Corporate Blogging

Do you have bloggers within your company? In today’s economy, you can have incredible marketing for your company for free rather than spending an enormous marketing budget.
How is this possible? Corporate blogging. Google does it. Microsoft does it. Why aren’t you doing it? Some of the most influential CEOs in the world blog because they know how powerful it is. Let’s unlock this secret.
A corporate weblog is published and used by an organization to reach its organizational goals. The advantage of blogs is that posts and comments are easy to reach and follow due to centralized hosting and generally structured conversation threads.
Although there are many different types of corporate blogs, most can be categorized as either external or internal.

Internal Blogs
An internal blog, generally accessed through the corporation's Intranet, is a weblog that any employee can view. Many blogs are also communal, allowing anyone to post to them. The informal nature of blogs may encourage:
1.employee participation
2.free discussion of issues
3.collective intelligence
4.direct communication between various layers of an organization
5.a sense of community

Internal blogs may be used in lieu of meetings and e-mail discussions, and can be especially useful when the people involved 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 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. 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.

Marketers might expect to have product evangelists or influencers among the audience of an external blog. Once they find them, they may treat them like VIPs, asking them for feedback on exclusive previews, product testing, marketing plans, customer services audits.
The business blog can provide additional value by adding a level of credibility that is often unobtainable from a standard corporate site. The informality and increased timeliness of information posted to blogs assists with increasing transparency and accessibility in the corporate image. Business blogs can interact with a target market on a more personal level while building link credibility that can ultimately be tied back to the corporate site.
A list of externally available corporate blogs is available at The NewPR/Wiki..

CEO Blogs
Although there are debates on whether CEOs should blog or not,blogging among CEOs is becoming popular.
Whether external or internal, blogs are not new to the corporate world. More than 5% of the Fortune 500 companies blog externally.
Market research done in the first half of 2006 indicated that 34% of large companies had established weblogs. Another 35% planned to do so by the end of 2006, thus bringing the total to nearly 70%.

Review a local e-commerce site

Hwa Thong was founded in 1948 with the inspiration and desire to fill a niche market in the school bag industry. As Hwa Thong began to garner a rapidly growing market share, an in house brand, Swan, was born to personify the commitment of the founder to quality, value-added attributes and contemporary styling.

Today, Swan has grown to be a household name in the bag industry. From small family business, Hwa Thong has evolved over the years to become a leading manufacturer and distributor of school bags, knapsacks, travelling bags, trolley case, computer case, document bags, camping bags, pouch bags, sling bags, shoe bags, wallets, leather bags, pilot case, seminar bags, cabin size travelling bags, cabin size trolley case, customised corporate bags and so on. Hwa Thong Group - the bag specialist with 55 years experience.

They are in-house brand, Swan, focuses on every aspects of a good school bag - from quality, style and even the safety of the school children. Swan has been the pioneer of the school bags industry thought the years. We treasure the feedback from our customers and we try our best to find a resolution to satisfy the needs of our customers.

Their urge of producing high quality school bags can be proven through the evolutions of our school bags. For example, the latest Swan school bags featuring air cushion to reduce sweat, reflector to ensure the visibility of the school children in dark areas and rubber handle for a better grip.

Besides Swan, Hwa Thong Group has registered the following trademarks/ brands for products lines such as trolley case, traveling bags, knapsack, computer case and other accessories.

Their school bags are currently available online. They provide free delivery service for areas located in Peninsular Malaysia (except trolley school bags).

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

Become familiar with the auction website. Look into the websites protection policies. Never assume you are protected from auction fraud.

Before placing a bid, learn as much as you can about the seller. If you can’t find anything out about the seller, than avoid doing business with them. Never fall for promises of better deals by moving away from the original auction website.

If the seller wants you to use an escrow service you’ve never heard of, look into it. Check out the website. Call up customer support. Contact us to digg up data on the business in question. If you can’t confirm the legitimacy, don’t use it.

Never ever give out your social security number, drivers license number, credit card number, or bank account information until you have thoroughly checked out the seller and the escrow service.

Always save 100% of the transaction information. You’ll be glad you did in the event your case makes it to court.

If after the sale you feel the item/payment should have been delivered already, try to work it out with the seller/buyer. If at that point you feel that fraud is involved, immediately contact your state attorney general’s office and the FTC at www.ftc.gov or call toll-free 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357).

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

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF E-GOVERNMENT OF MALAYSIA

In 1997, the Malaysian government launched the Electronic Government initiative, generally known as e-Government to lead the country into the Information Age. Malaysia has so far implemented systems known as seven main projects such as Electronic Procurement (eP), Project Monitoring System (PMS), Electronic Services System (E-services), Human Resource Management Information System(HRIMS), Generic Office Environment (GOE), E-Syariah and Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX). Besides these seven main projects, an online service was introduced to increase the ease and efficiency of public service to people. Among others were Public Service Portal (myGovernment), e-Tanah, e-Consent, e-Filing, e-Local Government (e-PBT), e-Kehakiman, Custom Information System (SMK), Pensions Online Workflow Environment (POWER), and Training Information System (e-SILA).

THE CITIZEN’S ADOPTION STRATEGIES

E-Government form an emerging field, which is rapidly gaining attention and importance. Citizens expect and demand governmental services with a high degree of quality, quantity, and availability in a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week, and year-round fashion. 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 clients. Results show that perceived ease of use, compatibility, and trustworthiness are significant predictors of citizens’ intention to use e-Services and that perceived reactive advantage, perceived image, perceived compatibility, perceived usefulness, and relative advantage are significant elements of e-Government adoption. The government must also concern about information quality and system quality. Besides that, accuracy, relevancy and completeness are also important and were more significant than timeliness and precision. Efficiency was the most significant factor.

Electronic Currency

• Electronic currency (also known as e-money, electronic cash, electronic money, digital money, digital cash or digital currency) refers to money or scrip which is exchanged only electronically. Typically, this involves use of computer networks, the internet and digital stored value systems. Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and direct deposit are examples of electronic money. Also, it is a collective term for financial cryptography and technologies enabling it
• E-currency is precious metal-backed Internet currency. To open an account, an individual "deposits" money with an online e-currency company that then converts the amount into gold bullion. Via the Internet, the account holder can transfer ownership of some or all of that gold into someone else's e-currency account. Ownership can be repeatedly transferred.
• E-currency is a sort of online version of "warehouse banks," which similarly converted account holders' deposits into gold or silver bullion stored in the bank. These institutions became popular in the 1980s among domestic right-wing extremists, who used them to launder money, hide assets and to commit other financial abuses.
• While the records of e-currency companies may be obtainable by court order, and all transactions involving $10,000 or more in cash must be reported, some economists and Secret Service officials have expressed concern about the potential for money laundering using e-currency channels.
• E-currency has been widely used by perpetrators of pyramid scams. Swindlers demand payment in e-currency because, unlike with checks or credits cards, the charges clear instantly and cannot be cancelled. Experts estimate that about half of e-currency transactions are related to scams or online games.
• The most popular e-currency service is e-gold, operated by Gold & Silver Reserve, a Florida-based company. It claims more than 200,000 accounts and more than $14 million in currency. A January 2002 account reported that its clients made 8,600 transactions daily. About half of the e-gold system's physical reserves are located in Dubai, apparently for financial reasons, but also to help in the marketing of e-dinar, which was launched in September 2000
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Prepaid Cash Card for Consumer...

Prepaid credit cards offer a convenient way to control credit card debt while still enjoying the flexibility of plastic.

Example of Prepaid Cash Card in Malaysia.

The Touch 'n Go TnG smart card is used by Malaysian toll expessway and highway operators as the sole electronic payment system (EPS). The credit card sized smart card made of plastic with Philips MIFAREwhhich is known as Oyster card. microchip technology embedded in it. It is the same technology used as electronic payment of Transport for London

The Touch 'n Go systems are designed to process up to 800 vehicles per hour to ease the queue congestion at toll plazas and if use together with smart tag (a non-stop electronic toll collection system), will be able to process up to 1,200 vehicles per hour.

Touch ‘n Go not only used for passing toll but also for a purchase purpose. For example, we can used it in A&W, BURGER KING, CALTEX, 7-11 and also CATHAY CINEMA.

Example of Prepaid Cash Card in Hong Kong.

The Octopus card is a rechargeable contactless stored value smart card used to transfer electronic payment in online or offline systems in Hong Kong. It is also used for payment at convenience stores,supermarkets, fast-food restaurants, on-street parking meters,car parks, and other point-of-sale applications such as service station and vending machines.

Children aged between 3 and 11

The standard version of Octopus Card

Elder used card

eZ-link in Singapore

The EZ-Link card is a contactless smartcard based on Sony's FeliCa smartcard technology, used for payments in Singapore especially for transportation in Singapore.

The card is commonly used in Singapore as a smartcard for paying transportation fees in the city-state's (MRT), (LRT) and public bus services. The card also serves as a supplementary identification and concession card for student in mationally recognised educational institutes, full-time national service personnel serving in the Singapore Amed Forces, Singapore Civil Defence Foce anf Singapore Police Force or Senior citizen who are over sixty years old.

Mobile Payment System in Malaysia....^0^

Three billion people are expected to own mobile phones in the globe by 2010. Mobile commerce is a natural successor to electronic commerce. A mobile payment or m-payment may be defined, for our purposes, as any payment where a mobile device is used to initiate, authorize and confirm an exchange of financial value in return for goods and services. Mobile devices may include mobile phones, PDAs, wireless tablets and any other device that connect to mobile telecommunication network and make it possible for payments to be made. Mobile payments can become a complement to cash, cheques, credit cards and debit cards. It can also be used for payment of bills (especially utilities and insurance premiums) with access to account-based payment instruments such as electronic funds transfer, Internet banking payments, direct debit and electronic bill presentment.

In Malaysia, Mobile Money (MM Wallet) is one of the examples of mobile payment system. It is PIN-based Mobile Payment Solution designed by Mobile Money International Sdn Bhd to address the limitations and bottlenecks created by cash, cheques and credit cards. This gives the freedom to shoppers to buy products online and pay the merchant using his/her mobile phone without being physically present at the store. Mobile Money will encourage more consumers to shop online. This will definitely be a great boon to the e-commerce industry in Malaysia. It will surely encourage more merchants to adopt online selling as an extra sales channel which complement perfectly with their offline sales channel to help them sell more of their goods and services. Realizing these needs of merchants in Malaysia, we are the 1'st shopping cart software provider who has integrated Mobile Money as a payment method in our webShaper e-commerce software. This feature allows merchants to accept payment via Mobile Money and process the payment in real time within clicks!

There are a lot of Mobile Merchant Benefits such as it can sell to anyone, anywhere at anytime. No Minimum Monthly Transaction, No Rental Fee, No Merchant Account Required, it only required little sign up fee, but get paid in shorten period. Besides, it can provided Multi Methods to Request for Payment, such as though SMS, Mobile Money Website, or even real time Mobile Money Weblink API weblink that can be integrated with your POS (Point of Sales) System or online storefront system.


Mobile Payment Process