A ‘techplomatic’ approach is vital to keep pace in a fast-moving, regulation-shifting market, a message we highlighted at a recent workshop in Jakarta.
Indonesia is often hailed as being full of opportunity. It has a young, mobile-first nation of more than 270 million people, with a surging digital economy and an entrepreneurial spirit. Yet beneath the surface lies a challenging terrain for multinational tech companies. It’s a market where regulation is evolving in real time, online discourse moves fast, and local trust can be hard to earn but easy to lose.
For global tech communicators, Indonesia demands more than standard playbooks. It calls for foresight, fluency in local sentiment, and the ability to build long-term credibility in an unpredictable but high-reward environment. Communications shouldn’t be seen as a downstream function but a core strategic driver. Here’s our perspective on how you can engineer things to run in your favour.
1. Embrace Techplomacy as a competitive advantage
To operate effectively in Indonesia, comms leaders tech must think like diplomats. Techplomacy — a concept that merges technology, diplomacy, and communications — offers a framework to manage both global and local complexities. Key actions include:
- Insight gathering: Monitor sentiment and regulation while paying close attention to how everyone from youth influencers to religious groups and the media shape digital narratives. You need to aim beyond the usual market reports if you want to understand the nuances.
- Influencing stakeholders: Build trust with policymakers, regulators, and civil society. This means early engagement with influential stakeholders such as ministries, digital economy task forces and prominent academic voices in areas such as AI or data governance.
- Positioning your brand as a partner, not a disruptor: Shape narratives that enhance both brand equity and market access. In a country that values community cooperation (gotong royong), show that your innovation aligns with national goals.
This approach helps tech businesses stay agile and credible in a place where politics, innovation, and public perception are deeply intertwined.
2. Understand that regulation is only half the story
In Indonesia, tech regulation can seem opaque, but compliance is essential. This is challenging enough, but a bigger issue in navigating the market lies in unpacking informal power structures and cultural expectations. We’ve seen major enterprise and consumer tech companies learn from experience that aggressive market entry rarely works. Headwinds come in the form of policy shifts and local perception. Smart players look to adapt and interpret by asking questions like:
- What unwritten norms shape how we operate, who are the power brokers and how can we engage them constructively?
- How do regulatory shifts intersect with nationalism, economic protectionism or religion?
- Are we reading policy through a Jakarta-centric lens or considering local government attitudes in secondary cities?
3. Build reputation before you need it
Crises in Indonesia unfold across multiple languages, platforms and emotional registers. By the time an issue makes headlines, it’s already likely to be viral. Recovery can be slow, but the best defence is proactivity: build up a bank of good-will before a problem arises, as stakeholders will only stand by your side if you’ve already earned their trust. Invest in:
- Pre-emptive storytelling: Share impact stories in Bahasa Indonesia and regional dialects, not just English.
- Community-aligned CSR activities: Support initiatives like digital literacy, vocational training and SME empowerment rather than just tech adoption.
- Continuous listening: Use both local agency partners and social tools attuned to cultural nuance to stay on top of opportunities and ahead of issues.
4. Make employees your most powerful advocates
Indonesian tech talent is hyper-networked and influential. Whether you’re in fintech, e-commerce or AI, your employees are not just “internal stakeholders” but amplifiers who shape perception from the inside out. If they’re proud to work with you, they’ll say so. If not, you’ll hear about it — and so will the public. Empower them by:
- Hosting internal forums to address policy or product controversies before they go external.
- Equipping local teams with values-based narratives, not just boilerplate messaging.
- Celebrating employee achievements publicly, fostering pride and advocacy.
5. Don’t cut and paste from the global playbook
What works in Silicon Valley or Singapore is far from certain to fly in Jakarta. Communications strategies must be deeply localized, not just in language, but in tone, timing, and platform. Campaigns that don’t localise tone, idioms and references will fall flat, or worse, cause offence. Local communications must reflect:
- Platform realities: Twitter may be for journalists, but TikTok and Instagram drive consumer sentiment.
- Socio-political sensitivities: From religion to national pride, align comms with societal context.
- Rapidly shifting narratives: What works today may need reshaping tomorrow—especially in AI, fintech, and digital health.
6. Always be prepared for the storm
It pays to treat crises in Indonesia as an inevitability rather than a possibility, but public backlash is often less about the incident itself than how it’s handled. Bungling the response through delay, denial or misjudged tone can do more than damage reputation: it can trigger regulatory blowback. Always ask how you can pre-empt an unfavourable narrative — and ensure everyone knows what to do in advance. Be ready with:
- Crisis role clarity for local and regional teams, and cross-functional alignment between legal, HR, product and comms departments.
- Spokespeople fluent in Bahasa who also demonstrate online empathy.
- Regular simulation drills rooted in real, region-specific case studies.
7. Elevate executive visibility
Tech CEOs can underestimate how much visibility matters in a relationship-driven market. Indonesian media, policymakers, and the tech ecosystem place high value on face-to-face engagement—even when virtual. Executives who engage thoughtfully build both awareness and trust. The reality is many tech leaders have an undeveloped digital footprint, failing to take advantage of valuable platforms like LinkedIn. Executives can boost credibility for themselves and their organizations by:
- Creating consistent LinkedIn thought leadership, in both English and Bahasa.
- Embracing guyub — the Indonesian cultural value of gathering to socialize, build close relationships, and foster trust — by participating in local panels, government roundtables, gatherings with media, and youth-oriented events.
- Communicating not just what you build, but what you stand for.
8. Highlight ethical innovation, especially when it comes to AI
Indonesia is bullish on digital transformation, but wary of unchecked innovation. AI in particular is both an opportunity and a reputational risk. Religious bodies, civil society and academics have raised red flags about surveillance, job displacement, and bias. Mishandled, it could land your company in hot water. Before launching new tech:
- Audit for potential ethical, privacy, and cultural concerns, and consider proactively publishing impact assessments.
- Communicate your policies transparently and clearly and educate stakeholders on what AI is (and isn’t) doing within your product stack.
- Collaborate with local universities, associations or NGOs on the development of responsible AI usage and ethical frameworks.
9. Learn from local and regional precedents
There’s no shortage of cautionary tales from Indonesia and across Southeast Asia, and missteps in one market quickly travel across borders. While the ability to think on your feet is important, so is preparedness. International tech players that assessed policy and sentiment before market entry have saved themselves from future crises and stress. A knee-jerk response can make a crisis situation worse, if not bring about a new crisis. Some key things to bear in mind:
- Local transparency beats corporate defensiveness.
- Slow internal processes cost more than fast (informed) decisions.
- Cultural missteps often trigger more outrage than technical faults. A data breach at a major consumer retailer, for instance, was compounded by sloppy follow-up communications.
10. Be the intelligence hub, not the last to know
We’ve noted that a reactionary comms approach can lead to trouble in Indonesia. Tech communications must be anticipatory. In a market where misinformation can become “fact” within hours, the best communications teams operate like early warning systems. Your edge will come from:
- Constant scanning of geopolitical and regulatory shifts and connecting them to local sentiment.
- Establishing local partnerships, leveraging partners who understand cultural nuances and providing relevant, timely insights.
- Building scenarios for how issues could unfold, especially involving AI or cybersecurity, and spotting misinformation trends before they metastasize.
- Acting promptly when you are sure of the facts, but with cultural fluency and institutional alignment.
For global technology brands looking to win in Indonesia, communications isn’t just about shaping a narrative. It’s about securing your license to operate. Embed communications at the heart of your business, informed by a deep understanding of technology and awareness of local nuances and geopolitics. Get it right, and you won’t just earn visibility; you’ll win trust, shape markets and unlock growth.
As Indonesia powers ahead in digital transformation, your comms strategy must evolve with it to be thoughtful, anticipatory and rooted in local relevance. Being heard is just part of the challenge. The key is being credible.
To learn more about how we can help tech and B2B brands grow in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, including through tailored workshops, get in touch with us.
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