Final Assignment Debs.docx

The Digitalization of Money Written By: Debby Noviyanti, Translated By: 丸 Indonesia, the 4th most populous country in the world with a constantly growing economy is going through a period of change. It is currently entering the digital age. This is marked by the large usage of Forms of electronic payments in the society. From paying Toll Road Bills, Online Taxi Fares and parking lots, all of these are currently using existing forms of E-Money. These are T-Cash, Ovo, Go-Pay, Sakuku, and many others. Just by looking at the progress of technology today, we could feel the benefits of modern technology especially in the world of business. Unfortunately, there are still people out there who are missing out from the benefits of the modern technology. Especially in Indonesia, due to inadequate facilities and infrastructure, there are huge parts of the country that are still off untouched by modernization. One of these problems are like slow internet speeds and low coverage. These assets are crucial if Indonesia wants to compete in the global stage of modern economy. As technology develops, so does the needs of the people. Technology is constantly trying to improve our lives for the better each and every day. In Indonesia for example, the methods of payment have been vastly improved, especially for the past few years. For example: instead of waiting in long queues for payment, there are currently alternative methods like smartphones apps or an electronic payment method called ‘Tapcash’. These apps are all available for everyone to download for free. These new technologies have benefits that can give the user the edge for those who can harness it. But for those who couldn’t would fall behind, said the Chief of the House of Representatives of Bambang Soesatyo. New technologies however doesn’t always come with benefits, but also flaws. In a third world country like Indonesia, these flaws can be felt throughout society. One of the major flaws of these digital forms of payment is that it needs a constant flow of internet connection to function properly. In Indonesia, the internet connection speed is a major problem. Indonesia is one of the countries in Asia-Pacific with the slowest internet speed. Even in Jakarta a lot of people still complain about this problem. This can be a major problem because any disruption caused in a transaction would result in the money being stuck in Limbo with nowhere to go. That would be a major loss for both sides. Also, there are still many parts of the archipelago that are not yet been touched by internet coverage. Remote Villages in Sulawesi, Papua and Sumatera for example are off limits to the internet. Also, a lot of people in Indonesia still lives in poverty, which means they can’t buy smartphones or other fancy gadgets. This is where the Government should step up its efforts such as building better infrastructure and lowering the price of smartphones. Most Indonesians are attracted to cashless forms of payments (Ovo, Go-Pay , T-Cash, etc) because they often offer discounts or cash backs. Besides that, the users were given the convenience to use its features. The President Director of Ovo Adrian Suherman stated that his digital payment service has currently 5-10 million active users. The transaction of Electronic Payments in Indonesia has seen a drastic increase. As of November 2017, the Indonesian Central Bank has recorded that the value and volume of E-Money transactions is 1,64 Trillion IDR

which is a huge 98% increase compared to November from the previous year. The Director of System of Payment of the Indonesian Central Bank Eny V. Panggabean reaffirmed that the transactions of E-Money has been the biggest contributor in cashless transactions. “The average transaction of E-money reached 2.3 million transactions per day with a value of 2.8 trillion IDR” said Eny. But on the other hand, there are still people in the society who would rather use old school methods like Cash or credit cards. In the up and coming future, we could see a huge change in digitalization. Their forms would differ a lot than what we know in 2018. The better the technology, the less manpower is required for certain jobs, like for example: a cashier. In the big city of Seattle on the west coast of the US, there have been experiments on a supermarket without cashier machines which is called “Amazon Go”. Amazon Go emplaces a series of cameras in every corner of the supermarket to monitor and identify every customer that walks in and what products they bought. During entry, customers would go through some sort of a huge scanning device that looks like a card scanning machine that is used in the subways. These machines would then scan the Amazon Go app of every customer. And then the cameras would identify which products that the customers took from the shelves. If the customer decided against buying it and return it to the original shelf, then the product would be automatically removed from the customers shopping list. Lastly, customers won’t need to wait in long endless queues because the payment is already done through their Amazon Go apps in their phones, which is tied directly with their credit cards.

Based on the analysis above, we can conclude that there are lots of benefits when using cashless forms of payments. The benefits are it would eliminate any human errors made during payment like if the cashier gives/charges the wrong sum of money. The other benefits are we don’t need to bring cash in out wallets anymore. We just need our smartphones and internet connection. And also no more waiting for long tiring queues in supermarkets and shopping centres. But on the other hand, there are a couple of flaws like needing to have constant internet connection and not everyone is able to use the app. On my opinion, digital forms payment should be spread out and socialised throughout Indonesia. The government should also play a role in changing the payment methods in Indonesia such as Improving the internet connection and lower smartphone prices so more people can afford it. JAKARTA - Young entrepreneurs are demanded to be able to have a broad knowledge of information and technology to be able to keep up and survive in the era which is dubbed “The Industrial Revolution 4.0”. Without these, Indonesian businessmen would be lagging years behind in the global economy stage. “The Industrial Revolution 4.0 will change the flow of world economy. If we don’t prepare now, we would be lagging years behind in the global economy” said Bambang Soesatyo, the Chief of the House of Representatives, Jakarta, Thursday (12/4/2018)

Sources

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