Thursday, January 31, 2008

www.estate123.com news article on The Edge Daily

26-11-2007: Matrix Invent’s new portal to drive real estate activities by Kevin Tan Email us your feedback at fd@bizedge.com
PETALING JAYA: Information technology provider Matrix Invent (MSC) Sdn Bhd is leveraging on the Internet to boost real estate activities in Asia, especially in Malaysia, via its newly launched property trading web portal.
Its vice president Joe Poh said the company would be investing up to RM500,000 to enhance the web portal, which is also known as estate123.com, for the next two years.
Speaking to The Edge Financial Daily at the estate123.com official launch last week, Poh said those interested to buy or sell properties could join the web portal and enjoy its various functions for free.
The web portal already has close to 400 members, consisting mostly of real estate agents and individuals who want to sell their properties.
On how Matrix Invent would recover its cost of investments, Poh said the company was following a similar model such as those of Skype and was not expecting any revenue for the next two years.
“It is a goodwill business. When we have a big database, we will offer value-added services and charge for these services,” he added.
Matrix Invent chief marketing officer Michael Lim said the company was investing in Internet platform business such as estate123.com as customers were becoming more confident of making transactions online.
Besides providing an avenue for prospective sellers and buyers, other market players such as lawyers, property valuers, developers and bankers could also use estate123.com to get new business.
Currently, the web portal has functions such as mailbox and short messaging service (SMS) to allow prospective buyers to contact sellers. In the near future, it will also have enhanced functions such as property valuation and bidding.
Lim said estate123.com would only focus on properties in the Klang Valley in the initial phase and would eventually include properties in other Asian cities such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Bangkok and Shanghai.
Other than estate123.com, Matrix Invent also launched a software delivery platform known as Pay2Soft.com to provide business applications to customers through the Internet instead of the traditional on-site installation of packaged software.
Poh said Pay2Soft.com would benefit companies that could not afford to buy the traditional business applications package.
While a conventional customer relationship management package, including hardware and installation, could cost up to RM100,000, Pay2Soft.com charges a fee of only about RM50 per user a month for such applications, he added.

Use your time wisely

January 31
花80%时间思考,用20%的时间一次做对。
撰文/齊立文liwen_chi@managertoday.com.tw
「一分耕耘,一分收穫」,是老生常談,鼓勵人要怎麼收穫,先怎麼栽;「兩分耕耘,八分收穫」,乍看有點違反常識和直覺,但仔細尋思,這意味著高投資報酬率,代表事半功倍。
「80/20法則」主張:一小部分的原因、投入或努力,「通常」可以產生大部分結果、產出或酬勞。代入數字之後,典型的模式會顯示:80%的結果,可歸結於20%的原因;80%的產出,來自於20%的投入;80%的成果,歸功於20%的努力。換言之,50%的努力產生50%的成果,才是少見的模式。
80/20這兩個數字只是基準點,用以比喻在大多數情況下,投資與報酬之間的關係多半接近於80:20。不過,在實際狀況下,兩個數字加起來不一定是100,可以是80/30,或15/50,重點在於呈現二組資料之間的不平衡關係。

80/20法則是一種思考法,告訴你一定可以只用兩分的努力,獲取八分的利潤。問題在於,你能不能找出那兩分的努力是什麼?你可知道那最單純、最關鍵的20%在哪裡?而即使找到了努力的重點,還只是起點而已,可以讓你不用瞎忙、避免浪費,能夠把力氣和資源用在對的地方;更重要的在於,你必須花費更多心力、時間和資源在這少數的關鍵要素上。
如果你發現原來有80%的成果,是來自於20%的努力;你若是再強化那20%,並且設法改善原本成效不彰之處,說不定就能創造95%或更高的成果。相較於用100%的努力,得到100%的成果;或是80%的投入,只得到20%的產出,不是更省時、省力、有效率嗎?
善用80/20法則,制定經營策略
80/20法則認為,投入的資源和產出之間,本就存在著無法解釋的不平衡,而投入又可分成兩種不同類型:只能造成少許影響的「多數」,以及可造成重大影響的「少數」。
一般而言,在應用80/20法則時,必須要有兩組資料,而且兩者之間存在著因果或連動的關係,例如,有10項產品,分別為公司創造不同的利潤。80/20分析法的獨特之處在於,它除了按照多寡依序列出每項產品所創造的利潤之外,還會用累進的方式統計利潤金額,如此就可以呈現出是哪些關鍵產品,貢獻了絕大部分的利潤。
80/20分析法的獨特之處在於,它除了按照多寡依序列出每項產品所創造的利潤之外,還會用累進的方式統計利潤金額,如此就可以呈現出是哪些關鍵產品,貢獻了絕大部分的利潤。
不過,80/20法則並不是分析資料就好,更重要的下一步是制訂出相應的策略或做法。80/20法則的用處之一是,確認出哪些是導致80%產出的20%投入,然後耕耘、栽培和複製這關鍵的少數;用處之二則是設法改善「表現不佳」、只占20%產出的80%投入,甚至在必要時,拋棄或大幅減少這無用的多數。

把關鍵的20%做到最好
「把錢花在刀口上,讓最佳人才掌握最佳機會,」這是傑克‧威爾許(Jack Welch)描述自己在擔任奇異(GE)執行長時所扮演的角色。換言之,80/20法則可做為組織在配置資源時的重要依據。
針對創造「不成比例的」高績效的關鍵少數,配置較多的資源,似乎是合理的舉措;不過,對於只帶來些微成效的無用多數,難道就只是加以剔除即可嗎?80/20法則固然點出了我們花費了80%的時間和力氣,只創造了20%的成效,但換個角度想,應用80/20法則,我們不但找到了可大幅提升成效的關鍵施力點,也知道了必須改善的問題點在哪裡。
《80/20法則》指出,既然無用的多數耗費了許多資源,那如果能夠更有效運用這些資源,則產出將可達到倍增的效果。而要達成這個「價值倍增」目標,做法之一就是把原本無生產力的資源,分配到能生產的地方,想辦法物盡其用;另一個做法則是想辦法讓無用的資源,在原來的位置上做有效的運用。
終究,80/20法則還是一套追求「簡單就是美」的哲學,主要的力氣還是要花在辨識最單純的20%,然後設法把這20%做到最高品質。不賺錢的活動或瑣碎無用的多數,若是無法有效改善,就設法去除,不要猶豫,也不要心軟。


贏家總有許多80/20法則
華倫‧巴菲特(Warren Buffet)只投資自己熟悉的事業,不但買得少、也很少賣。他形容自己的投資哲學是:「近乎懶惰。」《80/20法則》的作者李察‧寇區(Richard Koch)將這種少做多得的情形,稱為「有生產力的懶惰」(productive laziness)。
然而,這不表示贏家是懶惰或不盡心的,他們通常都非常努力工作,投注的心力也無異於一般人,差別在於,他們的收穫或報酬,往往是別人的數倍或無數倍。
寇區說,無論在任何領域,總是有八成的人只得到兩成的收穫,但是有兩成的人,輕鬆地就獲得八成的報酬。試著問自己,多數人是哪裡做錯了?那少數人又是哪裡做對了?誰是那些少數人?他們能做的,你能嗎?你能以更精簡的方式達成嗎?你能發現更聰明且更有效率的方式來做嗎?
成功的人或企業,都有其獨特的思維和做法,套用寇區的話就是:「贏家有許多80/20法則。」你能做的,就是「觀察,學習,練習」。

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) -3.5%??!!

Economic Trends Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) Stuck on 3.5%...

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) kept the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) at 3.5% after its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting yesterday. The decision came amid upside risk to inflation – which implies interest rate should go up, and downside risk to growth – which suggests interest rate should go down. Meanwhile, the US Federal Reserve’s on-going FOMC meeting (29-30 January 2008) is expected to again cut the fed funds rate by between 25-50bps from the current 3.5% which was the product of the emergency, inter-FOMC 75bps cut on 22 January.
However, we do not expect the US interest rate policy to have an effect on Malaysia’s interest rate policy, unless domestic demand takes a drastic turn for the worse. Therefore, we maintain our long-standing view that the OPR will stay at 3.5% this year to essentially sustain domestic-driven growth.
The upside risk to domestic inflation is being addressed via administrative measures like price controls, subsidies and the recently announced creation of the National Price Council and national stockpiles of essential food items, as well as via a stronger Ringgit exchange rate to contain import costs, while fiscal policy – via Government spending and measures to boost consumer and business spending – will deal with the downside risk to growth.
Moreover, keeping the nominal interest rate steady in the face of rising inflation means a falling – even negative – real interest rate that is also stimulatory to growth by encouraging spending and investments.