The current era of digital economy has compelled businesses to adopt and optimize internet-based technologies. Total number of start-ups in Indonesia today is the fifth largest in the world, according to Start-up Ranking. Data produced by Indonesia’s Digital Creative Industry Community (MIKTI) shows that in 2018 there are 992 digital start-ups active throughout Indonesia. In terms of business scale, almost 53 percent of them are micro businesses. Therefore, the allocation of funding becomes a very sensitive issue, right?
Challenge for start-ups
Funding. This is one of the earliest challenges for any start-up, including in Indonesia. Every dollar of capital held when starting a business must be used efficiently, with optimal results in the shortest possible time.
For digital age, Internet-based start-ups, the funding challenge is even more pronounced because of the high-tech capabilities and resources needed. Therefore, the selection of devices used for operational purposes is expected to be appropriate, performant and able to maintain the agility of business operations, especially in terms of funding.
Every cent of funding obtained have to be appropriately allocated. What’s more, financing efficiency must not reduce the quality of services or products offered.
What is the solution?
One of the most important investments by any internet-based start-up is of course the budget for servers. This item is the heart of all cyberspace businesses. Data storage and internet-based services require servers. However, there is a dilemma when it comes to servers, with cost implications.
Initially, installing large capacity physical servers while using only a small part of its capacity is not an efficient choice. On the other hand, choosing small capacity servers is also vulnerable to technical obstacles when demand suddenly skyrockets.
Here, cloud computing services (henceforth called cloud) can be a solution. Cloud is a technology that utilizes internet services using virtual server centres. The flexibility of service scaling is the most obvious advantage of cloud. Start-ups can use small capacity services according to the initial scale of the business, and at any time that capacity can increased as the business grows, and vice versa.
The flexibility of service capacity is of course correlated with the flexibility of budget allocations. Financing will be truly tailored to the scale and needs of the business.
The next good news is that the government has issued Government Regulation Number 82 of 2012 concerning the Implementation of Electronic Systems and Transactions. One of the points stipulated in it is an obligation for cloud service providers to place Disaster Recovery Centres (DRC) in Indonesia.
Simply put, a DRC is a data storage and processing area to complement or replace the actual data centres when disaster strikes. As long as the data centre is interrupted — temporarily or even totally damaged — servers and services can still run using this DRC.
The basic principle of DRCs is to minimize financial and non-financial losses for business actors due to disasters, especially related to data security. Of course, the security of service users — including maintaining the security of business relationships with business actors — is the basis.
As a response to the above regulation, Telkomtelstra provides a hybrid cloud product named Azure Stack. This service is a local data storage provider that aims to provide opportunities for all businesses – including start-ups – in Indonesia to optimize investments using infrastructure located in Indonesia.
Azure Stack offers a consistent hybrid cloud solution which allows customers to create, distribute, and store applications or data in various circumstances. This solution also provides access to the Azure ecosystem in all public data centre and cloud services.
In addition, Azure Stack is also practical and safe because it provides the ability to manage, protect, and optimize the infrastructure, applications, and data internally through the service or in other cloud services.
Partnering with Telkomtelstra
In summary, there are a number of benefits from using Azure Stack, especially for start-ups, which require dynamic management. Here are the advantages of partnering with Telkomtelstra for Azure Stack:
First, effectiveness and efficiency of start-up costs.
Using Azure Stack is far more effective compared to building your own data centre. Using this service, you can move away from using external hard drives as your data storage mainstay. You don’t need to procure or build servers and recruit professionals to manage data centres, all of which can be handled by us.
Second, efficient investment. Payments are made according to usage.
Telkomtelstra offers a dynamic payment system in accordance with the use of Azure Stack. This payment system can help you optimize the allocation of costs, in proportion to the development of your business. Periodically, you can reduce costs by reducing features that are not needed.
Third, telkomtelstra’s commitment through the monthly fixed price system.
As an alternative payment system, Telkomtelstra offers monthly fixed price. This means, we offer a monthly fixed price determined based on an agreed partnership agreement. This is Telkomtelstra’s unique value proposition, because generally other companies offer a one-time charge payment system.
Fourth, usability and focus.
The advantages of Azure Stack are convenience, related to both usage and access capabilities. Concretely, start-ups does not even need to bother thinking about the system interface and installation, because it is already included in the service package. Even for business development Azure Stack provides a number of service models, which are not just about Software as a Service (SaaS). There are also Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) models. These three models allow the owner and / or start-up manager to choose the most suitable one according to their business needs.
Fifth, multi-regional data centre services.
Telkomtelstra has complied with PP No.82 of 2012. With the option to use the Telkomtelstra Data Centre or building a dedicated data centre at the customer’s premises, Telkomtelstra combines network and cloud capabilities in managed services to ensure performance with high capability. Telkomtelstra with multi-regional data centres enhances customer performance and trust in accessing data. Customers can still access data in other data centres in the event of a disaster at the local regional data centre. With multi-region data centres, data can be accessed through replication in other data centres.
Sixth, National Network and Local Support.
Telkomtelstra as a subsidiary of the Telkom group, is supported by Telkom, one of the best communication network providers in Indonesia. Not only that, for those of you who have businesses and companies in several locations in Indonesia, finding the right expert in resolving communication problems can be problematic. To conserve your time and energy, Telkomtelstra provides regional support services, making available accurate, rapid, and efficient on-site support.
Seventh, security.
To ensure the security of managed data, Telkomtelstra has passed certification audit according to ISO 27001 (Information Security Management).
(written by Irene Debora, Technology Analyst, telkomtelstra)