Samudera Indonesia is digitizing through Samudera Connect, which undoubtedly makes it easier for customers to track containers, check vessel departure schedules, warehouse locations, and more. This web-based platform aimed at improving efficiency and productivity was released in early 2023 and is increasingly popular among customers. It marks one of the milestones of Samudera Indonesia's successful implementation of digitalization.
I Kadek Didik Wijaya, Division Head of Corporate IT at Samudera Indonesia, stated that this digital transformation effort is a change initiative with innovation to enhance work efficiency and improve customer experience, saying, "This aims to increase value to stakeholders."
Technology modernization is used by the company to accelerate changes in business processes. Slowly but surely, its impact is showing promising results. "Technology enables us to design better business processes, with the implementation of new technology or solutions," said Kadek, who has been with Samudera Indonesia since 2001.
He explained that the digital transformation process is being carried out gradually across all departments, such as finance, HR, operations, and marketing. The first area to undergo technological improvements was the operational department, involving the digitization of shipping business processes, starting from booking, shipping tracking, and billing submission. Digital transformation of this kind has been ongoing for the past 20 years.
Subsequently, the shipping company's management, whose shares are coded as SMDR, analyzed digital transformation, identified obstacles, improved business processes, and updated various digitalization-related devices. In short, transformation within the company founded by Soedarpo Sastrosatomo is an ongoing process to continually enhance business processes. One of these enhancements is the container tracking dashboard, which makes it easier for consumers.
Container tracking is a technology that allows container owners to track the position on Samudera Indonesia's digital platform. The container tracking feature identifies issues, such as container owners being able to track the last known location of a container and report it to authorities in case of suspected loss. Moreover, customers can easily track the status of their shipments, among other things.
Samudera Indonesia provides customer satisfaction in handling inter-island or international cargo shipments. The company, which has been operating since 1964, offers predictable scheduling for its shipping services. "All of this can be achieved with technology support," said Kadek.
This digitalization is the result of a series of discussions and feedback from employees and other stakeholders. Kadek cites financial reporting as another technology-based process. Data is collected for analysis and serves as a reference for decision-making to address various issues. The company maintains close communication with customers during the technology improvement process to avoid misunderstandings.
"We used to provide information to customers so that if anything unwanted happened, they would understand from the beginning. But we ensure that problems are minimized to avoid disrupting operational processes," Kadek emphasized.
On the other hand, Samudera Indonesia also enhances employee competence. Company personnel are trained and groomed to become instructors to share knowledge with other employees.
Listiyo Prinantoro, Division Head of Corporate Digital at Samudera Indonesia, emphasizes the role of employees as the key to the success of every digital transformation process. "We have been using technology for a long time, so business processes can be integrated, and business decision-making can be faster," said Listiyo.
The company also takes the initiative to use the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence to serve customers through chatbot features to answer their questions. This is a concrete step towards realizing the digital transformation roadmap.
The roadmap is developed by management in line with technological advancements. Short and long-term digitalization planning considers security aspects and fosters innovation and solutions created by Samudera Indonesia's professionals.
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