Maverick Indonesia

Click Of The Week #14: Deriz’s TCP IP

Deriz is our friend who works for Bisnis Indonesia. He is very knowable in the IT industry, not only in Indonesia, but also in the south east Asian region, since he has been working in that field for almost 4 years. Well, I can assure you that even though he has all that knowledge, he is still not as geeky as you might think.

I remember that he was kind of reluctant to develop his own blog the first time, when he was still reporting on the IT industry at Bisnis Indonesia. Maybe at that time, he was still looking for a suitable format for his blog. He mentioned that his main reason to start a serious blog right now, is due to his current job as a Digital Media Manager at Bisnis Indonesia.

In his blog Deriz: TCP-IP, you will find a variety of exclusive information regarding the IT industry in Indonesia. His latest post, is about SAS Institute (business intellegent software maker). It shows that he has clearly done some thourough research and was able to obtain information from the inner-circle. I believed that the IT media in Indonesia does not have this information, yet.

Congratulation Deriz

Kongko-kongko* with Andi Sinulingga

Last Friday (23/03) we were honored to have Andi Sinulingga of Komite Nasional Pemuda Indonesia (KNPI) coming to Maverick for another sharing session. Having been an activist as a student in Universitas Jaya Baya and member of Himpunan Mahasiswa Islam (HMI) Andi is very experienced in Indonesian Political world. But what impress us so is the fact that he is very much equipped and understands the history of our country.As for the Mavericks, well we know very little on KNPI. Fortunately Andi is a very lively speaker, or spokesperson to be exact. He explains that KNPI was established in the Soeharto regime as a breeding ground for future Indonesian leaders. KNPI was the umbrella under which many of the country’s youth organizations comes together. Initially KNPI was funded by government, but not anymore.

After the reformation era, KNPI has become independent, both in its visions and funding. KNPI now must work harder and more creative to generate funding to support their activities. This would mean that the organization would be a strong competition for organizations alike in promoting better program for the community. What a strong competition indeed. J

Talking with Andi on the young generations would truly reflect his passion and hope for the future generation. His book entitled “Hope for the Young Generation?” that he generously presented to us, also a proof of his concerns.

Well, it was a very motivating conversation. A two-hour-sharing-session would never be enough when you are kongko-kongko* with Andi.

* hanging out

Click Of The Week #13: Stania’s Blog: This is not my life story

We’re already know that radio journalism is quite differ from print media journalism. That’s including the person behind it. But when it comes to blogging, it’s hard to differentiate between those two.
Take a look for this blog for an instance. In a glance, maybe you would think that she is a journalist for print media, by the way she writes. But actually, she’s a radio journalist for Kantor Berita Radio 68-H.
I would say that her writings or posting are somewhat intellectual yet playful. She can really underline or stressed out her point of view yet expressed carefully and successfully ; that it doesn’t sound offending. Stania seems to always want to make sure whoever gets to read her blog can easily grasp the real message she wants to deliver. Something that all print media journalist are trying to do everyday, aren’t they?
As she describe on her blog’s title, the blog is not about her life story; it’s HER story.
So mainly, her posting are based on what she experiences, feels and sees which she turns into stories. Errrr maybe Stania itself can explain it more clearly…
Her writings are very expressive that even halfway reading her postings, we can tell how she is not afraid to speak her mind. That’s part of the reason why we chose her blog to be the click of the week for this week. An addition to that, this is the first radio journalist’s blog selected by Maverick.
Why don’t you take look at her posting: Tentang Remeh Temeh dan Omong Kosong and tell us what you think?
Congratulation Stania!

A Change of Seasons

The Maverick family along with our neighbors, friends, clients, family members and journalist colleagues decided to make a difference on Monday 12 March 2007. We invited the Indonesian Red Cross blood donor van to come and take our blood. Invitations to our friends and colleagues were enthusiastically responded to, and blood was taken for those in need.

Why a ‘Change of Seasons’? Because this is the first time the company as a whole can participate in a collective effort of social aid, although Maverick had previously helped the Mitra Netra NGO further their cause for the sight impaired. This time, everyone in the office can participate, even including our personal friends and families.

As us enthusiastic, albeit rather scared, donors were led one by one to our cots, amidst the doubts, the fear of needles, and the endless jeers of our well meaning peers, the realization that our blood will mean a lot in disaster ridden Indonesia meant that all who donated their blood did so with a clear conscience and a pure intention, although that sexy nurse taking our blood helped a lot in this department - for the guys anyway.

All in all, 51 people came and donated their blood. Thanks guys! Keep it up!! We have received positive feedback and due to that, we have decided today to make this an annual event here at Maverick’s office. So I hope that next year’s turnout will be even better. J

Photos:

PMI arrived at Maverick’s office at 9am sharp!

Employees from Jerry Aurum Graphic Design are busy filling out the front and back of the PMI document.

 

Before giving blood, everyone was checked what blood type they are and if they were allowed to donate.

 

Drivers who hang out at the warung close to the office and even TNT courier staff have spontaneously donated their blood. Good on your guys!

 

Every donor received their new donor card and a little thank you gift from Maverick and of course food to get back on their feet after giving so much blood.

A tribute to Morgan Mellish

It’s a week after the accident of the Garuda GA200 which caused 21 passengers lost their life. One of them was Morgan Mellish, an Australian journalist for the Australian Financial Review, the winner of the Walkley Award 2006.

As a journalist, he was persistent in getting information from news sources, besides his laid-back and relaxed characters. As an expatriate who lived in Indonesia, he loved to try different kind of local food here. He even told his maid to cook local food three times per week. As a friend, he was a good fellow to the others.

Morgan had reached his dream: to be a foreign correspondence. He told me that he really loved it here. He tried to go away from the city in the weekend, to surf, to climb mountains, or anything. An adventurous guy, indeed. He definitely knew how to live a life and embrace every moment of it.

Today is supposedly his 37th birthday. He left us just one week before his special day.
What a great loss for all of us in the communications industry to lose a talented young journalist like him.

Happy birthday, Morgan. You’ll be missed by all of us here.

New and Old Faces in Maverick

Maverick this week welcomed a new face and also the return of an old face to our team of eclectic characters and talents.

The new face is Nancy Natalia. She holds a BA degree in Media and Cultural Studies from Central Queensland University, Sydney, and also an Advanced Diploma in Mass Communications from Staffordshire University, Singapore. Nancy spent three years working in Sydney as a sales rep for a shoe product, before returning home and joining Metro TV as a Production Assistant and Reporter.

“I have always been interested in PR & would like to get a more in-depth, hands on experience of what the world of PR is all about,” said Nancy. “I believe that Maverick would be a good place to work in, because from what I hear from others prior to joining Maverick is a place that encourages its employees to grow better, professionally and personally.”

Also returning to the fold after a three-month sabbatical is Crivenica “Riri” Alam who moves on from her role of Associate at the consultancy side to head Gauge, Maverick’s online media tracking and PR measurement service.

“The past three months have been very enjoyable and full of activities. Most of the time, I was traveling and spending quality time with my loved ones,” said Riri. “I think Maverick is cool place for giving me the flexibility to take this sabbatical where I could refresh myself. And now, I am back fully recharged and looking forward to new challenges and fun with the Maverick and Gauge crews.”

Warm welcome to both of you. We believe the ride becomes more enjoyable with you on board.

Lunch with Indria Samego

Pak Indria Samego, Indonesia’s well-known political observer, loves yoghurt.

The first thing he did when he stood up to order some food at Marche Movenpick was to walk to the beverage section asking for yoghurt. He wasn’t lucky though. They restaurant was temporarily ran out of yoghurt.

We met up with Pak Indria yesterday. He will serve as the final judge for political subtopic in this year’s Anugerah Adiwarta Sampoerna. Friendly and humorous was the first impression that crossed our mind as he entered the room. Pak Indria said that he felt honored to become AAS 2007’s final judge, and we talked a bit about last year’s AAS and journalism in Indonesia.

Pak Indria specifically mentioned about high-solidarity amongst Indonesian journalists based on his experience: “For instance, I gave my cellphone number to one journalist, and the next thing I knew, other journalists will have my number as well!” he laughed.

After our lunch arrived, we started to talk about many things, including the controversial businesses’ contribution to the community we once posted in Maverick’s blog. Pak Indria told us that we can’t blame people for being skeptical when controversial businesses are trying to give back to the community. “Philantrophy is needed and it is good for the community,” said Pak Indria. “I think it’s better for them to give back rather than taking the profit for their own good and do nothing for the community.”

The part I like the most was when he talked about the tendency of today’s generation. “They have millions of rupiahs to spend on a concert ticket, but they don’t have that same amount of money to produce something. This nation can’t stop consuming things, but we don’t have the will to actually produce something. We have to change our mentality if we’d like to step ahead.”

Everyone, are you ready for a change?

Nokia Got It Right!

This is how Nokia translates the term of customer satisfaction and shifting it into customer loyalty:

About a week ago, I had this problem with my Nokia N73. The message ‘memory low, delete some data‘ kept blinking on the screen, though I had deleted all data I stored in my phone memory. Based on my past experiences, answers to almost all questions can be found in the net. So I went googling instead, and found out that there were lots of Nokia users in all part of the world are actually having the same problem. Unfortunately, there were no solutions to this problem yet.

Since I needed my phone badly, in despair, I contacted Mr. Hasan Aula, General Manager of Nokia Indonesia, and told him about the problem I was having. I also gave him links to several posts and discussions on the net mentioning this memory-low issue.

The response was immediate.

Pak Agus from Nokia called me up not long after. He apologized for what had happened to my N73 and said that Nokia would pick up my phone the next morning and had it fixed. Pak Agus also told me how thankful he was for having being informed about this problem. He said the links I inserted in my email was very useful.

To add up to that, he was kind enough to ask me whether I have another cell phone to use while mine was being fixed! So, the problem solved, they fixed my phone, and I think I have become a more loyal user of Nokia!

I was impressed with this response. It is important for a company to give immediate response to their customer’s complaints, and handle it professionally. Nokia have shown they’re level as one of the leading cell phone manufacturer in the world by providing this excellent service. And it will be a whole lot better if Nokia could sign up to these Nokia users’ communities in the Net and respond to complaints and questions posted there.

Most of the times, when you get access to ‘higher-level’ officials in a company, it is more certain that you’ll get a faster response. I think it happens in most companies.

The problem now is to make sure that when your customer have complaints, they knew where or to whom they could complain to, and the person who receives their complaints could make immediate decisions and take necessary actions.

Came to think about it, I think companies will perform much better if their ‘higher-level’ officials become the ones who receive complaints—probably by launching a blog? Therefore customers will be able to interact directly with the board of directors, even CEOs!

Since the power is shifting now …

http://www.about-nokia.com/blog/media/1/20060425-nokia-n73.jpg