive credence on everybody for the future of digital.As for new players on Indonesian e-commerce started to bloom through the big guys in Indonesian business from MNC, Djarum and many more.Everybody wanted to go digital. Massive opening for digital resource. Many opportunities including for me. But the question is, does anyone knows how or what does it takes to transform digital on a corporation? Or does the general people understand the role of a digital and social media manager was at that point. Understanding that each job will be determined based on the needs of each organisation, but the general framework on how to do it, what can people expect, at that time no one has has it.

My journey was not easy to say the least. Introducing something new is like changing culture or a new policy for an organisation. But I enjoy every minute of it. Why, because I had the support I needed, and I will tell about this later. There are also some notes on leaderships and professionalism and I am very grateful to be able to look back and say that I am proud for what I have done or how my actions were point delivered. Nevertheless, good or bad, in the end we gotten a framework or a formulation or a blue print for digital transformation for business.

That is why I said that reading Brian Solis article and research really made me really pleased with all that has happened during my years as Digital and Social Media Manager at Putera Sampoerna Foundation.

With the story being shared based on my experience, let’s start from the facts and data.

The findings on key drivers of digital transformation,and the findings on top challenges for digital transformation initiatives.Next, The Support

Tyas Digital Project

January 12, 2018April 14, 20189 Comments

#TyasDigitalProject #1

Tyas Digital Project is my digital transformation story at Putera Sampoerna Foundation.

It is not about Putera Sampoerna Foundation the company, but it is about my journey, my version, my story implementing a digital transformation for a corporation named Putera Sampoerna Foundation (PSF). PSF, is a social business institution that channels CSR programs for other corporations. Now, PSF has change its business strategy from CSR channel into the Sampoerna School System.

Why is it important for me to share this story ?

As a professional, I feel it is important to always document what you have learned. To be able to share my story implementing digital transformation. A chance to share what I have picked up along the journey. A way to understand how I structure my planning, my way of thinking, my personal insights, all through this simple narration. Hoping could contribute some knowledge for the digital industry.

It all start from an opportunity came one day, to be the digital and social media manager for PSF. At that moment I was still working for multiply.com Indonesia, one of the e-commerce pioneer in Indonesia as Senior Marketing Manager with mixed roles but mainly strategic partnership. It was quite different from my previous experience however I understand that an opportunity like this just don’t come often. And then I guess it was a good decision for 6 months later, multiply.com got cut. Closed down. And everybody was laid off. So, Phew.

Now, what is the definition of digital transformation ?

As I begin to write my story, I found this article from cmo.com that I thought it really capture the essence of what we need to understand on digital transformation. Title article, Digital Transformation Involves More Than Technology.

On the article, based on The 2017 State of Digital Transformation dari Brian Solis dengan Aubrey Littleton, the definition of Digital Transformation is “The investment in and development of new technologies, mindsets, and business and operational models to improve work and competitiveness and deliver new and relevant value for customers and employees in an ever-evolving digital economy.”

The realignment of investment in new technology, business models and processes to drive value for customers and employees and more effectively compete in an ever-changing digital economy.

The report can be downloaded for further learnings. But what I will do is to take those facts and data, and share together my stories based on my experience. So facts versus implementation. Let’s see how it goes, ok.

The timing couldn’t be more perfect as it became a base and a framework to develop my story. And essentially the research shows that we were on the right track.

Through these serial of posts, I plan to share each milestones of our journey. How we, the digital and social media team, could encounter the challenges, the misconceptions, and how we took every opportunity that happen along the way. On each postings, I will start by sharing some facts or data from Brian Solis’ Altimeter Report. Each topic represents an important part of my digital transformation journey.

So enjoy the ride. Discussion are welcome.

Next, The Starting Point

To the Customer You are the Company

January 8, 2018May 2, 20181 Comment

Let’s read the title out loud.

Sadari atau tidak, pernyataan diatas ada benarnya. Tidak jarang saya suka mendengar contoh ucapan-ucapan seperti ini,

oh kirain pencitraan
maaf, saya tidak share hal yang berhubungan dengan pekerjaan saya di channel pribadi saya
saya belum bisa melakukan hal itu, konsisten share ke semua socmed tentang saya.

Sebenarnya begini, pencitraan tidak selalu salah. Karena your name is your brand. Social media adalah suatu jalur untuk dapat memperkenalkan diri kita seutuhnya dengan kontrol ditangan kita sendiri. Citra kita adalah sesuatu yang kita ingin tempatkan secara baik tentunya.

It is your choice, absolutely. Understanding that you are taking your personal platform to your professional needs. But look at it this way. What better way to have something you can use to build you as a personal brand on a daily basis.

However, no matter what level you are in the company, you are the direct representation of the company you work in. Your voice is a powerful tool and then never forget that you will always be linked towards anything related to you, in this case, where you work.

On the other hand, if you have a leadership role in your company, I feel it is important to take ownership, to step up, and share the work that you are proud of. Karena menurut saya it goes with the territory. It is the whole package. If you say the work that you do is important, gives value, will make a difference, wouldn’t you want to share? Don’t you think that people would want to know more ?

Selain dari itu yang terkait dari pencitraan adalah kepercayaan. We are linked to the people who knows us, trust us, and have an interest in what we do. They stayed connected because they want to know you better. So imagine the opportunity for your company just by your influence alone.

However I do agree it will take additional work. But what’s more work when you are drawn towards the things you are passionate about ?

Dari sisi social media, tiap kali saya mendapat kesempatan untuk memberikan pembekalan atau berkesempatan untuk dapat memberikan pendapat, saya selalu katakan bahwa “kedewasaan” adalah kunci utama dalam memandu pagar-pagar penempatan pribadi kita kedunia luar. Leadership skill dan tingkat kedewasaan seseorang tentunya akan compliment each other. Apabila kamu memang seorang leader dalam suatu perusahaan, bisa di akui bahwa keduanya akan tumbuh dan memperbaiki diri berjalan dengan waktu.

Hey, we live, we learn, rite ? Like everybody else, I am also a student in life. Thank you for reading 🙂