Get to know Fiberconnect
PT. Bina Informatika Solusindo (Fiberconnect) was first established in 2014 as a full-fledged Internet Service Provider. They are en route to becoming the leader in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry. Fiberconnect strives to provide internet access, especially to remote areas.
To make payments easier for their customers, Fiberconnect has integrated BRIAPI since 2022. As a result, as many as 70% of Fiberconnect customers are now using BRIVA as their payment method through virtual account.
Challenges
The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Kementerian Komunikasi dan Informatika Republik Indonesia, abbreviated as Kominfo) emphasized its mission to speed up the penetration of internet access in rural areas. According to the Expert Staff of Kominfo, Prof. Henri Subiakto, about 12,400 villages have zero access to the internet due to the lack of digital infrastructure.
Thus, Fiberconnect tries to answer these challenges. As an internet service provider company, they mainly target consumers in those remote or inaccessible areas.
Thus, they have a strong network in areas such as Madiun, Cirebon, Bengkulu, and Bandung. Their market segment is business-to-consumer (B2C) including retail businesses and individual or household users. Fiberconnect has been enhancing digitalization by enabling access to the smallest segment..
“When there is no internet network in our targeted area, we will provide it. Government programs such as Internet Masuk Desa (Internet penetration program targetting villages and districts) aco supports our vision that the internet belongs to all, without exception," said Alif Banura, General Manager of Fiberconnect.
Alif understands that most of their customers are BRI customers. Based on their payment track records, they use BRI more than other banks.
Initially, those who want to pay their bill must come to one of Fiberconnect offices. This certainly requires more time and costs, inefficient for their partners and customers.
It also goes for their business process. Fiberconnect have to manually check mutations and payment confirmations. This process requires more time, more human resources, and risky of potential human errors.
“Payment confirmation and verification processes take up to 30 minutes per transaction. At the same time, there are other transactions that need to be worked out," said Udidah Putra, Programmer at Fiberconnect.
To solve this problem, Fiberconnect started to consider integrating BRI products and services through BRIAPI. They believe that by integrating BRIAPI, they can digitize their payment systems and simplify the process for better customers experience and efficiency in the business process
Read also: DOKU Expands Business Coverage with BRIAPI
Solution
In February 2022, Fiberconnect officially integrated with BRIAPI. This collaboration also marks BRI as the first API bank they integrated with. They are currently utilizing three BRIAPI products: BRI Virtual Account (BRIVA), Account Statement, and Account Information. All three products play vital role in digitalizing Fiberconnect's payment system.
“With BRIAPI, we are able to digitize our payment system. Previously, our customers had to go through manual transfers. Now, they can do it easily through BRImo. It is very easy for them to pay the bills," said Alif, emphasizing the monumental changes thanks to Fiberconnect-BRIAPI integration.
He continued that at the present, 70% of Fiberconnect's customers now use BRIVA as their main payment instrument. A significant increase for the company considering that prior to the integration, customers had to come to the office only to pay the bills.
Better customer experience is not the only benefit they get. BRIAPI actually helps payment reconciliation processes for the company. It is an accounting process that verifies account balances to ensure all sets of records are true, consistent, and up-to-date.
For large-scale companies, cash inflows and outflows are much more diverse. It raises the probability of errors if a company tries to sort them out manually. Hence, various automation methods are suggested to ease the process.
“This is where the informational BRIAPI products (Account Statement and Account Information) play their parts. After customers conduct the payment, our system will record everything automatically. Payment reconciliation has become easier, reducing any potential error in the process," stated Alif.
The fully automated processes also make Fiberconnect much more efficient. In the past, it took up to 30 minutes to confirm, verify, and reconcile payments for a single transaction. Today, these whole processes have been automated and only take 1-minute, thanks to BRIAPI
Read also: Digital Payment Trends in Indonesia, Embracing The New Form of Money with BRIAPI
Integration Process
As the main person in charge of technical matters, Udidah explained that the integration process was seamless. There were no significant obstacles in each stage of integration.
“Integration process was never a problem for us. BRIAPI team has provided clear integration guidance and documentations. For any problem, we immediately communicate them with BRIAPI team and their response was excellent and fast, really helpful to solve the problem efficiently,” said Udidah who is highly impressed with the whole integration process.
He continued that API testing is even easier through BRIAPI sandbox environment. They just need to follow guidance from BRIAPI team.
"There were no critical issues during our integration process with BRIAPI," explained Udidah
What’s Next from Fiberconnect and BRIAPI
At the moment, Fiberconnect is optimizing BRIAPI products in order to meet more of the company's needs: providing convenience for customers, notably in the payment method.
Yet, with the company's growing needs, they will observe more opportunities from other BRIAPI products since they could support Fiberconnect's vision to expand the business. Areas such as Purworejo, Sidoarjo, and Banyuwangi become their main target in 2022. With the help of BRIAPI, the company can easily reach new customers.
"With easy and seamless payment services, it will definitely help us to approach new customers. BRI is at the forefront in remote areas since BRI is the largest and the most widespread bank in the country,” emphasized Alif.
He truly highlighted the importance of BRIAPI, especially in positioning Fiberconnect as an internet service provider in developing regions.
“We are delighted with BRIAPI digital service. We believe that BRI will go with us in the future. Digitizing payments through BRIAPI has obviously assisted us to find potential customers, leading them to access our services," he concluded.
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