CATAPA Focuses on Relevant HR Solution Needs During a Pandemic

Some time ago, HR solution providers and payroll CATAPA launched a new program called #CATAPAFreeforUMKM. Through this program, MSMEs in Indonesia get free access to their services. This is one of the company's new initiatives in the last six months since the Covid-19 outbreak.

CATAPA Founder & CEO Stefanie Suanita acknowledged that the pandemic had both positive and negative impacts on her business. "The negative impact, this affects our business because the CATAPA business model is a subscription fee per employee per month," Stefanie said in a statement to DailySocial.

This is because over the last few months corporations in Indonesia have had to withhold/reduce budget for efficiency. Not a few business people - small to large scale though - were forced to lay off their employees.

On the other hand, he continued, this pandemic is forcing the business sector to digital transformation. This is because many companies enforce Work From Home (WFH) during the pandemic which results in Human Resource (HR) activities having to be carried out outside the office.

"With this situation, many companies need a payroll process that can be done outside the office, like at home," he added.

Stefanie sees this situation as a positive impact because it creates opportunities. For example, an attendance recording solution that can be monitored easily. According to him, there are still many companies that apply the attendance system by using finger printing machine. Meanwhile, this device has the potential to be a medium for transmitting viruses because of the many touches.

Then the solution for approval of leave or overtime that can be processed automatically paperless and from anywhere. From the various possibilities above, his party seeks to accommodate the needs of corporations in Indonesia.

"For now, we put more energy on features that are relevant to current conditions. The key is speed and adaptability. This means, CATAPA seeks to quickly launch products or programs that are relevant to current conditions," he said.

Meanwhile, the #CATAPAFREEforUMKM program, which was launched on September 1, is intended only for MSMEs with a maximum number of 20 employees. Stefanie said that this program is valid until August 31, 2021. However, it is possible that this program will be extended if the demand continues to grow.

MSMEs will get free access to CATAPA Basic services which include solutions payroll, Time Management (management of employee attendance), Employee Self Service/ESS (time submission and approval portal) management, company information, and employee data), and Claudia Chatbot.

Previously, CATAPA has also launched a number of initiatives during the pandemic. For example, CATAPA Safe, an application that serves to identify the distance between employees while in the work area.

The application, which was released in April 2020, has three main objectives, namely Track, Trace, and Isolate. If there are employees who are positive for Covid-19, the company can track who has been in contact with the employee in question for the past 14 days to be immediately isolated.

CATAPA was founded in 2017 and is one of the companies under GDP Venture. As of August 2020, CATAPA users have experienced more than 300 percent growth since its inception.

As is known, before Minister of Cooperatives & SMEs Teten Masduki predicts as many as 50 percent of MSME businesses in Indonesia will go out of business due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The government has also disbursed Rp123 trillion for the MSME assistance program.

Reported Kompas.com, the latest Workday report noted that as many as 50 percent of companies in Indonesia prioritize digital transformation, while 31 percent of them actually slow this effort.

In addition, as many as 41 percent of companies in Indonesia have difficulty managing new ways of tracking the licensing chain and other operational activities due to the pandemic. The report also mentions that the company's ability to utilize digital tools is one of the biggest challenges in carrying out digital transformation during the pandemic.