How we can use technology to improve productivity 

from sydney morning herald

Katie Lahey

December 11, 2009

Treasury Secretary Ken Henry has identified the information and communication technologies (ICT) revolution as one of the four long-term forces affecting the Australian economy.

The Business Council of Australia also places high importance on the effective use of (ICT) by our businesses, governments and households as a driver of future prosperity.

The announcement of the proposed $43 billion National Broadband Network (NBN), providing fast transmission speeds to Australia's businesses and households over fibre, has elevated discussion on how using ICT more effectively can lift productivity. Along with the rapid development of Australia's wireless broadband networks, the NBN has the potential to contribute to innovation, productivity and economic growth.

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The council anticipates the $53 million NBN implementation study, due in early 2010, will resolve a number of important questions about the Rudd Government's policy objectives. These include what is the most cost-effective and timely way to roll out broadband networks, and what are the preferred settings for wholesale market competition. It should also clarify how the potentially conflicting role of government as provider and regulator in this sector will work.

It makes sense to start thinking now about how we can get productivity gains out of the NBN when it eventually comes on-stream. We should not be distracted, however, from also achieving the full benefits from the advanced technologies that are with us now, and from the changes we can make to improve ICT efficiency ahead of the NBN.

The Federal Government's Realising our Broadband Potential conference being held in Sydney today and tomorrow is well-timed to consider these challenges in some depth. The conference offers a perfect opportunity to put some definition around the benefits that underpin the rationale for the NBN investment. It also provides an opportunity to identify the policies we will need to drive productivity from the use of ICT now, as well as in the future.

 

There are potential productivity gains from better using fixed and wireless bandwidth available now as well as the many ICT products we have access to such as personal digital assistants and new generation telephones, software applications and the rapidly expanding scope of the internet. We should also remain focused on how we can overcome any barriers that exist in our current regulatory or policy settings that are preventing us from reaching our full potential in the lead up to the NBN's introduction.

A key area for discussion should be our policy and regulatory frameworks. Policy settings directly impact on the ICT-enabled growth of industries such as health and education. An effective transition to "e-health" and "e-education" demands a shared policy agenda across federal and state governments to support the greater use of electronic networks for information management and delivery of these key services. It will also require government actions to establish national standards, update certification processes, implement national privacy legislation and provide seed funding for pilot projects. These are policy initiatives that we can move ahead on now and are largely unrelated to bandwidth availability.

While services sectors such as health and education are often singled out, we should remember that ICT-enabled process and product transformations are an important way for all businesses to compete, as has been highlighted by the Productivity Commission. This extends from the automation of production and better targeting of mineral deposits via GPS in the mining sector to the use of satellite technology to guide and control spraying and cultivation equipment in agriculture.

It is therefore important that we continue to set economy-wide policies that enhance Australia's competitiveness. Seamless and competitive national markets will encourage businesses to use ICT to innovate to meet the needs of consumers. Trade and investment liberalisation will continue to give Australian businesses access to the latest technologies around the world. The development of ICT infrastructure and our skills base will provide the inputs that businesses need to compete at home and abroad.

Again when it comes to skills we need to think broadly. While technical skills will be in high demand, it will be better business and management skills that will enable our workforces to identify opportunities from new technologies and leading edge practices both here and overseas, and implement new production methods successfully.

Finally, we need a competitive and efficient telecommunications sector into the future so that businesses and consumers can source low-cost and high-quality fixed and wireless broadband services.

The Realising our Broadband Potential conference is an opportunity to bring together thinking on the objectives and future potential of the NBN as well as ways to make the best use of communication technologies available in the meantime. Policy that supports the best use of technology available now will stand us in good stead to reap the rewards from higher bandwidth in the future.

Katie Lahey is chif executive of the Business Council of Australia.

Federal govt to overhaul ICT sector

from sdney morning herald

Katie Bradford

April 11, 2008

 

The federal government has announced a complete overhaul of its management of the information communications technology (ICT) sector.

Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner said the commonwealth spent about $6 billion a year on ICT and he believed the government could save hundreds of millions of US dollars.

"The arrangements we have inherited are totally decentralised, highly inefficient and wasteful," Mr Tanner told reporters in Melbourne.

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"They cost the taxpayer too much money. There are lots of opportunities to get value for money, better systems, less expenditure on bureaucracy as a result of coordinating these things better."

Mr Tanner said tens of millions of US dollars had been spent tackling problems in the Immigration Department already.

"The Howard government had a Thatcherite model of government, where they allowed government departments and agencies to do pretty much whatever they felt like," he said.

Mr Tanner said it was not just about saving money.

"We want to change the way citizens deal with government, the processes every Australian has to go through, whether it's with Centrelink, or Medicare, or the tax office, or the wide range of other processes," he said.

"We want to make those things easier and more user-friendly for Australian people."

Savings are expected to be noticed by the middle of next year.

Sir Peter Gershon has been appointed as a consultant for the review.

Sir Peter led a review of the ICT sector in the United Kingdom for the Blair government in 2003.

Mr Tanner said Sir Peter saved the British government billions of pounds a year as a result of his reforms and he was confident the same would happen in Australia.

"He is a world leader on these issues," he said.

Creating more productive teams through ICT

from sydney morningherald

Roger Balch 

June 2, 2010

 

Technology allows us to flourish

Whether at work or at play technology allows us to flourish in a connected, content-rich environment.

In work mode, we can download information, process it and write reports and even indulge in real-time conversations through instant messaging.

Information and communication technology can help boost improved customer service, faster response times and customisation of products. In short, ICT overcomes the constraints of both time and space. But beware the ICT productivity paradox.

A presumed strength of personal computers is that computer-enabled multitasking increases the efficiency of office workers. But human beings are not computers and cannot multitask in the same way.

The head of PEP Productivity Solutions, Bary Sherman has been quoted saying: “I used to say that multitasking made a task take 15 percent longer. Now I say 50 percent.”

This is because human multitasking involves one task being interrupted by another. And it’s not the time taken by the interruption itself that causes productivity to plummet but the recovery time – that is, the time it takes to get back to where you were before in terms of being focused on the task in hand. This recovery time can be a startling 10 to 20 times the length of the initial interruption.

True productivity arises from the interaction of people and machines, not just the availability of machines; computers do not exist in isolation from other systems. The ways in which ICT can boost productivity is a massive topic, but here we will look at just three areas: video conferencing, the much talked about ‘cloud’ and customer relationship management.

Despite its popularity email is a lousy communication tool when it comes to conversing, taking up to ten times longer than by telephone. So picking up the phone is one simple way to boost productivity. But even better is to use video conferencing.

Ricoh chief information officer Rob Livingstone works in conjunction with Telstra and Polycom to introduce an end-to-end high-definition video conferencing solution that it expects to increase both employee and enterprise productivity.

“As a service-based company, responsiveness is our lifeblood, enabling us to remain competitive,” Livingstone says in a statement. “High definition video conferencing is already reinventing the way our staff can communicate with each other and with our customers. There is greater workplace efficiency and less environmental impact thanks to a reduced need for employee travel time,” he says.

The technologies that give the biggest boost to productivity are those that are collaborative in nature, such as groupware and email. And these collaborative technologies help facilitate one of the most effective business process improvements – breaking down the walls between vertical business areas, the dreaded ‘silos’ and ‘stovepipes’. This is where the structure of the organisation largely or entirely restricts information flow.

In the past productivity software was stored on employees’ PCs and, if a document was to be worked on by others it was shuttled across the organisation by email and revisions and changes tracked. But now, with the advent of ‘cloud computing’ (whereby software programs and data are stored on the internet, not on a company’s servers), the democratic structure of the internet, and the fact that it is both virtual and real time, can be harnessed.

In a cloud environment employees can work on the same document at the same time, the progress that other teams members are making can be seen, and duplication avoided.

The key to great customer service is to give customers what they want, when they want it and at a price they perceive as being fair. And if you can give them something they didn’t even know they wanted, faster than they expected and offering even better value, you’ll be streets ahead of the competition.

CRM covers sales, marketing, customer service and technical support and, at its best, is a company-wide process in which every department is sales-oriented. Failure to do this can further entrench a silo mentality rather than breaking it down so a collaborative CRM should be implemented that builds bridges between departments.

Good though CRM is there has been an unacceptably high rate of companies investing heavily in systems that are not used to their full extent. Care must be taken that a system is easy to use, that it offers benefits not just to the company but the employees using it, and that sufficient training is given.

Dean Parham, until recently an assistant commissioner at the Productivity Commission, has been quoted in the Australian Financial Review saying “It’s not just having the ICT that’s important, it’s how you use [technologies] to create new products or reorganise your business.

It’s doing new things or doing things in new ways.”

•    Computers can multitask, people can’t. Human multitasking can make a job take 50 percent longer
•    Cloud computing harnesses the democratic nature of the internet to break down business silos
•    Customer relationship management can harness the power of the entire organisation to deliver excellent customer service

Smartphone firms in patents battle

from new zealand herald

5:30 AM Thursday Jul 28, 2011

 

The smartphone industry is in an arms race for patents that is hurting consumers and leaving Google to "sort through the mess" of litigation, says the company's general counsel Kent Walker.
"It's hard to find what's the best path - there's so much litigation," Walker said.
"We're exploring a variety of different things."
Google, whose Android mobile operating system has been targeted in at least six legal complaints, is seeking to buy intellectual property that could be used as a defence against litigation.
Google, the world's largest internet search company, is also seeking to curb abuses of the system, calling on Congress and the Federal Trade Commission to rein in lawsuits, and asking the US Patent and Trademark Office to take closer looks at patents being used in litigation, Walker said.
"The tech industry has a significant problem," he said. "Software patents are kind of gumming up the works of innovation."
Google's competitors have said the California-based company is critical of the patent system because it has few patents of its own and entered a smartphone market where companies had been researching and selling products for years before Android phones went on sale in 2008.

Google has been assigned 728 patents so far, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database, mostly for search engine technology.
Apple has more than 4000 US patents, and Microsoft more than 18,000, according to the database. Patents give their owners a right to exclude others from using the invention for a set period of time.
"It is about innovation and competition," said Will Stofega, a program manager at researcher IDC.
"Doing basic research to bring new products to market is something quite distinct from their core capabilities."
The Android system is a free, open-source program that relies on some nonproprietary features Google didn't create and allows outside developers to modify the code.
That has left the company vulnerable to claims that it built Android on the backs of research done by other technology companies.
"A patent is a patent and you may not agree with it, but it's the law," Stofega said. "It's a weakness for Google and everyone's acknowledged it. The competition is so fierce and so brutal, any perceived weakness is going to be found out and you're going to pay for it, in court or wherever."
Android is the most widely used mobile operating system for smartphones, with 38.9 per cent of the worldwide market, compared with 18.2 per cent for Apple's iPhone, according to IDC.
Oracle, the world's largest supplier of database software, contends Android uses its Java programming language, in violation of patents and copyrights.
California-based Oracle sued, seeking as much as US$6.1 billion ($6.9 billion) in damages, after Google baulked at paying US$100 million for a licence to use the technology.
In ruling last week on what type of damages should be considered, US District Judge William Alsup said: "Google may have simply been brazen, preferring to roll the dice on possible litigation rather than to pay a fair price."
Alsup said US$6.1 billion in damages was too high a price for consideration based on facts of the case and set US$100 million as the starting point for discussion of damages.
Walker said Google maintains that the patents are invalid and not infringed.
Apple has patent cases before the US International Trade Commission that target Android phones made by Samsung Electronics, HTC and Motorola Mobility Holdings. Each of those companies has filed cases against Apple. Microsoft and Motorola Mobility also have patent suits against each other, and Microsoft has a pending ITC complaint against Barnes & Noble over the Android-based Nook reader.
Google has few of its own patents, while Samsung and Motorola Mobility have been able to use their patents to lodge infringement claims against Apple and Microsoft.
Walker said it's "crazy" that both HTC and Apple phones could be barred from the US market if a deal isn't reached.
"Each side can blow the other up on some level - everybody can block the other's products from coming to market," Walker said.
"You create this mutually assured destruction scenario, but it's very expensive to get all those munitions."
Google has been hesitant to use patents to file suits against other companies, he said.
"Buying patents so you can hit the other guy, it's not good form," Walker said.
The company is providing support and technical help to companies that make products for Android and are being sued, either by rival companies such as Apple and Microsoft, or by small patent owners that don't make products.
"We'll be fine," Walker said. "We have the resources to balance the scales here."
- Bloomberg

Apple bigger than Intel and Microsoft combined

from new zealand herald

5:30 AM Thursday Jul 28, 2011

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs has seen shares rise to $461. Photo / AP

Apple has surpassed US$400 a share for the first time, a week after reporting record sales and profit, and is gaining ground on the world's most valuable company, Exxon Mobil.

The shares rose US$4.91 to US$403.41 ($461) in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Apple has climbed 25 per cent this year.

Apple, on the brink of bankruptcy when chief executive Steve Jobs reclaimed the top job more than a decade ago, now has a bigger market value than Microsoft and Intel combined, fuelled by new products such as the iPhone and iPad.

Shares are up from a stock-adjusted US$5.48 on September 16, 1997 - the day Jobs returned after his 1985 ousting.

"It started with the Mac, then iPods, iPhones and now the iPad," said Giri Cherukuri, head trader for Oakbrook Investments, which manages US$2.7 billion, including Apple shares.

"It's incredible."

The stock price gives California-based Apple a market capitalisation of about US$374 billion, trailing by US$41.6 billion the US$416 billion value of Texas-based Exxon.

Apple's iPhone-fuelled rise comes amid a reversal of fortunes for rival makers of smartphones such as Research In Motion and Nokia, which have lost market share and fired workers.

Apple last week said profit more than doubled to US$7.31 billion on revenue of US$28.6 billion, compared with the same period a year earlier.

The company had record sales of iPhones and iPads, products that didn't exist five years ago and now account for more than 70 per cent of revenue.

Apple also has accumulated US$76.2 billion in cash and other holdings.

"I don't see too much slowing them down," Cherukuri said.

- Bloomberg

Digital strategy to lift economy

2010/10/08
By Farrah Naz Karim
farrah@nst.com.my

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia is set to embark on the third phase of its Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) with focus on shifting to the innovative digital economy.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the new phase, to begin from next year until 2020, would see Malaysia increasing its leverage on information and communications technology (ICT) to catapult the country to a new economic level.

He said with sound initiatives carried out, the ICT sector could contribute 10.2 per cent of the country's gross domestic product by 2015.

He said in executing a well-planned digital strategy, the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) would spearhead five recommendations yielded from the 22nd Implementation Council Meeting and the 13th MSC Malaysia International Advisory Panel that would ensure Malaysia continued to compete and excel on the global front.

The MDeC will lead in:

- the development of the architecture for a national Innovative Digital Economy framework;

- the infusion of technology across all economic sectors in driving productivity and innovation;

- making Malaysia a vibrant hub for creation of ICT solutions leading to become a net exporter;

- ICT empowerment as a source of national competitive advantage; and,

- pervasive use of ICT to increase the quality of life across all communities.

Najib, who chaired the meetings at his office yesterday, said ICT would play a key role in the Economic Transformation Programme.

Under the ETP, 85 of the 131 entry points projects, which are collectively worth RM670 billion, are ICT-dependent, with 28 of them being ICT-intensive.

The prime minister said the second phase of MSC, which is coming to an end, had been extremely successful with the targets set surpassed.

The second phase, he said, had contributed RM35 billion towards the GDP between 2004 and now, creating 83,000 jobs, and strengthening Malaysia’s position as a global ICT hub with new sub-sectors. This resulted in the emergence of a new class of technopreneurs.

“Now on the cusp of phase three of the MSC Malaysia agenda, the way forward requires us to start working towards an innovative digital economy.

“Our goal is to stimulate human creativity with new technologies, outlets and opportunities,” Najib said, adding that these as catalysts would, in turn, lead to innovation in products, services and processes created.

These would also promote productivity for individuals and businesses while giving a boost to their competitiveness in the global digital economy.

Najib said the digital economy contributed 35 per cent to the global trade of US$17 trillion (RM59.5 trillion) last year and that global e-commerce revenues
would hit US$3.8 trillion by 2020.

He said talent development would continue to be a prime focus, with initiatives put in place to improve the quality of graduates entering the workforce and attracting those abroad to return.

Key initiatives would focus on expanding partnerships with industry players in a “Finishing School” programme to train 25,000 knowledge workers and
work with institutions of higher learning to deliver curriculum that was market-driven.

Najib said that annually “1,000 qualified foreign students from local institutions of higher learning would be issued work permits to address the projected shortfall in ICT talent”.

MSC Malaysia, NEF to list Bumiputera ICT Companies in first-time directory
 
Published : 20 April 2010 (News Straits Times) 

MSC Malaysia and the Malaysian Association of Bumiputera ICT industry and Entrepreneurs (NEF) are now calling for all Bumiputera companies in multimedia, technology and ICT to register their companies for inclusion in the Bumiputera Technology & Multimedia Directory 2010/2011.

The directory will include companies in software development, games, mobile content, web content, e-commerce and other related fields. Registration is free and can be done online.

The Directory will be launched towards the end May and made available online, in hardcopy and in CD format. The hard copy version of the directory will also be distributed to all Malaysian Government ministries as well as agencies such as MIDA, SME Corp, and others.

The directory will add value to the expanding Bumiputera ICT community, said Roslan Bakri, MDeC´s Director of Technopreneur & Enterprise Development.

"It is also part of a larger effort by MSC Malaysia and NEF to fertilise the growth of Bumiputera Technopreneurs, which is in line with the Prime Minister´s vision of the New Economic Model," he added.

Building capacity, skills vital for 21st century Bumiputera

Published : 2011/03/24 ( News Straits Times)

Friday, July 08, 2011, 09.12 AM 
 

KUALA LUMPUR: The 21st century Bumiputera needs to build capacity and skills as a landmark to benefit from the opportunities available and not get caught up in the never-ending polemic over rights, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The prime minister said the 21st century Bumiputera must be equipped for his era, while focusing on rights without optimizing the opportunities that came from these rights was not only fruitless and wasteful to the individual but the whole Bumiputera community as well.

"This happens, for instance, when Bumiputera companies and individuals allocated with RM54 billion worth of shares by the government are eventually left with only around RM2 billion," he said at the first presentation of ICT awards of the Malaysian Association of Bumiputera ICT Industry and Entrepreneurs-Awani at the Putra World Trade Centre, here, today.

Najib said a lot of people would be angry when faced with the fact, "but to begin solving any problem, we must first identify the problems that need to be tackled".

He said Bumiputeras must be resilient, resourceful and capable of inventing and reinventing themselves for every situation.

The prime minister said the Bumiputera community must also be proud of their work and achievements, and not be afraid to venture out into uncharted waters.

"We don't want to see the Bumiputera community that is always asking (for aid), easily satisfied and likes to be in the comfort zone.

"The competition today is of minds and skills. Those who are knowledgeable and have mastered information, are the power that can change their surroundings. Therefore, we must not take the easy way by being dogmatic and easily satisfied with the form compared to the content.

"The nation is now at a critical crossroad, to make quantum-leap transformation involving structural, institutional, policy and work method changes or ad hoc or slow but risky changes that will make us a failed state.

"The latest challenge is even bigger as we have to face all these while ensuring social justice and stability without causing fear to any party."

Najib also said that no quarters could deny that transformaton had changed the country's political landscape of the last 50 years.

He said from an agriculture country dependent on export commodities, Malaysia had diversified its economy with the manufacturing and services sectors being dominant.

Najib described the success achieved in the last 50 years as monumental, with economic growth and wealth creation moving in tandem, and the creation of social justice through the principle of equitable distribution of wealth.

"As a result, poverty has been drastically reduced and Malaysia has moved from being a low-income to a moderately-high income nation," he said.

The award-presentation which was broadcast live by Astro Awani was held in recognition of the excellent achievements of information communication technology (ICT) companies which have impacted the lives of multiracial Malaysians, as well as a recognition for Bumiputera technopreneurs.

The prime minister presented 13 awards to the recipients.

Najib said ICT organizations had been playing a very important role in the development of the ICT industry in Malaysia.

"I am proud that our country has a strong foundation in ICT, including in the development of software, applications and service provision," he said.

Bernama

Microsoft launches Office 365 in Malaysia

 Published: 2011/06/29 ( News straits Times)

 Friday, July 08, 2011, 06.45 AM

 

Microsoft Corp. today announced the availability of Microsoft Office 365 in Malaysia, giving local businesses access to the company’s next-generation cloud productivity service. Office 365 brings together Microsoft Office Professional Plus, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Exchange Online and Microsoft Lync Online in an always-up-to-date service, at a predictable monthly fee.

Malaysia is among the 40 countries to roll out the cloud service which brings
powerful productivity and collaborative tools to businesses of all sizes. These
tools put enterprise-grade email, shared documents, instant messaging, video and Web conferencing, portals and more at everyone’s fingertips.

“A little more than a year ago, our Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer was in
Malaysia to unveil Microsoft’s cloud computing strategy. The availability of

Office 365 in our market today is a testament to Microsoft’s commitment to bring
the latest cloud computing technologies to Malaysian businesses,” said Ananth
Lazarus, Managing Director of Microsoft Malaysia.

Office 365 was first made available to Malaysian businesses as part of a public
beta that launched in April, giving their employees new ways to work together
with ease, on virtually any device, using the familiar Microsoft Office
applications that they already know and love - all at a predictable monthly
cost, backed by the industry’s most robust financially-backed service-level
agreement (SLA).

“For large organisations, Office 365 allows IT staff to deliver a better, always
up-to-date experience with a range of service plans designed for enterprise
needs. They can focus on more strategic work and leave the rest to trusted
experts,” said Ananth.

“For small and medium enterprises (SMEs), it is a game-changer,” he added. “SMEs play a very critical and strategic role in Malaysia’s economy, and thus in its development. About 99.2% of businesses in Malaysia are SMEss, accounting for 37.1% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP); about 56% of total employment and 20% of exports.”

“This is why the sector is a key area in the Government’s Economic
Transformation Programme or ETP.”

“Office 365 gives local SMEs enterprise-class IT capabilities without the need
for them to have dedicated IT staff, while enterprises can get these world-class
capabilities without the need to maintain their own datacentres,” said Ananth.

”All businesses can now access enterprise-class business solutions for the price
of a good cup of coffee, on a per user per month basis, effectively removing the
need for significant upfront investments in IT infrastructure and maintenance,”
he added.

A Game-Changer for Businesses of Two to Two Hundred Thousand
Moving to the cloud with Office 365 doesn’t require a business to change the way it works, because the service is based on familiar productivity tools people
know and trust, including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Access and more. Employees get new ways to work together with ease, on virtually any device or mobile phone, and businesses get the reliability, security and IT controls they need in the cloud, even without dedicated IT staff.

For Jaime Chong, Director, Operations & Special Projects, Crystal Edge Sdn Bhd, the key benefits are increased productivity and collaboration.

“We’re an agency, so communication is certainly an important aspect of our
business. With Lync Online we are able to communicate with our colleagues,
business partners and customers around the world in a more engaging and
effective manner through Instant Messaging (IM), video calls and online meetings which include ad-hoc online meetings with audio, video and screen sharing. All this can be done with the convenience just several mouse clicks,” she said.

“Now we are able to gain operational efficiencies within our business workflow
through reduction in long distance call charges, travel costs as well as the
cost of third-party conferencing solutions.”

About Office 365
With Office 365 small businesses can be up and running with the full suite of Office Web Apps, Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online and Microsoft Lync Online for US$6 per user, per month.



Service offerings tailored to the needs of larger businesses are available for monthly per-user subscriptions ranging from US$2 to US$27, depending on the Office 365 components they sign up for.

Office 365 for enterprises has an array of choices, from simple email to comprehensive suites to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes. Customers can now get Microsoft Office Professional Plus on a pay-as-you-go basis with cloud-based versions of the industry’s leading business communications and collaborations services. Each of these plans come with the advanced I.T. controls, security, 24x7 IT support and reliability you expect from Microsoft, with a financially backed 99.9% uptime SLA.

Availability

Office 365 for small businesses and Office 365 for enterprises are now available
in 40 markets worldwide. Businesses can try it for free for 30 days by signing
up at www.office365.com or from their local
Microsoft partner.

my second task :D

From Malaysian Sources :)

Postal firm to spend RM50m on ICT upgrade, rebranding

BY : Zurinna Raja Adam  ( News Straits Times) Friday, July 08, 2011, 06.47 AM 

 

 POS Malaysia Bhd (4634) will spend some RM 50 million to upgrade its information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and on a re-branding exercise to transform the national postal company's business platform.

Since the mailing trend has been slowing down over the years, it has been looking for other income streams that offer higher margin services.

In July, Pos Malaysia teamed up with Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) and RHB Bank Bhd to offer the banks' financial services at post offices.

This follows the trend among postal companies around the world, where financial services are one of the largest contributors to their profit.

Group managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Syed Faisal Albar hopes the group will be able to begin offering the financial services by the first quarter of next year.

"Our pilot project with RHB Bank at selected post offices started in May this year. At Pos Malaysia, we offer financial services like consumer loans, money transfers, withdrawal and cash deposits," he said in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

It was earlier reported that he expects financial services to generate more than half of Pos Malaysia's revenue in the future.

Currently, financial services are handled by Pos Malaysia's retail arm, Posniaga which contributes about 30 per cent to Pos Malaysia's total revenue, while financial services generate 17 per cent of Posniaga's revenue.

Pos Malaysia saw its net profit dip 31 per cent to RM38.5 million in the first half of this year as revenue fell particularly from its postal and related services. The group was also faced wit higher operating costs.

Myself :D

Assalamualaikum 

My name is siti rahma binti misdan. Now, I'm already part 5 in UiTM Kampus Johor Bahru.  I'm taking subject mgt 300 in my course this semester. this blog are mainly use to this subject. :D so lets start to get a higher marks with this blog. haiyahhhhh :)