CTO Chats with David Halim, Chief Executive Officer at PT Klickers

David, tell us about yourself and your role. 

I’m now the CEO of Klickers, an Indonesian company that provides GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance) solutions. I started as a CTO in the company. I was in charge of all the technologies and all the other projects, but recently, I was promoted to CEO as well. Not only on the technical side, but I’m also involved in the company’s strategy and everything else. It’s been close to 13 years now that I’ve been with Klickers.

The IT landscape evolves rapidly. What changes are you currently facing, and how are you addressing them?

There are definitely two major changes that are happening. I think it happens everywhere, not only in Indonesia, but I’m sharing more about the digital market with you because that’s where I’m very familiar with, the digital market. It’s really AI and cybersecurity. It [the digital market] is really changing a lot, especially with AI. We need to be able to actually be very adaptive towards AI. There are a lot of use case scenarios. I have not really seen a huge use case of the implementation of AI here in the next year, but I think it’s starting to with other companies. So, I think it’s really a big technology shift. It’s a challenge, yet it’s also an opportunity for people here in the next year.

 How do you think the IT sector will evolve in the next three to five years? What major shifts are on the horizon?

Again, two things, both AI and cybersecurity. They’re going to drive the changes. In terms of cybersecurity, it just keeps changing every day. We just try to catch up with the bad guys, right? They keep getting better as well, so everybody tries to keep up with each other. It keeps changing a lot. A big part of the problem is in Singapore with the scams. There are a lot of things for cybersecurity, and I think that is going to change a lot of the effects.

The second one is that AI is going to have a big impact on the market. In terms of AI, it just keeps changing every day as well, with new technology coming out, and it just moves really fast. Those are the two trends that will definitely shape the market in three to five years. But there’s one very interesting aspect as well: if you see that both AI and cybersecurity, it’s not really cheap to implement. You have to invest in the people, the hardware, the software, invest in a lot of things. 

The third factor that is going to change is related to the two technologies I’ve mentioned before. But this time, it’s about the fractional CXO. Companies in the future are not looking for full-time CISOs, full-time experts in terms of AI, in terms of cybersecurity. The CISO works with multiple companies and can share the best practices. That’s going to change a lot as well, as is a fractional CXO.

How do you balance the need for innovation with the demand for stability and security in your IT systems?

First, if you keep innovating your product, you have to pay attention to the governance and all the other regulations as well. But, if you pay too much attention to the governance and the regulatory aspects, you wouldn’t have any innovation in your product. You have to balance these two, and it’s not easy. The key point here is not only the skills of the people, but they need to have a very adaptive team. Because you actually need to have a team that is very agile and can change really fast. I was shifting from CTO to CEO, so I can see where all the shifting is coming into the picture. What happens is that you need to make sure that all stakeholders, all the users, all the clients, and all your stakeholders understand that you have to balance innovation and everything else. That is important here. It’s not only all the IT technical skills but also communication skills as well.

 Reflecting on your experience with knowledge-sharing discussions, what’s the most memorable insight or takeaway you applied in your work?

Almost every knowledge-sharing session provides learning, but apart from the knowledge that’s being shared, where they discuss new technology, new best practices, and new cybersecurity measurements, another important factor is that you build new friends and new connections. These connections can share more information about their expertise over coffee. It really impacts not only the particular subject but also your career journey, your understanding of knowledge, and a lot of other things.

For someone attending an Ortus Club event for the first time, what advice would you give them to get the most value out of their experience? 

You definitely have to be very open-minded. You will gain a lot of shared knowledge. You’ll get a lot of knowledge from other peers, but I think, on the other hand, you also need to be able to share your expertise with other people. It’s two-way communication. Be open-minded. 

Again, the keyword here is adaptive. You need to be very adaptive nowadays. You need to just keep changing. Everything is changing: cybersecurity is changing every day, and AI is changing every day. Businesses are in different formats now with a lot of new technology abilities, so you really have to be adaptive. When you come into sharing knowledge together, you can find shared knowledge and just enjoy it.

What’s one question all CTOs should be asking themselves today?

That’s very interesting. I think that as I was shifting from CTO to CEO, the question for me was more about working with the economic benefit of your solution. You see that basically when you are the CTO, focused on IT details, you are actually delivering something in terms of whether you created some IT solutions or IT apps for the business of the companies. I think the very important question is whether the delivery of your team actually benefits the company economically. That’s very important. That’s what I mentioned before. Businesses are changing now due to technology developers. Companies are achieving a lot of efficiencies due to AI, and we, as IT leaders, have to make sure that all the solutions we build and all the deliveries we create benefit the company economically. That’s a very fundamental question.

What’s the biggest IT-related mistake you see companies make, and how can they avoid it?

A lot of companies, particularly in the Indonesian market, invest in IT solutions that are not really relevant to them. What I mean is that sometimes vendors come with a lot of sweet offers to the companies, and the IT leaders buy into it, thinking that’s the best solution, one solution for all, so they invest in it. But I saw a lot of cases where the solution didn’t make it; they don’t use it in a real production environment. That’s a real waste of investment. 

It’s really important for both parties, the companies and vendors, to be more transparent. It’s quite challenging here in the Indonesian market, but I think it’s going to be applicable to all markets to be very transparent with others about the boundaries of your solutions, what the company truly needs, and everything else. Once that is established, I think this mistake can be reduced significantly.

Lastly, how do you approach mentoring and developing the next generation of leaders within your IT team? 

I think that mentoring IT leaders has two segments to it. The first one is definitely the technical skills. That one you can learn a lot from experience. You can ask Google, and you can ask ChatGPT now; AI is going to help you a lot.

For me, mentoring is more about other non-technical skills, like entrepreneurial skills, decision-making, mentality, experience, authentication, and all those things. In terms of mentorship, of course, I’m more focused on those skills to build leaders that can be very adaptive, that can see how the market changes, and finally, make quick, strategic decisions. That’s what mentorship is all about, in my opinion.