Southeast Asia’s leading superapp Gojek has stepped up on its #AmanBersamaGojek (Safe with Gojek) initiative, an initiative to bolster the sense of digital security among its driver and merchant partners in its ecosystem as they earn money using the superapp’s platform.
Gojek recognizes the importance of strengthening these partners’ sense of digital security as more and more businesses and MSMEs migrate from offline to online platforms amid COVID-19-related large-scale social restrictions.
To walk the talk, Gojek has launched yet another series of security innovations specifically catering to the needs of its driver and merchant partners.
To protect the digital security of its driver partners even more, Gojek recently launched a face verification innovation. The feature, which makes it mandatory for driver partners to verify their identity using real-time facial recognition technology before logging into the app, seeks to prevent drivers’ accounts from being hacked.
The new innovation complements other digital security features Gojek has launched to protect its driver partners, including number masking, emergency button and share trip options.
Meanwhile, to bolster the digital security of its merchant partners, Gojek has just launched its GoBiz independent registration feature. The new feature allows prospective merchant partners to register, verify and activate their accounts straight away with just one touch.
Other than that, Gojek has also protected its merchant partners’ digital security using a personal identification number verification feature, a one-time password secret code (known simply as an OTP), as well as the GoBiz user management feature. All of the above seek to protect the merchant partners’ private data.
“We continue to strengthen our system security by developing several technological innovations under the Gojek SHIELD umbrella, aligned with the #AmanBersamaGojek (Safe with Gojek) initiative. We apply the innovations comprehensively in our driver and merchant partners’ platforms,” Gojek Group chief information security officer George Do said.
“In order for Gojek to continue providing the best services to its users at a time when people have been relying more heavily on digital services to have their daily needs met during the pandemic, it is essential we protect the digital security of our partners,” he continued, adding that currently Gojek had been working with millions of driver and merchant partners.
“With a more secure platform, our partners can conduct their daily business more calmly without having to worry about digital security matters. We also believe that with more sophisticated platform security, we can further leverage our positive impact amid the pandemic,” he asserted.
Fortunately, Gojek’s internal surveys of 23,000 driver partners and 3,000 merchant partners in Q3 2020 have proven the efficacy of these new innovations in increasing the sense of security among Gojek partners as they do business through the superapp.
The first survey revealed that 92% of GoRide driver partners are satisfied with their Gojek driver platform account & information safety. Whereas the other survey pointed out that 93% of GoFood merchant partners feel secure with GoBiz as a platform to conduct commerce and payments with customers
The merchant partners went on further to say that the GoBiz feature had three aspects that reassured them the most about digital safety, namely: payment safety, business data protection and the flexibility and independence that they enjoy in managing their GoBiz accounts.
Gojek’s efforts to protect the digital security of its driver and merchant partners do not stop at providing technological solutions. The superapp has also actively been educating its driver and merchant partners as well as the public at large on digital security matters.
Gojek has conducted its educational programs through the company’s various internal and external channels. External channels include social media content and public webinars, which Gojek has organized with several parties such as the Communications and Information Ministry and local content creator community SiBerkreasi.
The educational program is highly important, considering that Indonesians’ level of digital literacy is still very low. This is ironic, considering that more and more Indonesians have been adopting the use of digital applications in the past few years.
In light of this, Gadjah Mada University Center for Digital Society researcher Tony Seno Hartono applauded the timeliness of Gojek’s digital security features.
“Digital crimes, conducted on the basis of psychological manipulation and social engineering, have continued unabated during the pandemic. These psychological manipulation tactics do not manipulate a system’s vulnerability; instead, they undermine the technology user’s weaknesses in terms of their lack of digital competence,” he said.
“With more and more business players migrating online, more and more of these psychological manipulators also seek to attack them. Therefore, it is crucially important for all parties involved to continuously and consistently educate the public, so that individuals and business players who use technology can avoid such fraud,” he continued.
These driver partners also feel that Gojek’s safety, health and hygiene protocols have made them more secure in terms of physical health. This is important as they are out on the streets earning their living day in day out to cater to people’s needs amid the pandemic through Gojek.
They also said Gojek’s transparent suspension system also allowed them to conduct their daily activities comfortably.
Hopefully, maintaining our digital security and personal health safety at the same time, we can continue to conduct our activities amid these challenging times.
