Conducting effective meeting

Having meetings is common in the business world. However, from my personal experience, a lot of meetings were held in a non-effective way. Sometimes, they are not productive too. The time wasted in those meeting could be very costly, imagine how much wages or salary were paid to the participants sitting in the meeting room during the time of meeting, and what if they were doing other more productive business activities instead of sitting in the meeting room.

I learnt some ways to conduct more effective meeting. I would define an "effective meeting" as a meeting that:

• meets the objectives and goals of having the meeting
• produces fruitful outcome and action plans
• lively discussion among the participants (not one-way communication from chairperson only)
• every participants are clear about their role and follow up actions
• used as little time as possible

In order to achieve an effective meeting, here are some guidelines.

1. Meeting is more for discussion than announcement

A lot of people like to conduct meeting just for announcement. Those meetings are of one-way communication. I believe most of the time announcements can be made in the form of memo, circular, email, etc.

Meeting can be held to discuss about the announcement, to ensure everybody understand the message clearly. The announcement should be made before the meeting. If calling up a meeting is just for announcing something, and that announcement is not something very significant or impacting, most of the time you might find that those meetings might not be necessary at all.

2. All participants should clear about what will be discussed in the meeting

It is a good practice to disseminate meeting agenda and related documents prior to the meeting. All participants should get well prepared for the meeting by understanding the discussion topics and get ready the material for discussions.

In this way, supporting documents can be well prepared and presented during the meeting. The discussion could be more lively and get everybody involvement as everyone already aware about the discussion topics and ready for their involvement.

3. When discussion has gone off-topic, chairperson need to control the situation

When discussion has gone off-topic, or there is a long debate within certain participants that couldn't be easily solved on the spot, the chairperson should control the situation and ensure that the time is managed as planned in the agenda.

Most of the time, it is wise to schedule a separate meeting for those discussions, or let the person involved to resolve the matter among themselves later, instead of wasting other participants' precious time in the meeting room.

4. Discussion should come to mutual conclusion and action items

The meeting is not effective if discussion produce nothing. The discussions should have outcome which is well minuted. The minutes of meeting should be disseminated to all the participants shortly after the meeting. Even for informal meetings, it is wise to produce a "disucssion notes" to record down the outcomes and action plans.

5. When the planned time on the agenda is over, get participants' input about extension

It is very irresponsible for the chairperson to let the meeting time drag on, which might affect the time schedule of every participants in the meeting room. When the allocated time is over, and meeting suppose to adjourne, but the discussions were not finished yet, the chairperson should get the participants' input for time extension, proposed new adjourne time, possible continued discussion at another time, etc.

Especially when it reaches the lunch or dinner hour, the meeting should decide if a short break is required for participants to go and eat, or food to be brought into the meeting room, etc. The chairperson should not just let the meeting continue on with hungry participants.

Global Leadership and Mentoring Congress 2008

For your information, the Global Leadership Mentoring Congress 2008 will be held in Singapore on 4-5 August 2008 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel Ballroom. This year’s Congress organized by Research University on Leadership (RUL) in Singapore is themed “Leadership and Service Science: Research-Practice Synergy”. The Guest of Honour will be Singapore's minister Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan from Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.

Leadership and Service Science are two fast-emerging fields seen as the new frontiers of the global economy and absolutely critical to business and professional success. Presently, 70% of world economies are service-driven, a major shift in the global economy. Leadership and service emphasize broad-based and multilevel leadership structures involving people, technology and co-creation of value systems. In essence, leadership and service are two sides of the new millennium coin.

This two day programme will feature academic lectures, corporate presentations, panel discussions and open dialogue with speakers. The aims of the Congress are:

• To provide an inspiring and practical update through the stories and insights of global leaders and CEOs.
• Furthering the vistas of leadership and service as a science.
• Challenge participants’ understanding of leadership, and how leadership can promote service in a nation where human capital is its main asset.
• Stretch the limits of service through multi-disciplinary considerations
• View service as an essential part of capital building in every corporation, institution and organization.
  

Panel of speakers includes:

• Mr Philip Ng - CEO, Far East Organization
• Dr Loo Choon Yong - Executive Chairman, Raffles Medical Group Ltd
• Mr Ho Kwon Ping - Chairman, Mediacorp/ Chairman, SMU/ Executive Chairman, Banyan Tree Holdings Limited
• Ms Claire Chiang - President of Singapore Compact, Senior Vice President- Banyan Tree Holdings Ltd
• Ms Chua Sock Koong - CEO, SingTel Group
• Prof. Wong Yip Yan - Founder/ Group Chairman, WyWy Group of Companies
• Mr Peter Kok - Managing Director, UBS
• Ms Teresa Lim - Managing Director, IBM
• Prof. Steve Smith - Vice Chancellor, Exeter University
• Prof. Roger Maull - Professor of Management, Exeter University
• Prof. Irene Ng - Director, Centre for Service Research, Exeter University
• Dr Shirley Lim - President, Research University on Leadership/Research Communication International PL
• Dato' Dr Jannie Tay - Vice Chairman (Executive), The Hour Glass
  

The admission fee is S$1,250, and there is discount for early birds.

Click here for more information and online registration to GLMC 2008.

Appraising your current employer

Have you ever think of how satisfied are you with your company, in the quantitative way?

Every now and then, your employer and/or supervisor will conduct appraisal on your attitude, commitment and performance, usually as a formal basis for increment and/or promotion. In fact, you can also conduct appraisal to assess your job satisfaction, security, working environment, management commitment, career path, etc.

Currently, there is a survey ongoing to help you appraise your company, top management, immediate supervisor, and co-workers. All this will relate back to your job satisfaction and security. The survey is pretty comprehensive with quite a lot of questions, helping you to assess your company from every angle. You may expect to take about 20 minutes or more to finish it.

Good news is, beside being able to assess your employment, by taking part in this survey, you also have chance to win cash price sponsored by Cari Internet S/B.

Click here to participate in the survey.

You might also like to read my other post about identifying and getting your dream job.

Identifying and getting your dream job

For most of us as employee, it is undoubtedbly we have to spend at least 1/3 of our time in a working day for our job, and it is estimated that most people work for a total of 60,000 hours over a period of about 30 years in their lifetime. Remember our "HISC₅"? Career definitely forms one of those important elements that make up our life.

Are you happy with your job? Have you identified your career goal and found your dream job? Would you rather be doing something other than what you are doing now?

Loving what you do, having interest, being passionate and always be motivated are some of the key success factor to us to excel in our career. Being on the right track of career is in turn a key success factor for our life value, social status and financial rewards.

Noelle Lim has featured an interesting and excellent 12-pages article in the July 2008 edition (Issue #83) of Personal Money magazine which I find is pretty inspiring. In the article, she elaborated on the 4 steps to land your dream job, namely:

• Define your dream career
• Find out more
• Network and gain experiences
• How to nail that job

Along with the article, there are touching stories of 6 people who are bold and determined to leave their comfort zone and pursuit for their dream job, and they succeed. Featured on the cover page of the magazine, they are:

• Claire Kwok - from finance associate to fashion buyer
• Nazrin Hassan - from managing a busines in CIMB to giving entrepreneurs a helping hand in Cradle fund
• Alexandra Wong - from sales manager to writer
• Fiona Lim - from SAP team lead to photographer
• Toh Kong Eu - from chemical engineer to tap dancer and destiny consultant
• Rosie Hong - from marketing manager to MD of marketing agency

If you are interested in this topic, I encourage you to read the full article in the July 2008 edition (Issue #83) of Personal Money magazine.

ACCA Careers 2008

If you are in the finance and/or accounting profession, this information might be of your interest.

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in Malaysia is organising the ACCA Careers 2008 job mart event in Kuala Lumpur, which provides the opportunity for ACCA members, affiliates and students to explore global and local employment all under one roof. Admission is free.

Here are the details:
Date: Saturday, 28 June 2008
Time: 11.00am - 17.30pm
Venue: Crowne Plaza Mutiara, Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur

Apart from being a one-stop centre for employers to showcase job openings in their organisations, ACCA Careers 2008 will also serve as a one-stop centre for Members' Professional Development. Members will be able to obtain the latest updates on CPD requirements, PER and forum on the path to the top.

Click here for more information about ACCA Careers 2008.

The 5 balls of life that should be balanced

I would like to share with you the following training notes, which originated from the 172nd Commencement Address of Georgia Institute of Technology in 1996, by the former President and CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises, Brian G. Dyson.

Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some 5 balls in the air. You name them - work, family, health, friends and spirit and you're keeping all of these in the air.

You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other 4 balls -- family, health, friends and spirit -- are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same.

You must understand that and strive for balance in your life. How?

• Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special.

• Don't set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is best for you.

• Don't take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as they were your life, for without them, life is meaningless.

• Don't let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future. By living your life one day at a time you live ALL the days of your life.

• Don't give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.

• Don't be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is this fragile thread that binds us to each together.

• Don't be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.

• Don't shut love out of your life by saying it's impossible to find. The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly, and the best way to keep love is to give it wings.

• Don't run though life so fast that you forget not only where you've been, but also where you are going.

• Don't forget, a person's greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.

• Don't be afraid to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasure you can always carry easily.

• Don't use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved.

Life is not a race, but a journey to be savoured each step of the way. Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery and Today is a gift: that's why we call it - The Present.

Who Moved My Cheese? - days after petrol price hike

I remember 10 years ago, Dr. Spencer Johnson wrote an interesting best selling book about change management which has earned a great global attention and sold millions of copies.

This renown parable is "Who Moved My Cheese?", a story of 4 characters (2 mices and 2 humans) living in a Maze who face unexpected change when they discover their Cheese has disappeared.

In fact, this book has spawned many variations of related topics written by the same author as well as other authors.

In the parable, Sniff and Scurry are a pair of mices, and Hem and Haw are 2 little people. The 4 of them live in the Maze and look for cheese, and each of them have different mindset, especially between Hem and Haw. If you haven't read the story yet, I strongly encourage you to read the book and find out what happened to them.

For those who have finished reading the story, it is wise to remember those “Handwriting on the Wall” , which is the essence of the parable after all:


Change Happens
They Keep Moving The Cheese.

Anticipate Change
Get Ready For The Cheese To Move.

Monitor Change
Smell The Cheese Often So You Know When It Is Getting Old.

Adapt To Change Quickly
The Quicker You Let Go Of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese.

Change
Move With The Cheese.

Enjoy Change!
Savor The Adventure And Enjoy The Taste Of New Cheese!

Be Ready To Change Quickly And Enjoy It Again & Again
They Keep Moving The Cheese.

Therefore, we should never counted on the "cheese supply" to be constant. We all know that the worldwide petroleum supplies is limited but the usage is incrementing. We also aware that within the next couple of years, Malaysia will soon become a petroleum importer from the current exporter status. And now we have already feel the hike in petrol price and realise that the good old day of cheap petrol price might not come back again.

If you are still crying, protesting, annoying at the petrol price hike like Hem, you should also realise that doing so doesn't help much. Move on, try your very best to optimize your earning power, especially in the area to make your money work hard for you by growing itself through wise investment. Life has never been easy nowadays, remember the threat of formation of M-Shape Society has been accelerating, and it is only "when you move beyond your fear, you feel free".

Gambatte! to you and me. Gambatte! to all of us.

Result of ZDNet Asia IT Salary Benchmark Survey 2008

ZDNet Asia had conducted an online survey between late-2007 and early-2008 to gain insights into Asia's IT workforce and salary trends. The survey drew 21,635 respondents from sectors such as government, healthcare, IT, services, telecommunications, legal and finance, and across seven Asian economies: Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Based on the survey findings, the average annual IT salary in Malaysia was RM72,144 (US$22,379), with those in IT management commanding a high of RM113,489 (US$35,204). Project managers on average drew an annual pay of RM73,912 (US$22,928), while systems developers earned RM56,393 (US$17,493).

Tech professionals in the legal and finance sector had the most attractive annual salary (US$25,188) followed by those in IT, Web and telecom (US$22,939). The annual salary for IT workers in the media, marketing and sales (US$17,444), as well as the government, education and health sector (US$20,037), were significantly below the industry average.

Compared with the rest of the region, Malaysia's average annual IT salary lagged behind that of Hong Kong (US$57,303), Singapore (US$44,858) and Thailand (US$24,108). The country, however, is significantly higher when compared to India (US$13,864), the Philippines (US$12,425) and Indonesia (US$7,709).

In Singapore, IT professionals with PhDs pulled in the highest average annual salary of S$96,805 (US$70,958), followed by respondents with a Master's degree who earned an average yearly pay of S$79,635 (US$58,373). The survey also confirmed common beliefs that bigger companies have the capacity to offer better paychecks, compared to smaller organizations.

The overall average annual salary for Hong Kong was HK$445,817 (US$57,109). Those working in legal and finance had the highest average annual salary at HK$492,917 (US$63,143), while ICT employees in the government, education and health sector have the lowest average annual salary of HK$395,619 (US$50,679).

Click here to go to ZDNet's article that will lead you to the detailed country-specific salary analysis (with statistical graphs) as well as download of the analysis reports (in PDF files).

You might probably also interested to read on:

• Result of Robert Walters Global Salary Survey 2008
• Malaysia Salary Guide 2008/09 from Kelly Services
• JobsDB Compensation and Benefit Survey Report 2009

Handling difficult people at work

In the business world, it is pretty normal for us to have unavoidable chance to work with some sort of "difficult people", who is working from the negative side of their personality and affecting other people in the team.

Usually, people don't intend to be "difficult" consciously or intentionally. Such actions are often preceded by a semi-paranoid feeling, and the person is often unaware of themselves and how they have affected others. They also don't realize how harmful their actions are to the teamwork and also to their own career success.

Among the common symptom of difficult people is "arrogant", especially prevalent in technical and/or professional people. Psychologically speaking, arrogance is a kind of defense against vulnerability and insecurity, often learned in childhood when parents constantly criticize a child for not being good enough. The person is so afraid of being seen as unworthy or incompetent, that they immediately throw up a defensive shield against any possible attack. This defense protects them for a while, but everyone else sees that it is false. In the end, they lose credibility and respect, which unfortunately is exactly the thing they fear the most.

"Dominance" is another well recognized trait that seems prevalent in people in management positions or positions of corporate power. No matter what other people says or does, this person will force their ideas on everyone else. There can be no open discussion or involvement. Things must be done this person’s way or else. However, they will also always trying to remind people that they are "opened".

This symptom has a negative aspect of "dictatorship". It is worst when the person’s primary role is acting as Warrior or King. If they happen to also have Power mode combined with Dominance, people will feel as if someone punched them in the stomach when the person lets loose with their verbal abuse.

The positive side of Dominance is "leadership". When this person is relaxed and working from the positive side of their personality, they can be quite effective and charming. As with Arrogance, stress or insecurity may bring on the attack. It may seem to come without warning or you may be able to see the stress building up.

In the end, the person probably loses their ability to control events, which is exactly the thing that they fear most.

When you see someone go into attack mode or excess defensiveness, do recognize that it is useless to argue with them, and understand that the person is feeling very insecure at that time. Don’t continue to push them because they will only get worse. Keep your own sense of self-confidence and don't allow yourself to be verbally abused. If they are always overly defensive or always attacking others, you may need to find another person to work with, who does not have the same problem.

If the problem couldn't be solved, and the difficult person is your boss, you might want to reconsider whether it's time to find a job elsewhere. If the difficult person is your subordinate and they don't seem to improve within a reasonable time, you should get them out of your team to chop off the damage.

Result of Robert Walters Global Salary Survey 2008

The Robert Walters Global Salary Survey 2008 shows a substantial salary hike in various employment sectors across the globe, including IT, banking, finance, commerce, engineering, sales and marketing. The survey's salary figures in the report are based on placements made by Robert Walters themselves through 2007. Robert Walters is one of the world leading global specialist in recruitment and recruitment outsourcing businesses.

Employees from the IT sector of Asian region generally enjoy a higher percentage of salary increment than their counterparts in American and Europe. According to the report majority of them enjoyed an increment of above 10% from last year, and some even got a 40% increment.

Competition to hire good IT employees in Malaysia intensified and organizations were seen focus on best practices in staff attraction and retention. Direct strategies including higher salary increments, joining bonuses and counter-offers, other initiatives included better managed and more dynamic career progression, flexible benefits, effective employee relation programs, etc. were employed. The challenges facing the IT industry in Malaysia include competition from overseas seeking Malaysians to work in countries such as Singapore, China and Dubai.

The total compensation for 2008 of an IT Director in Malaysia can be up to RM300k. Other well paid IT positions include IT Programme Manager (RM200k), ERP Project Manager (RM180k), Service Delivery Manager (RM150k), Infrastructure Manager (RM150k), Solution Architect (RM140k), ...

In Singapore, CIO and CTO get a salary of S$350k per annum. Other well paid positions include IT Director (S$220-350k), Programme Manager (S$220-350k), Service Delivery Director (S$220-320k), Project Director (S$200-300k), ...

In Hong Kong, many senior positions are paid in million of HKD per annum, including CIO/CTO (HK$1.65-2.7m), IT Director (HK$1.3-2.0m), Project Director (HK$1.25-1.7m), Programme Manager (HK$0.95-1.7m), ...

This comprehensive report of Robert Walters Global Salary Survey 2008 covers the following regions:

• Australia
• Belgium
• France
• Hong Kong
• Ireland
• Japan
• Luxembourg
• Malaysia
• New Zealand
• Singapore
• South Africa
• Spain
• The Netherlands
• United Kingdom
• United States

Click here to go to the download page of the Robert Walters Global Salary Survey 2008 report.

You might probably also interested to read on:

• Result of ZDNet Asia IT Salary Benchmark Survey 2008
• Malaysia Salary Guide 2008/09 from Kelly Services
• JobsDB Compensation and Benefit Survey Report 2009

Jobsdb.com Apply n Win contest

Jobsdb.com, an online job recruitment service provider for job seekers and employers, is currently running an Apply 'n' Win contest from 5 May to 29 June 2008 for the Malaysian job seekers aged above 21 years old.

In order to get a chance to win for the weekly prizes and qualify for winning the Grand prize, one just need to perform any of the following activities in their website:

• Sign up as a new member with completed resume.
• Update existing resume.
• Apply for jobs online.

Grand Prize for the most active jobseeker will be one laptop computer worth RM2,500.

Click here for more information about this contest.

HP to buy over EDS for about US$13B

Recent rumours about Hewlett-Packard (HP) intention to buy over Electronic Data Systems (EDS) has been confirmed, after they released the official statement this week about their multi-billion dollar M&A plan.

By acquiring this world leader in outsourced IT services, the merged entity will form a giant IT services provider big enough to directly rival with IBM Global Services.

If this deal come to reality, it will also indirectly impact on the recent multi-billion outsourcing plan from SITI operations to EDS announced just about a month ago.

Is HP making a right move this time, and won't repeat the same mistake of recent acquisition of Compaq, which was one of the root cause for Carly Fiorina to be forced to step down, and nearly lead to the breakup of the company? Nevertheless, this move certainly brings uncertainty to all the parties involves, especially to their employees and the IT job market.

Meanwhile, the new IBM building in Cyberjaya, which is opposite the EDS building, is close to completion by now.

The M-Shape Society

In January 2006, Dr. Kenichi Ohmae (大前研一博士), a Japanese management guru, business strategist and writer who is being described as "Mr. Strategy", has written another book named "The Impact of Rising Lower-Middle Class Population in Japan" (ロウアーミドルの冲撃) and being translated by Taiwanese to Chinese edition as "The M-Shape Society" (M 型社会). This book was published just a few months right after economist Atsushi Miura (三浦展) published the best selling "The Emergence of Lower-Class Society" (下流社会 新たな階層集団の出現).

In his book, Dr. Kenichi put up his observation that the structure of Japanese society has emerged from the existing dome shape normal distribution pattern into a twin-peak "M-shape" distribution.

The formation of this M-Shape society is resulting from the sidelining of the middle class into the lower class, while some managed to climb into the upper class. This phenomenon is formed when majority of people in the middle class gradually experienced a deterioration in their living standard.

There may be still remarkable progress in economic development, the GNP may still rise, there may still be economic growth, and the national average salary may still rise, but the rate of inflation and cost of living moves even faster, especially in the globalized world economic whereby more and more resources are gathered and secured by the upper class, while the lower class is starving from limited fund, fuel, energy, food, job, etc.

Dr. Kenichi thrown out 3 questions to the middle class:
1. Do you feel that your mortgage loan is a heavy burden (or you dare not possess any property)?
2. Are you planning to have kids (or you don't even think about getting married)?
3. Are you worried about your kids' future education fund (or you don't want to have kids)?

If you answer a "yes" to any of the 3 questions above, you might have noticed that you're sliding from the middle class towards the lower class, and if you are answering the question in the bracket, you are already in the lower class.

In fact, these questions are fairly related to my article about the HISC₅ of typical middle class person. Middle class persons are required to keep their HISC₅ to be all time well managed and in good order. Life is as if rowing a boat against the water flow, if you don't advance, you will lag behind. Unfortunately, as the worldwide competition is getting tougher and tougher, the "water flow" is getting stronger and stronger, which tear apart the people in the middle, eventually forming the M-Shape society.

One must have plan to get ready for the formation of this M-Shape society, which is evolving all over the world now. In this era of K-economy world, we must get ourselves well equipped with knowledges, skillsets, innovations and productivity at least in 2 areas, which are our career and also our financial management.

HISC5 of a typical middle class person

"HISC₅" is a new term created by me, which describes the main things a middle class of my age is living for. These 8 basic elements that make up the life of the middle class are:

House - this is our shelter, our home, where our family live and rest. For most people, it is also one of the largest expenses they've spent in their lifetime. Middle class like us always strive to earn a better life, and our house can always reflect our living taste from this endeavour.

Insurance - this is a necessity nowadays, we just can't escape from it. When we own a car, auto insurance is compulsory before the car can go on road. When we mortgage our house, the bank always make fire insurance a must. When we work for a company, we are somehow insured as part of the benefit package, covering medical, hospitalization, accident, life, etc. And most middle class purchases some insurance products - medical card, whole life, investment linked, education, endowment, annuity, ... just to name a few.

Spouse - this is our lifetime partner which light up our lives. Lives would be somehow incomplete without the involvement of spouse. Your voyage shouldn't be alone without a companion.

Children - your offspring which grows your family tree, bring you joy, bring you fun, and sometimes bring you anger too. You nurture them, see them grow and develop. Together with your spouse, they make up what you call a family. And living together in your house, making a home sweet home.

Career - this is the successive course that make up your working life, enable you to contribute your skillsets, bring you remunerations, build your professionalism, develop your reputation, and so on.

Car - this is the piece of metal with roof, seats and wheels which enable you and your family to travel around, seek for foods, visit to places, and go to work. It shelters you from rain and sun, even protects you to certain extend in case accident happened. Your family lives would be much more fantastic with it, especially during your vacation.

Credit card - this plastic card is convenient, for you to pay bills online, act as deposit mechanism to check in hotels, substitute your cash to buy things, and earn you some points for reward redemption. When used with care, it also helps you to build up your credit integrity, useful when you apply for loan.

Cash - you need this current assets to maintain all the above, and you should make your cash work hard for you to grow more and counter inflation.

Your social status is pretty much measured by your "HISC₅", but there is something much more important that forms the underlying foundation to all of them. Can you guess what is that? Yes, it is your health. The 8 elements above are basic that make up your life as middle class, and health is the essential element for all classes of mankind. Of course, there are other elements which are equally important as well, such as parents, brothers, sisters, neighbours, bloggers, relatives, friends, pets, etc.

Since these are the basic elements in our life voyage, you will notice that the sharings in my blog are encompassed with these "HISC₅+health".

The LHDN e-Filing system for 2007 assessment

Have you submitted your 2007 income tax assessment yet? The closing date is near by now.

I have been using the online e-Filing system of Inland Revenue Board or Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri (LHDN) since last year. Many people complaint about flaws and problems of the system last year. I was among the lucky one who didn't face major problem with their system last year, other than not able to save a copy of the form once the submit button was clicked.

To be frank, there are improvements seen in the e-Filing system this year. At least it supports Firefox and other browsers, rather than just locked-in to Internet Explorer only as of last year. The submitted tax form is retrievable in PDF format, rather than the poorly formatted and wrongly paginated HTML last year. So far, none of my friends experience the flaw of showing wrong information of other people, which is a very serious problem happened to many taxpayers last year.

More strength to the system security is still required. For example, it is too simple to reset the password. Should have more measure to identify the person before allowing password to be reset. The system should work with our MyKad chip, and it seems that the system was designed to work that way, but somehow this measure is not yet implemented.

The improvement seen must be the merit of our new Chief Secretary to Government or Ketua Setiausaha Negara (KSN), Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan, and the new CEO of LHDN, Dato' Hasmah Abdullah. Both of them have been well known to be serious in productive and quality public service governance.

Before I forget, here is the URL for the LHDN e-Filing system.

The EPF / KWSP online service

I believe many have been aware that they can use the online service of Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) also known as Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja (KWSP) here:

http://www.kwsp.gov.my/

In case you haven't make use of this service, here are the steps to create a user account in this online system.

1. Go to the EPF website, and click on "Pendaftaran Baru".
2. Click on "Daftar sebagai Ahli".
3. Submit the registration form online.
4. Go to your nearest EPF office within the registration timeframe.
5. Get the activation code using the Kiosk Pintar or from the counter. Beware that this code has a limited lifetime.
6. Go to the EPF website, and click on "Login Kali Pertama".
7. Accept the terms and conditions.
8. Activate your online account with the activation code.
9. Create your username and password to use the system.
10. You can now login the system with the account you just created.

The EPF online service enables you to:

• Change your personal profile.
• Inform EPF about your latest contact address.
• Review your updated statement of account.
• Review your fund withdrawal details, including the withdrawal application status and history.

SITI outsourced its ICT services for multi-billion ringgit

Shell IT International Sdn Bhd (SITI), the global ICT service delivery hub of the famous petrochemical conglomerates, is one of the pioneer tenant in Cyberjaya and provides thousands of job position for the ICT personnels around the area.

Last week, they announced a multi-billion ringgit outsourcing plan for the provision of its IT infrastructure and telecommunications services in 3 service bundles, starting July 1, 2008, to the 3 global IT and telecommunications suppliers namely AT&T, EDS and T-Systems. EDS has entered Cyberjaya with their own building for quite some times, while the other 2 are expected to enter into Cyberjaya in the near future following this deal with SITI.

AT&T will be taking care of SITI's network and telecommunications functions, while EDS handling their end user computing services including desktop, back-up and disaster recovery, and T-Systems looking after their hosting and storage.

My friends working in SITI informed that both their permanent and contractual staff have seen to be transferred to the outsourced company, and still working normally in their usual workplace. This is a very good arrangement as their job is not affected so much. Probably they have better career path too, as there will be opportunity to serve other global customers of their new employer.

All in all, this move is seen to be beneficial and is a win-win to everyone. In long run, following the presence of AT&T and T-Systems in Cyberjaya, there will be more ICT job opportunities in this MSC region. It was heard that EDS will expand their workforce in Cyberjaya after this deal too.

Have you LinkedIn?

I tend to ignore those email invitations asking to join social networking sites such as Facebook, Friendster, Hi5, etc. Those sites give me the impression that they are for the youngsters looking for dating partners and/or sharing living photos, and somehow don't catch much interest to a married person who have already left the university campus for years like me.

Until recently, I received an email from a friend who is about my age of thirty plus, and well known to be serious at work, inviting me to join his network in LinkedIn. Out of curiousity, I signed in, and I Linked In.

LinkedIn really makes a different and unique from most other social networking sites, as it is targetted to working people in the business and professional groups. There, I found people I know at work and linked to them. I found those executive recruiters who had contacted me and matched the jobs for me before. I also found my schoolmates and got to know their latest whereabout with their trail of C.V. after leaving school. I could also find those famous people in the industries and professional areas. In summary, this site is about contacts, relationships and opportunities focusing on business and career.

After I sent out some invitation to my contacts to link with me, I found that many are new to LinkedIn and just created their account following my invitation to them. I wonder, have you Linked In or interested to get Linked In?