R. Robby of EY Indonesia says lasting digital transformation begins with business strategy and change management

He highlighted that a successful digital transformation is founded in leadership, responsible AI, and measurable business value.

Technology is transforming the way businesses operate. But in today’s business landscape, the challenge for organisations is ensuring that their technology investments yield real results.

Sharing his perspective on this is R. Robby, the leader of the data, analytics, and AI practice at EY Indonesia, who has more than 25 years of experience in consulting, business management, and digital transformation. He has worked with companies in Indonesia, ASEAN, and Europe and has first-hand experience in guiding organisations on how they could harness technology.

His years in the field have established his expertise in the areas of digital and emerging technologies, data and artificial intelligence, enterprise performance management, business intelligence, supply chain transformation, and information technology.

As a judge for the Indonesia Technology Excellence Awards 2026, Robby shares his insights on how organisations can unlock greater value from technology, build trust in AI, and prepare for the future of digital innovation in Indonesia.

Having more than 25 years of experience across consulting, business management, and digital transformation, what are the biggest changes you've witnessed in how organisations approach technology today?

When I started in this field more than 25 years ago, technology was largely seen as a support function, which IT teams managed in the background whilst business leaders focused on strategy elsewhere. That separation has essentially disappeared. Today, technology decisions sit at the centre of the boardroom agenda, and CEOs and CFOs treat them as core to how a company competes, not merely how it operates in particular industries. What I found most remarkable, especially watching Indonesia's own journey, is how quickly this shift has accelerated: digital competitiveness scores across the archipelago have risen rapidly since 2020, and growth is no longer confined to Java, with many regions beyond it now catching up fast. The other change worth noting is patience, or rather the growing lack of it. The boards now expect technology investments to demonstrate commercial value within quarters rather than years, which has fundamentally changed how transformation programmes are planned, funded, and governed.

As artificial intelligence becomes more accessible, what responsibilities should businesses prioritise to ensure its ethical and trustworthy adoption?

As AI tools become genuinely accessible on a laptop or even a phone, rather than locked away in a data science team, the responsibility shifts from a handful of specialists to almost every employee in an organisation, and governance has to keep pace. The first priority, in my view, is clear accountability: someone senior needs to own the outcomes of an AI system, not just its technical performance. Second is transparency with regulators and customers about where and how AI is being used, particularly in sectors like financial services and healthcare where decisions genuinely affect people's lives. Third, and this is something leadership teams often underestimate, is investing as much in change management and workforce readiness as in the technology itself; our own experience has repeatedly shown that AI programmes stumble less because of the model and more because the organisation was not prepared to adopt it responsibly. Finally, trust has to be built in, not bolted on afterwards. Data quality, bias testing and human oversight need to be part of the design from day one. Get that right, and AI adoption becomes a genuine source of competitive advantage rather than a reputational risk waiting to happen.

From your experience, what differentiates those that successfully translate technology investments into tangible business value from those that struggle?

The organisations that succeed are almost always the ones that start with a clear business problem rather than a shiny piece of technology. They know precisely what outcome they are chasing, whether that is faster time to market, lower cost to serve or a better customer experience, before a single line of code is written. Those that struggle, by contrast, tend to treat technology adoption as an IT project rather than a business transformation, so the operating model, talent and incentives around the new system never actually change. Leadership commitment matters enormously too; the most successful transformations I have observed have senior leadership sponsors who stay engaged well past launch day, because the real value is usually captured in the months of adoption that follow. Measurement discipline is another differentiator; winning organisations define what success looks like upfront and track it relentlessly, whilst others discover two years in which nobody agreed on what "value" meant in the first place. And the businesses that get this right tend to be honest with themselves about capability gaps, bringing in the right partners and talent early rather than assuming the technology alone will do the heavy lifting.

Beyond AI, which emerging technologies do you believe will have the greatest impact on businesses in Indonesia over the coming years?

AI understandably dominates the conversation at the moment, but a handful of other technologies deserve just as much attention in the Indonesian context. Cybersecurity and digital trust infrastructure sit right at the top of that list, as more of the economy, from banking to public services, moves online, the exposure grows with it, and a meaningful share of enterprise assets across sectors remain vulnerable today. Cloud and data infrastructure are close behind, because much of Indonesia's next wave of digital growth, particularly outside Java, depends on affordable, reliable access to computing power rather than on the applications built on top of it. I would also watch quantum computing, which still feels very early to mature and market adoption, but is moving faster than most executives realise, especially for industries like financial services, where it could eventually reshape encryption and risk modelling. Finally, embedded and open finance technologies are worth close attention given Indonesia's young, mobile-first population and the government's continued push for financial inclusion. Taken together, these will matter just as much as AI in determining which businesses lead the next phase of Indonesia's digital economy.

How can Indonesia make itself more attractive to global technology companies whilst supporting local innovators?

Indonesia already has the fundamentals that global technology companies look for: a young population, rapidly rising digital adoption, and one of the largest consumer markets in Southeast Asia, so the opportunity is genuinely there. What tends to hold investment back is less about market size and more about predictability: consistent regulation, clear data governance rules and efficient licensing processes matter enormously to a company deciding where to place its next regional representative. At the same time, I do not believe attracting global players and nurturing local innovators are competing priorities; the two actually reinforce each other. Global companies bring capital, technology transfer and access to international markets, whilst local start-ups bring an on-the-ground understanding of Indonesian consumers that global players often lack, and the strongest ecosystems are the ones where these two groups actively collaborate rather than operate in silos. Continued investment in digital infrastructure and talent development outside Java will also be essential, given how much of Indonesia's recent digital competitiveness growth. Get the regulatory environment right and keep investing in people, and Indonesia has every reason to become one of the region's technology hubs, not simply one of its largest markets.

As one of the judges at the Indonesia Technology Excellence Awards 2026, what key qualities will you look for when evaluating the nominees?

As a judge, I am less interested in how sophisticated a technology sounds on paper and far more interested in the business outcome it has actually delivered. Nominees who can point to measurable impact, whether in efficiency, revenue, customer experience or social good, will always stand out to me. I also look closely at scalability, i.e. is this a solution that worked once in a pilot, or has it genuinely been embedded into how the organisation operates day to day? Innovation matters, but so does responsibility, so I pay attention to how thoughtfully a nominee has approached data governance, security and the ethical use of technology, particularly where AI is involved. Team and leadership also count for a great deal in my assessment, because the best technology in the world will not succeed without the people and culture to sustain it. Finally, I am genuinely drawn to nominees who are solving problems specific to the Indonesian or regional context, rather than simply importing a solution wholesale from elsewhere, because that is usually where the most lasting value is created. Ultimately, I am looking for nominees who treat technology as a means to a meaningful end, not an end in itself.