Digital drive: Pedestrians in front of the Bank Indonesia headquarters in Jakarta. Based on a recent International Data Corp report, the Indonesia Central region is expected to create US$15.2bil (in additional revenue) over the next three years. — Bloomberg
JAKARTA: Six months after launching its first cloud region in Indonesia, Microsoft has announced the availability of its latest cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) services in the Indonesia Central cloud region, further strengthening the foundation for organisations across the country to build the next generation of AI-powered solutions.
Dharma Simorangkir, president director of Microsoft Indonesia, and Fiki Setiyono, Azure go-to-market lead for Microsoft Asean, spoke to The Jakarta Post’s Maudey Khalisha on Nov 25 during the Cloud & AI Innovation Summit in Jakarta about the immediate impact of the cloud region, Indonesia’s readiness for AI and what the company’s US$1.7bil commitment means for local talent and industry.
What has been the immediate impact of the Central cloud region since its launch?
Dharma: It is not just a technology or infrastructure investment.
It is actually a statement of confidence in Indonesia’s potential as a digital powerhouse.
On GitHub, an open-source developer platform, Indonesia now has 4.37 million developers, making it the eighth-largest developer community in the world.
And growth over the past few years has been incredible.
These developers are creating applications and innovations for companies and organisations in Indonesia, generating new economic value.
Based on a recent International Data Corp report, the Indonesia Central region is expected to create US$15.2bil (in additional revenue) over the next three years and generate 106,000 jobs.
We are also seeing many companies building their presence in Indonesia to support this growth.
We are seeing a tremendous eagerness to adopt AI.
Adoption among local companies, including small, medium and large corporations, has increased, and global companies have also shown strong interest.
Our global partners have announced the availability of their services in Indonesia for both local and international customers.
How does Indonesia’s progress in AI and cloud adoption compare with other countries in South-East Asia?
According to our Work Trend Index, 97% of leaders in Indonesia believe in using AI as a tool.
This is higher than the South-East Asian average, which ranges from around 56% to 59%. Compared with other countries in South-East Asia, Indonesia excels in terms of speed, acceleration and the number of developers.
As Indonesia accelerates toward an AI-powered economy, where do you see the biggest gaps in readiness and how is Microsoft positioning itself to close those gaps?
Microsoft Fabric is our unified data and analytics platform that helps customers organise their data to become AI-ready.
Fiki: The Indonesia Central region now comes with our latest innovations to enable AI development, including access to various large language models.
What is encouraging is seeing this enabling layer of technology translate into real value creation.
For example, Tiket.com has enhanced its customer engagement platform within its super app by introducing an AI-powered customer agent.
These agents act as travel assistants, helping users manage trips using natural language and reasoning.
Furthermore, they can assist with add-on flight bookings, flight notifications and refunds.
What are the biggest organisational risks Indonesian businesses face amid rising online threats?
From an engineering standpoint, every new capability and feature must go through our Secure Future Initiative to ensure that all Microsoft innovations remain grounded in security and trust.
Secondly, we advocate a “shift-left” approach for our customers and innovators, meaning security and trust must be addressed from phase zero.
Even in the era of AI agents, innovation should be built on a foundation of security and trust from the very beginning.
Are there any new partnerships we can expect from Microsoft in the near future?
Dharma: We believe that building a digital and AI-powered economy in Indonesia requires collaboration.
We are looking forward not only to working for our customers but also with broader stakeholders.
Together with the presidency under President Prabowo Subianto and relevant ministries, we aim to build not just technology but also people and talent.
Our focus is on equipping more Indonesians with AI skills so they can create new value.
Last year, we provided AI skilling to 1.2 million Indonesians through our Microsoft Elevate programme.
By 2026, our goal is to go deeper, not only offering training but also providing certification to 500,000 Indonesian talents. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
