Hmm.. looks like everybody is jumping into digital marketing… Did a mindmap on a Business Times article I read today…
Archive for the ‘Business’ Category
Digital Marketing
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010Google Health – Singapore Version
Thursday, March 12th, 2009Hmmm.. I was just wondering if there is any opportunity in this. It seems that Singapore does have its own version of Google Health:
http://www.singhealth.com.sg/Newsroom/NewsReports/2008/Health+Level+7+(HL7)+launch+(ST).htm
This looks like a pretty new protocol? Wondering if private clinics might need some software to link to the patients’ health record. Also how will it work? Will it require the patient to log in at the clinic?
Surely the clinic cannot access the patient health record just through his NRIC number without validation on the patient side. That will be a gross invasion of privacy.
Hmmm… must drop KKT a tinkle on this…
Scratching The Itch
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009I seem to read somewhere some time back that software developers generally go about solving some problem that frustrates them daily… and in the process come out with a BIG BANG project. Hmmm.. is it possible that this “Scratching The Itch” phenomenon is one of the easiest way to develop truly solid products, i.e. over the conventional business plan with market forecasts, etc….
I can understand the itch. It is something that you are exposed to… and greatly irritates you.
Currently, I am in a FAT-FIGHTING phase of my life… and I guess… a lot of my blogs will be about such health issues. I am currently using a online portal to track my workouts and nutrition – http://www.gyminee.com. It works kind of fine save for a few problems:
- Does not allow me to key the details of my workout through an iphone/mobile app (pretty impt as iphone is like the defacto exercising companion nowadays)
- It lacks local data for the nutrition segment. Hmmm… wouldn’t it be great if the nutrition segment can tap of HPB’s vast repository of nutritional information… all localized with the average Singaporean in mind? – http://www.hpb.gov.sg/hpb/default.asp?pg_id=993
- Integration to Social Networking Sites… so that you can get your friends to be involved in exercising, dieting and living a truly healthy lifestyle!
Hmmm… I am itchy….. but do I have enough hands to actually scratch my itch?
Keeping in touch the Web 2.0 way
Sunday, March 1st, 2009I think Facebook has kind of changed our lifestyles in certain ways. It gives us incentives to update our status… as friends are able to comment on it. I remember I once changed my status about feeling really tired.. and a concerned friend of mine actually posted a comment on my profile. I thought that was really kind of the person….
But the point is, it gives us a convenient way to keep in touch. A blog is also cool. Friends reading your blog will know what’s happening to your life. In fact, imagine.. if everybody kept a blog and just write a little about what they are doing… we will be all very, very well connected into each other’s live. I guess that is how tweeter is working… 
But did not really have time to look into that.
I looked at Facebook and MSN. both have an easy way of updating the users’ current status. Hmmm.. would it not be nice if there is a way for me to update my status somewhere and all my MSN, Facebook, etc… get updated all at once? I think that will be something really convenient.
But.. hmmm.. maybe that’s how tweeter works? No idea… and worse… no time…
Jiang Hao is having 51 beats a min in Facebook but is just back to Singapore on MSN. Not synchronised status…
Online Publishing
Sunday, March 1st, 2009Technology is slowly but surely changing the ways we live our lives. I used to spend a good part of my time reading the local newspaper everyday, just to play catch-up with the news. Problem is, news on the local papers are not exactly catered to my taste buds. Generally, I will just zoom in on the Money section, Commenary and Analysis and Digital Life. That’s about all. (Occasionally there will be some kind of Edison scandal or Zhang Ziyi pictures kind of stuff that catch my interests too.. but those are the exceptions… rather than the norm….)
Well, with the advent of the RSS feeds, I hardly even go to Straitstime Online (even though I just paid for a 200 SGD subscription just 2 months ago… ) It used to be good… because online definitely works better for me compared to reading off a bulky 50 page stack of yellowing papers… but the problem became more of relevancy.
Well Google Reader together wih the Plethora of RSS feeds help to solve this problem. I am able to tap on the latest technology news that I like. One of my good friends send me an interesting TechCrunch article on some struggling i-Phone developer and I am instantaneously hooked. Now, I am a TechCrunch subscriber.
I think StraitsTimes way of monetising content will one day be irrelevant. You see… a large part of straitstimes news, especially the overseas segments are just bought… in-bulk from reuters, bloomberg, etc… These people just stream their content over the internet for free. The only thing that is really being reported, i.e. sending someone down to a scene to perform your classic interview is generally for very local content.
An avid finanical news reader will just stream in the content from Bloomberg, CNBC, New York Times, etc… and they will be almost all covered save the little tit-bits of local news…. which frankly… did not quite interests me save the gst credits policy… which was really something ingenious.
In that case, should Straitstimes just do it the normal way, i.e. through pure advertising and give their content for free. They can monetise their feeds through things like feedburner too.. to serve ads to customer. But as my friend pointed out to me over lunch, this surviving on advertising model alone no longer works. Online advertising has only worked for one company, i.e. Google.. and they key was in a great business model in the Pay-Per-Click system.
Hmmm… so what is going to happen to our StraitsTimes and SPH?
Gebiz for Singapore
Thursday, February 26th, 2009Hmmm.. if you have been one of those contractors who have been bidding for singapore government projects, you will know how competitive the landscape is. And its a good thing for our Singapore government. Procurement is made simple and a lot cheaper by a simple bidding system. There is also a lot of accountability in the procurement process, making it a more honest system.
Surely, this should work well for the private sector too? Currently a lot of private sector sales go towards relationship building, etc… A lot of time is also spend sourcing for vendors, comparing codes, evaluating the different vendors. Even for us, when we need to say… print certain materials, we have to go hunting around many vendors to find one which we like…. Sometimes, I do wish we have a Gebiz to use… and I can just post my requirements… and get all those vendors to send me some proposals….
And to top it off, we have a great backend administration panel for us to rate the different offers and finally come out with a procurement decision objectively….. So less currying favour and more honest pricings. Surely.. this will be good for the shareholders of the private enterprises!
Web 2.0 Technologies
Monday, February 16th, 2009Hmmm… have always wanted to keep updated on Web 2.0 technologies… so hey, why not just keep a list of all the technology in the relevant classification?
- Commenting System
- Disqus
- Social Bookmarking
- AddThis.com
- ShareThis.com
- Voting
- Digg
- Delicious
- Social Networking
- MySpace
- Orkut
- Office Applications
- Google Apps
Power Problems in Pakistan
Friday, August 1st, 2008
One of the main problems faced in doing an outsourced operation is power. Yes, fast expanding economies results in power demands increasing at exponential rates. Coupled with the problem that building a Power Plant take a couple of years… this generally results in a temporary (hopefully) shortfall of power.
I believe… another problem with such countries is the subsidizing of electricity. Somehow, even though there is insufficient power to prevent load shedding, authorities are prevented from correcting this demand and supply inconsistency by raising the price of power. Electrical power like oil prices are fixed at artificially low prices for fear of upsetting the general populace (my own guess… no official data to verify).
Just recently, the state-owned Telephone company launched a strike nation-wide over wages.
Protected: Typical Customer Enquiry Sales Cycle
Friday, August 1st, 2008Jobs at Risk of being shipped Offshore
Wednesday, June 4th, 2008
CNBC did a slide-show on the 10 most likely jobs to be shipped overseas from the United States. Guess this means opportunities for me here in Pakistan.
