E-Government

Many countries even Malaysia are implementing electronic government which also known as 'e-government'. The initiation of e-government was initiated by the introduction of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) in 1996. Using e-government, it will improve the accessibility and quality of interactions with citizens and businesses. Simultaneously, information flow and processed improved the quality of policy development and as well the coordination and enforcement.

The primary delivery models of e-Government can be divided into:

• Government-to-Citizen or Government-to-Customer (G2C)



• Government-to-Business (G2B)



• Government-to-Government (G2G)



• Government-to-Employees (G2E)

Electronic Services Delivery (eServices)

Now everyone can conduct transactions without going through queuing, traffic jams or any bureaucratic hassles as they can conduct transactions at their own wish and convenience through various convenient channels such as eServices kiosk and Internet. Examples of e-services includes Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and Telekom Nasional Berhad (TM).

Electronic Labor Exchange (ELX)

ELX is a one stop-centre for labor market information that supervised by Ministry of Human Resource (MORH) that enables employer and job seekers to communicate at the same platform with the objectives of:

• Enabled an effective and integrated job matching process



• Provide an effective center of labor market information and references



• To improve mobilization of the nation's human resources and to ensure the manpower utilization is optimized.

Government to Businesses (G2B)

1) E-procurement

E-procurement system enables suppliers to sell goods and services to the Government through Internet. Suppliers advertise their pricing, process orders and deliveries. The objectives includes:

• Enables accountability and transparency



• Creates more skilled and knowledgeable workforce



• Equips the workforce with the latest technology at minimum cost

Government to Government (G2G)

1) Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)

HRMIS is integrated for the Malaysian Public Service , incorporating Global Best Practices in HR that allows Public service successfully deal with with the challenges of the K-Economy. The objectives are:

• Effective Staffing and right-sizing of civil service



• Improve paperless HRM capabilities



• Open and flexible system



• Automated human resource managerial and operational processes

Citizen's adoption strategies

Government should increase the awareness and gain as much attention as possible from the citizens for the services provided in e-government. A higher level of customer satisfaction will increase the rate of e-government adoption which moving the same way with the government. Satisfaction can obtained by providing a better protected privacy and confidentiality of the user's information.
Other than that, to retain a long-term users to use e-government frequently, service quality should be competitive with the other developed country in terms of speed, problem serving approach and ease of use of the website.

Lastly, e-government must be advertised through suitable medium such as radio or television. workshop can be held to create awareness on the existence of e-government as this services provides problem solving as they are all full-focus in providing the best services to its citizens.


More information:
1) http://www.intanbk.intan.my/psimr/articles/Article1%20-%20Full.pdf

2) http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTINFORMATIONANDCOMMUNICATIONANDTECHNOLOGIES/EXTEGOVERNMENT/0,,menuPK:702592~pagePK:149018~piPK:149093~theSitePK:702586,00.html

3) http://www.w3.org/2007/06/eGov-dc/papers/SecureEGovernmentPortals

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Review on Dell.com e-commerce site

This week would be the last week of posting for our e-commerce blog. My title for this week is on a review on a local, transactional e-commerce site. First company that came across my mind is Dell.com.

Dell.com, is incorporated in 1984 as a direct selling company selling computers to customers. Slowly evolving, it turns out to be one of the most successful e-commerce company specialized in selling computer merchandise.

The business model provides ease to customers by processing the whole procedure through the website together with doorstep collection and delivery. The whole process wouldn’t require the purchaser to spare time attending physically to make payment nor collecting the purchased merchandise.

Dell is competitive in pricing as most of the parts are made in-house and have unique features to attract customers. Furthermore, Dell.com provides a large variety of laptops, desktops and accessories to satisfy requirements of its large customer base. The products are customized to meet requirement of various business nature such as cybercafés, small and medium enterprise, and even large enterprise.

Personal desktop and laptop are the main categories of sales to customers. To attract home users to make purchase, Dell.com introduces financing packages such as the zero-interest scheme to offer credit insufficient users to own their computers in a more credit sufficient way. Furthermore, it allows user to optimize performance with add-on customization features of the basic models.

My family just bought a desktop from Dell.com. The design is really nice and the service that they provided is very efficient and convenient. Hope that Malaysia will have more e-commerce website for us because it brings a lot of convenient. It makes life for “lazy” and busy Malaysians much easier!

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Corporate Blogging : A new marketing communication tool for companies.

It is undeniable that blog has become one of the most popular communication tools on World Wide Web especially in today technology era. It is because blog offers everyone the opportunity to create their very own free website as well as encourages opinions and interactions among each other.

Corporate blogging refers to a company producing a blog to accomplish its business objectives. It serves as a channel between a company and its customers. The use of a blog allows a company to provide a destination of information for consumers, from commercials to promotional coupons, to directions on how to use products. Corporate blogs are primarily used for national branding. They allow companies to deliver accurate information without the filter of the media or advertising. Participating in the blogging world gives company a competitive edge. Those companies which start blogging could learn the skills at gathering competitive intelligence, language and etiquette of blogging.



Besides that, corporate blog can be divided into two types which are internal blog and external blog. An internal blog refers to access through the corporation's intranet. It helps the communication between different layers of management to share their experiences, opinions and thoughts which will help to improve their daily work. While an external blog is a blog that can be viewed by public. Public can leave their comment in the blog. It is useful for organizations to get the direct feedback from the customers. By using the external corporate blog, there is availability of updates about company new products or services on the blog. It becomes a platform between the corporate organizations with outsiders and will definitely help in building better relationship with customers.

There are a number of successful blog sites that keep public updates on the products they sell so as to attract more traffic through blogging. Below are the five types of corporate blogs with examples.

Company Blog
Examples: Google, Yahoo, Flickr, Facebook, Adobe.

CEO Blog
Example: Sun CEO – Jonathan Schwartz’s blog.

Industry Blog
Example: Miller Brewing’s Brew blog.

Department or Product Blog
Example: Google’s Product blog (blog roll on the sidebars)

Customer Service Blog





References:

http://www.businessknowhow.com/internet/corporate-blog.htm

http://mariosundar.wordpress.com/2008/05/19/the-5-types-of-corporate-blogs-with-examples/

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Discussion on E-learning offered in Malaysian universities: Pros and Cons from the students perspective

E-learning or networked learning has been becoming more and more popular among students living in developing and undeveloped countries. E-learning is defined by Webopedia as education via the Internet, network, or standalone computer. e-learning refers to using electronic applications and processes to learn. e-learning applications and processes include Web-based learning, computer-based learning, virtual classrooms and digital collaboration. Content is delivered via the Internet, intranet/extranet, audio or video tape, satellite TV, and CD-ROM.

In Malaysia, e-learning is still at its infancy stage, only UNITAR and OUM offer almost 90% of their courses on-line and with e-learning environment. Many public institutes of higher learning, for example, UMS, UPM, UiTM and USM, use e-learning in a mixed-mode environment. There is not yet a 100% e-learning. It is always a blended e-learning; a mixed mode e-learning whereby a combination of e-learning and FTF learning are used together.

There are pros and also cons in e-learning from students' perspective. They are...

PROS

- Students can afford getting higher education degrees at respectable universities and colleges by saving extra expenses for traveling, accommodation, food and high fees for tutors.

- Time flexibility. One can get online resources, communicate with his tutor or class mates, send his query and write term paper at any time he can get access to the Internet.

- Allow accessibility to all students irrespective of their residence. E-classes help students to communicate with their tutors, get clarifications regarding their subjects and study and access teaching materials through e-libraries

- E-learning can be more effective for certain types of learners such as students that are shy, reflective, language challenged, or those that need more time. It is also suitable for students who prefer to express themself in writing rather than verbally.

- Students can learn at their own pace and study at their convenience. There would be more flexibility to join discussions in the bulletin board threaded discussion areas at any hour, or visit with classmates and instructors remotely in chat rooms

CONS

- Lack of face-to-face communication with teachers contributes lack of understanding between a student and a teacher. While a teacher cannot easily feel a student’s demands, interests and motivations, a student can simply be lazy being non-motivated enough and having free time schedule for his e-learning. This may result a low scope of the student’s knowledge and the teacher’s accusation in lack of proficiency.

- Students may need to invest more money in getting the e-learning necessary equipment such as computer and software programs and pay for internet connection.

- Students may need to wait for feedback and responses from peers and instructors because there would be more learners are often actively involved.

- E-learning may require students to learn or enhance computer and troubleshooting skills. Managing computer files and online learning software can sometimes seem complex for students with beginner-level computer skills

- Without the routine structures of a traditional class, students may get lost or confused about course activities and deadlines.

References:

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/E/e_learning.html
http://writingandsnacks.blogspot.com/2006/08/pros-and-cons-of-e-learning.html
http://www.justcolleges.com/elearn/proscons.htm
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/procs/jowati-poster.html
http://www.elearners.com/resources/elearning-faq5.asp

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Credit Card Debts : Causes and Preventions

Credit card debt is one of the major debts that have affected the economy in recent times. People are filing for bankruptcy, instead of settling their debts through debt negotiation and debt management. Credit card debt happens due to many causes, such as the following:

1. Poor Money Management
Poor money management is one of the main reason of why so many people accumulate lots of debt. They do not have a monthly spending plan and not keeping track of their monthly bills makes them unaware of where their money is going.

2. Saving little or not at all
Often people cannot control themselves from spending regardless of whether the purchase is nessacery or not. They will spend excessively but do not save, this lead themselves into trouble of paying the credit card debts when the bill come.

3. Financial Ignorance
Credit card debt may also due to the lack of knowlege of people on saving and investing personal finances. They do not learn how to save and how to spend wisely, they are not able to manage their finances properly.

4. Less Income, More Expenses
This situation happens when people lose their job but monthly expenses are not cut down in line wit the reduction in income. This obviously leads to a rise in debt because they are forced to use the credit card to pay all the monthly payment or living expenses.


Here are some prevention steps in order to keep you out from credit card debt:

1. Create a Budget and Saving Plan
A well thought out budget will help you to get out of debt and stay out of debt. It is important to have a plan for your money so that you will know exactly where all of your funds are going. Besides, you also need a saving plan too for rainy days. Set some amount aside for emergency use to shield yourself from surprise expenses. Saving with a goal in mind motivates many people to stick to their savings plan

2. Self Discipline
With the ease of use of credit cards, it can be easy to think you have additional funds in your wallet.In order to spend wisely, you must learn how to control and discipline to avoid overspending. You should control yourselves by follow the budget which have been planed.

3. Choose the Right Card
Choosing the exact card serves you all the well. Cards that have low or no fees at all and have interests that are low also, are the ones that are preferably appropriate especially to those who are only beginning to use credit cards.

4. Always Pay on Time
Always remember to pay your credit card bill on time, this can avoid from unnecessary debt accumulation and higher interest charges.

references:
http://www.stop-credit-card-debt.com/2008/07/24/tips-on-credit-card-debt-prevention/
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/tips-on-debt-prevention-and-management.html
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/credit-card-debt-settlements.html
http://www.3debtconsolidation.com/top10-causes.html

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Mobile Payment Systems in Malaysia : It's potential and consumer's adoption stratergies .

What is mobile payment ?

Mobile payment is new and rapidly-adopting alternative payment method – especially in Asia and Europe. Instead of paying with cash, check or credit cards, a consumer can use a mobile phone to pay for wide range of services and digital or hard goods such as:

• Music, videos, ringtones, online game subscription or items, wallpapers and other digital goods.


• Transportation fare (bus, subway or train), parking meters and other services


• Books, magazines, tickets and other hard goods.

There are four primary models for mobile payments:

• Premium SMS based transactional payments


• Mobile web payments(WAP)


• Direct Mobile Billing

Premium SMS based transactional payments

This is where the consumer sends a payment request via an SMS text message to a short code

and a premium charge is applied to their phone bill. The merchant involved is informed of the payment success and can then release the paid for goods.

Since a trusted delivery address has typically not been given these goods are most frequently digital with the merchant replying using a Multimedia Messaging Service to deliver the purchased music, ringtones, wallpapers etc.

A Multimedia Messaging Service can also deliver barcodes which can then be scanned for confirmation of payment by a merchant. This is used as an electronic ticket for access to cinemas and events or to collect hard goods.

Transactional payments have been popular in Asia and Europe but are now being overtaken by other mobile payment methods such as mobile web payments (WAP) and Direct Mobile Billing for a number of reasons:

1. Poor reliability - transactional payments can easily fail as messages get lost


2. Slow speed - sending messages can be slow and it can take hours for a merchant to get receipt of payment. Consumers do not want to be kept waiting more than a few seconds.
   
3. High cost - There are many high costs associated with this method of payment. The cost of setting up short codes and paying for the delivery of media via a Multimedia Messaging Service and the resulting customer support costs to account for the number of messages that get lost or are delayed.
4. Low payout rates - operators also see high costs in running and supporting transactional payments which results in payout rates to the merchant being as low as 30%.
   
5. Low follow-on sales - once the payment message has been sent and the goods received there is little else the consumer can do. It is difficult for them to remember where something was purchased or how to buy it again. This also makes it difficult to tell a friend.

Direct Mobile billing

This is where the consumer uses mobile billing option during checkout at an ecommerce site such as an online gaming site to make a payment. After two-factor authentication involving PIN and One-Time-Password, the consumer's mobile account is charged for the purchase. It is true alternative payment method that does not require use of credit/debit cards or pre-registration at online payment solution such as PayPal, thus bypassing banks and credit card companies altogether. This type of mobile payment method, which is extremely prevalent and popular in Asia, provides the following benefits:

1. Security - two-factor authentication and risk management engine prevents fraud.


2. Convenience - No pre-registration and no new mobile software is required.


3. Easy - It's just another option during a checkout process.


4. Fast - Most transactions are completed in less than 10 seconds.


5. Proven - 70% of all digital content purchased online in some parts of Asia uses Direct Mobile Billing method

Mobile Web Payments ( WAP)

This is where the consumer uses web pages displayed or additional application s/he downloaded and installed on his/her mobile phone to make a payment. It uses WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) as underlying technology, thus inherits all the advantages and disadvantages of WAP. However, using a familiar web payment model gives a number of a few proven benefits:

1. Follow-on sales where the mobile web payment can lead back to a store or to other goods the consumer may like. These pages have a URL and can be bookmarked making it easy to re-visit or share with friends.


2. High customer satisfaction from quick and predictable payments


3. Ease of use from a familiar set of online payment pages

However, unless mobile account is directly charged through mobile network operator, use of credit/debit card or pre-registration at online payment solution such as PayPal is still required just as in desktop environment.

Mobile web payment methods are now being mandated by a number of mobile network operators.

A number of different actual payment mechanisms can be used behind a consistent set of web pages.

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A review on a post on e-tailing

Nowadays, almost everything can be traded online. This applies to very subjective things such as music, reservation and even information. Due to technology changes, we now isn’t limited to just purchasing, we can also customize things online.
E-Tailing or also known as sales of product over the internet has been a trend of business in this high tech era. It helps exploit a whole new market of through the internet without imposing much constraint to operate.

In Malaysia they even sell fish online, Fishermen in Tanjung Dawai have preceded auction for their catches via the internet. Other than that, other recent examples would be touch’n’go ready to impose pre-load cash purchase with their card in fast food restaurants. It is been a trend in countries like Hongkong to use such pre-load cards in their daily shopping activity and proven successful.

Online banking should be another form of E-commerce which we should be very familiar of. In recent years, stock trading online had been actively used as a form of E-tailing by major banks to encourage convenience to the consumers. Maybank, as one of the largest bank to offer online stock trading even reduce its transaction cost to encourage usage of the facility.

In US, reservation for restaurant seats are made easy by the website called Opentable.com. This website offers reservation online in just a few clicks for more than 6000 restaurants alone in New York. It is a proven effective concept and should be more effectively implemented in other countries.

Furthermore, E-tailing could be used as a way to promote a countries’ tourism for example Malaysia’s http://www.tourism.gov.my/ which gives information on Major tourism spots, graphical illustration etc. Foreign tourist could visit the website to determine where to visit in Malaysia.

Conclusion is that life is becoming more and more convenient. I believe in near future everything can be done online. That’s awesome!

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