CATAPA Focuses on Relevant HR Solution Amid Pandemic

Recently, the HR solutions provider and payroll CATAPA launched a new program called #CATAPAFreeforUMKM. Through this program, Indonesian SMEs can get free access to their services. This is one of the company's new initiatives in the last six months since the Covid-19 outbreak.

CATAPA's Founder & CEO Stefanie Suanita acknowledged that the pandemic had both positive and negative impacts on her business. "The negative impact is due to CATAPA's subscription business model for employees per month," Stefanie told DailySocial.

It is said during the last few months, corporations in Indonesia have had to hold/reduce their budget for efficiency. Not a few business people - even small to large scale - are forced to lay off their employees.

On the other hand, he continued, this pandemic is forcing the business sector to perform digital transformation. This is because many companies implement Work From Home (WFH) during a pandemic which results in Human Resource (HR) activities must be performed outside the office.

"In this situation, many companies need payroll processing that can be done outside the office, such as at home," he added.

Stefanie sees this situation as a positive impact because it presents opportunities. For example, an attendance solution can be monitored easily. She also mentioned, there are still many companies that have an attendance system using a fingerprint machine. Meanwhile, this device has the potential to become a medium for virus transmission because of the touching system.

Then the solution for approval of leave or overtime can be processed paperless and from anywhere. From the various possibilities above, his team tries to accommodate the demand of corporations in Indonesia.

"For now, we put more energy into features that are relevant to current conditions. The key is speed and adaptability. This means that CATAPA seeks to launch products or programs that are relevant to current conditions quickly," she said.

Meanwhile, the #CATAPAFREEforUMKM program which was launched on September 1, is intended only for MSMEs with a maximum number of employees of 20 people. Stefanie said that this program is valid until August 31, 2021. However, it does not rule out the possibility of this program being extended if the enthusiasts continue to grow.

MSMEs will get free access to CATAPA Basic services which include payroll solutions, Time Management (employee attendance management), Employee Self Service / ESS (time management submission and approval portals, company information, and employee data), and Claudia Chatbot.

Previously, CATAPA had also launched a number of initiatives during the pandemic. For example, CATAPA Safe, an application that serves to identify distances between employees while in the work area.

The application, which was released in April 2020, has three main features, Track, Trace, and Isolate. If there are employees who are positive for Covid-19, the company can trace who has been in contact with the employee in question for the past 14 days for immediate isolation.

CATAPA was founded in 2017 and is one of the companies under GDP Venture. As of August 2020, CATAPA users have experienced a growth of more than 300 percent since its inception.

As a general note, the Minister of Cooperatives & Small and Medium Enterprises, Teten Masduki, previously predicted that as many as 50 percent of MSME businesses in Indonesia would go out of business due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The government has also disbursed Rp. 123 trillion for the UMKM assistance program.

As reported by Kompas.com, Workday's latest report notes that as many as 50 percent of companies in Indonesia prioritize digital transformation, while 31 percent of them actually slow down this effort.

In addition, as many as 41 percent of companies in Indonesia have had difficulty managing new ways of tracing the licensing chain and other operational activities due to the pandemic. This report also states that the company's ability to utilize digital means is one of the biggest challenges in implementing digital transformation during a pandemic.

–Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian