A Closer Look at Google's Strategy for the Indonesian Market at Google for Indonesia

Yesterday (9/8) Google held the Google for Indonesia event at the Ritz Carlton, Pacific Place, Jakarta which was Google's first major event in Indonesia. In this event a number of Google executives from the head office attended to explain how Google's strategy to play in the unique Indonesian market. Some are new strategies, such as adding Go-Jek and Grab in Maps. While the other is localized Google product optimization to make it easier to use in Indonesia.

Since the digital industry in Indonesia is growing rapidly, many foreigners are looking at Indonesia as a promising new market. Google, as one of the giants in the digital industry, feels the same way. VP Product Management Google Caesar Sengupta himself revealed that Indonesia is an important market for Google. There are at least three reasons underlying this.

First, Caesar believes that there will be a significant number of billions of Google users coming from developing countries such as India and Indonesia. This is motivated by the large potential for new internet users in developing countries. For information, Managing Director of Google Indonesia Tony Keusgen said that now internet users in Indonesia have crossed 100 million and that number is still not half of the total population in Indonesia.

Second, the difference in access to the internet. Caesar believes that there will be more new internet users in the future through devices mobile devices, in some cases even just through mobile devices. Indonesia itself has been known in the eyes of the world as mobile first country.

Third, developing countries like Indonesia can show how the younger generation will use technology in the future. From this, Caesar believes that if Google can make good products for developing countries, it's the same as Google has made good products for the world.

“So our goal is not only to get more Indonesians online, but also to help Indonesia create the internet they want […] and have an impact on the whole world. To achieve this, we will focus on three key areas, namely Access, Platform and Product."

Google's three key areas in Indonesia

In terms of access, Google will promise to provide better full access to the internet for Indonesian citizens, especially for those who have limited data and connections with low bandwidth such as 2G. Here, some Google products such as Search, Maps and Youtube will be optimized again.

VP Product Management for Google Search Tamar Yehoshua announced that a new Lite Mode in Google Search will be developed so that it can load search results up to 5x faster. VP Engineering for Google Maps Hugh Williams explains that Maps is optimized for use offline which can be stored on the SD Card to save usage bandwidth. Meanwhile, VP of Engineering for Emerging Experiences at YouTube, John Harding, announced that the Accelerator feature that can serve YouTube videos with instant speed will soon be launched in Indonesia.

From the platform side, Google provides “tools” so that Indonesians can express their local culture and create innovative applications to solve local problems. Here, Google also collaborates with leading universities in Indonesia and provides interesting programs such as: platform for startup development and also developer Indonesia.

Product Management Director Developer Product Group Google Ben Galbraith explained that Google is currently running a program to help train 100.000 developers by 2020. As part of this program, Google is currently developing a special training program on the basics of Android in collaboration with the Bandung Institute of Technology, Gadjah Mada University and Bina Nusantara University which will add the course to its curriculum next year.

In addition, there is the Launchpad Accelerator program for startups, the Google Developer Certification program which is localized through the language, and the Android Kejar program which is now opening the second batch of registrations. From the Youtube side, Harding also announced that Google has launched the Creator Hub and Creator Community which have been fully translated into Indonesian.

In terms of products, Google promises to continue to optimize their products by localizing their content so that it can be used by Indonesian citizens more easily. For example, the Search product, which is now able to display search results (knowledge card) which provides concise information in better Indonesian. Tamar also announced that Google Assistant will soon be released in Indonesian.

Meanwhile, Williams revealed that Google Maps has now integrated TransJakarta bus data completely real-time and recently integrated Go-Jek and Grab also. The beauty of Komoda Island and the wealth of its sea can be enjoyed 360 degrees through the StreetView feature on Maps. In addition, the new version of Chromecast will also be officially present in Indonesia via one of the e-commerce channels in Indonesia, namely Lazada.

Previously, Google itself has launched various programs that seek to help small and medium enterprises in Indonesia. For example, the Gapura program which Google now claims has trained 7.000 SMEs in five big cities on how to build a better presence on the internet. Then, there is also Google My Business which is claimed to have helped thousands of SMEs to be online this year.

In the future, Google also plans to maintain close relations with the Indonesian government. One of them is through the plan to launch the Global Fishing Watch application in collaboration with Oceana and SkyTruth. Global Fishing Watch uses machine learning, cloud computing, and Google Earth visualizations to help governments fight illegal fishing.