Generative AI in Indonesia : Conversations with IBM on implementation and impact of Gen AI

In this episode, we'll first hear from Abraham Thomas, Managing Partner, IBM Consulting, ASEAN who will be sharing insights on the implementation and impact of Generative AI across ASEAN. Following that, we'll connect with Deep Bhau, Managing Partner Indonesia & Ventures, who will dive deeper into the specific applications and challenges of this technology in the Indonesian context.

Transcript

AIBP Intro: 0:02

The AIBP ASEAN B2B growth podcast is a series of fireside chats with business leaders in Southeast Asia focused on growth in the region. Topics discussed include business strategy, sales and marketing, enterprise technology and innovation.

YY - AIBP: 0:28

Greetings and welcome to the ASEAN B2B growth podcast. In today's episode, we shine a spotlight on generative AI in Indonesia, this series of conversations with Indonesian business leaders took place during the IBM consulting forum on the 29th of November, 2023 in today's podcast, we'll first hear from Abraham Thomas, the Managing Partner of IBM consulting ASEAN Abraham, more affectionately known as Ab by friends, colleagues and clients, will be sharing with us his candid insights into the implementation and impact of generative AI across Southeast Asia. Following that, we'll connect with Deep Bhau, the managing partner of Indonesia and ventures who will take us deeper into the specific applications and challenges of this technology within the Indonesian context. Hi.

Irza Suprapto: 1:29

We are joined today by Abraham Thomas, who runs IBM's consulting business here in ASEAN. Just a quick introduction of yourself. Abraham,

Abraham Thomas, Managing Partner, IBM Consulting: 1:37

sure. Thank you very much, Irza, for this opportunity to have this discussion with you. My name is Abraham. In IBM, They all call me Ab, and I am now the managing partner for IBM consulting in the ASEAN region. So my mandate is really to work with my teams and our clients across all the ASEAN countries. We operate in six of the ASEAN countries in Indonesia, here, of course, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam. And my main role is working with our clients to support our clients transformation efforts and ensuring that my team is empowered and has the right skills to be able to help our clients achieve their objectives. You have

Irza Suprapto: 2:27

a pretty large footprint here in ASEAN, IBM. IBM consulting, you know, and Gen AI has been a very big topic this year. Everybody's talking about it. So in your interactions with your clients throughout the region, what are the conversations that you're having with them, with different organizations throughout Southeast Asia?

Abraham Thomas, Managing Partner, IBM Consulting: 2:45

Yeah, I think that's a very interesting question, right? You see that in the technology industry, there's always a push for organizations to adopt the latest and the best technology, and I think with generative AI is really to find the sweet spots in the organization. It could be in finance, it could be in HR. It could be in your customer interaction, in your contact centers. Or it could just be how you can be more in, more innovative and more able to handle the challenges that you have with your technology debt, for example, because many clients or many companies have got applications that they have written 15,20, years ago that they're still using today. How do you ensure that you can modernize these applications? And Gen AI has got the ability to unlock a lot of potential and value for clients that use it in the right use cases. Now we are not using Gen AI for trying to do what consumers would like to do. We're talking about enterprise transformation with Gen AI, so it has to be trusted. It has to be verified. You have to make sure that it is secure, and the data that you train has to be owned by the organization. So many companies that we are working with across this region are focused on areas that really will transform their business and add value, either to their employees, to the organization itself, but more importantly, their interaction with their clients. And that's where I think most of these organizations are focused on. So

Irza Suprapto: 4:36

looking back at your client base, or the organizations that you're speaking to here in Southeast Asia, are there certain functions that are generally more interested in the use cases of Gen AI, because you don't speak just to IT teams, right?

Abraham Thomas, Managing Partner, IBM Consulting: 4:49

Yes, we speak to the business users as well. And where we are seeing interest, a lot of interest in is around human resources, for example. How do you use generative AI to identify the right candidates that you should shortlist? How do you help how to use generative AI in continuing the onboarding experience of your employees as they join so HR is one area that many people are interested in using because as you onboard the next generation of workers, and these are workers who are very familiar with how to use technology. Organizations that have these kinds of tools are the organizations that excite this gen, new Gen, Gen Y, X, and you know, the new generation of employees that are coming to the organization. So we see HR as one area that is quite well explored. Now I'm using the word explored because you first have to make sure that you have the right use cases, and then you have to have the right foundation models to be able to use these use cases to generate value for the organization. So it is in an experimentation stage, I think, for many organizations, and as we start establishing the right foundation models in these organizations, then the expansion into other areas like client and customer care, in areas like, how do I use the technology to improve my operations in my IT organization? So there are use cases across many different industries and many different functions within these industries, it is important, and it behooves each organization to find the right and best use cases, do a proof of concept and when it works, deploy it at scale, and that's where they get most value from this generative AI technology, Great

Irza Suprapto: 6:59

Ap. And do you see a difference between interests, between applications, between questions that are being asked across Southeast Asian countries? Because, you know, Singapore is obviously a very different demographic to say, Indonesia or Thailand. What are the differences you see just within Southeast Asia itself?

Abraham Thomas, Managing Partner, IBM Consulting: 7:16

Yeah, it is quite similar, right? All organizations are grappling with similar kinds of challenges, similar kind of issues. The biggest challenge, I think, that is common across all our clients across the region, is the availability of the right talent to be able to help them to use this technology, so to deploy the technology. So we are helping with our in fact, within IBM, we are ensuring that all our employees get the right level of training and exposure to Gen AI technology. So we have to have mandatory classes that all employees need to take. So I think the first and most important challenge for organizations across the ASEAN region is, how do you ensure that the people that work for you are conversant and are able to use these technologies to help them do their jobs better? The intention is not to replace people. I think that is the fear that many organizations and many employees have, oh, you know, generative AI is going to replace me. There will be functions that you're doing that could be replaced, but at the end of the day, you still need people that can use this technology to empower them to do their jobs better. And I think that's what we are trying to focus on with our clients. So it starts with ensuring that the change management within the organization of people embracing this technology, understanding it, and then when we have these use cases that we deploy in our client organizations, you don't have the resistance to the change, and that's where most of these proof of concepts fail, where people find a way to sabotage the technology because they are afraid that, oh, if this thing works, they may not need me. But that is not the case at all. Yeah. Okay.

Irza Suprapto: 9:19

Final question, what is IBM doing to build out its capabilities within this very new technology in order to deliver to your clients at this part of the world?

Abraham Thomas, Managing Partner, IBM Consulting: 9:29

As I said, this is permeating throughout our organization. Every single IBM has to have an understanding of generative AI and the technologies behind it, we have a mandatory classes that we have to attend, and then, depending on the role that you play, so in my consulting team, we will build out real experts and professionals who are capable of working with all kinds of technologies, because our clients don't just. Use technology from IBM. IBM has a great offering for Gen AI around the Watson X platform, but our clients use technologies from AWS, from Microsoft, from Google, from SAP, from Salesforce and all the other ecosystem partners that we work with. So one of the challenges that I face in the consulting business is to ensure that I have people who are conversant, who are experts, who are certified on technologies from various companies, because our clients use varied technologies to be able to help them, to you to use generative AI in the organization, that is, I think, today, the biggest challenge. And then, of course, it is really to convince our clients that this technology can really help them, because there are still many companies and organizations who fear the use of these kinds of technologies. But you know, I think one of the things that we are trying to achieve in this event here in Jakarta is to prove and convince our clients that there's nothing for you to fear. It is all for you to embrace these technologies, deploy it in your organizations and help you to become even more successful.

Irza Suprapto: 11:21

Perfect. Thank you very much Ab for joining us today, and we look forward to hearing more from you and your team throughout Southeast

Abraham Thomas, Managing Partner, IBM Consulting: 11:27

Asia. Thank you very much Iza for this opportunity, and wish you all the best. Thank you.

YY - AIBP: 11:32

We've just heard from Ab discussing the broad applications and transformative potential of generative AI across the Southeast Asia region. Now let's shift our focus to more localized perspective. Deep will share his experience with generative AI in the Indonesian market, highlighting unique challenges and opportunities faced by businesses. Here, let's hear what deep has to say about the role of generative AI in Indonesia's digital transformation journey, I'm

Irza Suprapto: 12:03

joined today by deep, part of the IBM consulting team here in Indonesia. Thank you very much for hosting this forum, which a lot of interesting points were raised around Gen AI use cases in Indonesia. Deep will obviously be able to introduce himself much better than I ever will. So deep, can you just quickly introduce yourself and your role in IBM? Yeah.

Deep Bhau, Managing Partner Indonesia & Ventures: 12:21

So as I said, my name is deep. I've been IBM for last 19 years now, worked across multiple countries, from, say, India to US, Dubai, Nairobi, Philippines and now Indonesia for five years, I'm leading the Indonesia IBM consulting right? And my main objective is to make sure that we contribute to IBM Indonesia, to Indonesia on the digital transformations. So we put a lot of focus on the overall digital transformations for all the big enterprises in Indonesia. Which

Irza Suprapto: 12:54

brings me to the next point. I mean, again, thanks again for hosting us today at this wonderful IBM consulting forum, the focus of which is generative AI. And I think IBM has a storied history of being within the AI space of development, within the AI space, but this year, I think the AI space blew up because of Gen AI. Have you seen a lot of Indonesian organizations increased focus on Gen AI. Start beginning from this year. See if

Deep Bhau, Managing Partner Indonesia & Ventures: 13:24

you even, yeah, if you look start the beginning of this year, there's a lot of focus, which is there for the organizations in Indonesia, and everybody is trying to do something on Gen AI, right? Because we know, see, just put a bigger perspective on that. So if you look at the Indonesia strategy, on the digital transformations overall Indonesia strategy, and the 2.8 billion GDP, which is ever 2040 so a large part of that will come from the SME markets and the large enterprises side. And when you're doing all this digital transformation, there are a lot of data which will get generated right now in order to make sense out of that data, in order to understand that better and do some more value add to the organization. The AI and the Gen a are very, very important. So that's why, if you look at today, every organization is trying to do either they're working on a strategy for Gen AI, or they're trying to do small POCs to understand what is required. And I believe that every organization should set up some COEs within the organizations to on the generative we have an AI, and they can take some some models which are either the open source model, or they can take from IBM and IBM, we also have this, what's an x which is what's an x ai, what's an x data, and what is what x governance. So we have an entire set of tool to do end to end on the AI side. So I think we are seeing a lot of transaction within Indonesia on Gen AI. And I think the future is bright here for this, for this technology, yeah, exactly

Irza Suprapto: 14:53

because with Gen AI, I think it's, it's gained quite a mass appeal. And I think there are a lot of this. Leaders, not just IT, leaders within organizations, who are starting to ask, what can we actually do with Gen AI? So when, when organizations in Indonesia come to you with this kind of questions, what are the challenges they usually face, or what kind of pain points are they bringing up to you in the conversations that you have with them,

Deep Bhau, Managing Partner Indonesia & Ventures: 15:15

see few things are there. So see when you're implementing a Gen AI system or AI system. So first thing that you need to see is whether your foundations are there or not. So and in majority of cases, foundation is little bit weak on a weaker side. So that's why we when we say, start working with Gen AI. So you have to start working on the POCs to see what value it can add to the organization. But you also need to see, how do we fix the foundation? Because if you have a strong foundation on data, you can build lot on top of that in terms of AI and Gen AI and start adding value. But I think that is one part. The second part is around skills. So everybody wants to do something on Gen AI, but are there skills there in the markets, the answer is no, yeah. So the way we are helping Indonesia is you must have seen that you acquired a company called Equine Global. So we are focused to build local skills within the Indonesia market. So the way we're building is we, one is we're acquiring local companies, and then we are putting up a very specific, you can say, enabled plan, or a training plan on the digital and the Gen AI. So that's the area we are working on. We also trying to get higher senior executives, business and technology from from from the local market, and build the skills around AI. In addition to that, I think you must be aware that we have set up a center of this AI in Batam also, yeah, where we are training people on AI, we have to see if Indonesia has to be number four in terms of GDP by 20 to 420. 42, point 8,000,000,002 point 8 trillion in terms of the GDP. The focus is required on the skills, because without skills, you can't do anything. You can't take data out of Indonesia to say, US, Singapore or some other place, right? So if you have to use that data within Indonesia, the local skills are required, as simple as

Irza Suprapto: 17:07

that, yeah, and I understand from a lot of your colleagues as well, you have different channels, different programs that you are helping to build talent, skill sets here on top of the acquisition that you mentioned. So in terms of opportunities for IBM, I understand that Indonesia is actually one of the key focus markets globally for IBM, what are you doing in order to where do you think the markets are? Where do you think the opportunities lie? And why are you doing to capture these opportunities in Indonesia? See The

Deep Bhau, Managing Partner Indonesia & Ventures: 17:34

since the beginning of this year, our CEO global, CEO Arvind Krishna, has called Indonesia as a investment market. So out of top five markets, Indonesia is one of them that is amazing. And there's a lot of lot of focus in Indonesia. And when you look at the Indonesia market, as I said, the digital transformation is the focus area. So whether you say transformation on S/4Hana, s/4HANA, rise on Cloud, there are a lot of clients who are going to that transformation roadmap, the lot of transformation which are happening on Salesforce, right? So Salesforce, whether you talk about the marketing cloud or service cloud for the B2B or B2C, a lot of work is happening on that space, and then especially on this data and AI. Because I personally, I strongly believe that if you're doing all these transformations, this data, AI, is an important area to work on. And then in terms of the overall Indonesia market, and there's a lot of scope which is there on the shared services side also, right? So if you look at all the SOEs, which are there, are all the large organizations which are there, a lot can be done on the shared services side. You can digitize the entire shared services process. You can combine the share services of multiple SOEs into one. So a lot of digitization, lot of optimization you can do on the shared services side. And then the last and most important is that when everything is this is happening, right? This has to be on Cloud, yeah. So when you're putting everything on cloud, so you need all the cloud skills in terms of the management of the cloud, the the overall setting of the overall architecture, deployment, deploying application on the onto the cloud. And then when you're putting everything on cloud with all this data, the security has to be there, yeah. So there's a lot, I think, I think Indonesia has a lot of opportunities, at least for next five, six

Irza Suprapto: 19:24

years. So everything, as you mentioned, around the business capabilities, the technology capabilities, as well as a focus on cyber security to make sure that everything is secure, fantastic. So I think there's a lot of work for you to do. Indonesia is growing very rapidly, and I wish you all the best. I look forward to what IBM consulting does in this part of the

Deep Bhau, Managing Partner Indonesia & Ventures: 19:41

world. Thank you very much. I think, I think it's a good challenge for me, and I'm ready, yeah, I'm very, very, you can say that, very, eager, very, I know that. I know the market is there. Yeah, I know the market. We can, we can work it out. Perfect.

Irza Suprapto: 19:58

Sounds fantastic. Thank. You. Thank you.

YY - AIBP: 20:01

Stay tuned for more insights on generative AI in Indonesia in the upcoming episodes,

AIBP Intro: 20:09

we hope you've enjoyed the episode. For more information about business growth in the ASEAN region, please visit our website, www.IoTbusiness-platform.com.