I'll Tag It!!

Did you ever feel that every pieces of your footstep in your life at a point in time may at least lead you to a wiser and bigger meaning of something? well I maybe one of those who thinks that way. I see that mailing list and my reading during the last two weeks lead me to to start understanding how collaborative working can rule the new competition.

I’ve been reading this cool book for about two weeks from the first day I bought it at a bookstore in Bandung. Oh yeah, I forget. Anyway, the book is entitled Wikinomics. Pretty eye catching for an impulse book reader like me by just looking at the cover. Though I read its Indonesian translated version, the message is pretty clear and delivered nicely. It’s a pity that I’m in the middle of my peak time to finalize some stuff for the end of January.
Authored by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams, the book is promising a new look of how information society revolutionizes. It’s not food company vs food company anymore. It’s not also rivalry between two competing value chains. It’s way bigger than that. What happened now is global competition. I’m not talking global in a “multinational” or “enterprise-wide” sense, but global in the sense that all people are powered by the new version of the little e- (e-business, e-commerce, e-money, e-banking) to enhance new innovation, new product and even bigger, a new paradigm. Collaboration, seems to be the most looked up buzzword to define how people are now enabled to create a new kind of working style, dumping self and license protected product and services.Whole range of collaborations now exist to demonstrate the capability of shared-working: blogs, wikis, peering, open source application, and to my knowledge, mailing list.

In Indonesia, the wave of collaboration is also moving on. I realize the going by looking how community media is having its evolution. From 20 mailing list I have been joining so far, at least now I’m part of some mailing lists that serve for certain domain of knowledge. One community/mailing list, KOM-TEK, stands for KOMputer TEKnologi, is an Indonesian -based mailing list dedicating for improving the member skill. It is a place where few humble and IS experienced people are dedicating themselves for the development of Indonesia human resources, especially in ERP and other enterprise application. They hold ranges of free ERP trainings given that internet connection is available. As a result, now more people are coming that are competitive for ERP human resources market after they graduate from the training.

Another mailing list, IPOM-APICS are opening opportunity for those who are interested in industrial engineering and its related field. The mailing list is associated with APICS (a non profit organization that offers three internationally recognized professional certification programs:CPIM – Certified in Production and Inventory Management, CFPIM – Certified Fellow in Production and Inventory Management, and CSCP – Certified Supply Chain Professional designation. Since its formation, the mailing list has been able to provide its member access to knowledge in operation management.
Having read this, I guess it’s not impossible to create new innovation from this community controlled area. And that’s what I call the power of community.

The newly appointed Pertamina CEO Karen Agustiawan raised different comments over her next steps for rescuing this state-owned oil company. To me, the assignment probes me to nominate Indonesia women who are inspiring in business and leadership within the last ten years.

The list is obviously subjective, based on my own feeling :). They may be public figure. Furthermore, the ordering doesn’t indicate superiority. So feel free to think about other figures or add it on your own list:

1. Sri Mulyani
Starting her career as lecturer at Faculty of Economics, University of Indonesia, Dr.Mulyani now bears responsibility to drive Indonesia future economic to be better and more stable as a Minister of Finance. She earned her doctorate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After the so-called monetary crisis in Indonesia (1997- now?), her name started to emerge in many economics discussion in many media. Some of her profesionall recognition I guess are 2006 best Asia Finance Miniter by Emerging Market, the 2nd Indonesia most influencing woman on Globe Asia version, and the 23rd the world most influencing woman Forbes version in 2008. I still recall several occasions where I saw her in the TV arguing and debating her opponents, which sometimes led to a furious debate. One thing I can’t accept is when she took a role in International Monetary Fund. To me, it’s like working for someone who has a hidden and adverse agenda to you.

2. Betti Alisjahbana
In Indonesia, Alisjahbana clan brings their own reputation for being a talented people with a very impressive track record of academic. Alisjahbana is a family name, taken from a everlasting reputable Indonesian author, Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana. Though not a direct I may say that the importance of education runs in the family. Born in Bandung, 2 August 1960, Ms.Alisjahbana was raised with many kind of academical activities. She graduated from a nationally reputable Bandung Institute of Technology with major in Architecture. Her highest achievement in career is to role as an CEO of IBM Indonesia, quite amazing for an architecture.

3. Eva Rianti Hutapea
Mrs.Hutapea was a CEO of Indofood, one of the Indonesia’s largest instant noodle producer. From tokoh indonesia , she mentioned three success factor: opportunity, capability and luck.She is regarded as the woman behind the rescue of Indofood due to the huge loss of Rp. 1,2 trilion in 1997. Its biggest revenue source, instant noodle sales plummeted to 7.8 billion packages. Her success in rescuing Indofood made her being awarded as Indonesia Best CEO on Swa Magazine version. Additionally,

4. Rini Suwandi
I know little about her, but I started to recognize her when she was as A Minister of Industrial and Trade when Megawati acted as President of Indonesia. Sometime before being a minister, she was named as a CEO of Astra International, a holding for a number of leading Indonesia’s companies. Most of her time was spent abroad, yet, it doesn’t make her forgeting her root as Indonesia.

5. Karen Agustiawan
Obviously, her update is the most sought-after news recently. She challenges male domination of oil and gas industry by chairing the first person at Pertamina, state-owned oil corporation. Before appointed as president director of Pertamnina, she was also first woman to head the state company’s upstream division, responsible for the management of the company’s drilling rigs, a job which was once seen as too macho for a woman. Graduated from Bandung Institute of Technology, major at physical engineering, she has also been roaming about oil and gas industry from Mobil Oil, CGG Petrosystem, Halliburton, before eventually joined Pertamina.

7. Widyawati
A very famous artist and still enchantedly charming to me. Her husband, Sophan Sopiaan, is also a famous actor from early 70s. They made Indonesia fell in love and made them Indonesia sweetheart from the first time they show up in movie industry until now. Her husband passed away when a street accident took his life during his travel with bikers club to promote nationalism.

8. Mari Elka Pangestu
Ministry of Trade.

9. Miranda Gultom
Deputy Governor of Indonesia Central Bank.

Number n….. Mrs.Taufik Kiemas’s wife???
Well….this one? no comments 🙂

When thinking about accounting education in Indonesia, my highest concern is creating as well as sustaining a proven accounting graduates in the market. Market is increasingly demanding them to be more responsive and adaptive with recent business development. They are not projected merely as a scorekeeper and operationally-centered worker. Nor do they expected to master on just audit skills.

Have Indonesia universities done the utmost to accomplish the goal? well, I guess, the dream is still long way to go. Many of these accountant wannabe supplier still struggle to meet the basic needs such as minimum number of students, teaching staff wealth, and many more. It doesn’t mean that, I by no means, don’t credit the current achievement. Only, I just feel that there is something missing in shaping our students internally.

What I see on current process is that we undeliberately transform them into what I call an accountant with limited organizational view. We place them in a tunnel of limited capability along the way, fueling them with merely basic capability with no limited knowledge of how organization works as a weapon. If they turn out to be auditor, they’re just an auditor with a limited view of enterprise.

The emerging information era and a rapid complexity and risks in business have transformed market expectation on them to be an information workers and business analyst. They are now expected to provide solution for business challenge instead of just merely providing number crunching for the executive annual/monthly meeting, and leave those execs to decide next course of action. Accounting graduates should position themselves to be an integral part of the organization, whatever their role will be, be it an auditor, consultant, tax consultant or other roles. And I guess the most appropriate role they can take is as an analyst. To be a business/system analyst, one ought to be knowledgeable about specific organization’s business processes. They must know how information flows from one state to another.

A part of crucial element constituting accounting expertise is the mastery of information system. University must revamp their orientation to produce a capable user or an excel project manager. They must start to think their students as a future analyst, who will address both user needs and IS development project.