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A discussion on E-learning offered in Malaysian universities: Pros and Cons from the students perspective.

2009-07-09T21:32:00.007+08:00

E-learning has become more and more important in this era, being the alternatives ways of modern education. Basically, e-learning means teaching/learning experience that uses Internet or computer networks to reach learners. Lately in most local universities, e-learning is used in some course or subject of study where the students rarely attend face-to-face for on-campus access to educational facilities, because they study online.

However, there are still pros and cons out of the implementation of e-learning for students.

The Pros
From student’s perspectives, e-learning would benefits them in term of lower delivery cost. It enables the student to access to study resources via internet , thus reducing their needs to travel to campus. In the long run ,this indirectly help the students waived quite an amount of money for traveling expenses to campus. They can save on expenses of purchasing books as well because they can access teaching materials through e-libraries. Furthermore, e-learning help students to communicate with their tutors, get clarifications regarding their subjects and study.

Besides that, it provides time convenience and flexibility to students. Because of non-class attendance learning, most students are able to draw out one or two days more during their free week to return to their hometown and still able to enjoy the learning process without affecting their studies. Students can get online resources, communicate with his tutor or class mates, send his query and write term paper at any time he can get access to the Internet.

The Cons
However, there are still a few cons in e-learning. Students feel that lack of face-to-face communication with teachers contributes lack of understanding between a themselves and a teacher. Face-to-face interaction is till the best communication techniques for teaching/learning.

Because of non-supervisory from anybody , students turns out to be lazy being non-motivated enough and having free time schedule

for his e-learning. This may caused a low scope of the student’s knowledge and teacher’s accusation in lack of proficiency.

Most e-learning subjects or programmes doesn’t requires students to do any physical presentation of topic of study. This makes the students lack of knowledge of presentation skills that might be needed in real person face to face presentation in future.

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

2009-07-09T21:21:00.008+08:00

In 1997,the Malaysia Government emerged with the electronic government to reinvent itself to lead the country into the Information Age. Implementation of electronic government started with the initiation of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) by the Malaysia government.

E-government enhances the convenience, accessibility and quality of interactions with public and businesses at large. It also improves the information flow and processes within the government, improve speed and quality of policy development, and improve coordianation and enforcement.This would enable the government to be more responsive to the needs of citizens.

E-government is one of the seven flagship applications introduced in MSC. The these flagships, seven main projects were identified to be the core of the e-government applications:

1. Project Monitoring System(PMS)
2. Human Rerouse System Information System(HRMIS)
3. General Office Environment( GOE )
4. Electronic Procurement (EP)
5. Electronic Services (E-Services)

6. Electronic Labor Exchange (ELX)7. E-Syariah

According to the survey done by Brown University on Rhode Island, US on international e-government ranking list, Malaysia has improved tremendously since 2005 and now is ranked 25th in the world. Meanwhile, there are several successful implementation of e-government in Malaysia which are :

(i) Government’s drive for e-government services

(ii) SMS alert on e-government services

(iii) Online renewal of driving licenses

(iv) Electronic filing of income tax forms

(v) Voter information

(vi) Details for government tenders

(vii) Employment opportunities

Government has sourced out several stragies to enable the citizens easier to adapt to current e-government applications.

1. The main concern here was the language barrier. In early stage of implementations of e-government, most of the services offered were only in national language which is in Bahasa Melayu (BM). This somehow caused residents & citizens whom were not really good in BM facing troubles using these services. Therefore now government is offering both English and BM version of web pages in their e-government services.

2. Besides that, large portion of citizens are not aware of the existence of e-government in Malaysia. In recent years, much advertisings can be seen in media to increase the awareness of public of these existing Malaysian E-government services .

3. Most of the web directory of e-government services is complicated. So it need to simplify the navigation of and search for information and online services through the provision of a single entry point. In other words simplify the procedures need to access to e-government services.

Corporate Blogging: A new marketing communication tool for companies.

2009-07-09T21:00:00.010+08:00

Today, a shift is taking place in corporate communications. One that is promising to alter marketing strategies well into the future, which is corporate blogging. Corporate blogging is publish and used by organizations to reach its organizational goals through internal, external or CEOs blogging. Current browsers which are Opera, Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer 8 which supports RSS technology enables reader to browse recent posts easily without actually visiting the blogspot.

Marketing has always been about balancing company interest with customer interest, but know it is becoming more about opening dialogue and building trust. Through corporate blogging, company can indirectly fine-tune their marketing messages through social interactions. Blogging enables faster feedback and a more strategic understanding of where the market is heading.

From a competitive standpoint, blogging demonstrates to customers that a company cares about its products and customers. Building a relationship with customers is all about loyalty and transparency. Customers are more inclined to deal with an organization that they think they know the best. This is where blogs come into the picture. Through blogging, an organization can build its relationship with its customers and promote their products at the same time.

The 2 most common corporate blogging is internal blogging and external blogging:

(i) Internal Blogging
Internal blogging is to capitalize on the opportunity to encourage communications and knowledge flow upwards in the organization. Basically it can be accessed by all of the corporate employee throught the corporate’s intranet. 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.

(ii) External Blogging
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 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.

A corporate blog if is not properly managed and maintained,can turn from cool to catastrophic. Despite the ever blooming of corporate blogging, there are still pros and cons of it.

The Pros:
Ø Requires strong written communication skills
Ø Easy to set up a company blog.
Ø Appeals to younger consumer groups and employees
Ø Dialogue with consumers
Ø Search engine visibility
Ø Requires little budget input

The Cons:
Ø Is time-consuming to maintain
Ø Requires strong written communication skills
Ø Blogs are so popular that their credibility as a source of information is declining.
Ø Lack of control vs. over-moderation.
Ø Legal minefield, privacy concerns
Ø Hard to measure ROI

Review a local, transactional e-commerce site

2009-07-09T20:51:00.000+08:00

Blooming Florist Sn Bhd is an established company that specializing in florist and souvenirs. It starts its business in year 1981 and is managed by May and Martin Cheah. This website not even selling flowers, but also cakes, wines, hand bouquet and so on. Blooming Florist Sdn Bhd has grown from a small retail shop to its present set-up of five retail outlets in Petaling Jaya, Kuala Lumpur and a head office/ workshop cum retail outlet in Kelana Jaya in this few years. Nowadays, Blooming Florist Sdn Bhd is linked with most reliable florists throughout Malaysia. Besides, it also networked more 100,000 florists worldwide through its membership in Interflora Pacific unit Limited. Blooming Florist Sdn Bhd has been operated for many years in the market. It has won for many awards for their quality products, good services, instant delivery and etc.

The services that provided by Blooming Florist Sdn Bhd to their customers:

(1) Delivery service
Blooming.com provides the following delivery services to their customers:

(i) Same-Day and Next Day Delivery in PJ/KL, and throughout
Malaysia.
(ii) Requests for MORNING OR AFTERNOON delivery
(iii) Peak Floral Delivery days
(iv) Sundays and Public Holidays

(v) International Orders

(vi) Order For Wreaths/Sympathy Flowers

(2) Online Payment

Customers can pay their Blooming.com.my purchases in various way:
(i) Online credit card payment by VISA or Masteercard
(ii) Online Banking such as Maybank2u.com, RHH e-banking and etc.
(iii)Pay using Kawanku ATM
(iv)Open bill payment via Maybank2u.com, Public Bank and etc.
(v) Cash payment- by paying cash at Blooming’s outlets.

(3) Outside Malaysia services

All products shown in the website are for deliveries within

Malaysia. For the delivery service outside of Malaysia, our
fulfillment is carried out through Interflora. All International
Deliveries are done through Interflora. Interflora is a network of Florist whose membership now exceeds 75,000. Blooming.com.my is a Member of Interflora. This enables flowers to be delivered worldwide by Reliable Member Florist located all over the world.

Electronic Currency

2009-07-04T22:09:00.013+08:00

Normally, cash is known as a mean of exchange and of storing value in various forms. Nowadays, internet becomes more important for the people in the world. As a result of recent proliferation of computers, telecommunication links and modern method of rendering payment are receiving a great deal of attention form people. The example of the modern method of rendering payment is electronic currency.

Electronic currency can known as electronic money, digital cash, digital money and etc. It typically means that currency with real value and which can be exchanged for traditional cash which is in the forms of coins and notes, is instead entirely virtually. It refers to money which is exchanged only electronically. Besides, electronic currency is designed to facilitate electronic commerce transaction. It only exists in the form of digital format and can be primarily based on the internet. Normally, electronic currency involves the use of computer networks, internet and digital stored value.

There are two types of electronic currency:
( 1 ) Identified e-money
This type of electronic currency contains the information revealing the identity of the people who originally withdrew the money from the bank. Besides, identified e-money enables the bank to track the money as it moves through the economy.

( 2 ) Anonymous e-money
The function of anonymous e-money is like the real paper cash. When anonymous e-money withdrawn from an account, it can be spent or given away without leaving a transaction trail. It can’t be traced as it moves around the economy and the owner of the cash can not be identified.

There are two further varieties of each type of e-money:
( 1) Online e-money
Online e-money requires a third party such as a bank or clearing house when carrying out the transaction. This is similar to credit-card clearing mechanisms at the point-of-sales in supermarkets.

( 2 ) Offline e-money
Offline e-money does not require a third party during the conduct of a transaction, analogous to exchange of cash for goods. It is the most complex form of e-money and true digital cash takes the form of offline anonymous e-money, especially when it comes to solve the double-spending problem.

Examples of electronic currency:
( a ) PayPal
PayPal is an online payments and money transfer service that allows people to send money via e-mail, phone and etc. A PayPal account can be funded with an electronic debit from a bank account or by a credit card. The receipt of a PayPal transfer can either request a check from PayPal, establish their own PayPal deposit account or request a transfer to their bank account.

( b ) Chipknip
Chipknip is the electronic cash system that used in the Netherlands. It is an electronic pursues which allows us to pay via bank or credit card as a sort of loadable wallet in-a-chip. Chipknip differs from other electronic payment system. It is because people have to change it with money before people use it to conduct a transaction.

The application of pre-paid cash cards for consumers

2009-07-04T22:00:00.009+08:00

What is pre-paid cash cards for consumers?

Pre-paid cash card also known as “stored value” card. It looks like a credit card and debit card and they offer the same function to purchase products and services but with an important difference – you only can spend the balance that you have been preloaded into the pre-paid cash card. As a result, you will not have the risk of running into debt as the pre-paid cash card has no credit to spend.

There are three application of pre-paid cash card:
(1) Closed system prepaid cards

Closed system prepaid cards also known as merchant gift cards. It have emerged and replaced the traditional gift certificate. “Closed system” mean the cards only can use at a single merchant, that means closed system prepaid cards can be used only at the retailers that issue them. For example, the consumers only can use the cards at the particular merchant that issue the cards at the fixed amount of the card. There is a variation on the closed system card, which called semi-closed system card.

(2) Open system prepaid card
Open system prepaid card is a multipurpose prepaid card that can be used at any merchant that accept a card that operates on a particular payment system or network such as an association network and etc. So, it also known as network branded prepaid card. Open system prepaid card has wide range of function than closed system prepaid card. The common example of this kid of prepaid card is aka Network-Branded Prepaid Card.

(3) Prepaid Card Advance
It is a technological advance that enables the cardholder to manage their prepaid card account by using their mobile phone. As a result, it may enable the cardholder to initially load the card, fill-up their account, obtain a balance, transmit funds to secondary cardholder and temporarily block a card easily.

Mobile Payment System in Malaysia: Its Potentials and Consumers’ Adoption Strategies

2009-06-28T23:30:00.005+08:00

Mobile Payment System in Malaysia
There are 4 billion mobile phones in worldwide but only 2 billion bank accounts. This is very raison for the new mobile payment system. It is a system using mobile devices to make transactions such as pay bills, perform banking transactions and etc. In order to enjoy the benefits of mobile payment, users have to register and activate an account with mobile payment service providers.

Cash payment in Malaysia still considers as a large portion of the number of transactions in the economy. Cash payment is expected to level off soon and stabilize with the increased use of electronic payments. It is because electronic payment can increase the speed of payment, convenient, and reduce costs. Mobile phone payment is identified as one of the delivery channels that should be leverage on. Bank Negara Malaysia sees mobile payment system has a tremendous potential in Malaysia considering that 88% of the Malaysian population are subscribing to mobile phone service. The high penetration rate affirms mobile phone network as an increasing common channel for Malaysia to perform activities such as make payments. Indeed, payment via text message has significant potential also. With 25 million mobile phone subscribers in Malaysia, there has potential to accelerate the migration to mobile payment.

Introduce new system to across an organization is not an easy task. After few years trial and error, many industries in Malaysia are really to go with mobile payment system. Maxis FastTap is an integrated mobile payment service that uses near field communication (NFC) technology. With this service, user who sign up for FastTop is available now to use the classic phone to purchase goods and services Visa payWave merchant locations as well as pay for toll, parking, theme park charge and etc and Touch n Go points nationwide.

Nowadays, Malaysian users can continue to enjoy the benefits of speed and convenient on their mobile phones. This innovation of electronic payment in Malaysia bodes well for the mobile payment innovation in future.

Credit Card Debts: Causes and Prevention

2009-06-28T11:35:00.011+08:00

Credit Card Debts

Payment card covers a range of different cards that can be presented by cardholder to make payment. The payment card can be classified into types depend on how the account is managed. Different types of payment card include debit card, credit card and charge card. Among all the types, credit card is most popular. It is because cardholders can make purchases at merchants that accepting credit card without any cash payment. Credit card debts accessed through credit cards. Debts result when a cardholder make purchases either items or services through credit card system. Credit card debts will accumulates via interest and penalties when cardholder does not pay back the money of payment.

Causes

Nowadays, credit card debts have become flourish problem especially in campuses. One of the most common causes is excessive spending. Cardholder did use the credit card a lot and will soon apply another credit card. Normally, cardholder will just kept more offers and move the credit around from card to card.

Cardholder always has little or no saving. This is one of the major mistakes that easily cause the credit card debts. Cardholder will uses credit card to cover any unpredictable or emergency expanses.

Most of the credit cardholder falls into debts is only partially understood or lack of financial knowledge about credit card system. He/she has no idea about the debts and charges he/she is going to pay.

Poor money management includes monthly budgeting of credit card’s bill payment. This is one of the most general mistakes that easiest to make. For instance, cardholder will be charged high interest due to late payment of debts.

With the ease use of credit card, relying on it to meet monthly purchases and expenses become very common. Credit card looked as extra income. It absolutely will lead the cardholder down slippery road into debts.

Some of the cardholders may be more comfortable with debts. This cause is related to one’s debt attitude. Cardholder believes that their future earnings able to paid off the accumulated debts. He/she willing to tolerate debts, so that he/she can keep maintains their comfortable lifestyle.

In this time of financial crisis, many people become unemployed each day. He/she will reach for credit card to cover the daily expenses if he/she is having difficulties securing a new job.

Prevention

Prudent spending and being a responsible credit cardholder is the best against credit card debts. Cardholder should spend within the means, and if do make purchases by credit card, he/she should settle the payment as soon as possible. Never make a late payment to anyone.

Credit card debts are a problem for a significant number of students. Many of them lack the knowledge of how to handle the debts. Education is the key. Education must go beyond providing information. The earlier they learn how to manage finances, the less likely they will fall into debts problem.

Creating a new budget is an effective and efficient way to under control the spending. With the budget statement, he/she will be able to clearly know the exactly spending. He/she will able to cut out unnecessary expenses. Setting up budget is not easy. So, he/she can obtain free consultation services in some organizations. The key is always avoided extra expenses and purchases.

Credit card, when used properly, is convenient and an excellent budgeting tool. If abused, it will become the starting point of nightmare and stress. Remember that always ask yourself what you want the credit card for.

Phishing:Examples and its prevention methods

2009-06-26T20:25:00.013+08:00

Phishing is an online fraud technique used by criminals to entice the people to share their confidential information such as account passwords, credit-card numbers or other information. It is also known as “carding” and “spoofing”. Phishing is the most powerful online crime method used by criminal for stealing personal finance information and perpetrating identifies theft.

Normally, Phishing is happens from social networking website, a fake website that accepts donation for charity and etc. It is normally carried out by e-mail messages, instant message program, spam and etc.

The following are some of the examples of Phishing:
1. This is an example of what a phishing scam in an e-mail message might look like.

Phishing (email scams) always includes official-looking logo and it will try to convince you to divulge the details about your confidential information on to their fraudulent websites.

2. This is an example of what a phishing website might look like.

How do we know if this is a legitimate bank website or fake website? The first indication is the slightly illogical problem that they are trying to persuade you to solve the problem: “some of our members no longer have access to their email addresses and we must verify it”. The second tip-off is that the address is supposedly secure (using the https:// notation), but there is no padlock icon in the bottom right hand corner of the browser window. Finally, the Address Bar is a fake. The website operator has turned off the address bar. Turning it back on using View, Toolbars, Address Bar reveals the proper address like this:

How can you protect yourself from Phishing:
1. Never reply to e-mail messages that request your personal information
Be aware of the e-mail message from the person that asks for your confidential information- or one that asks you to send your confidential information for updating.

2. Make sure the Website uses encryption
The Web address should be preceded by https:// instead of the usual http:// in the browser's Address bar. Before submitting financial information through a Website, you must look for the "lock" icon on the browser's status bar. It means your information is secure during transmission.

3. Don't click links in suspicious e-mail
Don't click a link contained in a suspicious message because the link might not be trustworthy.

4. Use strong passwords and change them often
Use the strong passwords combine uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols, which make the criminals difficult to guess. Besides, also can use different password for each of your accounts and change them frequently.

5. Do business only with companies you know and trust
Use well-known or established companies with a good reputation for quality service. A business Website should always have a privacy statement that specifically states that the business won't pass your name and information to other people.

6. Help protect your PC
Keep your PC updated & use antivirus software and firewall.

7. Monitor your transactions
You might use just one credit card for online purchases to makes it easier to track your transactions.

8. Use credit cards for transactions on the internet instead of debit cards to avoid the big credit limit from your bank account.

9. If you are uncertain about the information, contact the company through an address or telephone number you know to be genuine.

10. If you unknowingly supplied personal or financial information, contact your bank and credit card company immediately.

How to safeguard personal and financial data??

2009-06-26T02:32:00.010+08:00

Nowadays, computer has become an integral part of our life. We depend a lot on computer for both personal and official works. As network crime is increasingly spreading like a wild fire, most of the users start to worry about their personal and financial. There are hackers who keep looking for vulnerable computers so that they can hack in and steal confidential data such as log in id, password and etc. So, safeguard of personal and financial data is needed to prevent or mitigate the attacks.

The following are the tips to protect your personal data:

(I) Make your password hard to guess
You can use combination of words, numbers and punctuation to form your password and change them frequently (at least twice a year). You should prevent from using any single word or easy number combination such as your birthday or your pet’s name that make the criminal easy to guess your password.

(II) Back up your personal finance information
Creating a copy or back up of personal data is a sensible as it is the easier way to help you to recover your information if a virus destroys your computer. You shall back up all the important data on your computer and keep it in a secure place.

(III) Avoid disclosing confidential or finance information to scam perpetrators
Confidential and finance information is valuable. You shall not give out confidential information through the email or over the internet, unless you know with whom you are dealing with.

(IV) Biometric System
Biometric system refers to automatic identification based on their fingerprint. Biometric authentication can provide stronger personal binding of access rights to confidential information over the traditional method. It can ensure personal or confidential data linked exclusively to the right person.

(V) Make sure the website is secure
If you have launched the website that require you to provide personal information, you must check the details in the address bar of the browser start with ‘https’ (the ‘s’ stands for ‘secure’).

(VI) Make sure anti-virus and anti-spyware are installed and up-to-date

These software can protect your computer against the viruses. You can either buy excellent anti virus software like Kaspersky Anti Virus or free anti-virus like AVG to install in your computer to avoid being detected.
Besides, anti-spyware helps to protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance and security threats caused by spyware. So you must ensure your anti-spyware updated and keep up with the latest forms of spyware. Some popular anti-spyware are SpySweeper, Adware and etc.

The application of third certification program in Malaysia

2009-06-25T20:00:00.000+08:00

Nowadays, many people deliberately limit the online transaction because they do not fully trust the e-commerce process. These people fear that their personal finance information will simply transmitted over the internet when making an online transaction. In order to overcome this problem, the application of third party certification programme is implementing in Malaysia.

Certification Authority (CA) is an entity which issues digital certificate that contain public key and the identity of the owner for use by other parties. It is an example of a trusted third party.

The most famous application third party certification programme in Malaysia is MSC Trustgate.com Sdn Bhd. MSC Trustgate .com Sdn Bhd was incorporated in 1999 and it is a licensed Certification Authority (CA) operating within the Multimedia Super Corridor. The objective of MSC Trustage.com Sdn Bhd is to meet the growing need for secure open network communication from both local and the ASEAN. MSC Trustgate.com Sdn Bhd is licensed under the Digital Signature Act 1997 (DSA). It offers complete security solutions for individuals, organizations, government, and e-commerce service providers by digital certificates, digital signatures, encryption and decryption.

Here are some of the examples of products and services provide by MSC Trustgate.com Sdn Bhd:

(I) MyTRUST for mobile signature
By using MyTRUST, you can turn a SIM card into a Mobile Digital Identity for secure mobile banking and other finance services. Under Digital Signature Act 1997, Mobil digital signature provides non-repudiation on transaction. Users are able to digitally sign any transaction with ease and convenience through their mobile phone.

(II) MyKad PKI ( My Key)
Government has put in place a smart National Identity Card (“MyKad”) for every citizen in Malaysia. MyKey, is the MyKad PKI solution. It is works with MyKad that allow the people to authenticate themselves online and to digitally sign documents or transactions and it is accepted by Government Malaysia.

(III) Managed PKI for Enterprise Trust Services
Managed Public Key Infrastructure (MPKI) is a service with a fully integrated enterprise platform designed to secure intranet, extranet and internet applications by combining maximum flexibility, performance and scalability with high availability and security.

(IV) SSL VPN for Remote Access Services

Secure Sockets Layer Virtual Private Network (SSL VPN) os a type of VPN that runs on Secure Socket Layers technology and its accessible through https over web

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

2009-06-24T21:06:00.019+08:00

The threat of online security
Nowadays, individuals and organizations can easily access the internet with a computer and network connection. Along with the involvement of network and easy access to information, the threat of online security is increasing. Online threat include the risks that valuable or confidential information will be lost, stolen, corrupted, or misused and that particular computer systems will be corrupted also. The information is more vulnerable to record electronically and is available on network.

Types of Threats and Attacks
(i)Denial-of-service (Dos) attack or Distributed denial-of-services (DDos) is an attack that attempt to make a computer resource unavailable to its intended users.

(ii)Phishing is a technique used to obtain personal information such as user's id, password, and etc for purpose of identity theft. An email may be send to unsuspecting customers to trick them into providing their personal information in fate website.

Malware is software used to infiltrate or damage a computer system. It takes a variety of forms-both pure and hybrid such as:

(iii)Virus: A program that can copy itself and infect a computer by insert itself into a host to propagate without the permission or knowledge of the owner. A virus can simply infect and spread over the operating system and cause the collapse in the server system. Today's viruses can spread via the network services such as e-mail, Instant Messaging, and file sharing systems.

(iv)Worm: A self-replicating program and consume the resources of its host and is capable of propagating a complete working version of itself into another machine by network. No human intervention is required to spread a worm across a network.
(v)Trojan Horse: A program that seem to have a useful function but have a hidden function that having a security risk. Trojan horses require interaction with a hacker to propagate. Trojan Horse will be installed when the unsuspected user runs the program. It enable the perpetrator to capture user's id and passwords, display messages on the affected computer, delete and upload files, modify existing operating system software and so on.

(vi)Macro virus and marco worm: A virus or worm that is executed when the application object that contains the macro is opened or a particular procedur is executed. Eg: Melissa and I Love U.

Nowadays, cybercrimes like to take advantage via some popular website such as Facebook, myspace and etc. The factor that cause the success of those attacks is the users are always caught off the guard while they receive a threat from their friends. Althought many users have affected by the threats, there are still many users that not so understand about the dangerous of messages received. The network forecast to be bleak in future.

An example of an E-Commerce failure and its causes

2009-06-21T13:34:00.007+08:00

Pets.com is an example of E-Commerce failure. Pets.com was a San Francisco-based e-tailer existing only as a virtual firm that offered pet products, information, and resources to consumers. This website was launched by Greg McLemore in 1998 about the same time as several other online firms offering pets products. Therefore, Petstore.com, Petopia.com, Petsmart.com, and PetPlanet.com were the major competitors in the online pet industry although Pets.com is the first virtual pet stores enter into the market.

In the beginning of 1999, Pets.com appeared to be on a road to success. By October of year 2000, Pets.com decided to close its door as it realized that they never brought profits for the online firm.

There are several factors that contribute to the failure of Pets.com:

1. An unsustainable business model and unachievable expectations
Basically, Pets.com “bet everything on the market”. Pets.com acquired large amounts of funding from venture capitalists without demonstrating any background of achievements or success. Pets.com assumed that the market and its revenues would grow quickly enough to earn for a profit before the funding money was exhausted. Overestimated the number of online customers by e–tailer also is a reason of the failure of Pets.com.

2. Pets.com went public too soon and spent money too quickly
The main reason that Pets.com spent money too quickly is the excessive spending on marketing and advertising. During its lifetime Pets.com spent more than $70 million on marketing and an average of $400 to acquire each new customer. Pets.com made advertisement more heavily than another online pet e-tailer. The excessive advertising made by Pets.com did not only benefit them, it also helped the entire online pet industry to increase sales.

3. Failed to position itself in an effective manner.
It is necessary to provide customers with a good reason for its existence and to satisfy their needs. Pets.com just offered the products that could be easily obtained at the nearby retail stores and pet information about health, grooming, behavior and etc. that did not justify a virtual shopping trip.

4. In a very competitive arena
The online pet market was a crowded one in the time period when Pets.com was still alive, which include Petstore.com, Petopia.com, Petsmart.com, and PetPlanet.com. Pets.com failed to compete with a unique positioning strategy but instead decided to compete with low prices just like its competitors.

An example of E-Commerce success and its causes

2009-06-21T13:24:00.006+08:00

Dell is one of the most successful example of E-Commerce company in the world. Dell was founded and established by Micheal Dell in 1984 with a simple concept by selling computer system directly to customers in order to meet their needs. Dell began by selling upgrades of IBM-compatible PCs. In 1985, Dell began to sell its own brand of PCs, called Turbo, which had an eight-megahertz processor. The first, the first Dell laptop is made in 1991 and by 1993it became the top five computer companies in the world. In 1996, Dell beagn to sell their compuer products through the website and they took over Compaq in 1999

From the beginning, Dell operated on the direct sales model, taking orders over the phone and building PCs to the customer’s specifications. In 1996, Dell is creating its first website and moving many of its business activities to the Internet. By launching Dell’s website, the customers can buy the computer products of Dell according to their specification. Their strategy of selling products is no middleman and no retail outlets. Therefore, we can buy the computer products of Dell with cheaper price and saving our time.

Causes that contribute to the success of Dell Inc.:

1. Customer Service
Customer can customize their own computers by launching Dell’s website. Besides, salespeople had to install their own computers, so they gained hands-on experience with the equipment they'd be selling, and can better help customers make informed decisions and solve problems with the product.

2. Cutting operation costs
Dell’s strategy of selling their products with no middleman and no retail outlets can cut down the cost of middleman and sell to the end user directly at a lower price.

3. Good communication
Good communication exists with suppliers about customers’ specifications, so that they are able to deliver on time. Good communication with employees about customers’ information also can make them serve customers better.

4. Being a low cost provider creates flexibility and market advantage
Dell is as a low cost provider, their products are cheaper and in good quality. The low costs can attract customers and the quality of their products is maintained from time to time.

5. Effective and efficient delivery services
Products will be delivered to customers in 5-8 working days.

Identify and compare the revenue model for Google, Amazon.com and Ebay

2009-06-17T22:57:00.019+08:00

Nice weather. I am going to introduce revenue model today. In business, revenue is income that a company received from its business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to cusomers. Revenue models can basically consist of sales, transactions fees, subscription fees, advertising fees, affiliate fees and etc.
Google is an American public corporation, which the revenue model is focused on advertising. Google has generate services and tools for the public and business environment such as web application, advertising network, and solution for business. 99% google's revenue is derived from its advertising programs. Google AdWords is google's advertising product and main source of revenue. It is a pay per click advertising program for advertisers to present their advertisements. The Google AdWords program includes local, national, and international distribution. All AdWords advertisments are eligible in Google, AQL search, Ask.com, and Netscape. AdSense is the other advertisement application run by google. These advertisements generate revenue either a per-click or per-impression basic. There are few types of AdSense such as AdSense for feeds, AdSense for search, AdSense for mobile content, and AdSense for domains. AdSense allows the website owners to show different advertisements from different advertisers on their website and receive revenues for it. AdWords allow users to advertise their website on many other websites running AdSense. Google gains commission for providing both these services. Though many other competing programs exist on the network, Google is having good reputation.
Ebay is an online auction and shopping website that enable users buy and sell variety goods and services. Ebay offers several types of auction. Auction-style listings allow the seller to offer one or more items for sale for a specified number of days. Fixed Price Format allows the seller to offer one or more items for sale at a Buy It Now price. Buyers who agree to pay that price win the auction immediately without submitting a bid. The last type of auction is Dutch Auction. It allows the seller to offer two or more identical items in the same auction. Bidders can bid for any number from one item up to the total number offered. Ebay has established localized websites in thirty other countries. Products provided by ebay include onl ine auction hosting, E-commerce, shopping mall, pay pal, skype, StubHub, Kijiji, and other business. Ebay generates revenue from a number of fees. The U.S.-based eBay.com takes $0.10 to $4 for a basic listing.
Amazom.com is America's largest online retailer. Products that provided by Amazom.com includes Amazon Kindle, Amazon Web Services, Amazon Marketplace and etc. Amazon.com has branched into retail sales of books, musics, movies,games and digitals download. It launched its own website auction services on March 1999. Amazon Marketplace is fixed-price online marketplace that allows sellers to offer their goods. Buyers can buy new and used items sold directly through Amazon Marketplace. This revenue model is quite similar with eBay.com. This program generates big profit to Amazon.com. Amazon charges a commission rate based on the sale price, a transaction fee, and a variable closing fee.

The history and evolution of e-commerce

2009-06-13T13:18:00.020+08:00

What is E-commerce?

Electronic commerce, normally known as e-commerce, can be defined as a moderm business methodology that fulfill the needs of organisations, merchants, and consumers. E-commerce is any business related transactions partially or totally carried out by electronic medium especially on internet using Open networks or Closed network. The most attractive feature of e-commerce is it allows people to buy or sell anything at anytime and anywhere. It also helps to reduce the costs and increase the speed of delivery. E-commerse is not just about buying and selling, it also consists of electronically communicating, colloborating, and discovering information. It is about e-learning, e-government and etc.

History and Evolution of E-commerce

The history of e-commerce is a history of how information technology has transformed business process. The meaning of e-commerce has changed over the last 30 years. Originally, e-commerce is only an electronically tool that facilitate the commercial transactions by using Electronic Date Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). EDI is used to transfer electronic documents from one computer system to another. EFT is used to perform financial transactions electronically. These were both introduced in late 1970s. The acceptance of credit cards, automatic telling machine (ATM), and telephone banking in the 1980s were also another form of E-commerce. Another form of e-commerce includes arline reservation system, online shopping, and etc.

In 1991, Tim Berners-Lee developed World Wide Web and started the first internet transaction.
Later in 1993, graphic web browse which are Mosiac and Netscape, were develop by Marc Andreessen. On the other hand, Microsoft came up with Microsoft Internet Explorer. In 1991, DSL was lauched into market, which is a family of technologies that provides digital data transmission over the wires of a local telephone network. The development of Linux is considers as a major improvement of e-commerce. Linux is one of the most prominent examples of free and open sourse software collaboration.
Amazon and eBay were the first International companies that implemented electronic transactions. According to the Internet audience measurement website, Amazon attracts approximately 50 million U.S. consumers to its website on a monthly basis. As conclusion, e-commerce already become a famous and success business methodology. By 2009, 47 percent of Business to Business (B2B) commerce was estimated to be carried out online.

sELf InTRoDucTiOn

2009-06-13T13:17:00.006+08:00

Hello...I am Looi Yuet Han come from Kuala Lumpur. Now, I am only 20 years old. Haha..is still a young lady which study at University Tunku Abdul Rahman at Sg.Long. My hobbies is listen music, watch movie and playing badminton. Erm..I think playing badminton is the sport that only I can accept. Haha.. It is very similar with other teenager in the world. I have a pet named “wen wen” which is actually a hamster. Although many people said it is very cute, I think it is very naughty. I always spend most of my time visit some website.

The five websites that I visited the most are as follow:
www.gougou.com
This is the website that I visited the most. I always download song and movie from this website although I know it is an illegal activity. It contains wide range of movie, drama and tv show.
www.sinchew.com.my
This is a Chinese newspaper website. It contains a lot of information that meaningful for me. It makes me understand any kind of information either in Malaysia or overseas. So, I visit this website everyday.
www.youtube.com
I always know the latest information about my idol through this website, such as mv, movie, tv show and etc. Beside, I also watch the movie trailer before it shown in the cinema.
www.bin-music.com
This is a forum that posting the latest news and information for a Taiwan’s band which called “Mayday”. I can know their latest news and schedule of my idol. Beside, I also can make more friends which come from other countries when I am chatting with them at the forum.
www.jbtalks.cc
It’s a e-commerce forum which we can buy things, such as comestic, bag, accessories and etc in this website. I also have a friends earn little money by starting business in this forum.

sElf-IntRodUcTioN...

2009-06-12T14:08:00.000+08:00

Hey hey ! Is Nicholas here. Here we go...I'm basically final year student of BAC (Hons) Accounting in UTAR. Coming far from a famous otak-otak town called Muar, Johor. I'm easy-going , friendly and talkative person. During my free time, I enjoy window shopping around with my friends and catching the latest movie showing in cinemas too. Watching Japanese drama was one of favourite time killer too. Well, that doesn't mean I didn't go explore into world of IT as part of my life.

These are top 5 website i personally visited most of times :

1) www.facebook.com - everytime I goes online , this is the website which I will visit definitely, this is where i can keep myself updated with my old buddies and playing some mini games to get some fun. But normally I only keep contact with friends and view their current life via the posted photos.Thanks to facebook.

2) www.f1-live.com - AHA ! I'm sure out of 10 person only 1 to 2 visited this site before. This is the site where I can get all news,photo and race result for the Formula One racing which i keen very much. Not surprisingly, I'm a big fans of McLaren Mercedes F1 Team. Go Go Go !

3)www.zerotohundred.com - Aherm ! What is zero to hundred ? Issit an investment site bombarded with millions of figures ? No no no . Its a website dedicated to motor sport enthusiasts. I can get everything , discuss everything and know everything that I wanted to know about CARS in here. Its a cool site. Visit when you free !

4)www.gsmarena.com - Yet another site that I visited to get updated with latest trends of mobile devices such as mobile phone and PDAs. It has a wide databases of useful information and user feedback of certain phones which makes comparison of phones easier. Visit this site if you doubt to purchase which phone of your choices.

5) www.hotmail.com - Actually there are still a number of websites i visited often. EMAIL ! This is a must. Primarily is to check any important mail and then read those forwarded mail to gain extra general knowledge and keep updated with recent scandals and security concerned cases happening around us.

Humph....after viewing my particulars. Do anyone visited same page as me ? Looking forward to it.

sElf-IntRodUcTioN...

2009-06-10T00:59:00.003+08:00

Nice to meet you all here. I am Yunwah, Utar student, and approaching my 20 years old birthday. I comes from a small village which is Triang situated in Pahang. My hobby is watching Japanese drama, Korea game show and Hollywood movie. Let's talk something more detail about me.
I likes outdoor games when i was a little girl. Basketball is my favourate sport although i cant play well. I might just like other student and always spent few hours to visit some websites.
The top 5 websites that i visited the most are as follows:
1. www.hotmail.com
Delete some useless mail most of the time because i will only open the mail if the title is interesting to avoid see some scary and lewd mail.
2. www.mysj-home.com
This is a forum that sharing and posting the latest news about Super Junior ( a group of korea singer). I can also watch the video and listen the new songs of SJ through this website. I know worldwide friends there. Quite good d.
3. www.ifeng.com
I always keep myself updatedwith the latest international happening by surfing the net exspecially ifeng.com. Some experts in their respective field will share their thought with the viewers. Their views make the news more intersting and easily understanable.
4. www.youtube.com
Watch video, movie trailers, MV and etc.
5. mp3.sogou.com
Downloading the songs. This website consists a lots of songs such as English, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hongkong and etc.
Activities that i always does are download songs, read daily news, search some pictures in image.baidu.com, see my friend's blogs and leave my comment sometimes, and watch video.
I do blogging also but not often. I enjoy to share my life and feeling with my friends through manage my blog. All i trying to say is internet is so amazing because it light up my life.