Business Opportunities And Challenges In The Digital Age, What Are They?

Illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Bakti Kominfo and DPR RI held a live streaming seminar with the theme "Business Opportunities and Challenges in the Digital Era" on Thursday 17 March. This seminar was filled by several speakers and presenters.

This event began with remarks from Alimin Abdullah as Member of Commission I of the Indonesian House of Representatives who expressed his hope that the public would be aware and make good use of the use of technological advances for the development of the business economy in Indonesia so that whatever has been provided by the government can be a good development tool for the country.

Then continued by the first speaker, Ismail Cawidu, as a lecturer at UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta. He said that the efforts made by the government to distribute technological facilities in several cities and villages had been carried out, with the hope that people would use these facilities to promote economic growth by doing business digitally/online.

Seeing that buying and selling conditions in the world have changed digitally, we should follow these developments. The challenges in this regard are:

1. Lack of available network/internet2. Lack of human resources who understand digital skills3. Supporting facilities must be adequate (laptops or gadgets that support technological progress) 4. Lack of utilization of content/applications to support sales5. Must be supported by regulation

The government's efforts in dealing with the problems that occur are:

1. Basic digital skills for the general public to understand and be proficient in using digital so that they are not easily fooled in responding to information2. Intermediate digital skills for practitioners, lecturers, workers, business people to properly understand the use and use of digital3. Advance digital skills given to government officials to be able and understand in data processing (big data, cyber security)

And then the second speaker, namely Jazuli Ahmad as a communication practitioner who also shared experiences and lessons about the rapid development of the digital generation, which initially people were still unfamiliar with and did not understand how to use it, now the tendency and dependence on digital is increasingly attached. This has positive and negative impacts including:

Negative side

1. Everyone can spread news whose authenticity or truth is not known, so it is very easy to spread hoax news that causes new problems in society2. Lack of privacy space so that all things can be seen in public 3. Content that is not educational, meaning that everyone is willing to do anything for content that is not necessarily quality

While on the other hand, there are also positive sides, namely:

1. Use of ICT in all fields, such as economy, transportation, education, work and others so as to facilitate access and work. The emergence of new professions that can take advantage of technological advances (vloggers, YouTubers, influencers, video creators, content creators and others)

So from the positive and negative things, it needs to be addressed with soft skills, namely:

1. Critical thinking2. Communicative3. Digital prowess capabilities4. Curiosity (searching for the truth) 5. Networking / extensive network.

As the conclusion of the discussion, it can be concluded that in subsequent developments digital technology will be increasingly embedded in all fields, both economics, education, transportation and others, the government is well aware of the changes that must be made to advance the country and it is the duty of the community to get involved and take advantage of the suggestions that have been provided. Don't just be consumptive but be productive.