Corporate Blogging: A new marketing communication tool for companies.

Corporate blogging is a new marketing communication tool that used by some organizations to reach its organizational goals. Internally, blogs are referred to a tool for collaboration and knowledge management. Externally, blogs strengthened relationships with important target groups and the positioning of the publishing organization as industry experts.

To create a blog, the organization first needs to determine the goals of setting corporate blog. Every company has its unique needs and it is better of evaluating its need thoroughly before everything gets started. Next is to access the market for blog viability because there are some segments of the organization who do not have interest on blogs. Step in accessing the variability is through reading and subscribing other blogs in the same industry. From there, an organization may assess on competitors and customer requirements. Thirdly is to map the overall marketing or communication strategy where the marketing team should draw out the marketing objectives and outline the content of the organization blog. As such, the users will have high level of satisfaction after each time visiting to the blog. Continue with the risk profile assessment, which is the investigation phase that well grounded the perspective on how the organization might proceed into the blogosphere, or any other social media related space that requires the mindset shift.

Corporate blogging helps an organization link up internally or externally. All users can access to the blogging web for the business related matters. It is highly cost effective since it need no conference and printed materials to all the users. By using corporate blogging, users are encouraged to share their ideas freely in an honest voice that will become the sincere advice for the blogging companies.

However, blogs are easy to start but hard to maintain. Writing coherently is one of the most difficult and time-consuming tasks for a human being to undertake. As a result, many blogs are not updated, thus damaging the reputation of the organization. Moreover, if the blogs are not controlled well, it will looks like disorganization with multiple tones and opinions, thus confusing the users.

To launch a blog is not a difficult matter, every individual or corporate can launch a blog as they like. Most of the websites that provide blogging are free of charge. The organizations must be taking into consideration of the advantages and disadvantage of the blogging before they start anything.

Local e-commerce site: Lelong.com.my

What is Lelong.com.my? Lelong.com.my website is a Malaysia auction website which its style and functioning was similar to the international auction site such as eBay.com. It provide a market place for people around the Malaysia to buy the product without need to shop and it provide the place for seller to sell their product and services without the need to open the shop. By doing these, it can help people to save the cost such as cost of rental the shop and cost of travel.

Lelong.com.my website is based on Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) transactions relationship and Business-to-Consumer (B2C) transaction relationships. As in this website ,we found that there are not only many consumer are display their product on the forum for selling to other consumer but there are also many distributors are using this website to trade and grow their business.

Features
Besides that, there are many products and services are sell over in these website such as antiques and collectibles, jewellery and accessories, toys and games, house and property, health and medical, movie and video and so on. These products and services has been properly organize base on their categories, so that it make people easy to select the product and services which they wish to buy. Moreover, the website also provide search engine to make convenient for the consumer to search for information about the product.

Moreover, the website also provides FAQ which allow the user to enquiry the question and get the answer quickly. Furthermore, the website also provides some guideline for user to prevent the online transaction fraud. The Safe trade Services provided by the website can help to ensure the user transaction is safe.

Lelong.com.my website also allows the merchandise to advertising their product with the minimum advertisement fee which is only RM4.50 per day. For those merchandise who wish to promote their new product, they can always choose to advertise their product on this website since the advertising fee is reasonable.

In conclusion, lelong.com.my website provides a online marketplace for Malaysian to conduct the business easily and in rapid time. With this website, buyer and seller can conduct the business directly since there is no intermediary. Therefore, both party will better off because their can get the good bargaining price.

For further information about this website, you can go to
http://www.lelong.com.my/
http://help.lelong.com.my/cms/AllProduct.asp?CatID=29

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

E-auction is an auction conducted online. Nowadays, buying new or used products through online auction is become so popular. However, e-auction fraud also has grown quickly due to the fast cash and hard to trace aspects of online transactions. Examples of fraud are set up fake accounts, order goods never delivered, or even buyers sending fake checks, etc. Therefore, consumers need to be careful when deal with online auction.

Here are some things to take note that might useful to the consumers:

• Learn how the e-auction runs. Before you make a bid, find out what obligations you have as a buyer and seller. And also verify that does the auction site provide insurance that covers buyers up to a certain amount.

• Don’t judge the product by initial appearances. It can be hard to validate a seller’s claims about the value of an item, and descriptions or photographs on websites can be misleading. Know as much as you can about the item you wish to purchase.

• Check the seller’s feedback rating if available on the auction site. Read any comments left by previous buyers to find out seller’s trustworthy and honest. Call the seller to see if the phone number is working, or send an email to see if the email address is active.

• Contact the seller before bidding. Find out what type of payment is required, when you can expect delivery, what the return policy is, if the merchandise is covered by warranty, and if shipping and delivery are included in the price.

• Refuse to give out your bank account number or identity card number to the seller. Protect your personal information to reduce the risk of from falling victim to identity theft fraud.

• For higher priced items you should consider an escrow service. An escrow service acts as a middleman between buyer and seller to ensure a fair transaction. The escrow service holds the item and the money until the buyer has inspected and approved the goods. Only then it releases the money to the seller.

For further information, please refer:
Tips for auction buyers
Internet auctions-A guide for buyers and sellers

E-Government in Malaysia

E-government Implementation

E-government basically range from “the use of information technology to make it convenient for movement of information to overcome the physical bounds of traditional paper and physical based systems” to “the use of technology to enhance the access and delivery of government services to benefit citizens, business partners and employees.” The government has put in numerous effort to introduce e-government. At this stage, the government has so far implemented four types of e-government services that are Government-to-Citizen (G2C), Government-to-Business (G2B), Government-to-Employee (G2E), and Government-to-Government (G2G).

G2C refers to information dissemination to the public, basic citizen services such as license renewals, ordering of birth or death or marriage certificates and filing of income taxes, as well as citizen assistance for basic services such as education, health care, hospital information, libraries, and so on.

Business services offered through G2B includes obtaining current business information, downloading application forms, renewing licenses, registering businesses, obtaining permits and payment of taxes.

To renew road tax online, please refer to:
http://www.jpj.gov.my/

On the other hand, G2E services encompass G2C services as well as specialized services that govern only government employees, such as the provision of human resource training and development that improve the bureaucracy’s day-to-day functions and dealings with citizens.

Lastly, G2G services take place at two levels which are at local or domestic level and at the international level. G2G services are transactions between central or national and local governments, and between department-level and attached agencies and bureaus. At the same time, G2G services refer to transactions between governments and can be used as an instrument of international relations and diplomacy.

Citizen’s Adoption Strategies

Although the government has developed e-government, there are still many citizens that do not utilize the facilities provided by the government due to several reasons. First of all, the government should educate the citizen on the usefulness and method of using the e-government. There is no doubt that many of us do not know about the e-government especially those who are not receiving education or illiterate in using computer and internet. The government should let the citizen know that e-government is helpful in their daily life such as having access to hospital or library information. An individual do not have to waste time and physically present at the hospital to inquire about a particular matter.

Next, internet security breakdown and the increasing number of hackers that are able to access to our system to get hold of our data and change the data contributes to lacking use of e-government. For instance, many people feel insecure with transferring money and personal data through internet to the government even though security is imposed by the government. Therefore, the government must let the citizen has confidence in using e-government and the individual must be able to overcome their fear and insecurities.

Citizen also plays an important role in using the e-government. It is pointless that the government has made an effort to initiate the use of e-government but the citizen has done nothing. Those people who do not own a computer should purchase a computer first. After that, they should master the way of using internet to adopt e-government system.

To conclude, the government and citizen must cooperate and work together to make the implementation of e-government a success. Ultimately, e-government aims to enhance access to and delivery of government services to benefit citizens.

For further information, please refer to:

http://www.intanbk.intan.my/psimr/editorial.htm

The application of pre-paid cash card for consumers

Have you ever use or try pre-paid cash card? Ooppss! Before that, do you know what pre-paid cash card is? Let me explain to you what is it all about. Pre-paid cash card is an electronic card which holds electronic monetary value that substitute for cash and coins for low-value payments. One can use the credits in the card to purchase goods and services from various merchants. This pre-paid cash card had enhanced our daily life where it makes our life become more convenient and we do not need to pay extra charges for it. The value is stored directly on this card.

Touch ’n Go

Touch ’n Go card is an example of pre-paid cash card in Malaysia. Initially, this card was used at all highways in Malaysia, such as PLUS, to pay toll. As time passes, the function of Touch ’n Go card has increased. It can be used on major public transports in Klang Valley, such as RapidKL and KTM Komuter, selected parking sites, and even now can be used to purchase goods and services in selected places.

Octopus

The Octopus card is a pre-paid cash card use in Hong Kong. Octopus card system has since grown into a widely used payment system for virtually all public transport in Hong Kong. It is also used for payment at convenience stores, supermarkets, fast-food restaurants, on-street parking meter, car parks, and other point-of-sales applications. Besides consumer transactions, Octopus cards can also be used for access control in buildings and for school administrative functions. At certain office buildings, residential buildings, and schools, usage of an Octopus card is required to access their facilities.

In conclusion, the usage of pre-paid cash card is getting popular and is going to be widely used in Malaysia. It is highly recommended to use pre-paid cash card because bringing lots of cash for shopping is very risky and dangerous. Besides that, by using pre-paid cash card can prevent people from going bankruptcy.

Mobile payment systems in Malaysia: Its potential and consumers’ adoption strategies

Mobile payment system is a system that helps to unlock the power of the mobile phone to make payments, allowing registered users to pay for goods and services at anytime via SMS (Short Messaging Service). An example of mobile payment system in Malaysia is Mobile Money Wallet (MM wallet). It is designed by Mobile Money International Sdn Bhd to address the limitations and bottlenecks created by cash, cheques and credit cards.

For further information about MM wallet please visit:
http://www.neowave.com.my/mobilemoney_overview.asp
http://www.mmwallet.com/mmwalletfaq.htm

Current customer base and merchant
MM Wallet allows mobile user to receive money and make payments to anyone who has a mobile phone, or any Mobile Money merchants. As such, user can send or receive cash through sms. Moreover, users can make a call to get their mobile prepaid reload for Digi, Celcom, Maxis and also iTalk for their discounted call. The system also make it convenient for the users to buy product online which can help them save time and travelling cost.

With the MM wallet, merchant can now sell their product to anyone across town and country at anytime. Merchant can perform their business without the need to pay rental fee and open merchant account and the system also offer lower transaction fee at 1.5% for the merchant. It will definitely help to lower the business cost for the merchant.

For more information please visit http://www.neowave.com.my/mobilemoney_benefits.asp


How to encourage consumer to adopt this payment system
In order to encourage people to use mobile payment system, MM wallet has built more layers of security, so that users will have confidence and trust to use this system. Example of those security are security PIN which users are required to enter with the password when doing the transaction. Besides that, system are regularly maintained and audited by the regulatory body to ensure the system is running properly and avoid hacker to hack into the system to steal user information. Moreover, the system also requires a unique confirmation system to ensure no one can send money to the wrong person.

Electronic Currency

Electronic currency is a digital equivalent of paper currency and coins which enables secure and anonymous purchase of low-priced items, typically below US$10. In addition, electronic currency is applied in e-micropayment system. There are many different types of currency such as cash, personal checks, cashier's checks, money orders, credit cards, debit cards, bearer bonds, and so on. Typically, electronic currency involves the use of computer networks, internet and digital stored value systems.

Electronic currency payment system has brought numerous advantages to the users. One of the main advantages is the confidentiality and privacy of the users is protected. Current electronic currency systems vary in their effects on privacy from total anonymity, in which personally identifiable records are not created to audited systems that collect and store every aspect of each transaction. One of the most attractive features of electronic currency is that, unlike real cash, it is anonymous. In this case, when an electronic currency amount is sent from a customer to a merchant, it is not possible to obtain information about the customer. Unlike credit card companies that are able to collect a customer's spending habits and sell this data to third parties. Thus, by using electronic currency, the bank is unable to obtain personal information about the consumer and this adequately protects the privacy rights of the customer.

One of the ways of e-micropayment system is through Peppercoin. Peppercoin is an innovative payment platform that allows consumers to use credit or debit cards for small transactions. This will help merchants to avoid high processing fee for those consumer buying below $10 using credit cards. Besides that, Peppercoin aggregates small transactions to increase efficiency and lower merchants' cost.

As usual, every system also has disadvantages and electronic currency system is also not excluded. A major disadvantage to electronic currency is fraud. If a consumer somehow misplaces his private key and a perpetrator uses it to withdraw funds, the bank would never know and will not be able to track the perpetrator and the consumer would be liable.

In conclusion, electronic currency is has made it convenient for the consumer to purchase goods and services using currency such as credit card without the need to bring cash. This can lessen the possibility being rob and loss of cash. The implementation of electronic currency has not been fully accepted by the consumer due to internet breakdown, lack of skill and confidence and so on. However, once the electronic currency industry is able to ensure consumers that these transactions are secure and trustworthy, it will change the way we conduct our daily lives.

For further information, please refer to:

http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2005/12/13/cashless-transactions-at-the-bop-peppercoin

http://projects.takingitglobal.org/ecurrency

Credit card debt: Causes and prevention

Nowadays, credit cards are quite popular and most people having several credit cards with them. The credit card is really good for those people who like to purchase things when they may not have enough cash at that time. However, credit card debt results when the card user does not pay money that they have spent to the company. Therefore, debt accumulates and increases via interest and penalties.

Causes
Poor money management is one of the reasons why so many people accumulate lots of debt. Card user is not having a monthly spending plan and makes them unaware of where the money is going. They do not realize spending hundreds of dollars every month towards items that are useless and have no value in their life. This might force them to pay interest on these purchases every month.

Many people believe having too many credit cards in the wallet is representing sign of wealth. In fact having too many credit cards is one of the factors that drive a person towards credit card debt. Many people do not realize that every single money used from credit card has to be repaid and that too with interest. To avoid credit card debt the first thing to keep in mind is to have only those credit cards which are absolutely essential.

When the people know the knowledge for the causes of credit card debt, this will help a person stay away from it.


Prevention

Some of the people might be overspend or no control on spending, it is a need to start changes such behaviors. Firstly, card user needs to stop using credit cards, unless it is an urgent situation. The smart card user only uses the card in place of cash, or to obtain a purchase they can afford. Once card user has reduced credit card debt, they can stop worrying about falling deeper into debt.

Besides that, card user needs to make sure that paying bills on time each month. If they can’t pay the whole balance each month, then try to pay the highest amount possible. Otherwise the credit card debt will grow so much and they will find that unable to pay the minimum in a short time.


There are a lot of things to consider when trying reducing credit card debt. Make sure that card user takes the time to figure out what is benefit for them.

For further information please refers to:
Eliminating Credit Card Debt - 10 Easy Steps
http://www.articlesphere.com/Article/Eliminating-Credit-Card-Debt---10-Easy-Steps/121447

"Can I Get Out of Credit Card Debt?"
http://www.debtfirms.com/credit-card-debt.html

Phishing: Examples and its prevention methods

Do you know what phishing is? Phishing is pronouncing as fishing. It is not the fishing that uses a rod of wood, steel, or fiberglass with a line for catching fish. Phishing is an attempt to criminally and fraudulently acquire sensitive information. It creates a replica of an existing webpage to fool a user into submitting personal, financial, or passwords, such as credit card details. Usually, it sends an email that will direct the user to visit a website where they are asked to update personal information. However, this website that where asked to visit is a fake and set up only website to steal the user’s information.

Examples
There are a lot of examples of phishing in the internet. The most common target would be the Paypal, eBay, and online banks.

In 2003, many people received emails supposedly from eBay claiming that the user’s account was about to be suspended unless they clicked on the provided link and updated their credit card information where the genuine eBay already had their credit card information. This link that lead to the eBay website is a website that look like the genuine eBay website but actually it is a fake website where the HTML code being imitated closely by criminal or beguiler or so called “phisher”.

The second example is Paypal. In Paypal, there is a spelling mistake in the email and the presence of an IP address in the link is different from the link appear in the tooltip under the yellow box. These give you the clues of a phishing attempt.

Besides that, there are some examples for phishing in online bank, such as CitiBank and Citizens Bank. For online bank, usually they will use psychological tricks, known as social engineering, to trick the users. They usually trick on users’ fears. The fake email looks very real compare with the real Citicorp email. Moreover, the link in the email contains the name “Citibank” that users believe that it is an email from Citibank but actually it has nothing to do with Citibank. In fact, the link that appears in the text of the message is likely to have little relation to the actual link contained in the underlying HTML code.

Prevention Methods
There are several techniques can allow users to fight with phishing. The techniques are as following:-

1. Strengthen the Security
IT experts have created some features embedded in browsers to prevent phishing, such as extension or toolbars for browsers. For example, Mozilla Firefox uses Google anti-phishing software. Besides, some specialized spam filter can reduce the number of phishing emails that reach their addressees’ inboxes. Enhances personal firewalls and security software package and make sure that the security is the latest or up-to-date.

2. Do Not Respond to Emails Request of Personal or Financial Information
The “phisher” uses the psychological tricks to scare the users. They users can call the correlative party to do phone verification. It is safer to do so.

3. Do Not Directly Click on the Provided Link
It is better to do your own typing for the URL into your web browser yourself. Some of the URL may look alike to the real URL where it’s the fraudsters only mask the true destination.

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

Nowadays, internet is uncontrolled and uncensored. There are some damage threats that can cause our identity and personal information unsafe via internet access such as viruses, worms, hacking, phishing, trojan horse and so on. Many users are unrealized and become the victim of this problem.


Hacker attacks have been a serious threat to our modern technology. A hacker is someone who intends to obtain unauthorized access to computer systems. For instance, they create dangerous software by insert malware into a computer. By doing so, hacker can easily look through and edit files that are inside a website or the computer of a user. Besides that, hacker can broke into credit card systems and attempted to steal information that could potentially be used to gain money.

Another security threats is spyware which defined as software that secretly tracks on a personal computer to capture or take partial control over the user's interaction with the computer, without the user's informed consent. Spyware can track online purchase, credit card number and bank account number. In addition, it also may install program without user knowledge and can cause damage to important files on the computer.


Trojan horse attacks are one of the most serious threats to computer security. It is a virus that hidden in legitimate software and user can install a Trojan without knowing it. Users are infected with a Trojan program is spreading through emails (eg.nudegirls.jpg) that make user curious and open the file. Another way is spread through instant messenger programs such as Yahoo Messenger, MSN messenger, and so on. Trojan horse has ability to completely take over system and not give user access to any of their files. It also possibly search user computer and monitor their usernames and passwords to various sites and even has the chances of getting credit card numbers.

As a conclusion, we might not know there are how many threats of online security that are available in the internet. Therefore, users need to take necessary care and precautions to protect their data safe. Users can try to safeguard their personal information by having virus protection software and firewalls to prevent become victim of threat of online security.

For further information please refer to:
Major Online Security Threats: http://www.bsagovernment.com/downloads/MajorOnlineThreats.pdf
Threats to you and your PC: http://www.mrbcfelixstowe.org.uk/security.html

Third Party Certification Programme

Third-party certification is a scientific process by which a product, process or service is reviewed by a reputable and unbiased third party to verify that a set of criteria, claims or standards are being met. Besides that, third-party certification can reduce the time and expense needed for identifying, selecting and purchasing products and services. However, third-party certification is not the final word and the consumer has the final say. Third-party certification programme is a programme that enhances the credibility and trustworthiness of a service and product when they are being certified and recognized by an independent third party.

One of the popular companies in Malaysia that offer third-party certification programme is MSC Trustgate and they have been offering such services since 1999. MSC Trustgate offers complete security solutions and leading trust services that are needed by individuals, enterprises, government, and e-commerce service providers using digital certificates, digital signatures, encryption and decryption. This company is established to meet the growing need for secure open network and provide enterprises with a state of the art e-security environment, whether secure VPN or trusted web based office solutions, creating a secure, stable foundation tailored to enterprises' unique business needs. In addition, MSC Trustgate develops PKI signing and verification modules around web server security of their clients.

In conclusion, third-party certification has made customer feel safe to consume goods and services and able to maintain the organization reputation and uphold the organization integrity.

How to safeguard our personal and financial data

Nowaday, most people prefer doing everything by using the computer. Unfortunately, some people do not put in place the necessary stringent policies and procedures in order to ensure their personal and financial data to be safeguarded .Those data can be bank statement, payroll data, identification card number, address, telephone number and so on.

Use more complex password and change the password frequently-Make sure passwords are different a more complicated. People should set up the password in those important documents by using different number or symbol so that it will make it hundreds of times hard for a person to crack their password and access to the data. Avoid using the password that is easy to be hack by other such as password which is base on the birthday and identification card number. In addition, people should change their password frequently as it is create more difficulties for someone who wants to hack your password and steal your financial and personal data.

Encryption-In order to ensure your personal data and financial data such as picture and accounting record which you have been save in your computer, you can use encryption to make it unreadable by someone. Encryption is the process of transforming information by using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge. Therefore, it can help people to save their personal information and financial data.
For further information about encryption please refer to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encryption

Lock your computer and document - This is another one of those tips that most people don’t think about, especially at their own office. For example, if a person is leave for lunch and his computer is just on without a password-protected screen saver, it is easy for a co-worker to get onto his computer and look through his private and confidence documents and may steal or manipulate the information for their own benefit. Therefore, it is better to lock computer or put a password on your screen saver.

Moreover, some importance document such as bank account book, bank statement, lease agreement are necessary to keep and lock in the proper and safety place such as cabinet. So that people will not have the change to view it and use it for the improper purpose.

In conclusion, it is importance for a person to know how to safeguard their importance data, which are either financial or personal data so that they will not suffer the loss.

An Example of an E-commerce Failure and its Causes

Pets.Com (1998-2000)

There are many professionals that predicted the E-Commerce will have its own success. However, there is still some hidden E-Commerce that facing failures. One of the top 10 examples is the Pets.com. The Pets.com was started by Greg McLemore in November 1998. This company was purchased in early 1999 by a venture capitalist. Below are the main causes that lead to failure of Pets.com:-

i)Unstructured capital
The usage of the company’s capital for pets.com was not well organized. This is due to poor business planning on the advertising campaign alone, Pets.com already spent more than $100 millions in supporting it. Besides that, they had spent a lot in the marketing and sales. The loss had increased from since the company start business until in year 1999, it had reached loss of $61,778,000.

ii)Customer dissatisfaction
Most of the Pets.com customers are unhappy with this company’s delivery system. The company promised the customer on delivery of 3 days or less but they did not manage to do it. Furthermore, some of the customers needed to wait several days just to get their pet’s food.

iii)Poor management on costs
The company has a poor management on setting up the cost for the products and usually they will charge the products below the required cost. Thus, it makes the company to gain loss rather than profits. Moreover, the company had undercharge for shipping costs just to attract the customers but it actually facing loss on most of the items it sold.

The idea of pets.com was inadequate and there are a lot of problems that face by this company. Thus, it had taken over by the petsmart.com.

An example of an E-commerce success and its causes

One of the most successful examples of e-commerce is eBay. eBay is the world's largest online retail commerce which offering customers an opportunity to come together in one marketplace and be able to buy and sell a wide range of items. Items on eBay are listed by categories and anyone with an eBay account can bid on the item of their choice. Customers can find about anything on eBay, including collectibles, car, real estate, CDs, clothing, concert tickets and so on. Besides that, eBay also have Paypal, Skype, Stubhub, and other businesses which allow payment and money transfers to be made through internet.

There are few reasons eBay become success and this is the critical issue which people want to know. eBay become so popular because of their good strategic in the internet which provide user-friendly website to all people. eBay offers some free tutorials, fun video clips and free online courses to the beginners who are new to eBay.




For further information about the free tutorials and video clips, please refer to:
New to eBay: http://pages.ebay.com/education/new.html
How to buy: http://pages.ebay.com/education/buying.html
How to sell: http://pages.ebay.com/education/selling.html

Besides that, eBay provides various online help features, including e-mail contact forms, help topic, "Live Help" which allow customer to chat with customer service representatives via instant messaging or email. This shows that eBay serve customer in a more efficient and effective ways where eBay can quickly response to the customer problem through internet to make the customer satisfy with their service.

In addition, users in the eBay can easily shift from being a buyer to a seller on the website. Being a seller doesn’t necessarily have to go out and get a business license where there may be a limited number of buyers. One can easily sell products and services through eBay by registering with the website authority. On the other hand, eBay has made buyers more convenient and comfortable with online shopping at home. Some of the users enjoy looking around for merchandise and competition of the bidding process which is online auction. Therefore, eBay become online marketplaces which allow people to enjoy the experience of the online shopping. Furthermore, the majority of people who are selling on eBay are warm, trustworthy and honest. eBay is creating a friendly environment which allows users to come to their website and feel comfortable shopping there as well as getting reasonable price and a bargain.

In the conclusion, eBay provide a series of strategies to keep customer and seller in their website. Thus, there aren't many websites on the Internet that can claim the success that eBay has enjoyed. Despite those challenges and failure faced by eBay, the future of eBay looks bright, as eBay growth continues to be strong.

How E-commerce can reduce cycle time, improve employees’ empowerment, and facilitate customer support?

Whatever it is your business sells, you need to deliver it better, faster and cheaper in order to satisfy customer need. Therefore, cycle-time reduction is a vital tool in doing so. In these days, e-commerce goes hand-in-hand with cycle-time reduction.

E-commerce can reduce the amount of time in processing the transaction. For example, e-banking help user to bank in their money faster without the need to go to the bank, company can make purchases order from their supplier through the website. By doing so, it can also help to reduce the paper work. Online booking air ticket service has make it convenient for people to buy air ticket at any time, so that people can save time without the need to go to the travel agency to buy the air ticket. This reduces the cycle time of processing the transaction because the company can process the customer’s information immediately compared to time wasted for waiting customer to fill in the form if they are physically present in the air ticket company.


To keep customers happy, company must able to respond customer questions quickly and accurately. E-commerce help to provide such assistance through a static website FAQ (frequently asked questions) which provide a medium for customer to ask a question regarding the product or services of the company. Once the questions are entered by the customer into the system, the system will quickly respond the customer.Thus, e-commerce can also help to facilitate customer support.


In addition, e-commerce can help to improve the employees’ empowerment .In order to respond to customer inquiry or demand quickly, it is important for the company to allow the employees to make the decision. For example, decision to provide purchases discount, extension of credit term, negotiate purchases price with the customer, or making appointment. If the employee can make such decision without the need to get approval from few levels of management, it can help to fasten the e-commerce transaction processing time.

In conclusion, e-commerce has been very useful in reducing cycle time, facilitate customer support and in improving employee empowerment. Organization should introduce e-commerce into their business to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of their transaction and daily activities.

History and evolution of E-commerce

E-commerce is a technology-mediated exchange between parties irrespective individuals or organizations as well as the electronically based intra-or inter-organizational activities that facilitate such exchanges. In addition, E-commerce consists of the distributing, buying, selling, marketing, and servicing of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. E-commerce helps to generate demand for products and services and improves order management, payment, and other support functions.

Previously, buying and selling activity was conducted manually and both demander and supplier of goods and services have to meet face-to-face to carry out the transaction. As we move into electronic era, the way individuals and organizations conduct transaction and business has changed to electronic commerce from manual way. In electronic commerce, we are engaging in paperless and limited physical interaction. With technological advancement, we are able to communicate and conduct meeting with customer and supplier using teleconferencing and videoconferencing. The emergence of electronic commerce started in the early 1970s with one of the system which is electronic funds transfer (EFT), which allows organizations to transfer funds between one another electronically. Not long after, electronic data interchange (EDI) was introduced. This technology helps to extend interbusiness transactions and provide transaction and information exchanges from supplier to end user.

E-commerce began to evolve in the mid 1800s when Telegraph is used. The usage of telegraph enables us to order goods and services remotely and we do not have to go to a particular location to make an order or inquire about the goods and services. After that, we start to have house telephone that requires the use of telephone line followed by hand phones. With evolution, the hand phones available are in different shapes, sizes, design and function. With technological advancement, we are able to connect to internet using cell phones and conduct transaction using internet. Besides that, we can make phone call to supplier to make an order directly compared to telegraph which takes longer time to pass the message to the other party. The invention of computer in the early 1800s has make communication more easily and flexible. We can conduct transaction using internet without the need to meet each other face-to-face in a certain location. Moreover, customer can make an order online and there are options that they can choose and some supplier even has websites that allow customer to make appointment and customization according to their preference. For example, there are certain restaurants that allow you to make reservation according to the seats available, order the food in advance, decide on the mixture of the food, decorations preferred and so on.

In conclusion, the evolution of e-commerce has brought numerous benefits and convenient to our lives. However, we should not misuse the technology to conduct some illegal activities. The creation of e-commerce should be appreciate and used to create value to the people and society.

For further information, please refer to:

• http://ict.cdimm.org/man/engleza/ecomm03.pdf
  
• http://newmedia.medill.northwestern.edu/courses/nmpspring01/brown/Revstream/history.htm

Self Introduction-Jane

Yoyoyo… Let’s me introduce myself to all of u there…..

My name is Kan Zu-Jane and also known as Jane. I am currently studying Accounting course in Tunku Abdul Rahman University and now I am a final year student. My life is very simple. What I used to do are chatting everyday with my friends through the internet, editing photos, hanging around with my friends, watching dramas and so on.

I am an extrovert person who like sport activities a lots and likes to mix around with friends. I can play various types of sports and had represented for my school and zone for few of the sports when I was in primary school and secondary school. Now I am one of the players for my university table tennis team. Sports allow me to have a healthy body.

As a 21^st century youngster, most of my time, I used to spend on surfing the nets. Usually I will login to http://www.friendster.com/ to upload my photos and visit my friends profile to see how their life is. When I feel bored, I will login to http://www.facebook.com/ to play with some of the application games. I will update myself by going to chinese.cari.com.my to read the news provided at the website. Sometimes, I will also visit http://www.coool.com.my/ to read the forum to enhance my knowledge. I will login to mail.yahoo.com to check on my daily emails.

Most my time, I will spend on online chatting with my friends. Besides that, I will read some of the news and gossips at those forums. When in the assignment period, I will search around the website to look for information. Sometimes, I will download some of the freeware and install it as well as playing around with it. Lastly, I will read online newspapers.

Self Introduction-Jia Wen

Hello everyone, my name is Yap Jia Wen. I am 20 years old. (Still left one more month will 21 years old) Currently, I study at UTAR and taking Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) Accounting. I come from Selangor, Seri Kembangan. Luckily my place here is quite near to UTAR, so I was driving to school every day as compare to my other friends.

One of my hobbies is reading. Normally I like to read novel and magazine, because reading can make a person wiser their knowledge. But I don’t like to read those school textbooks which for study purpose. Beside this, my hobbies include listen music. I like to listen any kind of music, especially for the pop songs. But I don't like classical music because some of classical music quite boring and it will cause me feel sleepy.

The top5 website that I visited the most
->Google.com
Normally I use Google website to search some information about the assignment and research. It is quite faster and helpful to us.

->Friendster.com
Friendster website is the website that I visited the most since I learn how to online. This website I used to make new friends or even primary and secondary friends. Through this website, I can see some photo that upload by friends and view blog of friends.

->Chinese cari forum
This is a Chinese version website which is a forum. I like to visit this forum because it has many discussion and post available in the forum.

->Sogua.com
I used this website to download some pop songs and other type of music. This website is easy to search some songs and free to download.

->Utar website
As a utar student, utar website become one of the website that I visited the most. I use Utar website to check the result, time table, examination, announcement and so on.

The top5 internet activities
-> Normally when I online, I will open the msn messenger to chat with friends or send files to friends. Chatting with friend we will talk about the school life, the music, the movie, and so on.

-> Beside this, I will online go to some search engine website include Google, Yahoo and so on. I use these websites to search some information about the assignment and research purpose.

-> Other than this, I will go to music website and drama website to download some pop song and drama series. When I have the leisure time, I will listen music or watch drama so that I won’t feel boring.

-> Sometimes I will online visiting some forum. I like to visit forum because there are many discussion and post available at the forum. Normally I will go to Chinese version forum to have a look.

-> Lastly, I will online download some games to play and enjoy it. Examples of games are diner dash, sudoko, cake mania and so on.

Self Introduction-Mun Ling

Name --Yong mun ling

Age -- 21

Height --163cm

Weight -- forgot, but I can 100% confirm that I’m not over-weight.

Hometown-- Subang Jaya.

Course of study-- Bachelor Of Commerce (Hons) Accounting in UTAR


Hobbies:
-> I like to listening music and sing karaoke with my friend.

-> Watch movie and drama.

-> Read novel, normally I would like to read the love novel book.

-> I also like to go shopping especially shop at Sunway Pyramid and Summit because these two shopping centres are near to my house.


Top 5 website that I like to visit:
->http://www.friendster.com/-the purpose that I like to visit this website is because it can help me to keep in touch with my friend and know a lot of friend from other country.

->www.bobocaca.com- I can easily to get latest news about our society, fashion, and new technology information.

->www.youtube.com-watch movie, drama, & new song MTV

->www.google.com and www.yahoo.com -normally i use these website to find the information for doing assignment

->www.utar.edu.my- Allow me to know the activities of my university

Internet activities:
->I like to download MP3 song from internet and exchange the song with my friend.

-> I like to play online game such as Ran online game and Kungfu online game. By playing the online game, it can help me to relax, know more friend around different country and also help me to keep fit because normally i will play game till forgot to eat.

->Watch movie by using youtube so that it help me to save my money as I can watch a lot of movie without to spend my money.

->I can also chat with my friend either friend in Malaysia or oversea through msn so that it can help to maintain our good relationship.

-> I also like to use internet to get the information for the purpose to improve my knowledge.

Self Introduction-Seok Hoon

First of all, my name is Teh Seok Hoon and I am 20 years old this year. I am currently taking Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) Accounting in UTAR. My hometown is in Klang and I have been staying there for the past 20 years. Basically, Klang is not a favourite tourism destination because of the limited historical places and attractive places but it is suitable for food lovers as there are a variety of foods offered here. Whenever I am free, I will watch Hong Kong and Taiwan dramas. Singing karaoke is also one of my favourite activities when my friends and I are free especially our exam and test is over. Listening to music is one of the hobbies that I will not missed everyday.

One of the top websites I usually visit is thestar and I never missed to keep myself update with the current issues happening around us. The next website I always visit is frienster to read those messages send by my friend, read on the bulletin board on the updates available and view updates by my friend. MSN is also my preferred website as it allows me to check the messages send by my friend that includes current issue, jokes and fantastic pictures and chat with friends. Besides that, Google is one of the top websites I used to visit to search for various information that are useful regardless in assignment, doing tutorials and enhancing my existing knowledge. UTAR website has become one of the top website I usually visit to obtain current updates affecting me such as introduction of a new policy, examination results, current activities organized by UTAR and the facilities available to the students.

Most of the time, I will connect to the internet to chat with my friends through MSN to know about their current situation and this can prevent from losing contact with them. Moreover, I can discuss with my classmates on assignments and homework to get the solution. Downloading songs and movie is one of my top internet activities that I never fail to miss. I like to get hold of the latest songs and share it with my friends and we can practise the songs to sing it in karaoke. Watching movie and short videos through youtube is one of my main internet activities as I can enjoy those amazing and amusing videos and movies. The last internet activity that is one of my favourites is playing online games. By doing so, I can release stress and get to make more friends.

Lastly, I am an ordinary girl with has good points as well as weaknesses. However, I will learn to face with challenges and failure as I grow and continue this journey that is filling with happiness and sadness. Somehow, I believe you will never learn if you never fails and hard work will be repay someday.