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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