Corporate Blogging: A new marketing communication tool for companies

Corporate blog is a weblog which published and used by an organization to reach its organizational goals. Currently, all major browsers (including Firefox, Opera, Safari and Internet Explorer 7) support RSS technology, which enables readers to easily read recent posts without actually visiting the blog, which is very useful for low-volume blogs.

A corporate blog can be:

• A tool that helps the organization achieve a business goal
• A useful extension of the company image in the marketplace
• An opportunity to open a two-way channel between employees and customers
  

There are many different types of corporate blogs, most can be categorized as either external or internal.

Internal Blogs
An internal blog is a weblog that any employee can view through the corporation's Intranet. Many blogs are also communal, allowing anyone to post to them. The informal nature of blogs may encourage employee participation, free discussion of issues, collective intelligence, direct communication between various layers of an organization and a sense of community. Internal blogs may be used in e-mail discussions especially the employees are in different locations, or have conflicting schedules. Blogs may also allow individuals who otherwise would not have been aware of or invited to participate in a discussion to contribute their expertise.

External Blogs
An external blog is a publicly available webblog where company employees, teams, or spokespersons share their views. It is often used to announce new products and services or the end of old product, to explain and clarify policies, or to react on public criticism on certain issues. It also allows a window to the company culture and is often treated more informally than traditional press releases, though a corporate blog often tries to accomplish similar goals as press releases do. In some corporate blogs, all posts go through a review before they're posted. Some corporate blogs, but not all, allow comments to be made to the posts.

The benefits of blogging for corporate:

1. Great for search engine marketing
2. Build and brands your company to be a thought leader in your industry
3. Great crisis handlers
4. To engage customers in conversation, and help in building relationship
5. To put a human voice to a company
6. Show the world that you have nothing to hide
7. Customer service and feedback
8. Differentiator
9. Encourages you to find out what others are talking about you

Corporate blogs are not only interesting and useful, they are also helping the companies develop a totally new relationship with their customers. Sometimes, the blogs will help the company move the needle in reputation, cute and thus purchase consideration.


References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_blog
http://www.conversationagent.com/2008/02/corporate-blogs.html
http://www.blogopreneur.com/2007/03/30/the-benefits-of-corporate-blogging/

Review a local e-commerce site

Flower.com.my is a local site where you purchase wonderful flowers and gifts for any occasions and send them to your loved ones or even to your family and so on. This website is a fully owned subsidy of CARI Internet Sdn Bhd and began active operation in the year 1999.

To provide a convenience way for people to purchase flowers and gifts, the founder decided to start as an online florist instead of having a shop at first. Since inception, flowers.com.my has experienced tremendous growth in the process, they have since successfully established a network of over 60 florists throughout Malaysia with the trustworthy relationship to ensure quality of their suppliers and delivery channels. Now, they have their first retail shop in Kelana Jaya and more to come.

With no doubt, the products available in this website are bouquets, flowers arrangement, hampers, gift baskets and many other specialties utilizing imported to produce truly unique gifts. Flowers.com.my helps customers to convey their message and thoughts to their loved ones, friends and associates to commemorate momentous occasions such as new-born, birthdays, wedding, anniversaries, graduations and business openings and even for condolences.

This website has a simple layout and yet warmth design. It has a good navigation which will bring customers to the respective pages when they click on the link or items they wish to get accessed. There is no search engine in this site but it provides a list of events with breakdowns for customers to select types of flowers and gifts they wish to order for different types of events. Once they click on the particular event, images of products will be displayed in the page with the names and prices. If they wish to order certain product, they can click on the image or product name for descriptions and add it into the shopping cart.

Products can be ordered from this site and shipments will be done with different shipment charges according to the locations of recipients. Payments can be made using Mastercard and Visa credit card payments through flowers.com.my 's partner payment gateway provider "Commerce Payment Sdn Bhd". Maybank, Mobile Money and Paypal are the alternatives for customers to make their payments.

However, there are also weaknesses in flower.com.my. The choices of products are not in great variety and thus customers may not be able to choose products which they really want. In addition, they can only look at the description but not the real image of the flowers or gifts. As compared to a brick-and mortal florist, customers can check whether the flowers are fresh, how do they smell, what colour they like, types of wrapping they prefer and so on. Besides that, seasonal conditions may affect the supply of certain kind of flowers and specific colours may not always be available. But arrangements will be made by this online florists and will always fulfill customer's need.

Anyway, it is recommended site for those who wish to send their wishes and gifts to someone far from them with the help of this site. I'm sure that the one who receives these from their loved ones or someone else will feel extremely surprised and touched.

Reference:
http://www.flowers.com.my/catalog/about_us.php

E-learning in Malaysia

E-learning is a term for all types of technology-enhanced learning (TEL), where technology is used to support the learning process. E-learning can be defined in many ways. According to J. Rosenberg, e-learning refers to the use of Internet technologies to deliver a broad array of solutions that enhance knowledge and performance while according Elliot Masie, The Masie Center, E-Learning is the use of network technology to design, deliver, select, administer, and extend learning.

In Malaysia, discussion, debate, deliberation on E-learning as an option to enhance traditional classroom face-to-face training are being widely encouraged and promoted by the government and by private sector organizations. This system introduced to Malaysian students undergoing open and distance learning (ODL) programmes. For those who are still working and hope to be successful in their career development, they will enrolled for external degrees offered by reputed universities in the 1960's or earlier. In 2007, total of seven programs (bachelor and diploma) are offered by UiTM with an enrolment of 2,000 students. UiTM is in the final stage in implementing e-learning in language studies for more than 100,000 students. Some other universities and higher learning institutions are also implementing e-learning as follow:

• Malaysian Institute of Management
• Institute of Management Studies
• University Putra Malaysia
• Maastricht School of Management
• University Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR)
• University Tun Abdul Razak (UNITAR)
• Multimedia University (MMU)
• University Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI)
  

However, the main player of e-learning are private and public institutions of higher education as well as local and multinational corporations. Malaysia's first open university – Open University Malaysia (OUM) is the main academic institutions that leverages on e-learning to deliver its programmes.

Benefits of E-learning from Students Perspective

1. Flexibility, Accessibility, Convenience or Ubiquity
   Learning materials can be access anytime and anywhere. Student can obtained the materials from their home and even at the midnight.
   
2. Low delivery costs
   Once the e-content has been developed and uploaded on the server, it is relatively inexpensive to distribute domestically and worldwide. The contents downloaded can be save in pendrive and portable. Students can save the cost of printing.
   
3. Ease of Update
   It enables the content to be easily and regularly updated and instantly available to all students. Thus, student can get the most updated material on time.
   
4. Scalability
   Content can be delivered to a small or large number of students with little effort. The students that facing geographically disperse can get the contents and experience may shared between students.

Challenges of E-learning From Students Perspective

1. Computer literacy and Digital Divide
   Some of the students does not own a computer especially the student in the rural areas might face the problem of computer illiterate. They might find difficult to adopt the e-learning mode.
   
2. Language Barrier
   For the students who have difficulties in English speaking especially Malaysian students does not have self-motivation to adopt such mode. They might not be confident with the contents in English.
   
3. Healthy Problem
   The student's health being affected as long time facing with computers may assist many side effect such as vision problem, repetitive strain injuries. And ergonomic which means pain in wrists.
   
4. Difficulties in Engaging Students Online
   Online learning requires a very high degree of self-motivation which is found to be lacking among our students. Basically, students will be motivate if available of control from lecture or tutor.

As a conclusion, e-learning will play an important role in democratizing education and contributing towards generating knowledge workers in Malaysia. However, government needs to realize the full potentials of e-learning among students and active in promoting and supporting this initiatives.

References:
http://asiapacific-odl2.oum.edu.my/C33/F80.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergonomy
http://www.slideshare.net/Rimsquest/scope-of-elearning-in-malaysia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_learning

E-Government in Malaysia: Its Implementation and Citizen's Adoption Strategies

Electronic Government or E-government has become very popular in today's technological advancement world. E-government is the use of information and communication technology to provide and improve government services, transactions and interactions with citizens,businesses,and others. The most important of implementation of e-government is aims to help strenghten government's drive toward effective governance and increased transparency to better manage a country's social and economic resources for development. Many countries have widely implemented e-government since last decade,including Malaysia in order to deliver electronic government service to benefit their citizens.

E-government was started to implement in M'sia since the introducton of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) in year 1996. This initiative was launched to lead our country as a step into the Information Age. Its purpose is to improve Malaysian government's internal operations,as well as the delivery of government services to Malaysia's citiizens. Besides that,it can also enhance the convenience,accessibility and quality of interactions with the citizens and businesses. Meanwhile,it can improve information flows and processes within government ,the speed and quality of policy development,coordination and enforcement.

E-government was one of the Seven Flagship application introduces by MSC in order to lead the Malaysian towards the objectives of Vision 2020. However, there are seven pilot projects of the Electronic Government Flagship Application:

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

Under these 7 pilot projects, it is divided into 3 categories,there are Government to Citizens (G2C), Government to Business (G2B) and Government to Government (G2G).

Government to Citizens (G2C)

1. Electronic Services (E-services)

With e-services, now everyone can conduct transactions with Government agencies, such as Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) through various convenient channels such as the eServices kiosks and internet. It eliminate the queuing, traffic jams or bureaucratic hassles and they can conduct transactions at their own wish and convenience.

2. Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX)

ELX is one stop-centre for labor market information, as supervised by the Ministry of Human Resource (MORH), to enable employers and job seekers to communicate on the same platform. Their objectives are :
~ Enable an effective and integrated job matching process.
~ Provide an effective center of labot market information and references.
~ To improve mobilisation of the nation's human resources and to ensure that manpower utilization is optimized.

3. E-Syariah

E-syariah is the seventh project under the Electronic Government flagship application of the MSC. A case management system that integrates the processes related to management of cases for the Syariah Courts.The objectives are :
~ To improve the quality of services of the Syariah Courts
~ To improve the effectiveness of JKSM (Jabatan Kehakiman Syariah Malaysia) in coordinating and supervising related agencies under its jurisdiction.
~ To improve the productivity and efficiency of the management of the Syariah courts throughout the country.
~ To upload the splendors of Islam through the use of ICT(Information of Communication and Technology).

Government to Business (G2B)

1. E-procurement (EP)

An electronic procurement system, which enables suppliers to sell goods and services to the Government through the Internet. Suppliers "open shop" on the World Wide Web (WWW), advertise their pricing, process orders and deliveries. Its objectives includes :
~ Enables accountability and transparency.
~ Creates more skilled and knowledgeable workforce.
~ Equips the workforce with the latest technology at minimum cost.

2. Generic Office Environment (GOE)

Powerful document and office management solution that enables users to effectively and efficiently manage their office environment. It is fully web-based and has been customized based on local developed package, DRDok. Its objectives includes :
~ Efficient preparation and storage of documents.
~ Fast search and retrieval of documents.
~ Effective and productive collaboration and sharing of information.
~ Secure and traceable access to documents.

Government to Government (G2G)

1. Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)

HRMIS is integrated, technology-enabled Human Resource Management Information System for the Malaysian Public Service, incorporating Global Best Practices in HR that would enable the Public Service to successfully deal with the Challenges of the K-Economy(knowledge and the ability to use it to create new value and wealth). The objectives includes :
~ Effective staffing and right-sizing of civil service.
~ Up-to-date consolidated HR data for effective information planning.
~ Automate human resource anagerial and operational processes.
~ Improve paperless HRM capabilities.
~ Open and flexible system.
~ Better communication, horizontal integration, streamlined processes and single window access.

2. Project Monitoring System (SPP II)

Online system that monitors the entire lifecycle of national programs, i.e. from project application to approval to implementation, mid-term review and completion. Its objectives includes:
~ To support and monitor entire lifecycle of Malaysia's 5-Year development program.
~ To have a quality projects.
~ To provide a platform for exchanging ideas and demonstrating best practices models in project implementation.
~ To have an effective decision making based on analysis or forecasting of project informaiton and auto-alert on problem projects (e.g. Budget overrun).

Citizen's Adoption Strategies

E-services form an emerging field, which is rapidly gaining attention and importance. Citizens expect and require governmental services with a high degree of quality, quantity and availability. Governments all over the world are developing information systems and electronic services that have the capacity to meet these emerging service needs and demands of citizens and other customers. Success in delivering electronic services depends upon the capability and self-confidence of citizens in performing e-transactions, as well as their trust and confidence in the protection of their personal data within an open and accountable government. The ease of use, compatibility, and trustworthiness are significant predictors of citizens’ intention to use e-services and that perceived reactive advantage,image,compatibility,usefulness and relative advantage are significant elements of e-Government adoption. These are the 4 areas that should be focusing :

1. Customer satisfaction

E-Government adoption requires that citizens show higher levels of satisfaction with the online service provided by the government. A higher level of customer satisfaction will increase the rate of e-Government adoption.

2. Quality of Service

Online service quality for e-Government could be measured in terms of quality of content provided on the website, the speed of the response to the citizens concerns with problem solving approach, and the availability of names. Other important measurement factors are telephone and fax numbers of personnel with whom citizens might need to get in touch, and the integration of an offline channel with online channel so that citizens could interact with government departments through other means if necessary. Higher quality of service will lead to higher levels of customer satisfaction and thus can increase the use of e-government services.

3. Design of the Web

Personalization of websites, customization of product offerings, and self-care are the three key features that could be used not only to build relationship with the visitors, but also to enhance their experience. These features give visitors a sense of control and participation and could potentially enhance their adoption. Besides that, detailed guidance and instructions such as Frequently-Asked Question section and etc must be available to aid the citizens in using the e-government services effectively and smoothly.

4. User Characteristic

User characteristics have a direct impact on e-government service adoption such as perceived risk and control and also internet experience. Experience influences a citizen’s trust of e-government. Users with prior experience, especially if satisfied, would be more likely to return to use e-Government services. Perceived risk leads to security and privacy issues that might discourage the use of online services. It is crucial to ensure that citizens can have online transaction securely and their personal information will be kept confidential to increase the level of trust and the e-government adoption rate.

References :
http://www.egov4dev.org/success/definitions.shtml#coverage
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Government
http://www.apdip.net/publications/iespprimers/eprimer-egov.pdf
http://www1.american.edu/initeb/ym6974a/egovernment.htm
http://ect6.blogspot.com/2009_02_15_archive.html

Mobile Payment System in Malaysia

Malaysia has launched the FIRST mobile payment system in year 2001. It is known as TeleMoney, the first mobile payment service via multi-channel access for Internet and wireless transactions. A customer with a credit card or debit card with a cellular phone can register for this service. By using the GSM phone and TeleMoney identification number, user can connect it to credit card, debit card, stored valued card, bank account or even the phone account. This allowed customers enjoy a secure and convenient way to conduct mobile commerce using GSM cellular phone.

Recently in April 2009, Maxis communication Bhd. in Malaysia also launched the world’s first contactless mobile payment services known as Maxis FastTab which has been trialling in October 2007 where known as Maxis Touch to Pay for that period. It uses near field communication (NFC) technology, with partners such as phone company Nokia, financial services companies Visa and Maybank, and Malaysia’s Touch ‘n Go card.

NFC is a short-range wireless technology that allows communications between devices at close range. As an open platform technology, NFC offers high levels of interoperability between devices and readers and is now the global standard for contactless mobile payments, with a wide range of features that allows credit card, debit card, ticketing and transportation payments to be integrated into a mobile phone. With this launch, customers who sign up for Maxis FastTap are able to use their Nokia 6212 classic phones to purchase goods and services at more than 1,800 Visa payWave merchant locations as well as pay for toll, transit, parking and theme park charges at more than 3,000 Touch ‘n Go points nationwide. The payment is done by placing the handset within centimeters of a Visa Wave and Touch n Go readers; the transaction is then authenticated within seconds to complete the purchase.

As a conclusion, NFC offers consumers an easy way of using a mobile device for secure transactions through a one-touch-access to services. The NFC-enabled Nokia 6212 classic will change the way mobile phone users interact with devices and services in their surroundings. This technology brings lots convenient just as the said by Nokia: It making consumers’ everyday lives more convenient.

Reference:

http://www.mobile88.com.my/News/read.asp?file=/2007/11/9/20071108201348&sec=News
http://mis-asia.com/news/articles/worlds-first-contactless-mobile-payment-system-launches-in-malaysia?SQ_DESIGN_NAME=print
http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/communications/0,39044192,39001884,00.htm

Credit Card debts: Causes and Prevention

Credit card is provides holder to make purchase in advance up to a limit fixed by card issuer example Visa and Master card. But the holder need to pay higher interest on the average daily unpaid balance. Even there is higher interest but the credit card holder still increasing. If the card holder is abuse use credit card it will cause them bankruptcy because of too much of debt unable to pay back.

The causes of credit card debts are:
Attractive of bonuses that bank provide
Nowadays there are many bonuses or gifts provide to the credit card holder when the holder use the card. Example when there have the alternative of paying RM100 Cash or sign RM100 credit card and get a gift or collect points from the issuer. The credit card holder sure will sign the card instead of paying cash because free of gift is most attractive in human being.

Medical expenses
When emergency need to treatment and don't have enough cash on hand or bank account the best way to settle this problem is using credit card for payment. Because nowadays almost all doctors and hospitals are accept credit cards.

Low income High expenses
Human have a bad habit is like to spend a lot due to attractive advertisement and lack of self control. The problem is most of them are less income especially economic downturn recently but their expenses are never cut down. So they forced to use their credit cards for household, utilities and more when their income is unable to cover the high expenses.

E-commerce
Now one of the most popular activities to do through the internet is online shopping due to convenient to the user. Almost all the E-commerce activities need to payment by credit card. So the users just have to possessed a credit card, then they can buy the things through online.


The prevention of credit card debts are:

Budget planing (pay debt 1st b4 use)

The first step toward taking control of your spending is to do a realistic assessment of how much money you take in and how much money you spend. Start by listing your income from all sources. Then, writing down all your expenses, even those that seem insignificant, is a helpful way to track your spending patterns, identify necessary expenses, and prioritize the rest. You must also keep following the plan until all credit cards have been paid off just continue to use and do not use those accounts again when the balances at zero.

Self-control discipline

One of the best practices is to have a direct set up so that able to pay back the full amount each month and use in emergencies. The important is you must always self control and discipline to make sure that not overspend and always think that use credit card like use of money even it is really not cash.

Cut down the limit

Limit your credit card use to certain categories of spending. Example pay only when there's no risk you will overspend such as insurances and utilities. Besides that, cut up your extra cards so that you are not tempted to use them and just save one card for emergencies.

Bring cash out no extra credit card

People spend more money when using credit cards compared to cash purchases. People also spend less when they look at their expenses in detail, the researchers found. So when you want to go out make sure that no bring extra credit card because the more credit card you have the more you spend.

References:

http://www.livescience.com/culture/080907-cash-credit.html

http://bact6g1.blogspot.com/search/label/Week%205

http://www.mozdex.com/prevent-credit-card-debt/

http://www.cardratings.com/howtoavoidcreditcarddebt.html

The Application of Pre-paid Cash Card for Consumers

In this technology era, everyone should has their own prepaid cash card. A prepaid cash card is a plastic card and basically the same as a prepaid gift card or a mobile phone SIM card. The card looks like a credit card or debit card and gives users the ability to purchase products and services with a card but with a crucial difference. Prepaid cash card allows people to only spend up to the amount they have pre-deposited into the account. This means that there is no risk of running into debt as it has no credit or overdraft facility. This can allow consumers have a better control over their finance and also benefits in their daily life. In short, it is safe, effective and convenient. The following are some types of prepaid cash cards:


1. Touch 'n Go

Touch 'n Go or TnG smart card is used by Malaysian toll expressway and highway operators as the sole electronic payment system (EPS). User can continue using the card as long as it is pre-loaded with electronic cash. User can reload the card at toll plazas, train stations, ATM, Cash Deposit Machines, Petrol kiosks and at authorised 3rd party outlets. Reload dennominaton is ranging from RM20 to Rm500. The purpose of implementation of this smart card was design to reduce the congestion at toll plaza. Now, this card also serve as the purpose of paying parking fees, bus and train tickets. This smart card had even spand its usability to pay bills when purchasing at A&W, Burger King, Dunkin' Donut, 7-eleven, Carrefour hypermarkets, Caltex convenience stores and Cineleisure.


2. EZ-Link

EZ-Link card is a contactless smart card used for the payment of public transportation fares in SIngapore, with limited use in the small payments retail sector. This smart card was introduced for use since January 2002 for use it on the MRT, LRT and public buses. Now, it is increasingly being used in all sectors of retail from leisure to dining or shopping. EZ-Link cards are sold, distributed and managed by EZ-Link Pte.Ltd, a subsidiary of Singapore's Land Transport Authority.


3. Octopus Card

Octopus card is a rechargeable contactless stored value smart card used to transfer electronic payments in online or offline systems in Hong Kong. It was launched in September 2007 and widely used in all public transport in Hong Kong. Besides that, Octopus card also used for payment at convenience stores, supermarkets, fast-food restaurants, on-street parking meters, cars parks, and other point-of-sale applications such as service stations and vending machines.


The Application of Prepaid Cash Card

1. Pay bill – Rent, utilities, insurance, car payment, and cell phone bills can be paid instantly.

2. Shop anywhere as long as the card using is accepted at different retailers, buys fuel at the pump, pay by phone, and shop on the Internet.

3. Get cash at ATMs, any time of the day, and any day of the week.

4. Transfer money – For some prepaid cash card they provide the convenient such as send or receive money via bank wire transfers, between two cards.

5.Pay for toll– use Touch n' Go card as an example, it can be used at all highways in Malaysia, major public transports in Klang Valley, selected parking sites and theme park

6.E-identification – Smart cards storing personal information. For example: Malaysian Identity Card, Malaysian International passport.

7. Health care – Smart card stores health data about patient, allergies, past medical records.

References :
http://www.touchngo.com.my/WhatTNG.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_n_go
http://ec.eurecom.fr/~arnaud/zds/report/node48.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EZ-Link
http://www.ezlink.com.sg/consumer/consumer_ezlinkcard.jsp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_card
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/12/nation/20902911&sec=nation

Electronic Currency

Banks have been able to move currency electronically for decades, only recently that the average consumer had the capability to use electronic transfers in any meaningful way. With the advancement in technology and more computer savvy individuals, global interaction is made available at vastly reduced cost. The Internet and E-commerce have become an commercial area, where daily payment are rendered for goods, services, information and investment. As a result, electronic payments are becoming the central part to online business between customer and seller.increasingly

Electronic currency (e-currency) can be defined as money or scrip that is exchanged electronically by using the computer networks, internet and digital stored value systems. Electronic currency is essentially a system of representation of debits and credits used to exchange value that allow a person to pay for goods and services by transmitting a number from one computer to another. It is also known as e-money, electronic cash, electronic currency, digital money, digital cash or digital currency. It has become widely used due to the emerging of e-commerce and many people use electronic currency in conducting e-commerce transactions.

Characteristics of Electronic Currency

There are some characteristics of electronic currency that making it become common among users. Firstly, the transfer of electronic currency is done at instant or 'real time', thus the transaction cannot be reversed. Once the transfer of electronic currency has been conducted, it cannot be canceled of by reversing the transfer of electronic currency process. Secondly, all the electronic currency transactions are conducted in private and anonymous way for both the sender and receiver. The transfer of electronic currency would not show the personal details of both parties, it would only show number, nick names or e-mail addresses, which do not reveal any privacy of the buyers.

Benefit of Electronic Currency:

1. Electronic currency trading allows you to do business and earn with only a few dollars of investment. Electronic currency trading does not demand much and it is really up to you if you want increase your investment or not. With electronic currency trading you are given many opportunities to profit without spending too much on investment.
2. Electronic currency trading has a low transaction cost. Unlike other business that eat up your profit with exorbitant fees, electronic currency trading allows you to do business with minimal fees giving you more profit and more money for you.
3. Electronic currency trading is versatility and convenience to the persons involved. You can work with any electronic currency trading market that best suits your needs for any time of day. The electronic currency trading business does not sleep so night or day, the world is merely at your fingertips.

Disadvantages of Electronic Currency:

1. Fraud over electronic currency trading has been a pressing issue in recent years. Hacking into bank accounts and illegal retrieval of banking records has led to a widespread invasion of privacy and has promoted identity theft.
2. There is also pressing issue regarding the technology involved in electronic currency trading. Power failures, loss of records and undependable software often cause a major setback in promoting technology.
   

As a conclusion, electronic currency has become a new form of currency in our merging world. Its impact on our daily life will be greater as now we are in this digitalized century. It brings a variety of benefits to us like make our life more convenience and easier. In the meanwhile, we need to consider some potential risk associated with the usage of electronic currency like security and fraud problem. Security and legal issue in regard to electronic currency should be taken attention by authorized bodies whether international or local bodies in strengthen and control these potential risks.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_currency
http://www.nowpublic.com/what_is_digital currency_money_real_cash
http://www.ecom.jp/ecom_e/qecom/demo/elemoney.htm

The Application of 3rd Party Certification Programme in Malaysia

E-commerce has been developed and widely used by the internet users since many years ago. However, security and lack of trust on the e-commerce are the main concern among the internet users. Phishing is one of the example in security issue. Hence we need a well-mandated security infrastructure on e-commerce websites in order to enhance the confidence among of the internet users on them.

As a result, there is a security practice on e-commerce websites called certification programme. It can be called "third party certification programme" because it is performed by a third party. It is also called Certificate Authorities (CA). Third party cerification is an accessment carried out to ensure compliance with a publicly available technical specification. Importantly, the accessment is carried out by an independent, third party organization that is qualified and licensed to issue certification when the accessment is successfully completed.

This means that rather than an organization or company claiming to comply with industry standards, they have taken their commitment to quality further and invited in an external third party to verify that their product or service does indeed complywith the industry standards. There are two main certificate authorities involve in third party certification programme in Malaysia, which are MSC Trustgate and Verisign.


MSC Trustgate.com Sdn Bhd is a licensed Certification Authority (CA) operating within the Multimedia Super Corridor. MSC Trustgate was incorporated in 1999 to meet the growing need for secure open network communications and become the catalyst for the growth of e-commerce, both locally and across the ASEAN region. Trustgate is licensed under the Digital Signature Act 1997 (DSA), a Malaysia law that sets a global precedent for the mandate of a CA. As a CA, Trustgate core's business is to provide digital certification services, including digital certificates, cryptographic products, and software development. The products and services of Trustgate are SSL Certificates, MyKAD ID, MyTrust, Managed PKI, SSL PKN, Personal ID, Managed Security Services, Verisign Certified Training and Development. It provides security solution for individuals, enterprises, government and e-commerce services providers using digital certificates, digital signature, encryption and decryption as this is the primary concern of entering into the new Internet economy. The vision of Trustgate is to enable organizations to conduct their business securely over the Internet, as much as what they have been enjoying in the physical world.

Except of MSC Trustgate, Verisign Secure Site is used to ensure data confidentiality and integrity, it leading Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate Authority which also enabling the security of e-commerce, communications and interactions for websites, intranets and extranets. It provides security solutions to protect an organization's consumers, brand, website and network. By Verisign, all information transmitted through Internet is encryptedusing the 128-bit SSL protocal. SSL is a secure way of transferring information between 2 computer on the Internet using encryption. Strong end to end encryption is also adopted within the bank's computer networks and resources.

Verisign infrastructure helps organizations to deliver in the Any Era and realize the maximum profit. It is also towards that goal that we focus our company, our technology, our services and our people. It helps companies and consumers all over the world to engage in trusted communications and commerce.

The Diagram below shows how Verisign tackle spamming and its solutions:


In conclusion, the establishment of Certificate Authorities is important and they play vital role not only to catalysts the growth of e-commerce but also to inspect the security of e-commerce websites as it provides a safe and secure protection. More e-consumer can now shop and purchase online cafe-free while their personal information or confidentiality is protected.

References:
http://msctrustgate.com/
http://verisign.com/

The Threat of Online Security : How Safe is Our Data ?

Do you ever think that how safe is your data? Nowadays, people often create, store and manage critical information through computer. All kinds of activity from banking to storing company's personal details are done through internet. Consequently, it is important for users to aware that computer security plays a major role in protecting their data from loss, damage and misuse.

In today's world, you need to worry about security for your PC in a whole different way. Spyware, adware, viruses and trojans are lucking online, waiting to infect your computer. These threats evolve over time and always find a better way to better the security software. Therefore, it is important to update security softwares frequently to keep our data safe from these threats. Here are some of the threats to your PC :

1. Spyware

Spyware is a type of malware that is installed surreptitiously on personal computer to collect information about users, their computer or browsing habits without their informed consent. Spyware is usually engineered to watch your online activity and uncover security flaws. The best way to avoid spyware is to avoid the sites and e-mails that leave it on your PC. There are a number of programs available that offer spyware removal and detection and can be downloaded for free at sites such as download.com.



2. Identity Theft



Identity theft occurs when a criminal uses anoher person's personal information to take on that person's identity.There have variety of methods that hackers can steal your information through the PC. Once this information is gained, it will be used to make online purchases using your credit card data, divert paychecks and create false documents. Usually, the top internet security software comes with some protection against this problem. An internet security suite may be your best bet to protect youronline information. The quick tips to protect yourself against online ID theft is never provide your credit card info to any site that does not offer multiple forms of internet security to protect your transaction.

3. Spam Mail



Spam by e-mail is a type of spam that involves sending identical or nearly identical messages to thousand ( or millions ) of recipients. Spam mail itself is not dangerous. However, it can have malicious links that can do everything from cause your PC to be infected by a virus, introduce spyware, and attract more spam. A good internet spam filter is usually a good option. The auick internet security tip is when typing your address into the net, try to use a combination of 13 letters and numbers. This will make it difficult for address to be added spam mail list.

4. Phishing Mail



Phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Phishing is normally carried out by e-mail or instant messaging an it often directs users to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost similar to the real one. The scammers will then use this personal information for their own purposes, or sell the information to other criminal parties. The best way to avoid phishing attacks is not to click any e-mails that you believe to be suspicious. Besides that, you may also update your web browser with phishing detection. Internet security software package such as Webroot's Spysweeper and ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite have great phishing detection systems.

5. Virus

Computer virus is a self-replicating or self-reproducing program that are designed to spread from one computer to another computer and to interfere with computer operation. Virus are one of several types of malicious software or malware. A basic rule is that computer virus cannot directly damage hardware, but only software. Viruses are most easily spread by attachments in e-mail messages or instant messaging messages. Viruses can be disguised as attachment of funny images, greeting cards, or audio and video files. Besides that, viruses also can spread through downloads on the the internet.


References :
http://e-marketplacesite.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html
http://ect6.blogspot.com/2009_02_08_archive.html
http://techcruser.blogspot.com/2007/05/online-security-threats-to-your-pc.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyware
http://discoverecommerce.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html
http://www.buysafe.com/security_center/security_glossary.html

How to safeguard our personal and financial data?

Nowadays, the popularity of using computer are increasing especially for the personal and financial data. Unfortunately, the hacker who is break into computer for the threat and fraud also increase. So as a user of computer need to safeguard our own personal and financial data so that their personal data will not give the hacker an opportunity to hack especially use for criminal use and not be a victim.

The steps to safeguard our personal and financial data are:


Password are the key for us to acess our personal data information that we would not wish to give other to acess it. We need to create a strong password and keep them well protected so that other will not easily steal our personal and financial data. Example of strong password are make it lengthy, combine letters, numbers, and symbols which are use the entire keyboard. Remember that never use sequences or repeated character or other information that easily guess by others as our password.


Private and Confidential mean that never disclosure our personal information and financial data to others especially our password. Always must keep our passwords hidden from friends or family member especially children that who could pass them to other less thrustworthy individuals. We also need to avoid accessing financial information in public which place that provide wireless connection because we never know that firewall are provide or not.It also encourage hackers to hack into our confidential data and steal information from the wireless connectioan area.


Firewalls are frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet, especially intranets. All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria. When we access internet we must make sure that the computer is provide this software program.

Anti-virus software is used to prevent, detect, and remove malware, including computer virus, worms and trojan horses that may steal or modify the data on our own computer and leave our vulnerable . Besides install anti-virus software we need constantly update the anti-virus program so that can detect the latest malware and to avoid the attackers take the advantage of the outdated anti-virus software.

The important thing that we must always remember that have a habit to log out before we close our browser which contains our personal information. There will no reputable company will ask for your password, account number, or other log-in information via e-mail or instant message. Last but not least, never open an attachment or click on a link sent to you by an unknown person. Because the attachments can contain viruses and links that can lead unsuspecting users to dummy sites where they are asked to input financial information.

Conclusion it is very important for everbody to taken an appropriate safeguard to protect our personal and financial data.

References:
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/password/create.mspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewall

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antivirus

http://images.google.com.my/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi

Password: An Internet Security

Obviously, the most common internet protection used by users is password. It is a secret word or series of characters that used for authentication, to prove identity or to access to the resources required. Whenever user login to the computer account, retrieving e-mail, accessing some database, network, accessing programs and even booking ticket online, users are required to enter the password. The common use of password resulted by its characteristic of short enough for memorized and easy to type.

The next thing we try to discuss here is the extent of which the password is able to secure. Basically, password has some significance disadvantages. It can easily be stolen or forgotten. Even if it is not being stolen, the common available password is easily and efficiently be guessed by attacker. Therefore, the availability of system that impose time-out of several seconds after a small number of failed password entry attempts can prevent from unauthorization access. Another issue is that an individual might distribute his or her password intentionally to friends. This type of authentication becomes useless as anyone can access easily.

Formation of different types of password itself is important to secure the internet access. There are several types of password. For instance, password that formed by the multiple words is called as passphrase while the secret information that formed by purely numeric is called as passcode. According to the research done by Information Week, almost 16% of online users used passphrase of their own, spouse or child name as password. This might because such passphrase will not be forgotten. 14% of users used “1234” or “12345678” as passcode. This type of passcode is easy and nice. 4% of users used “password” as password. These three types of password are easy to guess and unsecured.

Thus, some web security suggests a better protection by choosing a password that consists of at least 8 characters or more include one capital letter and symbol, and, the most important thing to remember : Do not simply give your friends your password.

Reference:
http://ecommerze.blogspot.com/search/label/Internet%20Security
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Password

Revenue model for Google, Amazon.com and eBay

Revenue model can be defined as the technique or method that is adopted by the e-commerce company in generating the business revenue from its website.

Basically, there are five types of revenue model which are stated as below:

(1) Sales revenue - Revenue generated by selling of goods, services, and merchandise information provided in the publisher's website.
(2) Transaction fee - Commission earned by the company based on either the volume of successful transaction or fixed fee per transaction successful conducted.
(3) Advertising fee - Fee that is charged by the web publisher company to advertiser, by letting the space in publisher's website to advertise the product in different form of advertisement.
(4) Subscription fee - The users have to pay a fixed amount of fees for subscription of contents or services provided by the website.
(5) Affiliate fee - Fee that earned by the company for referring customers to other websites.

Now we will identify and compare the revenue model for Google, Amazon.com and eBay respectively.

-Google-

Google is the most widely-used web search engine in the world. There are thousands million of internet users all around the world search information via Google search engine everyday. Besides that, it also provides a variety of free of charge internet services such as Blogger (web log), Google Mail (electronic mail) and etc.

Google does not charge any fee on the internet services that it provided for example Gmail, G-talk, but how does it gain huge profit every year? In fact, its revenue model mainly from advertising fee related to its internet services. This consists of about 99 percent of overall revenue. Besides that, Google also earns revenues from sale of its advertising-free version of the internet services. The advertising fees of Google mainly consist of Google Adwords and Google Adsense.
Google Adwords is the main revenue source of Google. It offers pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and site-targeted advertising for both banner ads and text. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising means that the advertisers need to pay to Google every time the advertisement received a click. The advertisement is designed to appear beside the search result pages of the Google seach engine in text form. It allows the advertisers to present advertisements to users when the users are searching for information related to what the advertisers have to offer.

Google Adsense is another advertising method adopted by Google. The difference of it is that the website owners (including blogs) can display Google advertisements on their websites and they are able to earn the revenue with Google every time the ads are clicked by visitors while Google Adwords only appear in Google website and the ads-clicked only earned by Google. Website owners of Google Adsense service have the opportunity to display the ads in their websites in various forms such as text, image and video. These ads can generate revenue on either a per-click or per-thousand-impressions basis. However, all the Google Adsense ads are administered by Google.

-Amazon.com-

Amazon.com is a marketplace where allows sellers to offer their good alongside Amazon's offerings. A website can use a combination of revenue models to generate revenue. Amazon.com is a prime example of the e-commerce model or e-tailing. Amazon generates revenue primarily by selling books, videos, electronics, and kitchen equipment on domestic and international website, such as Amazon Marketplace. However, Amazon is also a pioneer in affiliate partnership marketing. An Amazon partner website can display Amazon books ( and review etc.) directly on their website, and sends customers to the Amazon's website when the visitor is ready to buy it. In turn, Amazon pays a commission for the sale to the site owner.

An e-commerce model is the most well known revenue stream where the website sells products or services online. Every e-commerce entity on the internet should have a business model that performs on the internet.

E-Tailing (electronic retailing) is the selling of retail goods on the internet. E-tailing is synonymous with business-to-consumer (B2C) transaction.

Besides sale of goods, Amazon.com also generates revenue through sale of web services, for example Amazon Simple Storage Services (S3), Amazon Elastic Compute (EC2) and etc. Amazon S3 is an online storage web service that provides unlimited storage through a simple web services interface. Amazon EC2 is a commercial web service that allows customers to rent computers on which to run their own computer applications.

Advertising fee is also one of the revenue sources for Amazon.com. It offers a suite of advertising channels for advertisers including online products ads, online display advertising, and Clickriver ads, which ads promote services alongside with Amazon's products.



-eBay-
EBay is an online aution and shopping website. It provides an electronic marketplace for people to buy amd sell various merchandise and servise worldwide. It has millions of transactions listed, bought and sold daily, the items sold including collectibes, decor, appliances, computers, furnishings, equipment, vehicles and others. It has set up localized websites in about thirty countries including Malaysia.
EBay generates revenue by of various fees nand commissions such as insertion fees, promotional fees and final value fees. To start with, eBay charged an insertion fees based on the openning price of the merchandise.

-Insertion fees ~ when an item listed on eBay, this nonrefundable fee is charged.
-Promotional fees ~ an extra fee that charged for additional listing options which can enhance the advertising and promotion of an item, such as highlighted or bold listings.
-Final value fees ~ the commissions that charged to the seller at the end of the auction.

Besides that, eBay earns transaction fee from owning paypal, an online paying service system for users to buy items online more conveniently. Ebay also gains sales from the service of listing customer's product to be sold to other users as well as some advertisement fee. Ebay's revenue increases with seller surplus. Its liquidity promotes a lock in, which keeping current customers happy and acquires new customers.

In conclusion, Goodle, Amazon.com and eBay have proved that every e-commerce comany would adopt different method of revenue models in its own way. Gogle relies mostly on advertising fees and small portion of sales. Amazon.com gains mostly on sale of products and services and relatively small amount in advertising and transaction fees while eBay mainly on transaction fees.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adsense
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Marketplace
http://en.wikipedia.ord/wiki/Ebay