E-Government in Malaysia- Its implementation and citizen's adoption strategies

E-government is the use of information and communication technologies to improve the activities of public sector organizations. The initiative was launched to improve the internal operations of the government and the delivery of services to the people of Malaysia. Its objectives are to improve the convenience, accessibility and quality of interactions with citizens and businesses.
The vision of E-government is a vision for government, business and citizenry working together for the benefit of Malaysia and all of its citizens. The vision focuses on effectively and efficiently delivering services from the government to the people in Malaysia, enabling the government to become more responsive to the needs of its citizens. There are 7 pilot projects of the E-Government Flagship Application, including:
Project Monitoring System (SPP II)
Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)
Generic Office Environment (GOE)
Electronic Procurement (EP)
Electronic Services (E-Services)
Electronic Labor Exchange (ELX)
E-Syariah

Implementation of E-government
Project Monitoring System (SPP II)
It is an online system that monitors the entire lifecycle of national programs, i.e. form project application to approval to implementation, mid-term review and completion. It provides a platform for exchanging ideas and demonstrating best practices models in project implementation.

Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)
It is an integrated, technology-enabled HRMIS for the Malaysian Public Service, incorporating Global Best Practices in HR that would enable the Public Service to successfully deal with the challenges of the K-economy. Its objectives are to provide up-to-date consolidated HR data for effective information planning and automate human resource anagerial and operational processes.

Generic Office Environment (GOE)
This is a powerful document and office management solution that enables users to effectively and efficiently manage their office environment. It is fully web-based and has been customized based on local developed package, DRDok. Its objectives are to provide efficient preparation and storage of documents as well as fast search and retrieval of documents.

Electronic Procurement (EP)
It is an electronic procurement system which enables suppliers to sell goods and services to the government through the Internet. Its enables accountability and transparency and equips the workforce with the latest technology at minimum cost.

Electronic Services (E-Services)
With e-services, one can conduct transactions with government agencies, such as Road Transport Department (RTD) and private utility companies such as Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) through various convenient channels such as the eServices kiosks and internet.

Electronic Labor Exchange (ELX)
It is one stop-centre for labor market information, as supervised by the Ministry of Human Resource (MOHR), to enable employers and job seekers to communicate on the same platform. It is to achieve an effective and integrated job matching process and also to provide an effective center of labor market information and references.

E-Syariah
It is a case management system that integrates the processes related to management of cases for Syariah Courts. Its objectives including improving the quality of services of the Syariah Courts, improving the effectiveness of JKSM in coordinating and supervising related agencies under its jurisdiction and improving the productivity and efficiency of the management of the Syariah Courts throughout the country.

Citizen’s adoption strategies
From time to time, E-service is gaining attention and importance. Citizens expect and require governmental services with a high degree of quality, quantity and availability. Thus, governments are developing sufficient information system and electronic services to meet these emerging service needs and demands of citizens. The success in delivering electronic services depends upon the capability and self-confidence of citizens in performing e-transactions, as well as their trust and confidence in the protection of their personal data within an open and accountable government. The ease of use, compatibility, and trustworthiness are significant predictors of citizens’ intention to use e-Services and that perceived reactive advantage, perceived image, perceived compatibility, perceived usefulness, and relative advantage are significant elements of e-Government adoption.

Related links:
http://www.egov4dev.org/success/definitions.shtml#coverage
http://www.american.edu/initeb/ym6974a/egovernment.htm
http://www.mscmalaysia.my/topic/12073046901815

Corporate Blogging: A new marketing communication tool for companies?

Nowadays,coporate blogging is published and used by an organization to reach its organizational goals. By corporate blogging, its post and comments are easier to reach and follow due to centralized hosting and generally structured conversation threads. Thus,all current major browsers such as Safari, Opera, Firefox and Internet Explorer 7 are supported by RSS technology. It is where enables readers to easily read recent posts without actually visiting the blog and it is extremely useful for low-volume blogs. Typically, corporations use blogs to create a dialog with customers and explain features of their products and services. Examples for corporate blogging such as Dell, Amazon, Coca-cola and so on.

Many organizationuse use blogs with their user community. This allows them to share and preview product features, functions, and benefits before the products are released. Blogs are an excellent way to gather feedback and to make sure products meet the needs of users. Blogs have become the next generation marketing toll to corporate websites which merely post collateral and do not provide any interactive feedback. Thus, can interact with target market on a personal level by building a level of credibility and asking for their feedback on products and services.


Corporate blogging provide a clear mind map or editorial guidelines for overall marketing and communication strategy to its employees and third parties with organization communication plan and media mix. Besides that, its also encourage employee participation in contribution of expertise, free discussion of issues or topics and deal with it, collective intelligence, be a direct communication between various layers of an organization and shares their views with others employees, teams or spokepersons publicly. It can use to clarify the company's policies of the company and to react on public criticism on certain issues. Furthermore, on corporate blogging it can discuss news or promote the later softwares. The business world's posting pioneers say blogging helps them network, boost sales and even lobby. Many industries are now hiring full-time employees to amintain the company's blog.



There have 3 types of corporate blogs:

i. Internal blogs

-It is an access through the corporation's intranet.


-Any employee can view whilw many blogs are also communal, and allowing anyone to post to them.

-Used in lieu of meeting and e-mail discussions.


ii. External blogs

-It is a public available weblog.

-It has been used to announce new products and services, to explain qualify and policies, or react on public criticism on certain issues.

-Trough external blog it can interact with target market on a more personal level and also known as public relations tool.


iii. CEO blogs

-There are debates on whether CEOs should blog or not.

-Blogging between CEOs is becomes pouplar todays.



One of the advantages of corporate blogging is leaders can communicate directly with customers, suppliers, investors and employees, helping to disseminate and explain their strategy. It has opportunity to answer critics in a control forum. Thus, corporate blogging is in highly cost effective and the company can get immediate and fast feedback from others. Organizations, employees, communities and customers can sharing their ideas freely in an honest voice brings the blogging companies new connections and generate s trust. It si also give a human face to an otherwise anonymous enterprise. Besises that, it can be more accessible among the executives sinse the corporate blogging are an "unparalleled information gathering mechanism". Furthermore, it also support and promote organizational goals, narrow the power of distances. It helps project members keep each other updated without wasting time writng reports or searching the outlook inbox. If the blog has a positive effect on your company's reputation then it is very beneficial to your career.




However, it also exist of disadvantages of corporate blogging such as corporate blogging may hard to maintain due to time consuming and costly compare to starting level. The manager run the risk of being embarrassed, because information on a blog has not gone through filtering. Next disadvantage is workers warned or failed because of something they wrote, involved of create political problem within organization and cause employee less concentrate on their works. Thus, corporate blogging may regret of comments they made, for example an employee is very with another employee, and he let out his anger through the blog, after he whas calm down, he regret it. The important point is organization secrets will be disclose. This will cause management to worry aboput rumours. Beside that, stock market for publicly listed companies disclosure have legal department sweat for months to come.




In conclusion, corporate blogging commonly is a valuable marketing tool for a company. If the company want to create an effeciency and effectiveness corporate blog, they should put in more effort and improve for their organization. The important is the company need to maintain and control the company's blog, so that it will not be abused and damage the company's reputation.

Review a local e-commerce site

 Lelong is a local e-commerce web where the selling of an item is done through bidding and the person who wins it gets the item with the bid price.

This website has a large selection of variety of gifts; ranging from

Arts, antiques & collections,

B2B & industrial products,

Items for babies, kids & mom,

Beauty and personal care,

Books & comics ,

Camera and camcoder,

 Cars & transports,

Clothing & accessories,

Computer& software,

Electronic & appliance, f

Feng shui ,

Food& beverages,

General & misc,

Gift& premiums,

Health & medical,

Home & gardening ,

House & property ,

Internet,

Jewellery ,

Gemstone & accessories,

Jobs & freelance,

Learning & education,

Mobile phone & accessories,

Movies &  videos,

Music & song, 

Office equipment,

Rent & to let,

Services,

Special Interest,

Sports & recreations,

Ticket,

Toys & Games,

Travel , tours & hotels,

Warehouse Sales,

Watches, Pens & Clocks.   

The large range of items offered in lelong.com attract many Malaysian especially to purchase their items.The download speed for the lelong.com is fast as compared to its competitors. The layout of the site is designed in a simple way such that will be easier for the consumer to browse.  It’s designed in such away as customer friendly. 

 Even it is a local e-commerce site but the availability of the webpage is easy and convenient to detect. They do not have the shopping carts, as it is an auction-based web page. The payment method for the lelong.com is trough maybank.com or bank transfer normally, which is easier. As compared to another competitor whereby, we need to register with pay-pal to make the payment. The method of payment in leleong.com also indicates the items were only marketed to solely Malaysian. They should expand their services to the overseas as well.

The colour and font selection are chooses in such away to keep the webpage as simple as possible to avoid it get overly done and create an eyesore for the viewers. Their navigation level is also smooth as they have numbers below of each page to navigate to the pervious or next page.

Related site:

www.lelong.com.my

Auction is market mechanism by which buyers make bids and sellers place offers; characterized by the competitive and dynamic nature by which the final price is reached. E-auction is auction conducted online. For examples, www.lelong.com.my, www.ebay.com.my. The flexibility offered by online auction trading may offer innovative market processes. Major manufacturers and e-tailers use auctions to sell product and services.

Electronic auction frauds are common nowadays and there many types of electronic auction fraud that may be conducted likewise mentioned below:

Bid shielding (used by buyers to push down the price)

- a tactic to buy at low price

- get other people to bid for the item that you want

- you use these phantom bidders to bid at a very high price when the auction begins, to scare off other real bidders. The phantom bidders will suddenly pull out just before the due time of the auction.

- You will thus pay law price to get the item.

Failure to pay

- buyers do not pay after a deal is agrees upon.

Failure to pay the auction house

- sellers fail to pay the auction’s listing or transaction fees.

Fake photo and misleading description

- some sellers distort what they can truly sell.

In order to avoid such fraud to take place, there are several security measures that are implied by eBay for its bidders as follows:

1. Grading services which is a way to determine the physical condition of an item, such as ‘poor quality’ or ‘mint condition’. Different item have different grading systems. For example, trading cards are graded from A1 to F1, while coins are graded from poor to perfect uncirculated.

2. Authentication service. It is to determine whether an item is genuine and described appropriately. It difficult to perform because their training and experience, experts can detect counterfeits based on subtle detail.

3. Insurance policy. For example, eBay offers insurance underwritten, users are covered up to $200, will with a $25 deductible. The program is provided at no cost to eBay user

4. Feedback forum. It allows buyers and sellers to build up their online trading reputations. It provides user with ability to comment on their experiences with other.

5. User identity verification such in IC number, driver’s license number or date of birth. For example, verified eBay user, the voluntary program, encourages users to supply eBay with information for online verification.

6. Item verification which is a way of confirm he identity and evaluate the condition of an item. Third parties will evaluate and identify an item through a variety of means. For example, some collectors have their item “DNA tagged” for identification purpose. It provides a way of tracking an item if it charges ownership in future.

7. Non-payment punishment. To protect sellers, a friendly warning for first-time nonpayment. A sterner warning is for second-time offense, with a 30 day suspension for a third offense and an indefinite suspension for a fourth offense.

8. Physical inspection. It can eliminate many problems especially for collectors’ item.

9. Escrow services. Both buyers and sellers in a deal are protected with an independent third party. Buyer mails the payment to escrow services which verifies the payment and alerts the seller when everything checks out. An example of a provider of online escrow services s i-Escrow.

10. Appraisal services which use a variety of methods to appraise items. It includes expert assessment of authenticity and condition, and reviewing what comparable items have sold for in the marketplace in recent months.

http://giantpandapanda.blogspot.com/2009/02/things-to-take-note-to-prevent-e.html

http://cutebella-bella.blogspot.com/2009/02/things-to-take-note-to-prevent-e.html

http://amazingcommerce.wordpress.com/2008/06/26/things-to-take-note-to-prevent-e-auction-fraud-when-a-consumer-participating-in-an-e-auction/

Mobile Payment System in Malaysia-Its potentials & consumers' adoption strategies

Mobile payment (M-payment) system is a new and rapidly adopted payment method. With M-payment, a consumer can make payment using his/her mobile phone, instead of cash or check. M-payment system can be used to purchase music, videos, ringtones, books, magazines and etc.

There are four primary models for M-payment:
1.Premium SMS based transactional payments
2.Direct mobile billing
3.Mobile web payments
4.Contactless NFC (Near Field Communications)

Mobile Payment System in Malaysia

Malaysia’s first mobile payment system, TeleMoney was launched in 2002. It was a service using multi-channel access for Internet and wireless transactions and it was free. A customer with a credit card or debit card with a cellular phone could register for the service.

Another M-payment available in Malysia is Mobile Money (MM Wallet) launched by Mobile Money International Sdn Bhd in 2006. It is a system that enables registered users to pay for goods and services at anytime, anywhere using only a mobile phone coupled with a 6-digit security PIN via SMS.

Mobile Money will encourage more consumers to shop online. This will definitely expanding the e-commerce industry in Malaysia. Moreover, it will encourage more merchants to adopt online selling to help them sell more of their products and services.

In this system, a shopper must either have a savings, current or credit card account with participating banks, in order to pay using Mobile Money. The shopper will be billed by the bank accordingly b month’s end, or the amount will be deducted instantly from the account upon successful transaction, depends what the consumers applied.

Potential of Mobile Payment System

M-payment system has high potential to achieve notable success because it offers a very convenient method for consumers. With M-payment, users could send cash to anyone, pay merchants, buy Hotlink reload cards, pay their water bills, by just replying to an authorization PIN to make payment It is new to Malaysian and developing rapidly. The M-payment providers have a large market share to be grabbed on. One of the notable success examples is the G-Cash launched in Philippine. This shows that mobile payment system has high adoptability and acceptability among consumers. Besides, the technology available on mobile phones has rapidly evolved over the past few years. The mobile phone is now becoming an essential life management tools for users. The wide use of mobile phone has made M-payment much easier to be adopted. And, the system is still new in the market, thus it actually has a lower competition as compared to others.

Strategies

To encourage M-payment usage among consumers, providers should educate them about mobile payment, introduce them the variable functions of M-payment and its ease of use. Providers should build confident among consumers by enhancing its system security. Other than that, providers can collaborate with more banks and companies to widen the ability to pay via mobile. This will help to increase customers’ satisfaction and provide convenience to them. Other strategies shall be adopted as well to maintain customers’ loyalty.


Related links:
http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/communications/0,39044192,39001884,00.htm.
http://www.neowave.com.my/mobilemoney_overview.asp
http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/communications/0,39044192,39001884,00.htm

Electronic Currency......

Today, cash is known in various forms as a means of exchange and of storing value. Electronic currency is refers to money or scrip which is exchanged only electronically. Electronic currency is essentially a system of representation of debits and credits used to exchanged value that allows a person to pay for goods and services by transmitting a number from one computer to another. Electronic currency is also known as electronic money, electronic cash, e-money, digital money, digital cash, digital currency, internet currency, cybercash or cyberbucks. Money in the 21st century will surely prove to be as different from the money of the current century as our money is from that of the previous century. Electronic currency has been widely use through the world, just as electronic currency replace the paper money and coins, electronically initiated debits and credits will become the popular payments modes nowadays. New development in electronic currency is emerging, as a result such as smartcards, online banking, electronic currency are being use to discuss money.


Nearly all of the deposit currencies in the world's banking systems are handled electronically through a series of interbank computer networks. Although banks have been able to move currency electronically for almost 10 years, but only recently has the average consumer had the capability to use electronic transfers in any meaningful way. Thus, the increasing of the power of communication technology and decreasing cost of computer, these factors make the digital transfer of funds a reality for million individuals around the world. Beside that, the internet and e-commerce have become an increasingly commercial area, where daily payments for buying goods, service or informations online.


As there, electronic payments are becoming the central part to online business between seller and buyer. Compare to electreonic currency, traditional payments method include credit card, debit card and charge card. However, these traditional payments method have posed problems to both seller and buyer. Not all of the merchant accept credit card payment transaction because the credit card companies may charged the merchants a 2 to 6 percent of service fee for each transaction, so this will cause the merchant to gain more lowest profits.


Using electronic currency is like using a virtual ATM. A users simply connects to the internet and verifies the ownership of the account. The user may then withdraw the desired amount of the electronic currency. By this, the bank issues a large, unique random number in an electronic coin format to the user, which the bank signs with the private key. The user's software stores these electronic coins on the hard drive on the computer. Many systems will sell their electronic currency directly to the end user, such as Paypal and Webmoney, but other systems such as e-gold, sell only through third party digital currency exchangers.


While, electronic currency have its advantages and diasdvantages on the payments system.

Advantages of electronic currency paymant systems:

Confidentiality/Privacy

One of the most attractive features of electronic currency is that, unlike real cash, it is anonymous. That is, when a electronic currency amount is sent from a customer to a merchant, there is no way to obtain information about the customer. This is one significant difference between electronic currency and credit card systems. Unlike credit card companies that collect a customer's spending habits and sell this data to third parties, the bank will have no record of the customer involved in the electronic currency transaction. Thus, by using electronic currency, the bank is unable to obtain personal information about the consumer. Therefore, this protects the privacy rights of the customer.

Security

The security of electronic currency is provided by the use of encryption. Some experts are weary about the security of online transactions. However, it use of break the code of a digital signature to a longer key. Additionally, the enacted digital signature statutes require a certification authority to use a trustworthy system. Therefore, even though there is speculation about the security of the Internet, electronic currency consumers are probably more secure in their transactions than the more traditional ways of doing business.

Disadvantages of electronic currency payment systems:


Fraud

A major disadvantage to electronic currency is fraud. If a consumer somehow misplaces his private key to withdraw funds, the bank would never know and the consumer would be liable. Credit cards on the other hand, limit the consumer's liability for unauthorized activity. Additionally, if the security code is broken and the message is intercepted, the hacker will be able to perpetrate fraud on the recipient of the message. Thus, although fraud is a potential drawback of electronic currency, this risk is no greater than the traditional forms of payment.

Peer-to-peer double spending

Double spending of digital coins is another potential disadvantage of electronic currency. However, this is only a potential drawback if the consumer chooses a peer-to-peer transaction. In all other transactions in the electronic currency system, the bank is able to check the serial number of each coin in a transaction against its database of spent coins, and if the coin has been spent, the transaction will be denied.

Conclusion

Although digital cash can provide many benefits such as convenience and privacy, increased efficiency of transactions, lower transaction fees, new business opportunities with the expansion of economic activities on the Internet, there are many potential issues with the use of digital cash. The transfer of digital currencies raises local issues such as how to levy taxes or the possible ease of money laudering. There are also potential macroeconomic effects such as exchange rate instabilities and shortage of money supplies (total amount of digital cash versus total amount of real cash available, basically the possibility that digital cash could exceed the real cash available).


In conclusion, electronic currency is at the early stages of implementation. As we progress into the 21st century, a consumer's wallet will hold less paper cash, coins and magnetic strip cards. Instead, smart cards, will contain electronic currency and other financial information that will automatically execute a transaction. In the physical world, consumers will gain immediate access to public transportation, concerts and movie theaters using smart cards. Additionally, a cyberspace mall will allow all entrepreneurs and retailers the ability to instantly reach the global market. Yet, the major issues will continue to be trust and security in ensuring consumers that the chance of a fraudulent transaction or misuse of personal information is slim or non-existent. 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.

Credit Card debts: Causes and Prevention.

Facts on Credit Card

First, let us try to understand how this wonderful plastic card works. It provides you with a line of credit, which is the maximum you can charge to the card. As you make purchases, the available credit line decreases. When you receive your monthly statement, you have the flexibility to either pay off the whole amount, or pay only the minimum amount due (which is strongly not encouraged). When monthly payments are made to the card-issuing bank, the amount of credit line available is then restored. However, many consumers typically pay only the interest and a bare-minimum amount of principal and thus never fully repay the entire sum.

How do people find themselves caught in such circumstances? For many young people, running up debt begins innocently enough. Upon entering college, many of these college students are given that little plastic card, “subbed” from their parents’ credit cards. Oh, there are just so many things that they “need” to buy (for e.g. a new pair of branded shoes & clothes, i-Pods, a cool bag & matching accessories etc.) and just too many parties & clubbing sessions that they “need” to attend! Calling their folks for extra money every now and then is just too much hassle (and”waste’ of money for the cost of phone calls). It’s so much easier to just – Charge It!

With the implied promise of high-paying jobs in the near future, many students enter the credit world thinking their debt will disappear as quickly as it was acquired—in just a few years after graduation. Regrettably, most graduating students find reality to be much different from their naive expectations. Continuing to charge more than they can comfortably repay, many find themselves in a spending trap, in which rising debt matches or exceeds rising incomes. 

Young people, of course, are not the only ones caught in such financial circumstances. Many adults have likewise given in to the allure of easy credit. Advertisers tell us we "deserve" their new and improved products—and most of us willingly believe them. The desire to enjoy life to the fullest with the latest entertainment, clothes and gadgets can be irresistible. People can also be trapped into the vortex of credit card debt via unemployment. If one has no savings, adding debt to one's credit cards is often the quickest way to cover basic living expenses. However, then, when they do secure a new job, many find their credit cards at maximum limit, and repayment schedules become a severe burden.

Although most of us don't like to consider negative possibilities, we cannot avoid financial disasters by simply ignoring reality. Economic downturns inevitably push more people to the edge of financial disaster. Only those who have taken precautions or avoided precarious situations survive. What can you do to avoid becoming a sad statistic?

 

We live in a world where debt is not only acceptable, it is the norm. Almost everyone you meet has debt of some kind. So, in a society that views debt as a way of life, how can we control our debt instead of allowing it to control us?

 

Causes of credit card debt:

Interest

The interest is the money paid on a balance to a lender by the borrower, which is to be paid every month, if you roll over your balance from month to month. Interest does not usually go down on its own, and when only minimum payments are made, your balance can grow to un-manageable amounts. If you are late on a payment, your interest rates can increase to 35 percent, making it very hard to pay off balances. With interest rates still on the rise, there is no better time to take a good close look at your finances.

Payment

Debt, especially credit card debt can accumulate very fast and many people soon find themselves barely able to even make the minimum payments. Remember if you are late on only one payment, your rate could increase drastically. If you are not good at remembering payments, it is wise to set up direct debits to pay your credit card bills. It is always best to control your spending and try to pay more than the required minimum payment whenever possible.

The main problem with credit cards is that they make it very easy for you to spend money. The most important step take to reduce credit card debt is to not use your credit card for every little thing, use cash whenever possible.

Studies show credit card debt is higher for males than female debtors are, and even higher for joint accounts. The problem with carrying credit card debt is that the interest on the card will typically accrue much quicker when you only make minimum payments.

Prevention:

The first thing to do when considering your debt is to make a budget. It is important to have a plan for your money so that you will know exactly where all of your funds are going. Many people believe that a budget will be constricting and not allow them any freedom. Really the opposite is true. A budget allows you the freedom of having peace of mind knowing that all of your bills are paid and the money has been allocated ahead of time for these expenses.

Knowing where to start when making your budget can be overwhelming. The best place to begin is to make a list of all of your income. Once you have listed your income, make a list of all of your bills. Be sure to include things like cable, internet, cell phone, electricity, water, credit cards, loan payments, and any others that you might have on a monthly basis. Things like trash that are normally billed on a quarterly basis should also be included by dividing the normal bill by 3 to get the monthly total. Once you have listed all of your bills, consider living expenses. Things like gas, groceries, laundry, personal care, entertainment, and spending money should all be budgeted into your plan.

It is also important to have a savings plan. This is key to help you prevent yourself from getting into debt. Set aside a certain amount each month into a savings account. It can just be for general savings, or you could set a goal to save up for a big purchase. Saving with a goal in mind motivates many people to stick to their savings plan. They know that at the end they will be able to purchase the desired object without going into debt.

If you already have debt, it can be advantageous to take some steps to help manage it. If you have a high amount of credit card debt, it can be wise to consolidate it into one loan. If you are a homeowner, using the equity you have accumulated in your home is often the wisest way to restructure your debt load. You can roll all of your debt into one loan and make one payment that has tax advantages. It is wise to talk to your financial institution about all of the options they have for you.

Another way to manage existing debt is to consolidate your debt into one payment using an unsecured loan. Although the rates will be higher than a secured loan, often it will be lower than your credit card rates and the payment will be lower as well. This will allow you to pay off your debt in a specified time while paying less interest over the long run.

There are many practical ways to manage the debt you already have while preventing yourself from getting in any deeper. Make a logical, practical budget and consolidate your existing debt in order.

 

The application of pre-paid cash card for consumers

Have you ever stood behind someone in line at the store and watched him shuffle through a stack of what must be at least 10 prepaid cards? ?Touch'N Go card, smart card, credit card, debit card….

Prepaid cards are one of the newest and most interesting financial products on the market, and they are something that everyone should be made aware of.

Many of us have prepaid phone cards or SIM cards for our mobiles, but prepaid debit cards are quite a new idea. However, the concept is the same as other prepaid mediums, where you load money onto a card and then you can spend this money at retailers or withdraw the money at an ATM. You load money onto the card using cash, bank transfer or another card.

Prepaid cards are neither credit nor debit cards, but have features similar to both. These are VISA or MasterCard cards usually, and so have the wide usage and security features of a credit card. However, you are not borrowing money, simply using your own money to top up a card and spend on it. They are a financial product that falls in between debit and credit cards.

Touch 'n Go card is an electronic purse that can be used at all highways in Malaysia, major public transports in Klang Valley, selected parking sites and theme park.

Touch 'n Go uses contactless smartcard technology. The card looks similar to a credit card. User can continue using the card as long as it is pre-loaded with electronic cash. User can reload the card at toll plazas, train stations, Automated Teller Machines, Cash Deposit Machines, Petrol kiosks and at authorised third party outlets. Reload denomination is ranging from RM20 to RM500.

Touch ‘n Go enhances the speed of paying for low value but high frequency transactions. Apart from the speed, it is also very convenient because user no longer need to prepare for small change or wait in queue at the cash lane to complete the transaction.

Links to Touch'N Go : http://www.touchngo.com.my/index.jsp

Octopus Card was launched in Hong Kong on year 1997, September. It is a rechargeable contactless stored value smart card to transfer electronic payments in online in offline system. It is widely used in payment system for transportation, supermarkets, fast food restaurant, car parks and other pint of sale application such as service station s and vending machines that have achieved good outcomes.

Links to Hong Kong Octopus Card: http://www.octopuscards.com/

The Application for pre-paid cash card

The prepaid cash card is of use in several ways, namely:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Other than as mentioned above, prepaid cash cards can be used as a replacement for travellers’ cash. Customers buy prepaid debit cards denominated in the currency of destination, and then use them to withdraw cash at ATMs or pay for goods or services. It is indeed a great way to carry prepaid cash card, carry prepaid cash card as we travel is much safer and more secure than carrying around large amounts of cash.

References:

http://tranceboundaries.blogspot.com/2008/06/application-of-prepaid-cash-card-for.html

http://ezinearticles.com/?Advantages-And-Disadvantages-Of-A-Prepaid-Card&id=372866

http://www.howstuffworks.com/question332.htm

http://ecommercesite.wordpress.com/2008/06/27/the-application-of-pre-paid-cash-card-for-consumers-2/

The Application of 3rd Party Certification Programme in Malaysia.







Third parties are called certificate authorities (CAs), who issue digital certificate to operate as a trusted thrid party to verification that your websites does indeed represent your company. The most famous application of 3rd party certificate programme in Malaysia provided by the MSC Trustgate.com Sdn. Bhd. It was established in 1999 as a licensed Certificate Authority (CA) operating out of the Multimedia Super Corridor in Malaysia under Digital Signature Act 1997 (DSA).


MSC Trustgate.com Sdn. Bhd. offers complete security solutions for individuals, organizations, government and e-coommerce service providers by digital certificates encryption and decyption. Furthermore, instead of MSC Trustgate was provide security solutions, its also provide trusted services to help companies build a secure network and application infrastructure for their electronic transactions and communications over the network.


Trustgate provide digital certification services such as digital certificates, cryptographic products and software development. The products and services of Trustgate are SSL Certificate, Managed PKI, Personal ID, MyTRUST, SSL VPN, Managed Security Services, Verisign Certificated Training and Application Development.The objective of Trustgate is to secure the open network communications from both logally and across the ASEAN region. Besides that, the vision of MSC Trustgate is to enable organizations to conduct their business securely over the internet, as much as what they have been enjoying in the physical world.

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

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

Why is the third party certification needed? It is because over the network nowadays, there are many threats of internet security spreading. For example, the increasing of the phishing through the Internet, so consumers want to make sure that whether they are dealing business with a trusted party. They are afraid of their personal information such as ID numder, Identity Card number, password, credit cards number and so on, will be sent and use by another people to do for illegal things. Thus the certification of 3rd party is needed to ensure their information cross over the Internet reaches the intended recipients and it is safe.

In additions, 3rd party certification is needed because they can provide e-email protection and validation, secure online shopping and others in order to avoid being spammed, hacked and attacked by viruses. By applying of 3rd party certification, there are more safeguard to people for online to do many things. Beside that, the consumers confidentiality towards the Internet will increases and the company will earn more profits.

How to safeguard our personal and financial data

Only about half of the people who are victimized by id theft can say how it happed, such as by having their wallet stolen. The rest of the identity theft cases could be caused bu thieves stealing electronic data or it could be from thieves stealing information from the trash. What is clear is that, with the growing threat of identify theft, consumers need to be alert and proactive protect themselves or at least lover the odds of being victimized. There are a number of steps that consumers can take.

 

1. Shared old documents. One of the best ways you can protect yourself against potential fraud or identity theft is to eliminate your own paper trail. A basic desktop shredder will work for a few sheets at a time, but for large quantities you may want to contact a commercial shredder who will also handle household needs.

 

2. Use a credit card with a small limit for mail order and online purchases. It's all too easy for a dishonest sales clerk to use your credit card information. If the card you use for these purchases has a low credit limit, at least thieves won't be able to rack up many bills before hitting a wall.

 

3. Get it in writing. Require anyone who solicits you over the phone to first send their information by mail, so you can check its legitimacy.

 

4. Review your monthly statements. Like flossing your teeth, this is a simple thing you can do to ward off calamity, yet it's surprising how many folks neglect to do it. Not only will reviewing your monthly statements alert you to possible fraudulent charges, you may also find legitimate charges for services that are either redundant or no longer necessary. For example, a close friend of mine realized she had been paying for two MIA memberships, one under her maiden name and one under her married name -- for two years! Lesson learned.

 

5. Prepare for disaster. With the recent anniversaries of Tsunami on Dec 26^th , it's more important than ever to make sure you safeguard your family's important documents in case of a disaster.

·                                 Keep a box of emergency supplies on hand that includes copies of your important documents in sealable plastic bags.

·                                 Purchase a fireproof safe for temporary protection of your valuables.

·                                 Rent a safety deposit box for another set of your important papers. Consider choosing a location outside of your immediate vicinity, in case the disaster affects the entire community.

·                                 Include in your important papers a copy of your household inventory, preferably with a videotape.

 

6. Choose your PIN wisely. While you want to choose something you'll remember, you don't want it to be something that a clever thief could figure out just by learning your birth date or your child's name. A combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols will offer you more security.

 

7. Guard your Social Security number. Make sure that anyone asking for your Social Security number really needs it. Often businesses that ask for a Social Security number can use an alternative customer identification number if you ask. Make sure not to print your Social Security number on checks or in other highly visible places.

 

8. Opt yourself out of all pre-approved credit card offers. If your mailbox is anything like ours, it's littered with pre-approved credit offers and cash-advance checks, all of which could spell disaster in the hands of the unscrupulous.

 

9. Bevigilant while using the Internet. As the victim of phishing  myself, I can't stress this enough. All it takes is one lapse of judgment, and you may find your accounts drained and your credit tarnished. Independently verify the validity of any requests for personal information before you give out any of your sensitive data.

 

10. Protect your computer's security. Use as many tools as you can (anti-virus software, spyware, firewalls, and passwords) to guard your computer information from the nefarious. Failing to protect your computer is just as bad as leaving your door unlocked, your windows wide open, and a sign on the mat, saying, "Burglars, come on in."

No need to make the thieves' jobs any easier. Though they are not foolproof, these simple tips will help ensure that your financial data is a whole lot safer.

http://www.fool.com/personal-finance/general/2006/09/23/safeguard-your-financial-life.aspx

http://www.edebtsolutions.org/identity-theft-protection/identity-theft-protection.php