In our inaugural interview, we had the privilege of speaking with Eddy, a prominent figure in marketing and business development at DigiWare. Eddy shared invaluable insights into DigiWare's inception, mission, and its pivotal role in shaping the Southeast Asia technology robot education market.
Founded in 2008 by Eddy and his colleagues, DigiWare specializes in a wide array of products including Internet of Things (IoT), Robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and industrial computing. What began as an electronic components store soon evolved into a pioneering online platform, www.digiwarestore.com, catering to the burgeoning demand for cutting-edge technology modules and components. DigiWare stands as the first electronic components online store in Indonesia, serving a diverse clientele ranging from educational institutions to industry professionals and technology enthusiasts.
Throughout the interview, Eddy shed light on various aspects of DigiWare's operations, including their extensive product offerings, specialized services such as industrial automation solutions and comprehensive training programs, and their strategic approach to navigating the competitive landscape of the educational robot market in Indonesia. Since becoming the Indonesian education robot agent for Elephant Robotics, DigiWare has actively provided educational solutions to customers and recommended robotic products such as myCobot 320 and myCobot 280 based on customer needs. In joint efforts between Elephant Robotics and DigiWare, we continuously overcome challenges such as pricing and the lack of local curriculums, constantly paving the way for innovation in Southeast Asia's education technology.
Interview with Eddy from DigiWare
Q1: Can you talk about your journey and current role at DigiWare?
Eddy: Hi, I’m Eddy from Digiware, Indonesia. We started an electrical engineering company with my friends after graduating from university with a major in electrical engineering. After a few years, we established DigiWare in 2008, an electronic components store. Then in 2010, we began to develop our business into an online store,
www.digiwarestore.com. Our office location is in Surabaya city. We also have a representative in Cikarang, near Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. Now, I am responsible for marketing and business development at DigiWare.
Q2: Could you talk about DigiWare, including the company's founding time, mission or vision, product or service characteristics, etc.
Eddy: As the first electronic components online store in Indonesia, we always provide the most updated technology modules and components such as Internet of Things (IoT), Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, RFID, industrial computing along with other modules and components like resistors, capacitors, microcontrollers, sensors, wireless modules, embedded modules, LED/LCD displays, stepper & servo motors, development tools, measurement instrumentation, and more. Our vision is to become a leading provider of electronic and robotic parts, innovative and having a global perspective. Our mission is to become the main partner for education institutions, industry, electronic and robotic enthusiasts to support technology development in Indonesia.
Q3: In which areas does DigiWare operate? Can you specifically introduce its main business projects?
Eddy: DigiWare focuses on providing products that are in line with the latest technology. Besides providing the products, we also deliver solutions to our customers for industrial automation and training.
Q4: How do you perceive the potential of education technology?
Eddy: The potential of education technology is very promising and growing fast, since nowadays all industrial sectors need technology to keep their companies competitive. For example, during the COVID pandemic, almost all workers worked from home, but some important production plants still continued to work. So they needed IoT and Robotic technology to monitor and execute tasks from remote locations. Now, many industries realize that they should catch up with the technology to compete in the industry.
Q5: What do you think are the key factors influencing the acceptance of technologies like robots and AI in the education market?
Eddy: The key factors influencing the acceptance of technologies like robots and AI in the education market are price, product quality and training module that can be accepted in local school.
Q6: What do you think of the current competitive landscape of the Indonesia educational robot market?
Eddy: The current competitive landscape of the Indonesia educational robot market as follow: Some brands already exist in Indonesia market like Robotis, Lego, Makeblock, Dobot, Vex, National Instruments, and other local brands / DIY. These brands have their market segment , some brands for elementary until high school, the others for university or college.
Q7: What inspired you to become a distributor of Elephant Robotics’ educational robots?
Eddy: We are inspired to become Elephant Robotics’ distributor after look at the market and see it’s still good opportunity for education robot in local market especially collaborative and mobile robot. Also Elephant Robotics ‘s products has some strong points in diversity range, cost effective, and accompanied with training courses.
Q8: Who are your primary target customer groups within the Indonesia educational robot market?
Eddy: Our primary target market is vocational school and university, since their curriculum already has robot lessons.
Q9: How do you leverage educational robots to provide solutions for your customers?
Eddy: For educational robot, we have technical support team and training division to provide solutions for our customer. We provide article and video support for our customer, also regularly share on social network like youtube and facebook. Sometimes we organize online or on site training sessions for the customers.
Q10: What challenges has DigiWare faced in promoting educational robotic products?
Eddy: One of the challenge to promote educational robotic products is the price and local curriculum.
Q11: How did you respond to and solve these challenges?
Eddy: Sometimes our team compile the training module in accordance the local curriculum.
Q12: Could you share some successful or memorable application cases of educational robots?
Eddy: We already support some university robotic team in the local or international robotic competition like Fire Fighting Robot Contest , RoboCup , and others. Sometimes we give technical guidance or training session in preparation for the competition.
Q13: What feedback and evaluations have your customers provided regarding educational robots?
Eddy: Based on our experience, the customer need training module, clear documentation, spare part availability, and after sales support. Also it will be good, if you could add some feature on myCobot like warning feature if the load exceeds the limit and prevent collisions feature.
