Google promises to build up local team

Google Inc. announced on Friday the opening of the much awaited Google Indonesia — the Internet giant’s local extension that aims to grow businesses in three sectors through a strong focus on building a local team and pushing mobile-centric plans.

Google Southeast Asia managing director Julian Persaud said that Google’s strong focus on mobile-based Internet access in Indonesia was in line with the overall trend in which Google has noticed a 500 percent increase in mobile-based Internet searches.

“People are adopting smartphones and moving away from feature phones,” he said, adding that people would spend 30 percent more time on search queries once they have their fingers around smartphones.

Indonesia’s mobile penetration is around 100 percent, but smartphone penetration is only around 10 percent. However, the number is set to rise as the prices of smartphones continue to fall.

Julian added that the company would focus on growing their user base by advertising and through corporate business portfolios in Indonesia.

“On the corporate side, we are focused on cloud computing,” he noted.

Google’s entry into Indonesia has come after lengthy speculation by industry players on when the California-based Internet giant would formally set foot in the market.

According to Alexa, Google.com and Google.co.id are ranked in the top three most visited Indonesian web sites.

Google also took the chance to introduce Rudy Ramawy, a local creative industry man, as their Indonesia country head.

Rudy has previously held various positions in media and recording labels, including television station RCTI and Sony Music Indonesia. He has also held positions in the consumer goods and telecommunications industries.

“It is important for us as a company to have a local face,” Google Southeast Asia Managing Director Julian Persaud told The Jakarta Post regarding their decision.

Julian added that the Internet giant planned to expand the size of their local team based on expectations of increased business volume in the country.

“We are aiming to seek as much local talent as we can,” he said, although he pointed out that Google Indonesia has yet to settle into a definite office location.

He further said that Google would continue forging partnerships with small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as they, in addition to content developers, would be the ones representing local content for Indonesian web users. Google has run the ‘Bisnis Lokal Go Online’ initiative intended to provide web presence for local SMEs.

Rudy Ramawy pointed out that he has his work cut out for him. “So you can expect more initiatives coming from Google this year,” he told the Post.

He further pointed out that Google would intensify localizing Google’s products and services to match the market’s unique needs.

Google has released local versions of its products and services, such as Google Maps, Google Voice and Google Play.

US Ambassador for Indonesia Scot Marciel said that the presence of Google in Indonesia was
“important because the world is moving toward a knowledge-based economy. Google’s presence here and having them work with companies will help Indonesia build this,” he said. (Mariel Grazella, The Jakarta Post)