Since 2014, the iCIO Community has held the iCIO Awards annually to honor chief information officers (CIOs) who have proven to understand the challenge and needs of doing business, selecting relevant technology and convincing and encouraging company stakeholders to utilize information and communication technology, as well as to implement and innovate to increase company performance through the use of IT. Based on input from iCIO Community members in 2018, the awards also honor chief executive officers (CEOs) who inspires others in digital transformation. In its eighth year, the 2023 iCIO Awards have selected candidates from a wide variety of industries and backgrounds.

The iCIO Community conferred the Most Intelligent CIO Award to Soleh Ayubi, vice president director of state-owned pharmaceutical company PT Bio Farma, the Most Influential CIO Award to Yessie D. Yosetya, director and chief strategic transformation and enterprise business officer of publicly listed telecommunication company PT XL Axiata Tbk, the Most Innovative CIO Award to Bambang Setyawan Djojo, international business and technology director of publicly listed retail company PT Sumber Alfaria Trijaya Tbk and the Most Inspiring CEO Award to Margono Tanuwijaya, president director of financial service company PT Federal International Finance (FIFGROUP), part of the Astra International Tbk.

The Most Intelligent CIO Award went to Soleh Ayubi who has successfully chosen and implemented new technologies in accordance with his company’s strategic objectives through a transparent technology-governance process. The most notable project that he has adopted and implemented is the end-to-end IT-based distribution system of COVD-19 vaccines across Indonesia. He successfully developed the system based on his extensive 12-year record of strategic innovation and transformation programs as well as research and development achievements with global organizations from various industries such as healthcare, education and manufacturing.

Soleh stated that the Most Intelligent CIO Award was an honor for Bio Farma because at the end of the day, the state-owned pharmaceutical company’s mission was to make a positive impact on its customers and employees. Soleh revealed that there was a massive consolidation in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) toward the health industry where the pharmaceutical, hospital and insurance industries would be combined. Soleh added that these SOEs were working to release the first end-to-end healthcare system in the world and that this process needed technology in order to accelerate the consolidation.

“Now we serve 500 million people around the world with our products. With the consolidation, more utilization of technology, we aim to serve 1 billion people,” Soleh said in his acceptance speech.

The Most Influential CIO Award was extended to Yessie D. Yosetya who has proven to have successfully convince, influence and lead her company with a vision to drive change as well as positively impact the company’s performance through a variety of new IT-based ways to rise up to the challenge of the limited IT knowledge and skills possessed by most companies. As a strategist and executive, Yessie has been influential and is well versed in telecommunication technicalities as well as businesses. She is also a challenger of the norms, converging billing, managing service and establishing a digital service unit that focuses on mobile money and mobile advertising.

Yessie stated in her acceptance speech that with the award, she was motivated to continue producing a positive impact through her work. As a CIO, Yessie said that she had a duty and responsibility to continue innovating. Although it is true that there is no stopping in the use of technology in terms of company development, Yessie said that technology was alone not enough. Company development must also be accompanied by the endless desire to learn and to never stop collaborating. She added that becoming an influential CIO was impossible without collaboration with other stakeholders.

The Most Innovative CIO Award was given to Bambang Setyawan Djojo, who has successfully created and enhanced his company’s business value through innovative uses of new technology as part of his duties and responsibilities as CIO, which includes maintaining the existence of businesses and increasing their ability to innovate through technology. Bambang, previously the information technology director at PT Alfa Mitramart Utama, has been recognized through his success of developing the Alfamart Digital Business through Alfamikro, Alfamidi, Alfa POP and Alfagift with an online-to-offline (O2O) strategy.

Bambang said the award motivated him to create further IT innovations because as a CIO, he must prepare Alfamart for continuing changes in the market, especially consumer behavior. Through this award, Bambang said that Alfamart was committed to further improving its services to its customers through continuous innovation.

The Most Inspiring CEO Award was conferred to Margono Tanuwijaya who possesses the ability to direct his company toward significant positive change and whose leadership and knowledge in digital technology has set the course of the company ahead. Margono’s leadership has been recognized for the development of application-based financial service acceleration through FIF Mobile and financial collaboration with AstraPay for seamless service acceleration.

Margono shared his experience during the pandemic when FIFGROUP under his leadership made the decision to cut investment in several sectors except for technology because they needed tremendous efficiency that could only be provided through technology. As a major financial service company, FIFGROUP relies on technology and digitalization to serve millions of customers.

The early selection process for the 2023 iCIO Awards was conducted by Tenggara Strategics, a research and business advisory institute founded by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), The Jakarta Post and Universitas Prasetiya Mulya. The 11 selected candidates for the CIO awards and four candidates for the most inspiring CEOs were then presented to a panel of judges for the final judging process.

There were four judges for the CIO awards and two judges for the CEO award. The judges for the CIO category were Pradita University rector Richardus Eko Indrajit, former communications and information minister Rudiantara, Ernst & Young Indonesia partner Herry Atmadja and The Jakarta Post editor-in-chief Taufiqurrahman. Meanwhile, the judges for the CEO category were former transportation minister and former energy and mineral resources minister Ignasius Jonan and Petrosca commissioner and Tripatra engineer Hasnul Suhaimi, who is also former CEO of telecommunications companies PT Excelcomindo Pratama Tbk and PT XL Axiata Tbk.

In his speech, Jonan said the judging for the iCIO Awards was a serious process. He found that the finalists were those who could truly represent technological developments in business and daily activities. He noted that the winner of the Most Inspiring CEO Award had proven to have an impact on business activities. Hasnul added that a good understanding of technology was an essential skill for a CEO, but that a CEO could always work with a good CIO to achieve this mission.

Eko Indrajit, who led the CIO category judges, noted that the judging process was not only fair and detailed but also insightful, as the panel of judges for the CIO category were able to learn a lot from the candidates’ experiences. Most of the candidates were all talented, but eventually, the judges had to select the winners. He hoped that the iCIO Awards would inspire other CIOs to emulate the winners. 

The iCIO Community is a non-profit organization consisting of senior IT leaders and decisionmakers who come together to share their experience, knowledge and wisdom. Established in 2013, the community was officially inaugurated by former communication and information minister Rudiantara as the first IT community in Indonesia with a legal entity and aims to support the development of ICTs in Indonesia to widen economic opportunities through social activities.

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