Whether we like it or not, the real growth of our business is a direct result of the quality of the experience customers have with us.  It doesn’t matter if we are in retailing, consumer products/services, business services, high-tech and industrial products.  The quality of the customer’s experience translates directly into our ability to acquire and retain customers as well as improve their profitability over time.

Some companies understand these benefits and are already using the customer experience as a differentiator.  They include many of the well known “customer experience leaders” like Amazon, REI, Disney, Amway, United Airline, IBM and DELL.

Customer Experience delivers long-tail benefit- loyalty:

- Willingness to purchase more products or services
- Likelihood to recommend the company to a friend or colleague
- Reluctance to switch business away from the company

Article for your perusal: Six Strategies to Compete in Business
http://www.hyken.com/marketing/six-strategies-to-compete-in-business/

Representation of the Customer Experience Cycle

As part of the appraisal process in many organizations, the manager and employee have a meeting where the manager explains the appraisal process and the criteria for judging performance like leadership, knowledge of job, problem-solving, productivity, communications/interpersonal, management and personal quality etc. If the process involves goals, the manager and employee discuss and agree on what they both would like to see achieved over a certain time period (usually on annual basis) and, perhaps, the kind of resources the employee will need to succeed. If you are responsible for defining employee goals, then use the initial meeting to explain these goals by begin of the year during the performance objective setting period (and how you will work together to achieve those goals, for example training, coaching, directive and etc, if appropriate).

Throughout the year, document significant behaviors that are worthy of discussion during a performance review. Keep notes as you observe the performance of your employees. It’s simple and easy to do- far easier than writing until the end of the year and then trying to recollect what happened.

My new challenge - feel the touch screen buttons.

iPad2 in gorgeous red - the smart cover + back cover case costs me more than RM400!

My wife just got her new toy, an iPad 2. The touch-screen keyboard is the challenge thingy that I need to adapt.

I have been trained to use a typewriter and keyboard since secondary school, I can type notes without looking at the screen while in meetings.

To stay in trend and to be competent, I really need to put in effort to be more efficient in using the touch-screen technology gadget such as iPad 2 – to feel the touch screen buttons!

MacBook Air is actually my preference, at least there’s a keyboard for the old-school me.

Employee’s job objective performance and competencies scoring calibration process will be the challenging task in Jan – I believe everyone looking forward to receive greater bonus and higher increment. However, bell curve method will be used for employee performance management. Under this rule, management will forcefully by classifying an employee as outstanding or unsatisfactory. Therefore, the challenge is to classify ‘unsatisfactory’ / ‘marginal’ / ‘below expectation’ employee(s).

Another important task in Jan: the departmental objective, finance, budgeting, staffing, schedule, projects and plans for 2011. All items need to be finalized with the counter part and the employee’s job objectives need to be set in Jan.

I have an excuse- can my new year’s resolution with effective from Feb instead of Jan? Oops, Japan project deployment will kick start in Feb, can my new year’s resolution effective from March…?

Nonetheless, Christmas is just around the corner, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year + 12 months bonus! Yeah!!

I bought my spouse a Samsung Galaxy Tab three weeks ago. Last week, we returned to Lawyat Plaza and bought another unit of Samsung Galaxy Tab for my mom-in-law as her birthday + Christmas + wedding anniversary gift.

The market price for Samsung Galaxy Tab P1000 with 16GB is RM2,699 and I got it at RM2,680 with a FOC screen protector and some Android market software/apps like games, GPS, Documents to Go and etc. I also upgraded the expandable storage from 2GB (came with the box) to 32GB and a Bluetooth headsets Jabra EasyGo.

I am not Google Android fans neither Apple lover. The reasons I preferred Samsung Galaxy Tab compare to Apple iPad because of the below Pros and Conds:

Pros:
- Size and weight (convenience to carry and hold)
- Phone feature
- Adobe Flash (version 10.1) support!!
- Camera
- Android market software/apps
- Expandable storage
- Greater RAM: 512MB
- Normal SIM card compatible (I have tried Maxis and Celcom’s 3G SIM card and it’s workable. iPad has to change the SIM card to Micro SIM)

Conds:
- Expensive than Apple iPad by RM700 (iPad market price is RM1,999 with WiFi + 3G)
- Samsung Galaxy Tab’s screen size is smaller (7-inch : 9.7-inch iPad)
- Samsung Galaxy Tab’s battery life is shorter (7hrs : 10hrs iPad)
- iPad has variety of accessories in the market

Both Samsung Galaxy Tab and Apple iPad has its own unique attractiveness. It depends what you want, Samsung Galaxy Tab is a real ‘big-size smart phone cum small-size tablet’ and Apple iPad is a real tablet.

Samsung Galaxy Tab has strong potential in the market, otherwise MAXIS would not carries this product with their bundle plan (http://www.maxis.com.my/personal/android/Android_Phones.asp)

More Pictures:

Samsung Galaxy Tab P1000. I bought two units from SAMSUNG booth/stall right in front the MAXIS service centre in Lowyat Plaza ground floor. The saleperson name is CS, he is quite a helpful and reliable person.

Samsung Galaxy Tab Red Leather Case Folio - Red is my spouse's favourite colour. I bought it from Amazon.com, a real lether case cost RM170 with expedited shipping (delivered within 7 days). I can't find any real lether case for Samsung Galaxy Tab in Malaysia, all cases found are made by PVC or silicone.

Jabra Easygo headsets - Work well with Samsung Galaxy Tab. Market price RM75.

Samsung Galaxy Tab and Apple iPad Comparison by PCWorld

‘Yes’ is YTL Comms’ brand name, same as P1 by Green Packet Berhad. YTL Comms engaged with AGENDA for its product branding and website design including the selection of website address.

My first thought to ‘yes’ is YTL E-Solution- YES, because YTLE is YTL group’s IT arm and has been established for a longer period compare to YTL Comms.

Why ‘yes’ as brand name?

YTL Comms believe in creating positive change. And they believe they have achieved that through a faster, better and more affordable Internet experience for all Malaysians.

Why domain name yes.my?

YTL Comms has registered ccTLD ‘yes.my’ and ‘yes.com.my’. If TLD ‘yes.com’ is available, I believe their brand is now ‘yes.com’ instead of ‘yes.my’. However, ‘yes.my’ is short and ease to remember domain name, they have chosen the right name.

Every Yes account comes with a 018 number

You can use this number on your phone, laptop, or computer. To pre-register for your desire Yes ID with 018 number you may visit their website.

Pay as per you used

YTL comms’ product pricing concept is simple, you pay the amount of the bandwidth you have used. ‘Yes’ would be very much focus on the bundle plan in the near future, for instance bundle with computer or smartphone.

Speed

YTL Comms claimed that their service is 3 to 5 times faster than 3G. I believe it depend on the coverage area and the weather conditions. If you are P1 WiMAX users, you should know the result well. Time will proved it.

YTL Comms ‘Yes’ Flagship

The Yes flagship is just right in front the Lot 10 shopping mall in Bukit Bintang, KL. A small stand alone building feature modern and art design.

YTL Comms’ Office Address and Contact

YTL Communications Sdn Bhd
7th Floor, One Oriental Place, No.1 Jalan Hang Lekiu, 50100 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: +603 2027 8888

YTL Comms’ Key Personal/Management

Mr. Wing K Lee – Chief Executive Officer
Email: wing@ytlcomms.my

Mr. Yap Kok Leong – Chief Marketing Officer
Email: kl.yap@ytlcomms.my

Mr. Leong Chee Sung – VP CRM
Email: cheesung.leong@ytlcomms.my

Mr. Joehan Martinus – VP Marketing
Email: joehan.martinus@ytlcomms.my

‘YTL Comms’ NOT ‘YTLC’

Do you know why YTL Communications Sdn Bhd using ‘YTL Comms’ instead of ‘YTLC’ as their short name?
‘C’ in Chinese Hokkien means ‘Die’. If you are the boss of the company, do you want to hear people say YTL ‘C’? They can use YTLe for YTL E-solutions but not YTLc for YTL Communications.

Bottom line

If you want to register the Yes plan, I would suggest to wait for another few more months. Let’s we hear what the users feedback first.

P1 has a strong competitor now, what strategy do they have to compete with Yes? I realised P1 spent a lot of money on press advertisement these few weeks…

Related Post: Malaysia’s First WiMAX-enabled Smartphone Will Be Launched in End 2010

Is It Illegal Using the Credit Card for Online Gambling?

One of my friend asked me the above question and if my answer to him is ‘yes’, then he would like to know what’s the best way to avoid going against the law.

First, to answer his question- is it illegal using the credit card for online gambling?

For Malaysian, the answer is yes- it is illegal. You can refer to your credit card issuing bank’s terms and conditions. There’s a statement in T&C section mentioned like this:
Any card issued to me / us shall not be used by me / us for any unlawful activity or purpose (including without limitation online gambling), whether in whole or part.

Solution to avoid going against the law

I have asked him for the gamble website address to further study and research in order to provide him the right answer and found that there’s a way gambler can ‘deposit’ money into the gamble account from the credit card without going against the banking T&C. The gamble website normally accept third parties e-money/e-wallet such as Click2Pay and Neteller.com. We called these third parties ‘payment gateway service providers’, what a gambler can do is to deposit the fund into the gambling website via these third parties. Of course, there will be a percentage of transaction fee charges that needs to be paid from 3% to 5%.

Problem withdrawing the money that you won

Credit card does not accept fund deposit. Alternatively, the gambler can withdraw the money through a few way:
- Cheque
- Transfer to your bank (bank, account, name and etc are required to be provided)
- WesternUnion

Well, with the convenience of Western Union, the advantage is that people can withdraw the money earned from the Internet (such as trading and blog ads); the disadvantage is that an easy way for money laundering.

Bottom line

Gambling is not good for life, getting addicted to this game can cause a lot of bad effects. With the convinience of Internet, people can sit right in front the computer losing thousand of dollars.

“A boss fixes blame, a manager fixes mistakes.”

There is an old Chinese saying that goes something like this: ‘Tell me and I will remember for an hour; show me and I will remember for a day; but let let me do it and I will remember for ever.’ Fair enough.

And if you are going to let people do it then they are going to do it badly at first. They are going to make mistakes. And you are going to let them.

If you are a parent you know the agonizing thing you go thought with a two-year-old who insists they can pour their own drink and then proceeds to spill most of it on the table. You sand by with a cloth behind your back because you know that:

- they are going to spill it
- it is you who going to have to mop it up
- the spilling process is important and you have to let them do it and they will progress to not spilling but only once they have got the spilling our of the way first.

As a parent you do that wonderful hovering things, ready to grab the juice if it is going to spill too much, or grab the sup it is going over, or even grab the child if it is going to fall off the chair due to such intense concentration.

I am not saying members of your team are like small children. Well, I am actually but do not tell them – but it is imperative you learn to let them do the spilling if they are to progress, Make sure you have your cloth behind your back ready to mop up after them.

And after each spilling you do not tell them off. Instead, you offer praise – ‘Well done, brilliant job, incredible progress’. Try not to let them see the cloth or the mopping up.

This is the way I grow my children and my team members – let them learn from the mistake.

I have worked on various e-commerce projects that accepts online payment. However, most of the medium-to-large size organization in Malaysia do not incorporate PayPal into their payment method options. Majority of them is because their finance unit is restricted with payment policies, legal and audit issues. This is beyond the website strategies and lies on the business operations.

I do use PayPal for online payment, and would prefer that online merchants has this option

I call PayPal as e-wallet. It allows me to withdraw (purchasing) and deposit (through selling) money. I usually do not withdraw funds from PayPal as I prefer to use it to buy something online instead of using my credit card, as some small online stores only accept PayPal, WorldPay or Moneybookers; another reason which I feel uncomfortable or insecure in using my credit card when purchasing from small website, even though it is VeriSign secured.

I believe in Internet transaction security and understand the payment system process flow, but what we don’t know is whether they (merchants) capture our sensitive data or not. This is the most worrying part of Internet transaction- privacy. Their system may be very good and secure, but are their staff trustable and reliable?

I trust the online payment system security but not the people

I used to work in an organization 11 years ago where they do not process online transactions in real-time, their secured web pages (https- SSL) captures customers data into a database and forward the request to respective personnel to process the purchase with a merchant machine. This is not the right way in processing online transactions and customers data should not be viewed by any parties. Think about the consequences, what if the respective personnel discloses customers data?

I used to work in an international bank, practices very good security where staffs are not allowed to print, email, copy and even carry handphones or any computer devices during work, customers data is only accessible by higher level staff. Furthermore, the computer is well secured with customized OS, website access limitation and all external ports are disabled. Unless you’re an expert, or else stealing data from bank is not easy, this is how the bank build its trust and reputation.

What consumers want and how can you solve their problem?

As an online consumer, I want a secured, trustable payment service and options.

As a merchant, I would want to provide as many payment method as possible. This will be my website’s value, which is solving the people’s problem- allow PayPal users to utilize their e-wallet money to spend on something that they don’t need to use credit card.

Bottom line

The growth of the online consumers and PayPal users are rapidly increasing by the days. According to the survey conducted by third party, there are more than 15% of online consumers in Malaysia using PayPal for online payment. If you want a bigger piece of cake then please consider the 15% of online consumers’ preference on the online payment options.

PayPal Malaysian launch party on Friday, December 11th, 2009 from 7pm until late. Location at Neo restaurant (opposite equitorial hotel, KL).

This party is by invitation only. Closing date on December 8th and seat is limited.

Condition:
(1) You are PayPal User (PayPal account email address is required for verification) or
(2) You are the guest that invited by PayPal User.

If you are PayPal User, please send an email to sea_marketing@paypal.com include your full name, PayPal email addresss, eBay ID (if applicable), country of residence, total number of guest (max 2 – you + one guest) for registration.

Below is the invitation… see you there.

PayPal Malaysia Launch Party Invitation