E-Government in Malaysia: its implication so far and citizen's adoption strategies

In 1997, Malaysian government lauched the Electronic Government initiative, generally known as e-Government. The implication of e-Government was initiated with the introduction of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) in 1996. E-Government seeks to enhance the convenience accessibility and quality of interaction with the public and business at large. This would enable the government to be more responsive to the needs of its citizens(MSC).

Under the government flagship, seven main projects - Electronic Procurement (eP), Project Monitoring System (PMS), Electronic Services Delivery (eServices), Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS), Generic Office Environment (GOC), E-Syariah and Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX). Besides, others project like Public Services Portal (myGovernment), e-Tanah, e-Consent, e-Filling, e-Local Government (e-PBT), e-kehakiman, Custom Internation System (e-SILA).

E-Government is still not familiar by citizen. The common problem encounted by consumers are:

~ lack of knowledge on IT : consumers may do not know how to use the e-government online system and how to assess to the e-government application.

~ system down : sometimes the e-government system are down, thus it may not convenience to the consumers to assess the application.

~ security and privacy : the consumer are worry through the security of the e-government system. Besides, consumer also worry that other will know their private information through the system.

There are some suggestion ways to encourage more consumer to use the e-government applications:

> the government should provide the guideline and improve the ease of use of the e-government system. This will enable consumer more comfortable with the system.

> the government also can promote the system though media devices like news papers, TV, and advertisement with guideline and ease step for using the system.

> always improve the system to prevent system down and ensure all the assess information are secure and always in efficient condition.

Things to take note to prevent e-auction fraud when a consumer participating in an e-auction

E-auction, auction conducted online, have been in existence for several years in local area network and were started on the internet in 1995. Host sites on the internet serve as brokers, officing services that enable sellers to post their goods for sales and allow buyers to bid on those items.

The e-auction fraud rate is become higher and higher, in order to protect the buyers from e-auction fraud, there are some prevention of e-auction fraud that have to take notewhen participating in an e-auction.

User Identity Verification: It is encourages that the users to supply information for online verification. By offering their name, identity card number and etc. to avoid any e-auction happening.

Authentication service: Product authentication is a way of determining whether an item is genuine and describe appropriately. Authentication is very difficult to perform because it relies on the expertise of the authenticators. So, only the experts can detect counterfects based on subtlee details.

Feedback Forum: It allow the registered buyers and sellers to build up online trading reputation. The buyers and sellers have an ability to comment on their experiences with others.

Escrow Services: With escrow service, both sellers and buyers are being protected because online escrow service will holds the payment until buyers confirm that what they were promised within an agreed upon inspection period, which then sends a check to the seller.

Nonpayment punishment: It is help to protect the sellers and avoid those buyers that do not honor their winning bids. When the buyers did not make payment, the sellers must give warning to them.

References:

wps.prenhall.com

Corporate Blogging: A new marketing communication tool for companies

How is this possible? Corporate blogging. Google does it. Microsoft does it. Why aren’t you doing it?

In this view, I address the following questions: why would a company want to start blogging? Who should blog? What makes a blog successful? And how can companies use this type of website to facilitate positive business growth?

To find the answers to these questions. What I discovered that the majority of corporate blogs are giving established companies and obscure brands alike the ability to connect with their audiences on a more personal level, build trust, collect valuable feedback and foster strengthened business relationships. More importantly, these companies are enjoying tangible returns in their blogging investment in the form of increased sales, partnerships, business opportunities, press coverage and lead generation.

The blogger shares useful and engaging content —the latest information, help, discussion topics and ideas. When customers start commenting, posting or tracking back to a blogging community, it can have a viral effect —spreading out across the blogosphere. In addition, companies that harness their customers’ knowledge and ideas find better ways to satisfy their needs and wants, thus facilitating goodwill in the community. Thus, successful blogging breeds success in other marketing and sales initiatives.

How can benefit from promoting corporate blogging within your company? Depending on the company or the business model, corporate blogging can help the company feel more human to the world and it is a way for the company to become intertwined with the Internet community.

The Many Challenges of Blogs

1) The best non-corporate blogs are spontaneous and genuine. Poorly written corporate blogs can look fake -- or perhaps worse, they reveal incompetence on he part of the writer.

2) As employee bloggers become popular, brands get concerned.

3)May require a lot of time.

Sources: http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/columns/article.php/3547411

http://www.enterpriseblogs.info/corporate-blogging/disadvantages

http://www.backbonemedia.com/blogsurvey/

Review a local e-commerce site

E-commerce had been practicing in Malaysia for years. During the mind nineties, many industries in Malaysia had been trying to apply E-commerce however the limited broadband and outdated technology calls the trial off. Try Imagine how long it will take to load a picture of your products on internet browser with a 55K dial up at that time.


Many fields are practicing E-commerce and improvement on the operating system had shown great changes especially in the banking business. Maybank as well as Public Bank, which is two of the largest bank operating in Malaysia had computerized their operating system and enable their customers to access to their account through internet for fund transfer, paying bills and many other services. These E-commerce form of business not only time saving, but also reduce the traffic inside the banks.

Peoples nowadays enjoy shopping online and participating in auction had become very common. Some companies set up forums and websites to help peoples that want to sell off their goods and belongings. “www.lelong.com.my” and “forum.lowyat.net” are two popular forums for auction while a lot of people enjoy shopping at eBay. MOL Access Portal said on Nov 11 the MOL Safe Pay enabled consumers in Malaysia to securely transmit funds to one another using MOL Access’s payment infrastructure that includes MOL e Points and MOL MasterCard prepaid. MOL e Points are avai lable at most 7-11 outlets.

Reference: www.Pbebank.com
www.maybank2u.com
www.lelong.com.my
www.lowyat.net

Credit Card Debts: Causes and Prevention

Credit Card are common and become a fact of life today. Now today, nearly everyone has access to a credit card. Much of problem with credit card debt problem comes from changes in credit card availability, advertising and values.

Credit Card is a burgeoning problem today, there are many card holders falling into debt, facing financial problem, unable to pay debt and got into bankrupt, especially the yongest today. Causes include beliefs about future earnings, debt attitudes, financial knowledge, Spending maximum credit limit, depending on the credit card, buying things not needed, reacting to advertising, paying only the minimum and paying late.


There are some prevention method to avoid credit card debt:

~ keep the right perspective when using your credit card.

~ manage your finance to avoid unnessary expenses & having to put large amount of debt on credit card.

~ setting budget, to help you on track set goals and put motivators in place.

~ monitor credit limit.

~ use it like cash, not a credit card.

~ know the interest rate.

~ early education, teaching youngest generation all about the money before they even qualify for credit card.

~ pay the balance in full and on time.

The application of pre-paid cash card for consumers.

Mobile payments are becoming more popular, especially in the advanced countries. Mobile payment is the core of Obopay and it offers the first comprehensive mobile payment service in the United States. Obopay was found in 2005 by successful serial entrepreneurs, funded by top venture capitalists, and is based in Silicon Valley, CA. Obopay is an exciting startup with a great company culture and aims for serving the country better and bring more comforts to citizens.

With Obopay’s consumer service allow mobile phone subscribers to send money, instantly pay back to friends, split a dinner bill, get money from your parents, get quick cash, give gift, pay up or collect on a friendly wager, track purchases, check your balance, and a lot more benefits and ease through the mobile phone. And, you can do it all from your phone; anywhere, anytime with anyone. Paying car parking fees can now be completed using Obopay. Paying through mobile phone has minimized the headache of bringing not enough coins to feed the meter. Paying car parking fees at Bay Area is being so common nowadays and one Obopay’s customer even curious that one day, users will just need to wipe their mobile phones over the sensors when they passing through a subway.

The service, targeted at mobile subscribers ages 18-25, is fast, convenient, and fun. Obopay also enables point of sale purchases through a companion debit card.

Reference: https://www.obopay.com/

The threat of online security: How safe is our data?

As Internet users display more of their personal information on social networking Web sites, and office workers upload more sensitive data to online software programs, computer hackers are employing increasingly sophisticated methods to pry that information loose. In many cases, they're devising small attacks that can fly under the radar of traditional security software, while exploiting the trust users place in popular business and consumer Web sites.

In September, the names and contact information for tens of thousands of customers of Automatic Data Processing (ADP) and SunTrust Banks (STI) were stolen from Salesforce.com (CRM), which provides online customer management software for those two companies. The incident occurred after a hacker tricked a Sales force employee into disclosing a password.

The assaults on consumer sites are getting more unnerving as well. A security researcher reported Nov. 8 that hackers had hijacked pages on News Corp.'s (NWS) social networking site MySpace, including the home page of singer Alicia Keys. Clicking nearly anywhere on the page would lead viewers to a Web site in China that tries to trick them into downloading software that can take over their PCs.

Reference: http://www.outsourcedataprocessing.com/