Electronic Government, almost everyone in this modern era heard of it. But, how many of us has take advantage of it in our daily hassle life? From what i know, not much people uses it even though they are really busy with their daily work chores. They would rather take their time to go for the offline alternative.

How is it implementing in Malaysia? Before discussing the implementation, here is a little short and brief introduction. E-Government, in short, was initiated with the introduction of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) in 1996. It was then launched in 1997 to bring the country into the informative age with the revolution of technology.


Implementation

The service started with the intention to transform its operations, modernizing and enhancing its service delivery. E-Government seeks to enhance the convenience, accessibility and quality of interaction with the public and businesses at large. Its vision is working together for the benefit of Malaysia and all citizens. It also strive to be effective and efficient in delivering services and be responsive to citizens’ needs.

E-Government is categorized as one of the Flagship Applications introduced in MSC. 7 pilot projects of the E-Government Flagship Application are as follows:

The Objective of these flagship applications is to jump start and accelerate the growth of the newly developed plan.

According to a study, it said that the first trend of the e-Government advances has made an impact in the early stage of the implementation. Second trend showed in the emergence of the E-Government services are the effort in making operations more cost effective. Thirdly, promoting the e-Government services had become a main priority. They strive to increase the usage by the citizens after some studies found out that citizens rarely take advantage of the e-Government services. Fourth trend appears to be the challenges in integrating the e-Government services as they grow. Lastly, the trend also showed a personalization in the services provided, such as providing citizens with relevant services information quicker and more cost effectively.

Adoption Strategies

Studies addressed that the citizen adoption of e-government services suggest that trust and security (Otto, 2003) and transparency (Marche and McNiven, 2003) are the major issues for e-government adoption. Citizens’ trust towards the service for being effective and efficient will encourage the citizen to take the initiative to use the online services. Privacy policies and security should be guaranteed to ease the insecure feeling of the users.

Given that e-Government website is both an IT and a channel through which citizens and government interacts, technology-based knowledge is crucial. Having citizens who are not knowledgeable with computer, it will be impossible for them to take advantage of the services. Besides that, technical is also an issue (Cottam et al, 2004; George, 2004). User friendly is important. Websites provided must be easy to be used for easy understanding on the procedures needed.

It is believed that trust, social influence, and website ease-of-use impact perceived usefulness of the interface, combined with social influence, predict the intended use of e-Government. Therefore, attention should be given to the demand or citizen’s perspective for good feedback and adoption of the e-Government services.



Related useful link:

> MyEG Services Berhad

This is a review on legal post from My E-Commerce blog, which focus on the new rules for cyber cafes. There will be some new guidelines will be implemented by government soon in order to regulate the businesses of internet and cyber cafes. The new rules are:

1. Have to close by midnight daily.
2. Banned from using tinted glasses in their premises (must be able to see through from the outside) .
3. Only allowed to operate from the ground floor.
4. Those under 12 years old must be accompanied by parents or guardian and only allowed to stay up to 10.00pm.
5. Prohibited from providing gaming activities, gambling, pornography, music and publications with negative element.
6. Cigarettes and alcohol to be prohibited from being sold.
7. A book log to record the entry and departure time of the patrons.


These new rules provide advantages for society and also disadvantage to the cyber cafes businesses. One of the new rules stated that those who under 12 years old must be accompanied by parents or guardian. This rule is beneficial to the society because parents no need to worry that their children will go internet café without their knowledge. Besides that, it also will enhance society trust and confidence on internet café because internet cafes are not allowed to provide games and also activities with negative element to customers. This means that they only can offer useful activities to customers.

In addition, the new guidelines such as internet cafes have to close at midnight are a treat to the cyber cafes businesses because most of the cyber cafes’ customers are likely to go there at midnight. However, through the enforcement of this new rule, they no longer can do so. This will significantly reduce the earnings of their businesses.

Furthermore, gaming activities are the major source of activities to attract customers. By implementing this new rule, gaming activities are no longer available in internet cafes. This will leads to a cut down of their businesses income and perhaps will cause them closing down soon.

I think that these new guidelines need to do some amendment due to the benefits of the cyber cafes businesses. Otherwise, cyber cafes businesses will not sustain for a long time or the owners will not follow these new guidelines due to their own advantages.


Useful Links:

ecommerze.blogspot.com




Advantages of Learning Online

1. Convenient
The biggest advantage of e-learning is that everything is available for students, including classroom and instructor are accessible every time when students getting online. Students can get announcements, obtain notes, take practice quizzes, discuss questions and chat with fellow students. Except the due dates stated by instructor, students can manage their own schedule for fulfilling the requirements of the course.


2. Offer flexibility
Students can study any time they want and also with whomever they want. E-learning provides students the flexibility to spend times with work, family, friends or any other activity they like. For those people with keep on changing work schedules or people who make regular business trips, parents with small children or whose health stops them from attending classes on a recurrent basis, this manner of course delivery is most suitable.


3. Offer more individual attention
Students can communicate with their instructor via e-mail, and get their questions answered directly. Many students aren't comfortable asking questions in class. By accessing internet, students can eliminate that fear and ask their instructor questions freely. This means that E-learning enhanced the opportunity to learn.


4. Promote life-long learning
Having that spark of interest and knowing how to obtain information online ensures that what students learning are always existing to them. If students become interested in a particular topic, they can find online and look it up. Students will have developed the skills to get information, digest it, synthesize it, and formulate an answer to questions that comes their way.


5. Connect students to the global village
The Internet has linked the people of the world in ways we haven't known before. Many times the web sites students visit in a course will be based in another country. They may even meet and make friends with someone in another country because they all are a student in the same course.

Disadvantages of Learning Online


1. Require more time than on-campus classes
Students will spend more time studying and accomplishing assignments in the online environment than they will in an on-campus course. The online environment is text-based. To communicate with their instructor and other students, students must type messages, post responses, and otherwise communicate through typing. Typing is slower than speaking. Students will likely learn more in an online environment, but they will have to make a greater effort to achieve that learning.


2. Require good time-management skills
An Internet-based course requires that students build up personal time-management skills. As with most things, if students don't organize their time appropriately, they will find themselves buried beneath a seeming insurmountable mountain of coursework. Online courses require the self-discipline to set aside chunks of time to complete their studies. This means that students have to make online coursework in priority and not let other activities intervene.

3. May create a sense of isolation
In an online course, students may feel like they are alone with only their computer. This makes some students quite uncomfortable. A quick e-mail to a classmate or their instructor can help they feel better connected if the sense of community they seek is missing.



4. Allow student to be more independent and an active learner
Online courses require student to be responsible for their learning. Their instructor shares knowledge and experience with them. Although students will spend a lot of time offline formulating ideas and developing their knowledge and skills, they will also need to be a presence in an online course environment by involving to frequently posting quality ideas. As in face-to-face classes, just being a face is not enough. Students must share their ideas and knowledge and respond to their fellow students to be an active participant in the virtual classroom.


5. Give students more freedom, perhaps, more than they can handle
This freedom can be dangerous if students don't learn how to control it, especially when it comes to meeting deadlines for assignments or exams. Each online course has a schedule for them to follow that offers information about what content is included and due dates for assignments or exams. Use this to help them plan their time.

Useful Links:

e-learning/NAIT

Tracinge-Learning


So, when I say Blog, what would come to your mind? An electronically publicized personal dairy. Now, what if I say Corporate Blog? No idea? Well, the meaning of this term is obvious. Blog by a corporate. That’s it. Blogs that are written by companies. Of course, companies don’t have their personal dairy. Instead, they blog about their products.

These days, blogging is so extensively used among Internet users that even businesses are exploiting it. They now see blogging as a new tool in marketing communication simply because blogging give companies many benefits. First and foremost, blogs allow the businesses to talk to their customers in a more informal way about their industry and products. Companies find it easier to engage customers in conversation if they use blogs because both parties communicate in a casual environment. On top of that, blogs give companies the power to publish at an instant. As long as you have a computer which is accessible to the Internet, you can save up your time and cost to prepare a full article and then send it through the traditional media to be published 24 hours later. With a blog, you can have everything done within few clicks. This makes the blog a very powerful update tool. Some companies say blog is a new path to greater customer services as well as responsive one. As a customer, if you have some opinion to share or queries, you could just comment on the blog which would only take few seconds. Companies can instantly respond to your comments, showing that they are genuinely interested in communicating with customers and bettering their services or product. Thus, the overall perceptions of a brand or company can be improved.

Yes, corporate blogging does have its downsides. If a company has a closed organization culture, this type of blogging is not appropriate as competitors might obtain exploitable commercial secret from the blogs. You know that blogs are easy to start but what about the maintenance of blogs? Like everything else on the Web, it¡¯s way harder to maintain your blogs than initiating them. Writing coherently is one of the most difficult and time-consuming task for a human being to undertake. And without a good and eye-catching design, even the most beautiful words on blogs won't be any popular. Blogs are in fact expensive, in that they eat up time. Consequently, many blogs are not updated, thus crippling rather than boosting the reputation of the organization.

Blog is a very useful tool in marketing your business products. But only with a good cooperation between marketi
ng blogger for its content and selling power and Web technician for its good look, performance, and security.

If you would to read more on Corporate Blogging, below are some handy links.



Corporate Blogs

9 Company Blogs That Are Fun For Anyone To Read

Disadvantages of Corporate Blogging

Benefits of Corporate Blogging




Review a local, transactional e-commerce site

There are many popular and successful transactional e-commerce website in Malaysia such as lelong.com.my, gsc.com.my, tgv.com.my and mudah.com.my. These pages become so successful for the reason that the advantages they provide to their customers.

However, today I’m going to make a review on Blooming.com.my which was the first online florist in Malaysia. Blooming Florist began operations in 1981 and is managed by May and Martin Cheah. It has grown from a small retail shop till its present set of five retail outlet in Klang Valley. Today, with advancement of technology, Blooming is linked with most reliable florist throughout Malaysia and they also networked more than 100,000 florists worldwide through its membership in Interflora Pacific Unit Limited.Blooming Florist Sdn Bhd was ranked at the fourth (4th) place of the Malaysia Top 5 Ecommerce Companies. With it promise to deliver quality flowers and quality service for its customer, the company business has maintained consistently through the years.

User must register with Blooming first before they can start purchasing or ordering online. There are many benefits when a user registers themselves as a member such as they can track their orders, set up email gift reminder and speed up their order process in the future as they do not need to fill up their personal details again for the next purchase. What's more, shopping cart is provided on the top of right hand to add more convenient to user.
User Registration Form

At the homepage of Blooming, there is six (6) links where it has been categorised from home, hand bouquets, flowers & gifts, baskets, congratulations and seasonal which can help customer to choose their flowers faster and more efficiently. Once you click inside any links, pictures will appear and when you click inside, a clearer picture will be shown with description of the product chosen. In addition, there is a live interactive link where you can ask questions or ask for live support. Besides, frequent ask questions (FAQs), refund policy and delivery services are stated clearly in the homepage of Blooming. Moreover, in this homepage, there are several tips has been provided floral arrangement & care as well as the meaning of the flower.

In order to enhance customer confident, there is a VeriSign button at the bottom of left hand corner where it stated that Blooming.com.my is a secure site verified by MSC Trustgate.com Sdn. Bhd. Blooming.com.my uses secure server software (SSL) to encrypt all information you input before it is sent to us. Furthermore, the entire customer data collected is protected against unauthorized access. This disclaimer is written in the privacy policy of the company website.

There are various ways such as paying by credit card (VISA, Mastercard, AMEX, Diners Club and JCB), through online banking (maybank2u.com, RHB ebanking and Hong Leong e-Payment) or pay through Kawanku ATM machine.
In addition to the above, Blooming's also have tied up monthly promotion with other merchant such as MyStyle, UOB Bank Credit Card, Hong Leong Bank Credit Card,Citibank Clear Card Holder, Aeon Credit Card holder and Rakan Muda Member. Any customer who uses the above credit card to purchase flowers and gifts from Blooming are entitled for 10% to 15% discount.
Blooming’s product pricing is average and buying gifts and flowers online for loved one through Blooming.com is definitely more expediency and easier as it can be done by just clicking few clicks and reduce hassle of buying at storefront. Additionally, Blooming.com provide free delivery service around Klang Valley therefore, Blooming florist delivery service is getting more popular due to good customer service and security.

Related Useful Link:
by, melsiew

Money used in physical marketplace is in physical substance, such as coins, bank notes, cheques and other trading form of currencies; however, electronic currency is also a newly introduced form of payment method.


Electronic Currency

Electronic Currency, also known as several names such as e-money, electronic cash, digital money, digital cash and many other names, are money that is exchanged electronically only. It is a complete computerized monetary system that is proposing to replace the present paper currency system. It is believed that the initial plan of the launching of the system is to use as a substitute for credit or debit card system.


Usage of Electronic Currency

Example of electronic currency system could be seen in many developing countries.


For example would be the most successful Octopus Card in Hong Kong. It could be used in transits payment and also convenience shops. The store value card has grown into a widely used electronic cash system.

Another example would be from our neighbor country, Singapore. EZ-Link card is the contactless stored value card in the country which currently used by public transport commuters in the country. Recently, bank had upgrades their ATM machines to allow store valued card top up procedure to be done more conveniently.



While in Malaysia, Touch ‘n’ Go is a very good example of electronic currency. It could be used for some public transport, convenience shops like the 7-11. Some parking facilities used this system to eased users parking payment method too.


Impact

Economic impact when Electronic Currency system is exclusively implemented as a replacement to paper currency system would be noticeable. Some of it would be, saving cost in most of the procedure of producing paper currency. Printing and minting costs of paper currency would be saved. Moreover, it will be eco-friendly too as less papers are used for printing of paper currency. Thus, it helps saving high quality of wood and vast jungle areas.


Real wealth could be created as standard of living of the people will be increased. Transactions could also be done at any decimals of currency and the processing period would be faster and effectively done. But, of course, banks would have to play an important role in this system implementation if electronic currency is to replace paper currency.



However, in my opinion, although this system is an effective control over cyber crimes, theft relating to money transfer systems, stricter security and pre-cautions method would have to be implemented together with this system. This is a result of human knowledge changed as things around them evolved. Thieves will maybe think of another way to succeed in their fraud and theft activity.

Of all the e-tailing topics on My E-commerce blog, the one interested me the most is a post of Selling fish online in Malaysia.

This post is telling us about 2007 trend of bidding fish via e-mail. The action seems to be initiated by Fishermen in Tanjung Dawai. By selling their fish up to worldwide Internet, they are literally having an international business. People from all over the world who are interested in buying their fish may register their name and be given code number as an ID to auction the fishes bid.

Auction is open everyday from 3 pm to 7 pm Malaysian time. The fish can be sent anywhere as long as the buyer bears the transportation costs and also 5% surcharge to Tanjung Dawai Fishermen Association. During the bidding time, the fishermen of Tanjung Dawai will gather at the auction hall and watching three 29-inch televisions which show the latest bidding list from buyers. When there’s an agreement, the bidder will be e-mailed for further transaction.

As I read the mentioned system, I can’t help but questioning about how it works. There seems to be several flaws on this online bidding system. It was stated that buyers may put their bid and email it to
pnktdawai@yahoo.com and the bid will be shown on TV at fishermen auction hall. Tanjung Dawai Fishermen Association doesn’t seem to have a website yet. It is unknown how the bidding fishes are exhibited to the worldwide buyers. That the buyers might buy Tanjung Dawai fishes without confirming the quality of the fishes first. And it is also not explained how buyers monitor updates on their bidding item price, so that they can bid even more when desired. It is also a challenge to advertise the system to new potential buyers out there when all the association are not able to post their email address and phone number on a website, when they don’t have a website.

Credit Card debts: Cause and Prevention

Credit card the solution of shopping, it makes anyone who holds the card ease of purchasing any items in an instant. All customer have to do is take out the card, let the cashier slash it on the machine, sign, done. You can also use its serial number to shop on any of e-commerce sites on internet. But beware, there is never free of charge on having all the comfort on your side, moreover, if you’re using someone else money for that comfort.


So what is the danger of using credit card carelessly? First, we will briefly review of how credit card works. Credit card is a cash advance tool which let consumers to revolve their balance, at the cost of having interest charged. When a purchase is made, the cardholder will have to sign a receipt or entering personal identification number (PIN) to confirm the purchase. Once verified, purchase will be made and you’ll be put on debt to the bank or financial institution which issued the card, with interest. From year 2005 to May 2009, 1774 out of 3548 people declared bankrupt for credit card debt are under 30 years old, which is roughly 50%.

So, here are several causes of credit card debts:

1. Feeling of shopping for free
Unlike shopping with stack of cash in hand, which will make you feel guilty to hand those out at cashier, with credit card, all you need to know is how to slash the card and enjoy

2. Poor money management
Many of cards holder, doesn’t really realize the process behind paying with credit card. They don’t know where the money comes from and where their money is going, how much taxes and interest behind the payment, if there’s any administration fee for the credit card, and other things that might put them on debt. Slowly, but stacking high to turn customer’s business to bankruptcy.

3. Pay it forward
It is one of the most dangerous risks of using credit card. While you don’t have enough cash in saving, but you pay for something, the interest will keep increasing once you fail to pay back the debt in time, more and more as time goes by.

4. Urgent need of money
There’s no think twice of using credit card or getting any money you could use to pay for emergency issues such as medical expenses. In condition where a beloved family member in danger of life, you might used up big amount of credit card money without second consideration which leads cardholder to credit card debts.

5. Gambling
Another popular use of credit card which leads to debt is gambling. There is a smart method of buying gambling money using credit card. As addicting as the game is, without sufficient capital for it, credit card debt will haunt you severely more than the feeling of losing from it.


Even though it is listed of many scary causes of using credit card which leads to debt and bankruptcy; it is actually a very convenient and useful tool of having business transaction when the cardholder is being more careful and smart. There are ways to hold your credit card and step up the ladder of success.

1. Money management
The most essential of problem solving is started from one own self. There’s no blame to credit card issuer or credit card merchant when a credit card holder is the one to lead himself to debts. Plan your saving ahead, calculate your income and taxes, create budget of monthly expenses and extra expenses, and always save for emergency money.

2. Knowledge on credit card system
Study at least on what you have to spend for the credit card service. If there’s an annual fee, how high is the administration fee, cash advance fee, late payment fee, and any other finance charge. Keep them in mind before choosing a suitable credit card issuer and every time you use the credit card service.

3. Contacting and dealing with creditor
Communication is the way of peace and understanding. Address any credit card problems and wonders to creditor and ask for help whenever needed. There’s sometime a special finance solution for customer to pay off another debts or other needs. You might consult about fair debt collection practice act and propose modified payment plan.

4. Set a proper credit limit
Most of credit card can be put on usage limit to prevent cardholder from spending too much in a short time. Put credit card outcome limit as already stated on budget you planned.

5. Consider of using any alternative money solution
For example emergency and medical expenses might be better to be put on insurance for financial safety.

Take your time, be wise and think twice. By applying smart credit card solutions, your lifestyle and business may improve significantly. Spend to gain, not spend to lose.


A prepaid cash card is similar to debit or credit card because it enable us to make purchases without cash or checks. The different between prepaid card and credit card is prepaid card no risk of running into debt as it has no credit or overdraft facility. Besides that, prepaid card cannot connected to our bank account like debit card.

We shall be give a Pin number when we purchase a card, and once money has been loaded, it can be spent in the same feature as a debit or credit card for online or telephone purchases, as well as cash withdrawals from ATMs. Money can be credited onto a prepaid card by cash at a bank, Post Office or via a bank transfer.

A prepaid card has a zero balance until money is added to it. While we make a purchase with a prepaid card, the sum is deducted from the balance on the card. When the balance achieves zero, the card is empty and it cannot be used again unless it is a reloadable card which we can add funds and continue using it. Many employers and government agencies employ prepaid cards instead of checks to deliver wages, child support, unemployment and other benefits. Some prepaid cards can have money reloaded on to them so they can continue to be used. On the other hand, prepaid cards such as gift card can be discarded once all of the funds are used up.

There are various types of prepaid cards which available for us. The two major types of prepaid cards are open loop and closed loop cards. Closed loop card is merchant-specific, used for transactions exclusively at a specific merchant's sites. An open loop card is related with and bears the logo of an electronic payment network such as Visa. Open loop card is honored wherever these networks are accepted.

In addition, reloadable prepaid card is one that lets us add funds after our initial purchase, including teen card, travel card and payroll card are reloadable. Teen card allows parents teach teens’ financial responsibility while managing their spending with teen.


Furthermore, travel card is an alternative to cash and traveler's checks when traveling. Some cards provide lost luggage reimbursement, emergency card replacement and zero liability for lost or stolen cards.



While, payroll card is an alternative to traditional payroll methods in which employees’ wages are deposited directly to their card.


On the other hand, gift card is a non-reloadable prepaid card that can be given as gifts and spent until the balance is zero.
Prepaid cash cards offer many advantages for us. Firstly, there are no credit checks for the card, so we can get a card without worrying about our credit history. In addition, prepaid cards are an ideal way to budget for ourselves. Like a credit card, we can get a full breakdown of spending on the card so we can see what has been purchased, from where and when. With a prepaid card, there is no opportunity of spending too much as we are restricted to the amount we put on our card.

Nowadays, prepaid cash card is recommended for consumer because it is a very convenience tool. It is very useful because it offers several features for us such as purchase products and services. By using it, consumers no need to bring much money and checks when processing a transaction.


Useful links

As technology are being more advance, there is definitely market opportunity for mobile payment system (MPS) in Malaysia as statistic shows that more than 21 millions of Malaysian own a mobile device.


Mobile payment is a new alternative payment system that provides opportune way for consumers to make payment via mobile device. This payment system enables consumers to receive and send money via their mobile device which totally overcome the limitations and bottlenecks created by cash, cheque and credit cards. By just registering yourself at a specific website, consumer are allowed to make payment to goods and services at anywhere and anytime without being physically present at the store by just entering a few digits of security PIN (Personal Identification Number) via SMS (Short Messaging Service).


MPS in Malaysia started since February 2005 by Mobile Money International Sdn Bhd of Kuok group and Mr. Lee Eng Sia. Mobile Money (MM) has provided a convenient and secure Mobile Payment and Mobile Commerce platform for Malaysian since then. As year passed by, there are more options of mobile payment system in Malaysia such as Digi, Maxis, Hotlink, Celcom, Visa Wave Payment and Maybank. For instant, Maxis M-Money allows consumer to top-up their prepaid credit, purchase cinema tickets and recently, Maxis had a joint-venture project with Lelong.com where all successful bidding payment must be paid by M-Money only. In addition, Maxis also began international remittance services but this only with Globe subscriber in Philippines. By using this Maxis remittance service, consumer can save at least 35% of the charges which other bank usually would charge.


By using MPS, it would save time and cost as consumer does not need to spend hours of queuing to settle their bills and this would definitely benefits our hectic daily routine. Furthermore, MPS assures safety of consumers’ data as this payment system is strongly secured by PIN to provide greater security. Through all this benefits, it leads to higher customer’s satisfaction and these causes an increasing trend of using MPS in Malaysia.


However, not many Malaysian are adopting this convenient payment method as they are not familiar with the system therefore, government should work hand-in-hand with private sector to educate Malaysian about MPS, its functions and benefits. Besides that, should provide more security collaborate solution of mobile payment for the consumers so that mobile users will more confident and satisfaction when using mobile payment as merchants take online order without the need for online shoppers to disclose their credit card information. Last but not least, maintaining existing customer loyalty is very important as it can help the company to build up a good reputation by providing good customer service.

Related useful link:

by, melsiew


nuffnang..