Wawancara Khusus dengan CEO BARDI Smarthome: Brand Lokal IoT Fenomenal.

Two years ago Ryan Maurice Talullah, Andy Tan, Yudi Tukiaty and Ricki Kurniawan agreed that smarthome technology in Indonesia needed a solution to overcome the very high and complicated implementation costs. There must be a breakthrough so that technology that can make life easier can be enjoyed by many people.

Similar to legendary stories from Silicon Valley, Bardi was born in a garage in North Jakarta. And just two years later, even beyond Ryan, Andy, Yudi and Ricki's own expectations, Bardi has succeeded in becoming the current ruler of the Indonesian smarthome market.

What is their phenomenal success story? What's the key? What achievements have they achieved and what are their next plans?

Coinciding with the Egogo Local Pride campaign that we are holding in this month of independence and at the same time celebrating Bardi's 2nd anniversary, Ryan Maurice Tallulah, CEO of Bardi, answered all the questions above through our special interview opportunity with him on Friday, August 8.

Our hope is that this interview can inspire other local brands to achieve the same success. There will be more local brands that are able to host in their own country and make Indonesia's name famous. Hopefully, happy reading.

Egogo: Hello Mr Ryan. How are you? Happy 2nd birthday to Bardi.

Ryan: Hello, hello. I'm well. Thank You.

Egogo: Bardi has just had his second birthday, but is so phenomenal, he has succeeded in making a splash in the Indonesian smarthome market. Many people are certainly curious how that could happen. Can you tell me from the beginning?

Ryan: Phenomenal, huh? Ha ha. Thank You. So Bardi was founded by four people on August 5 2019. There is me who looks after executives and vision, there is Andy as CTO who looks after technology, then there is Yudi as CPSO who looks after Partnership and Strategic, and Ricki as Finance and Legal Controller.

Now I focus on controlling the direction of the company and implementing it into daily execution. But in the near future, there will be a new CEO and I will be full time as Chief Accounting and Visionary Officer. His job is to look at the books and think about the company's future. So there will be more confusion, Haha.

Egogo: Unique position, sir. Ha ha. OK, still about Bardi's history. When did Bardi start to enter the market, who inspired it?

Ryan: So Ricki and I were work partners for quite a long time. Then we invited Andy and Yudi, who are also my and Ricki's work partners at Next Digital, a digital agency company. Andy and I also met when we were studying in Sydney. The four of us then sat down together in order to open a new business in the smarthome product and service category. We want to provide new solutions, changes in the Indonesian smarthome market. The reason is, at that time the majority of smarthome product installations still required extremely high costs and a complicated installation process. We want to change that by presenting DIY smarthome products, smarthome products that once purchased can be installed yourself, just plug and play. And Bardi was born.

Egogo: We know that at that time smarthome products were still unfamiliar to Indonesian people, but Mr Ryan actually dared to invest. What makes Mr Ryan confident that these products can be sold?

Ryan: Right. Public knowledge is still very minimal. But for us it is actually an opportunity. We have confidence that this can be overcome with strong creative communication through advertising or social media. Strong creative communication will be the spearhead that puts us first in consumers' minds. On the other hand, our goal is not only the domestic market. We want Bardi to become an export company. Even though manufacturing is not 100% in Indonesia, let's say 70 percent is still in China, we want to be able to fill other countries' markets with the power of creative communication resulting from the work of our own nation's children. As a result, currently our manufacturers in China can directly export Bardi products to Singapore, Malaysia and several other countries. Bardi has proven to sell well.

Egogo: Bardi is proven to sell well. Even booming. The lack of public knowledge about smarthome products, which was actually a big challenge, has turned out to be an opportunity and a success. So then is there anything that counts as a challenge? What was Bardi's biggest challenge before arriving at his current position?

Ryan: Anything that isn't Bardi's focal point is a challenge. Our focus point is to present selected smarthome products, products that are truly people's needs and then communicate them as creatively and widely as possible. Anything beyond that is a challenge. For example, from a technological perspective. To be able to keep up with technology, we still have to rely on Tuya Smart, the leading IoT platform in the world today. All Bardi products are still powered by Tuya Smart. Apart from that, we still have problems in terms of warehousing, fulfillment center, CRM and so on related to e-commerce which we have tried to overcome from the start by collaborating with Egogo Indonesia. Another thing, we still want to answer all needs and serve all Bardi consumers better.

Egogo: OK. So, two years after Bardi has overcome these challenges, what is Bardi's greatest achievement to date? What would make you proud?

Ryan: What makes me most proud is when I see workers at Bardi doing better economically. For example, it won't be difficult to pay rent or you can live in a better place. During the current Covid pandemic, they have no shortage. In terms of achievement, it can be said that we have succeeded in achieving all the milestones that we set. For example, in terms of product range. From initially only having smart lamps, smart plugs and IR remotes, now we have forty products. All of them have Postel certification and are being produced domestically following SNI standards. Then from the helpdesk side. Our helpdesk operating hours, which were originally only from eight in the morning to ten at night, are now 24 hours Monday to Sunday. In terms of technician visits, which previously only existed in Jakarta, now there is Bardi Home Care in 34 cities and continues to grow. With help from Egogo, we also received awards from Shopee and JD.ID as the best sellers on 12/12. Four months ago we started exporting with transaction values ​​continuing to increase. Another thing, we are currently the only local brand in the South Esia Asia region that has received Work with Google Certification.

Egogo: Shift it a bit. Why use the name Bardi? What does Bardi mean?

Ryan: It doesn't have any special meaning. We just want a name that is easy to remember, familiar to Indonesians and at the same time has a global element. The name Bardi in this context feels right. On social media, not once or twice have buyers joked by equating the name of this brand with the name of Pak RT or their uncle's name. This means that the name Bardi has proven to feel global and very Indonesian at the same time. A name with global elements that can also emphasize Indonesian identity. And hopefully the name can also strengthen the Indonesian identity of the Bardi brand in our future export markets.

Egogo: Back to Bardi products. After two years, how far is Bardi's current sales distribution? Where can people who want to buy Bardi get it?

Ryan: Currently Bardi is present offline in 34 cities. After PPKM ends, we have plans for exhibitions from mall to mall throughout Indonesia so that people who don't know Bardi can experience firsthand the experience of using its products before buying. Bardi can also be purchased on all Indonesian e-commerce platforms, as well as the Tiktok Shop.

Egogo: We know that Bardi has several product categories such as Smart Security, Smart Lighting, Smart Living, Smart Electrical, and Smart Pets. With so many sales channels, what products sell the best?

Ryan: In terms of quantity, lamps or smart lamps. Maybe because just one room can need three or four lights. In terms of biggest turnover contribution: IP Camera.

Egogo: After all the current achievements, what are Bardi's plans for the future?

Ryan: Entering our third year, we will intensify production domestically. Currently, what we produce domestically is only lights and breakers. We want to increase production capacity and capabilities, especially to meet the variety of breaker specifications required by the export market. Please pray.

Egogo: Amen. The following question is more out of our personal curiosity. Why did Bardi choose Egogo as an e-commerce enabler partner?

Ryan: Because Egogo's service is better. We have shopped around various other enablers. We emphasize that Bardi really prioritizes customer experience. Previously we had set the service standards we wanted. For example, customers who ask questions must be answered within a certain number of minutes, goods purchased must be sent within a certain number of hours, and so on. We asked for it to continue and as a result, there were enablers who withdrew, there were those who thought we were quite crazy.

Only Egogo turns out to be as crazy as we are in serving consumers. Egogo turns out to be just as crazy and able to live up to our standards. So actually there is no choice either. Like it or not, you have to be an Egogo enabler. Ha ha.

Egogo: Haha. Thank you sir. We come to the closing question. What can you say to the many local entrepreneur friends out there who are still struggling to achieve achievements like Bardi?

Ryan: We can't do everything alone. Packing yourself, answering customer questions yourself, everything is thought and done by yourself. Doing that is bad for business because we won't have enough time and energy to listen to our customers anymore. What do they want, what do they need so they can get better and always right service.

Determine and practice the service standards we want then leverage everything through partnerships, no matter how small the scale of our business. Bardi and Egogo's partnership also started when Bardi's scale was still very small.

Egogo: Very inspiring. Hopefully all local brand owner business friends out there can benefit from this conversation. Thank you very much, Mr Ryan. Continued success for Bardi.

Ryan: You're welcome. Thank you for all.