Issues and opportunities

We spent yesterday and today meeting with BPPT's department heads to review the findings of the brainstorming session we had last Tuesday with the coordinators.
We asked the department heads to prioritize the opportunities and confirm/amend the issues identified by the coordinators.
We got an interesting comment: they expressed their surprise about recognizing IBM not "just" as an IT company, but also carrying business and organizational consultancy competencies. They plan to replicate the methodology we used of (among other things) getting input from all levels of the organizations to identify opportunities and issues to drive BPPT's transformation process.

Cultural corner: BATIK. It is impossible to visit or live in Indonesia and not be exposed to a batik, especially if you work here. Friday is batik day. Everyone - yes, everyone - wears a batik on Friday at the office.

The word batik is thought to be derived from the word 'ambatik' which translated means 'a cloth with little dots'.  It is a very old technique to decorate fabric. Molten wax is applied to the fabric to prevent dye penetrating the cloth, those portions of the fabric free of wax accepting the dye. By repeating the process many times, complex multicolored patterns can be produced (more to come when we will be visiting some batik factory in Yogyakarta this weekend).
Today, the word batik is often used to indicate a shirt with short or long sleeves, that both men and women can buy in many different colors and patterns. Javanese traditional batik, especially from Yogyakarta and Surakarta, has notable meanings rooted to the Javanese conceptualization of the universe. Traditional colors include indigo, dark brown, and white, which represent the three major Hindu Gods (Brahmā, Vishnu, and Śiva). This is related to the fact that natural dyes are most commonly available in indigo and brown. Certain patterns can only be worn by nobility; traditionally, wider stripes or wavy lines of greater width indicated higher rank. Consequently, during Javanese ceremonies, one could determine the royal lineage of a person by the cloth he or she was wearing.
Other regions of Indonesia have their own unique patterns that normally take themes from everyday lives, incorporating patterns such as flowers, nature, animals, folklore or people.
Depending on the quality of the art work, craftsmanship, and fabric quality, batik can be priced from some dollars (for fake poor quality batik) to several thousand dollars (for the finest batik which probably took several months to make).

#ibmcsc Indonesia