Author : Adriana Hairi
SunFish CEO Indonesia leader Gordon Enns has been interviewed by British Publishing House. Specifically, the interview is for the second edition of Successful People in Indonesia 2026. As a result, the recognition highlights his journey as a foreign entrepreneur. He chose Indonesia as the place to build DataOn, the company behind SunFish HR. For HR leaders across Southeast Asia, this milestone reflects the depth of experience behind the platform many organisations already rely on. In addition, it offers a window into how a foreign founder built a lasting HR technology company in one of the region’s most complex markets.
A Leadership Journey Rooted in Indonesia
The interview forms part of the publication’s biography feature, which spotlights inspiring figures and their professional journeys. During the session, Gordon shared his path as a foreign entrepreneur who built DataOn in Jakarta. Over time, he grew it into a trusted HRIS provider for enterprise organisations. Today, DataOn has more than 25 years of expertise. As a result, it has expanded well beyond Indonesia, now serving businesses across Southeast Asia, including Malaysia through SunFish HR by DataOn.
Furthermore, Gordon’s decision to build DataOn in Indonesia, rather than his home country, reflects a broader theme in his career. Essentially, he chose to solve problems where the need is greatest. After all, Indonesia’s HR and payroll landscape carries significant complexity, spanning regional labour regulations and diverse workforce structures across industries. Because of this, building a platform that understands these nuances took years of ground-level experience, not just software development. Ultimately, this is part of what the interview set out to capture: the story behind the product, not just the product itself.
What the Interview Covered
The publication’s official interview guide explored Gordon’s professional background, career milestones, awards, and personal insights on success. During the interview, Gordon spoke about building a company shaped by trust and long-term purpose. He also reflected on what it means to create technology that understands complex local requirements while scaling regionally.
“Building DataOn in Indonesia has been a meaningful journey shaped by people, trust, and the belief that technology should create lasting value for organizations,” said Gordon Enns, Founder and CEO of DataOn.
Additionally, the interview touched on Gordon’s personal outlook on leadership. Specifically, he discussed how patience and consistency shaped DataOn’s growth over more than two decades. Notably, rapid expansion for its own sake was never the goal. Instead, this measured approach shows up in how SunFish HR has evolved. For example, modules like Talent Management, OKR, and AI & Analytics were added over time as customer needs matured, not rushed to market.
DataOn’s Growth Across Southeast Asia
DataOn was founded in 1999 as a Jakarta-based HR technology provider. Since then, it has grown into a regional player, now serving enterprise organisations across Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. However, this expansion did not happen overnight. Rather, it reflects a steady build-up of local market knowledge, regulatory expertise, and customer trust, market by market.
Today, SunFish HR by DataOn supports organisations through a full suite of modules, including HR Core, Enterprise Payroll, Talent Management, Recruitment, and AI & Analytics. Overall, each module follows the same philosophy Gordon described in the interview: build technology that understands local complexity first, then scale it responsibly.
Why This Matters for SunFish HR Users
As the company behind SunFish HR, DataOn continues to support enterprise organisations across industries with scalable, locally relevant, and future-ready HR technology. Specifically, this spans payroll, workforce management, and broader human capital transformation. Because of this, SunFish HR helps organisations manage today’s HR complexity while preparing for what comes next. Therefore, this leadership recognition reinforces the foundation behind the platform, backed by a founder with over two decades of hands-on experience in the region.
Similarly, Malaysian businesses use SunFish HR’s Compensation & Benefits, Enterprise Payroll, and Time Management modules, which benefit directly from the same long-term product philosophy DataOn has applied since 1999. For instance, a business might be managing statutory payroll requirements, tracking attendance across multiple sites, or planning compensation structures. In each case, the approach traces back to one founding principle: technology should serve the realities of local HR, not the other way around.
A Milestone That Reflects DataOn’s Broader Mission
This feature in Successful People in Indonesia 2026 is more than a personal recognition for Gordon Enns. Rather, it reflects DataOn’s long-standing commitment to Indonesia’s business and technology landscape. As DataOn continues to grow across Southeast Asia, the company stays focused on delivering enterprise HR solutions that combine regional insight, strong implementation expertise, and continuous innovation.
For organisations evaluating HR platforms, leadership credibility matters. After all, a platform is only as strong as the team and vision behind it. Ultimately, this recognition gives customers and prospective customers a clearer picture of the people driving SunFish HR’s continued development.
About SunFish HR by DataOn
DataOn is a Southeast Asian HR technology company and the company behind SunFish HR, an enterprise HRIS solution trusted by organisations across industries. Since 1999, DataOn has helped companies streamline HR operations, improve workforce management, and enable better people decisions through scalable and locally relevant HR technology.
Explore how SunFish HR by DataOn can support your organisation’s HR and payroll needs.
Media Contact Akmal Razman, Marketing Executive at SunFish HR Malaysia by Dataon.com | sunfish.malaysia@dataon.com
