Below are a couple of posts (from another message board) which provides some insight on the Jakarta staffing that ITMSF has in place and is about to further ramp-up:
The Indonesia office is a hidden asset, and it is hard at first to appreciate its true value. While the fusion of the collected data is done in Canada and the US, the 70 people working in Jakarta are editors looking for anomalies in the 3D data using Intermap’s proprietary software.
Several competitors and Intermap have tried to automate the process over the years, but no one has been able to do so; it is impossible! You need a human cleaning the data, there is no way around it. None of their competitors have such an extensive operation, and this represents a significant competitive advantage for Intermap. It would take years for a competitor to (1) hire a team of 70 workers and (2) train them.
Additionally, the salary these workers are paid is a fraction of what a similar worker would be paid in North America. While 70 workers seems to be much, they are probably paid $5,000 a year, which is only $350,000. Definitely a great investment and not by any means a huge expense. Even if Intermap has to double their headcount in Jakarta to properly service the SDIs, that won’t move the needle.
Prokofiev
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"Jakarta will include a large increase of people for software editors. Intermap increases or reduces the staffing in Jakarta as needed for data editing. The important factor here is that Jakarta staff are 1/12th the cost of North Americans. It’s a very cost effective facility. And so that is where the bulk of the hires will be."
The Intermap office is registered as PT Exsamap and per LinkedIn profiles, they have employees that have been with them for 11+ years (HR Manager). The Examap office runs 3 shifts (or did in 2008). Indonesia is a great low cost region and Intermap did well to place a team in this area vs say China. In addition, the exchange rate has gone from about 8000 Rp per USD 4 years ago to currently 13005 Rp per USD due to the strength of the dollar. Jakarta minimum wage is 3.1M per month which equates to $238 per month. Higher skill university graduates would make around $500 per month and people that stick with you for many years are at about $1000 per month. Minimum wages have risen 20-30% per year the past three years as well, but wage wise, Indonesia is considerably cheaper than China, Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia. I'm a bit biased as I moved to Indonesia in 2003 and run our US Corp office here. ; )
Intermap's Indonesia office could double or triple, and the OpEx difference wouldn't move the needle in a big way. You are right, that is a big advantage to have such an experienced staff.
