Its a wrap for MIS750!

It's a wrap!

15 November 2015 was our last class for MIS750 with the best lecturer so far in my EMBA journey, Assc. Prof. Dr Norzaidi Daud. 

Thank you Dr Zaidi, for the memorable informative classes with all the joy and less stress :) We do enjoy the classes and all the info delivered were something that really made us think and ponder. 

We live in an era with all the advances technology. Things would never be the same as before...and for us who born in 70's which actually we are in between the baby boomers generation and generation X. Then we will be living with the generation Y and now dealing with the 'Millenials'. I guess, my generation are actually living in both worlds. We experienced all the less technology world before and moving towards advances technology in our life now. And for me, I'm really grateful to having both era in my life! Lucky us who was borned in 70's!!

This blog was created as part of our study in MIS750. Thank you Dr, which actually has got me to actively writing a blog again. Previously, blog is one of the medium that we can share our life experiences with friends and public. But after having facebook, instagram, twitter and other social medias, blog would somehow being left out. Well, may be not to other people, but to me.

Now, I feels that I missed some of the moment in my life which actually I can 'record' it in my blog. Blog is actually like a journal or diary. There's a lot of memorable moment to be shared, but luckily I have my facebook. Now, everything was 'stored' there. Well, now I'm thinking to write again. At least its one of a way to improve my English! Then Zura, time management is important!

Anyway, our last class was actually our final assessment or final exam for the subject, MIS750. After 3 hours of answering the final exam questions, we are having potluck after that. Suka tak? 

Well, this is the first class that we are having male lecturer, first class we really enjoy to come to the class, first class that we are having laughter all the way till the end and first class we are having potluck!

Enjoy the pic!

Before makan-makan :)

The 'boys'

The 'girls'

MIS750

Do technology blend with tranquility and serenity?

Sentosa Villa Taiping - Wooden Villa 

Sometimes we need to go somewhere just to find peace and to recharged our mind and body from our daily routine. It doesn't matter whether its a long vacation or a short one, as long as it can make our mind rest and the most important is the quality time that we had with our loved ones. 

Sentosa Villa Taiping was one of the place that I would recommend to all. Located at Bukit Larut, Taiping, Perak, this resort is an awesome place for those who loves nature and like to be in a quite place. Its location is at the strategic place of tourist spots in Taiping. The famous Zoo Taiping , the Taiping lake, the Maxwell Hill and the popular 'yong tau foo' at ' belakang Bomba' are all nearby. 

The famous Yong Tau Foo at 'belakang bomba'

Night Safari at Zoo Taiping

                                         

                                         

The beauty of Lake Taiping

How do we know about the place? Despite of hearing the name from a few friends, with the technology now, everything is at our finger tip. Just google it and you will see from its official site, facebook to all the reviews by various blogs and forums. 

Sentosa Villa Officical Facebook Page

 Sentosa Villa Google Search 

And, with the technology also, with one phone call, the booking was done and the deposit was transferred via online banking. So, does technology helps us a lot? Does it blend with the serenity that we want to be? The answer is yes!

Now, is there a problem in navigation to the place? Well. no! We have the google maps and waze as long as you have your internet connection, than it won't be any problem!

A serene and memorable short vacay!

One machine has it all!

When technology knocks the door, there's nothing much we can do, only to open it and invite the technology  to come inside. Technology has made our life much easier compared to those days, where we struggle in doing our job. Technology has improves our quality of life.

Of cause, there will always the pros and cons, but we just focus it on the positive side of it. Technology is all around us. From the mamak restaurant to our office and end at our home, technology is everywhere.

During the old days, our office work are assist by a machine such as a computer, a printer, a scanner and a photocopy machine. In fact before the computer era, we do have typewriter which also has gone through a revolution from the manual to the electronic typewriter. In the office we do need all those devices in doing our work. All of the machine come separately. We do have a problem especially in space and location to put all the devices.

But now, we have one machine that has taken up all the functions. This is what we called innovation! We upgrade what we have now and enhanced the functionality in order to improved our lifestyle.

In my office, we have 2 units of Xerox Multifunction Copier machines that has all functions - printer, scanner, photocopier and faxing.  Its really improved our work, where we centralized the printer for all users. In fact it has a function called 'Secure Print' where the staff can customized their printing document if its confidential with a password and it one can be printed once the staff enter the password at the machine. By centralizing the printer, it can save administration cost in machine maintainance and paper usage.

4 in 1 functions by Xerox Multifunction Copier 

The scanning function also has make things easier for us. Where all the documents being scanned and direct to our email address. This machine has wifi connectivity where we just retrieve the documents from our email attachment. Some of the scanned need to be emailed, so we just forward the documents via email and save a copy into our desktop. 

The color touch screen panel

The other best thing is the color touch screen interface where we can choose any function in one touch and it easy. This machine also equipped with 4  paper trays – universal for both A3 and A4 paper and has duplex automatic document feeder (DADF).

Password as part of security control

The machine can be set up with a password. This password is one of the security and controlling measure. It also has a save energy button. It will go to sleep if more than 1 hour without using. Source from Xerox.com page, technically there is Hard Drive: 160 GB, Processor: 1.2 GHz Dual-core, Memory: 2 GB system plus 1 GB page memory in the machine. This is all to cater the data storage for the machine. 

This is the best multi function machine for copying, printing and scanning. It has enhanced our quality of work and save our time and cost. 

Well, what can we say...technology will be important part or companion in our life now! So, just let them in.. ;)

Photography...war of advanced technology for a camera?

Nowadays, do we still need a camera? We have camera built-in in our smart phone. They are very convenient: small, light and fool proof. So, why do all camera producers keep on competing in producing the most high technology camera?

Is either compact camera or DSLR, we still need a camera in capturing all the moments. Yes, our smart phone camera becoming more and more improves but still the picture captured using this so called ‘real’ camera is unbeatable especially in quality of picture.

My daughter has shown her interest in capturing pictures and the creativity she creates when taking the picture that has somehow impressed us. Most of the time, she used camera phone in showing her interest and talent. But, when she wants to be one of the photographers in her school magazine team, she requested for a DSLR camera.

Well, as mother I do feel doubt at first. The camera is not cheap! We went surveyed all the models that we have in market. Currently, the latest model of camera is produced by Nikon – Coolpix P900. Complete with all the latest technology in a camera, P900 is a perfect choice for a photographer. But, for a 14 years old girl and an amateur? Does it suitable? End up, encouraged by the father that wants the best for her daughter, Nikon Coolpix P900 is all hers. 

Once purchased, we explored the advanced technology that the camera has. Forget all those cameras with film and then come the entire compact digital camera. Now, the technology has changed the world of photography. This camera has advances technology and in one of the review stated that;
“If one thing can rescue the point-and-shoot camera market from the smartphone, it's a good zoom. And if there's one camera with a good zoom on the market right now, it's the Nikon Coolpix P900.”

The tagline for this Nikon Coolpix P900 :“I am spectacular zooming”

Let see, what technologies that it has;

Nikon P900 is equipped with 83x optical zoom/166x Dynamic Fine Zoom super telephoto NIKKOR lens. Lens are measured in millimeters, conveys the magnification of the image and the amount of scene covered by the lens (called the angle of view). As focal length increases, things look bigger and take up more of the frame. A lens that covers multiple focal lengths is a zoom lens.

The LCD screen 

Built-in Wi-Fi and NFC (Near Field Communication technology) for wirelessly sharing photos to a compatible smartphone or tablet. This is the most popular use for Wi-Fi connectivity that wirelessly transferring photos and videos off the camera. It also can back up straight to cloud services or networked computers as well as connect directly to a mobile device. We can view, transfer and edit shots, and then upload to sharing sites over our device's mobile broadband. This function wont's take up our memory card space anymore! 

Dual viewing systems: a swiveling Vari-angle LCD display and a high resolution Electronic Viewfinder (EVF). A swiveling vari-angle LCD has made the picture taking more flexible.

Left pic: Selfie with the Nikon P900 with the flexi LCD screen. Selfie with DSLR? Awesome!

EVF useful when it is hard to read an LCD in sunlight, and holding the camera up to your eye forces you into a more stable body position for shooting. EVFs have an advantage when shooting video, as we can't simultaneously view and record video using an optical viewfinder, plus they can simulate what the photo will look like.

Nikon P900 has built-in GPS with full manual control and creative effects. We can know exactly where we were took a photo. The GPS receiver uses satellite positioning to tag our pictures with location data. This location data can be read by software as well as photo-sharing sites to map where the photos were taken. Compared to those days, now we do not have to set the location or to remember exactly the place where the picture was taken. It locates us immediately!

A camera is review on all four major criteria--photo quality, performance, features and design. It provides quick access to the most commonly used functions, and menus are simply structured, logical and easy to learn. Its touch-screen allow for greater functionality. This what we call technology. 

This means that we can get things your smartphone's camera unavailable to offer such as better photo and video quality, a zoom lens and more control and still share on the go. ;)

Tag your finger!

Forget about the punch card and the hassle of manually checking the attendance. Now, one finger can solves it all! Is it true...? This fingerprint recognition system is called biometric and this is BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE!

Remember those days where punch card was used to track the hours worked by employees? Despite off to track employee’s working hour, we do facing with some problems arised.

First of all, the time consumed in compiling and recording time card data especially when we have a larger number of employees. After all of the time card data is collected and processed, it needs to be keyed in in a database. It has to be manually entered and a possibility to make an error is high.

Other than that, we have to bear the ongoing cost in purchasing the cards and we do facing with disciplinary issues where it creates a situation where the system can be abused by employees. A friend can punch for others in the event of absence or late arrival, a buddy punching!

Technology has helps us a lot and TSG has invested in a FingerTec system by TCMS V2 software to totally enhancing our attendance system. TCMS V2 is comprehensive software that covers time attendance requirements as well as door access control. The system is actually not just for tracking our attendance system in a most efficient way but also to enhance our security system. All the access doors are fully install with the FingerTec devices. 

The main device for employee attendance in and out.

The FingerTec system features - Staff is tracking record daily.

The FingerTec Devices at the lobby main entrance and office entrances.

All employees access will be recorded in the system. Not just the day to day attendance but also employee in and out from the office.  Its also enhance our safety and security system by tracking staff movement especially beyond office hours, rest day and public holiday. Overtime claims also can be recorded effectively.  Employee data is keyed into the system once and report preparations are generated by the system. In this system, audit trail is available and it reduces human error in calculation and reporting. The data is centralized and system data are fully backup with its restore function. The data also can be exported to MS Excel and others compatible table format software.

Before this, we used punch card for our attendance and door access system by proximity card. Staff have to carry card to record attendance or to gain access. This biometrics concept of “You are you” are able to solve many problems arising from traditional time clock system such as buddy punching, lost of cards and accurate reporting.

Efficiency is at your finger tips with technology!

Keeping up with the 'Milennials'...

Living in this era, we have to jive with all the new terms, words, jargon...especially when you are HR practitioner. Generation gap? Yes, it do exist.

What is milennial? Well, its a new term for our new generation which were born in 90s and 2000. Previously we only have 'Generation Y' term for all born in 1980s onwards. But we do have now 'Milennials' for our younger generation. 

As recruitment is one part of my job function, recruiting is now very challenging. Attracting milennials is critical especially to embrace their traits of high energy, tech-savviness, outspokenness, impatience for change and growth and to channel them to the right position is a challenging job! 

Social media has playing a bigger part in enhancing recruitment function nowadays.The use of social medias is on the rise. It do helps us a lot. Linkedln is one way to drive our recruitment process, others would be like facebook, twitter and all sort of medias.

Based on a survey by Kelly Services in 2013, 67% of respondents prefer searching for jobs using social media over traditional methods such as newspaper, online job boards or recruitment agency. Online recruitment and social media has actually transformed recruitment process and it also increase job information in circulation by engage the job seekers in conversations and swap information about jobs, careers and prospective employees. 

In my company TSG, we have used internal medium and external medium in placing our recruitment advertisement. We use our website in advertising vacancies and when we need to expand the range of candidates we are using Jobstreet.com. So far, these two mediums has benefit us. We received quite a number of candidates which we actually has built up our own database of candidates.

TSG Official Website

TSG Jobstreet Page - Recruitment Ad for Accounts Executive Position

To catch up with the milennials, we should know how to tackle and jive in their world. But it does not mean we need to change our policies because of them but we will acknowledge their traits. Their expectations are higher and they expect things to be ready and working from day one. We need to prepare their touch-points to keep them 'warm' along the process.

I do see the value of educating myself about using social media and become discerning about how to use it. I want to be social media savvy HR practitioners and embrace new technology by always lookout new ways to make it work for me and other people. 

That's all for today...the key words for today ~ never stop learning and always ensure the skills and knowledge are relevant into the future!

Technology rocks!

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim....

And a journey continue....this is my first posting in this blog, its only a click away! This blog is created for my 8th subject in my MBA journey - MIS750 by Assc. Prof. Dr Norzaidi bin Mohd Daud - classdrzaidi.blogspot.my

It has been a while, I left my personal blog unattended - cekputeh.blogspot.my but in this blog, I shall make a posting anything about information technology as part of the requirement in this subject. Well, may be by starting to write again, the personal blog would not be left unattended anymore! ;)

Okay that's all for today...now, shall start thinking about IT! 

"Old saying...think before you speak..

  Now saying...GOOGLE before you post!"