Corporate Blogging

Do you know what corporate blogging is?

A corporate weblog is published and used by an organization to reach its organizational goals. There are many types of corporate blogging, which are Internal Blogs, External Blogs and CEO Blogs. An internal blog, generally accessed through the corporation's Intranet, is a weblog that any employee can view. An external blog is a publicly available weblog where company employees, teams, or spokespersons share their views. It is often used to announce new products and services (or the end of old products), to explain and clarify policies, or to react on public criticism on certain issues.

Example of the corporate blog implementation and its effect

Visit Tampa Bay is an example of corporate blog. It has been blogging for seo (search engine optimization) for a few months and each month they have had the opportunity to gain new clients through this program. They are doing this by winning organic searches on Google, Yahoo, and MSN. In fact, every one of their keywords is ranking in at least one of these search engines.

To view their blog, click the link below.
http://blog.visittampabay.com/blog/visittampabay

Advantages of corporate blogging

• Leaders can communicate directly with their customers, suppliers and investors and employees.
  
• Blogs can help organization develop stronger relationships and brand loyalty with its customers, as they interact with the 'human face' of the organization through blogs.


• Sharing their ideas freely in an honest voice brings the blogging companies new connections and generates trust which will lead to business opportunities galore.
  
• If your blog has a positive effect on your company’s reputation then it is very beneficial to your career.

Disadvantages of corporate blogging

• Blogs make many organizations look like disorganizations, with multiple tones and opinions. Contrary to what some might think, the average customer prefers it if the organization they are about to purchase from is at least somewhat cohere
  
• blogs are easy to start and hard to maintain. Writing coherently is one of the most difficult and time-consuming tasks for a human being to undertake. So, far from blogs being a cheap strategy, they are a very expensive one, in that they eat up time.


• It can be tricky to drag public comment out of a company without first routing through the sanitizing filter of a press office.

How to prevent E-auction fraud?

E-auction, also called procurement auction, reverse auction , sourcing event, e-sourcing or eRA, is a tool used in industrial business-to-business procurement. It is a type of aution in which the role of the buyer and seller are reversed, with the primary objective to drive purchase prices downward. In an ordinary auction or known as a forward auction, buyers compete to obtain a good or service. In a reverse auction, sellers compete to obtain business. It is a tool used by many purchasing and supply management organizations for spend management, as part of strategic sourcing and overall supply management activities.
Buyers, sellers, and market makers should adhere to auction rules and industry codes of conduct for the use of reverse auctions, if they exist. Problems arise when one or more parties fail to conform to auction rules. This can range from simple cries of "foul" to litigation.

As a smart consumer, you should know how to protect yourself when you are doing E-auction? So, what is our concerns when involving in E-auction? The well known and the largest Internet auctioneer is eBay which has introduced several measures in an effort to reduce fraud. The following are prevention to e-auction fraud:

• User identity verification such in IC number, driver’s license number or date of birth. For example, verified eBay user, the voluntary program, encourages users to supply eBay with information for online verification. While users are also adviced to save all transactions information as a backup document to yourself and it will be useful when fraud are occurred.


• Authentication service. It is to determine whether an item is genuine and described appropriately. It difficult to perform because their training and experience, experts can detect counterfeits based on subtle detail.


• Grading services which is a way to determine the physical condition of an item, such as ‘poor quality’ or ‘mint condition’. Different item have different grading systems. For example, some are graded from A1 to F1, or by ranking from 1 to 5, while coins are graded from poor to perfect uncirculated.


• Feedback forum. It allows buyers and sellers to build up their online trading reputations. It provides user with ability to comment on their experiences with other.


• Escrow services. Both buyers and sellers in a deal are protected with an independent third party. Buyer mails the payment to escrow services which verifies the payment and alerts the seller when everything checks out. An example of a provider of online escrow services s i-Escrow. Users also should not giving out their personal privacy information until you have thoroughly checked out the seller and the escrow service.


• Appraisal services which use a variety of methods to appraise items. It includes expert assessment of authenticity and condition, and reviewing what comparable items have sold for in the marketplace in recent months.


• Physical inspection. It can eliminate many problems especially for collectors’ item. But in fact, this is not practicable due to some limitations.


• Item verification which is a way of confirm he identity and evaluate the condition of an item. Third parties will evaluate and identify an item through a variety of means. For example, some collectors have their item “DNA tagged” for identification purpose. It provides a way of tracking an item if it charges ownership in future.


• Non-payment punishment. In order to protect sellers, a friendly warning for first-time nonpayment. A sterner warning is for second-time offense, with a 30 day suspension for a third offense and an indefinite suspension for a fourth offense.

Further reading about prevention of e-auction fraud:

1. Prevention methods for e-auction
2. What's Internet Auction Fraud, And How Do I Prevent It?

E-Government in Malaysia: Its implementation so far and citizen’s adoption strategies.

What is E-government and how far is its implementation?

E-Government, also known as e-gov, digital government, online government refers to the use of internet technology as a platform for exchanging information, providing services and transacting with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. E-government is one of the seven MSC flagship launched in Malaysia. Current application of e-government implemented in Malaysia included e-Filing, renewing road tax and driving license online, KWSP’s i-Akaun, E-Perolehan, employment opportunities and more. The vision of government to launch e-government services is to focuses on effectively and efficiently delivering services from the government to the people of Malaysia, enabling the government to become more responsive to the needs of its citizens. It also provides citizens and organizations with more convenient access.

The 7 pilot projects of the Electronic Government Flagship Application that has been implementing so far are:

1. Project Monitoring System (SPP II)

2. Human Resource Management

Information System (HRMIS)

3. Generic Office Environment (GOE)

4. Electronic Procurement (EP)

5. Electronic Services (E-Services)

6. Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX)

7. E-Syariah

The myGovernment Portal had been established and acts as the one-stop source of Malaysian government information and services for the citizens. This website serves different categories of users ranging from citizens, business, governments, and non-citizens. Besides, it also provides the pathway for its users to make enquiry, get the information of government job vacancies, complaints about their dissatisfaction and so on.

Common problems encountered by consumers:

• Many citizens in Malaysia are reluctant to transact or utilize the applications of e-Government through internet due to the risk of inaccurate data transferred, potential fraudulent, phishing, and stolen of privacy data and so on.
• Many consumers do not know how to use the services provided as there is no manual guide which could assist them in the way transacting over internet.
• Public are not aware of the e-Government services provided as there is lack of extensive advertisements and promotions regarding the services. Most of them still using the traditional method especially those computer illiterate.
• Do not have the accessibility over internet due to the digital divide especially those in rural area or poor families that do not posses internet access at home

Strategies to encourage more residences to use e-Government applications

• Increase the awareness the of e-Government application by publishing and advertising publicly. (e.g. provide user manual guide, advertise on promotion board/television, setting up help desks and so on.
• Increase citizens and businesses units’ willingness to adopt and utilize these services by educate and introduce the functions of e-Government on how to use the services provided. (e.g. renew driving license)
• Enhance security and confidence of the existing and potential citizens by constantly maintaining the server and keep upgrading the safety issues arisen through advance technology and law governance.
• Set up kiosks at public area such as shopping complex, government agencies which will increase the users’ accessibility.

A review on a post on Legal from My E-Commerce blog -- New rules for cyber cafes soon

After reading the post of “New rules for cyber cafes soon”, I think it might be a good idea to enforce such rules to have a control on the operating hours and businesses of cyber cafes. Besides, the activities of those who appear in cyber cafes could be controlled under the new rules, especially for teenagers as they always go cyber cafes for gaming. Once they start gaming, they can hardly get out of the gaming world. As such, they consume most of their time in cyber cafes instead of putting efforts on their studies or doing other healthy activities. The new rules can also prevent those who going cyber cafes from surfing porn sites, gambling and so on.

However, the enforcement of such rules might significantly affect the businesses of cyber cafes. Since the activities of customers are being controlled and they could not do whatever they want in the cyber cafes, customers will feel that it is meaningless for them and might stop going to cyber cafes especially for those who always go for gaming. This may lead to the closing down of most of the cyber cafes in our country.

In my opinion, the enforcement of the new rules for cyber cafes still considered a good one so that our nations can go for a healthier lifestyles rather than spending their time doing unhealthy activities in the cyber cafes. But the point is the businesses of cyber cafes will surely be affected.

The application of pre-paid cash card for consumers

What is Pre-paid Cash Card?
It is a card that has monetary value preloaded which is a limit that a consumer can use so one can have budget over his spending by loading reasonable amount of money onto the card. The value in the card will reduce each time the consumer uses it and the consumer can reload the card anytime.

Examples of pre-paid cash card
Touch 'n Go is a prepaid cash card in Malaysia. It can be used to pay toll fares at highways, for major public transports, selected parking sites, and so on. Consumer can reload the card at ATM, train stations, toll plazas, etc with the range from RM20 to RM500. Touch 'n Go makes it convenient and efficient for consumers to pay for low value but high frequency transactions. Touch 'n Go can also be used in selected retail outlets like Burger King, Dunkin Donuts, 7-Eleven, Carefour, etc.


Octopus card is prepaid cash card used in Hong Kong. It is primarily used to pay public transport fares for convenience. The application of Octopus card is extended for purchases in retail outlets. Consumers can also access to buildings and schools and identify themselves by using this card. It has made their daily life easier.

Benefits of pre-paid cash card
- Convenient
- Efficient
- Safer than cash
- Avoid from bringing small change
- Prevent from long queue

Wikipedia links for:
- Touch 'n Go
- Octopus Card

Mobile payment system in Malaysia: Its potentials and consumers' adoption strategies

Nowadays, most of the people are using mobile payment. What is mobile payment? It is basically a point-of-sale payment made through a mobile device, such as a cellular telephone, a smartphone, or a personal digital assistant (PDA). Mobile payment also referred to as mobile web payment or WAP billing.By using mobile payment, a person with a wireless device could pay for items in a store or settle a restaurant bill without interacting with any staff member, it can also be used to purchase any number of digital or hard goods, such as music, videos, ringtones, games, wallpapers, books, magazines, tickets and other hard goods. Examples of mobile payment are mobile ticketing, mobile banking and much more.

Potentials of mobile payment

• Improved user convenience
  Mobile payment provides a more convenient way to pay for their bills, just by a few clicks on mobile device, the user may be able to make payment through their mobile. Instead of make payment by going to the particular place, as the mobile payment is operating 24 hours everyday, the user can make payment at anytime, anywhere they want, they can even make payment either at home or their office. Thus, this can eliminates the hassle to queue up just to pay for the bills and therefore can save user’s time.
  
  
• Security, privacy and trust
  Mobile payment ensures private and secure transmissions. By using mobile payment, the personal details and payment history of the user are protected. Moreover, users account is protected from hacker or terrorists because the users need to key in passwords in order to login to their account.
  
  
• Simplicity
  User does not need to go through sophisticated steps in order to make payment by their mobile device. They just have to activate their telephones by logging into websites. After registering their mobile telephone numbers, they can enjoy the services, after registering it, there just a few clicks and they are able to make payment through their mobile device.
  

Consumers’ Adoption strategies

Most common mobile payment system used is mobile banking; most busy working adults usually use mobile banking to pay for their bills, such as electricity bill and water bill. Besides, they also use mobile banking to make transaction and pay for their credit card debts, by doing so; they can save their time because they don’t need to queue up at the bank.

Credit Card debts: Cause and Prevention

Are you a credit card holder?
First of all, before we talk in depth about credit card debts we should know what credit card is. Credit card is a system of payment named after the small plastic card issued to users of the system in which the issuer lends money to the consumer or the user to be paid later to the merchant. A credit card allows the consumer to 'revolve' their balance, at the cost of having interest charged. Most credit cards are issued by local banks or credit unions, and are the same shape and size, as specified by the ISO 7810 standard.


Credit card holder is the holder of the card used to make a purchase or payment or the consumer of the card. It cannot be ignored that credit really bring convenient to the consumer but at the same time it also comes along with the hidden problems that might be easily overlook by the card holder especially debts. Credit card debt is an example of unsecured consumer debt accessed through credit cards. So, to be a smart consumer of credit card, you should always keep track to the transactions that you made by using credit card in order not to be in debts.


Why credit card debts??
It was reported that there is increasingly growth of bankruptcies which majority caused by unmanageable credit card debts. Debt results when a client of a credit card company purchases an item or service through the card system. Debt accumulates and increases via interest and penalties when the consumer does not pay the company for the money he or she has spent.


Cause: Missing Payments or Late Payments. The fastest way to get into credit difficulties is by not repaying the minimum payment required or only makes the minimum payment of the charges of your credit card. Even worse, cardholder will be forced to go bankrupt. The results of not paying the debt on time are that the banks, credit card companies, or other financial institutions is a late payment penalty will be charged and reporting of the late payment to credit rating agencies which will affect the user’s credit rating. Additionally, the late payment penalty itself will increase the amount of debt the consumer has.
Prevention: Set up a Direct Debit for the minimum amount and pay off the debts as much as possible of the remaining balance to keep it low.

Cause: Spend, Spend, and Spend. In fact, please do not, do not and do not do this! Making payment or spending money on credit card is borrowing money from the banks or the credit card companies. It is a debt and consumers must repay it at some point of time. In other words, you are spending your own future money! Sometimes consumers might be not realize about that and obtain a purchase which actually cannot afford by them. Thus, it is easily make themselves in debts when they are not noticed that they are spending out of their financial ability.
Prevention: Use the card to obtain a purchase that you can afford provided you can pay off the cost over time or spend by using a debit card. Only spend what you can afford!

Cause: The End of the Honeymoon. It is commonly for nowadays credit card companies offer credit cardholder with 0% interest rate in order to attract more consumers to apply for a card. But, every special offer must come to an end. The credit card companies will transfer from 0% balance to low introductory interest rates. When the special rate ends, the interest rates will shoot up, and a small debt can grow rapidly, particularly if only the minimum repayments are being made.
Prevention: There is no point in being loyal to a card that has outlived its special rate, you can just pay off the outstanding balance and get a new card with a lower rate for your purchases. Try to make a note of the expiry date of all special deals to make sure that all transactions go through before interest becomes due.

Cause: Holding Bunches of Card. It is advised that not to hold more than 8 cards at any one time as this will adversely affect credit ratings. Besides, when you have more than 1 credit card on hand, you will be easily overspend your money and get yourself in trouble with huge debts. By carrying too many credit cards with you at a time, the cards might in danger of being stolen or lost and being used by somebody unknown. Thus when these happened, you might found that you are horribly in debt with the credit card companies.
Prevention: Clear any outstanding balances and cancel your credit cards formally which are no longer used. It is also advised that shoppers to only carry one card at a time to reduce the risk of your card be stolen or lost.

A Little Tips…
You can often detect warning signs of being in too much debt long before your receive the collection notices. If more than 2 or 3 danger signs apply to you should consider getting some help with your finances.

• You have begun charging essentials like food and daily expenses to your credit cards.


• You make only minimum payments on your charge card accounts each month.


• You are at the limit of your credit cards, or have too many credit cards.


• You are unsure how much you owe creditors.
  

Just let me stop here for this topic, and hope that everyone of you can make use of it. Ciao!

~SiuLing~


Further more

• Credit Card Debt


• Head into the new millenniumwithout that credit card debt


• The Truth About Credit Card Debt