eBillme: Paypal killer?

A recent post from The Christian Dollar featured an interview with the Vice President for Marketing of eBillme. This is a payment method that one can use when shopping online. With eBillme, there is no need to provide any personal or financial information to the merchant store or payment partner, like in the way with the traditional payments via credit/debit cards or via Paypal. Based on some of the instructional videos, when a buyer choose eBillme to pay for his online purchases, he gets an email from eBillme for the amount of his purchases. The buyer now has the option to pay eBillme through online banking or even over the counter to their bank.

The approach of eBillme does seem safer, since payment transactions are done through the online banking channel of one's bank, which limits the number of instances where one's financial information can be compromised. One issue, however, is the additional effort of making the payment yourself. It can find itself challenged by the reputation of safety of Paypal, coupled with its ability to streamline the process of one's online purchases.

Another aspect that eBillme highlights is the fact that since all of the payments coursed through them are essentially cash payments, it can be very effective in helping people to control their expenses. While this is a noble goal in itself, it somehow immediately limits the market for them. What's more, it can alienate some people who may feel that eBillme is viewing credit transactions as inherently wrong.

The entry of eBillme as another payment method provide consumers with another way to conduct their online financial transactions in a manner they deem safe, efficient, and aligned with their financial goals.

Electronic Payments in Government

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Finance (DOF) of the Philippines issued the Joint Department Administrative Order No. 10-01 last March 24, which provides the guidelines in the use of access devices for the payment of government fees that would not require face-to-face contact with a personnel of the government agency concerned. This would include payments made via the internet and mobile devices like cellular phones. Modes of payment include credit cards, debit cards, and electronic money.

Most of the payments made to the Philippine government are still done manually, meaning you have to queue to a cashier at the agency's office. One of the exception would be the Electronic Tax Filing System of the Bureau of the Internal Revenue, wherein corporations can make their payments via their BIR-accredited bank.

Utilizing technology for government payments can provide the benefits of speed and security. However, the challenge would be the setting up of the necessary infrastructure to support such a payment system, as well as educating the public enough on the benefits of using the system. It's still unclear to me at this point who is the target market for this project. But I am guessing that this would primarily be for the corporations and other businesses. That is plausible and practical since they would probably be dealing with the government quite often in the normal course of their businesses. That may probably be the reason why the guidelines were issued by DTI and DOF, which deals with both trade and finances. Hopefully this initiative will be a step forward in the development of payment systems in the Philippines.

Zen Habits

Zenhabits.net has a nice article on frictionless work and working towards doing ONLY what you love to do. Sounds like a pipe dream for some, as the article admit, but it's still something worth checking out. You might be nearer to it than you think. Click on the pic to get you there. And while you're there, do explore the site. It's got a couple more nice reads. I personally enjoyed the articles on solitude and spending time on myself.

I have to admit, this blog has had its influence from Zen Habits, which I had been visiting regularly at the time this came to life. Not that it's the only reason. I've always been fascinated with Zen and the very sound of it (makes me feel relaxed just saying or thinking about it in my head. So, I thought for this weekend I'd introduce you to the Zen Habits blog/site along with a point to a recent article they had that had really been useful for me. If you like the articles, you can always sign up for their RSS/email alerts to always get the newest post. Sadly readers can no longer leave comments on the site, for reasons specified by the author. Well, it's his site anyway :) I still enjoy what I read there (btw, this is NOT a paid post).

Warning: If you try to get there by typing the URL, it's zenhabits.net. For some reason, Google is giving out a virus warning alert for zenhabits .com.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend :)

How The World's Poor Live on $2 A Day

My job often takes me into some unexpected mental excursions. I was reviewing a document when I took notice of a reference in the Annex pertaining to a book entitled "Portfolios of the Poor: How the World's Poor Live on $2 a Day". My online search got me to their webpage, which you can reach by clicking on the pic at the left.

The book is the product of a year's worth of on-the-ground research on the world's poorest, which is defined as households living on $2 a day or less. The research provided some surprising insights into the financial lives of the poorest. Although I wasn't able to read the book (it wasn't available locally), I was able to read the 4-page summary that you can get when you click on the Link tab in the site, along with some other summaries and a free look at the book's first chapter. It was already an enlightening account by itself. For example, it was noted that while middle class households would normally decide which loans to take based on the interest rate, the poor is much more concerned with the flexibility of the payment terms and the availability of credit even if it means higher interest rates. Quite practical if you think about it, but these insights are often overlooked since the focus of most financial planning is on getting the cheapest credit possible.

You can also get more insight by reading the three household profiles found on the main page. Do visit the site and get a fresh viewpoint of the financial lives of poor people. It will definitely impact the way you look at them again.

Financial inclusion is a topic that deals with the provision of basic financial services to the poor. It is closely related to the activities of microfinance, as well as the concept of providing financial access to the "unbanked". The provision of financial services to this segment of the population is also facilitated by the use of e-money, which I have been discussing a bit already. I will be providing more information on these subjects in my future posts.

E-Money in the Philippines: Types of E-Money

There are basically two types of electronic money in the Philippines, each one with its own set of arrangements.

1. Prepaid cards, also called stored value cards, have been issued by banks for some time now as one of their electronic banking products. The cards are loaded with electronic value upon exchange of an equivalent value of bills and coins. You can either load the value over the counter (i.e., the bank tellers), or have the value transferred from a deposit account.

2. Electronic wallets, in contrast to prepaid cards, are usually "inside" a cellular phone, or specifically the SIM. In the same way, value can be loaded via over the counter transactions or a transfer from one e-wallet to another (also called P2P or phone-to-phone transfers). E-wallets are usually issued by a non-bank company, or by a bank in partnership with a non-bank company, like a telecommunications company.

In both cases, the record of the value is actually stored not in the card or the SIM, but in a database managed by the issuer. This is because of the requirement of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (the central bank of the Philippines), for issuers to have a system that can track balances and usage of each of the e-money holders that subscribe to them.

More on this topic on future posts. Subscribe via email/Twitter/Google Reader so you can be updated of new posts.

Related Topics:

What is E-Money?
More E-Money

Under Renovation

I'll be tinkering with the layout of this blog for a couple of days and I just thought it appropriate to let you all of you know about it for a couple of reasons. One, I wouldn't want you thinking you were redirected to some unknown internet backdoor alley that would eventually strip you of your valuables. Second, the changes may affect the placement of some items, or I might unintentionally remove it. This would be the case with the Entrecard widget as well as the Ask2Link tabs. I understand I can have some problems should that be the case, so this advance notice and explanation. Lastly, and most importantly, I would like to get your feedback. The new layout will definitely not be the last one I will implement. I don't even consider it earth-shaking, but in my opinion it would be an improvement over the current standard Blogger layout.

If I might not be able to implement your suggestions at this point, it will go a long way when I start planning for the next set of changes. Also, the changes I will implement will not happen in one big bang, but I would probably put the layout in, leave it a while, tinker with it again after a few hours, then leave it a while again. That could provide me the opportunity to see how the changes are being appreciated. So, I hope you'd pitch in ^^

With that said, thank you very much for your patronage this far and I hope my efforts will be able to somehow provide you with a pleasanter experience when you visit this blog.

Should I stay Linkedin?

Just finished a week attending a training/workshop, and as usual I was able to network with other professionals. Before, it was my regular routine to get the info from the calling cards I collected and load them up at Linkedin. But lately, I've been concerned about the idea of inviting all my newly found colleagues to be my Connections in the professional networking site. Here are a couple of reasons:

1. Complete visibility. You would think that Linkedin would have realized that some level of confidentiality should be built in to their design. Even in our private circles, we tend to put limits on who gets what info, the way that people do it with List in Facebook. But such is totally absent from Linkedin. You allow one person to be your direct connection, and he gets to see all of your other connections. Something just doesn't feel right with that.

2. The headhunting dilemma. This flows from the first reason. I won't mind getting a headhunter in my Connections, considering the opportunity that they can provide a the proper time in my career. However, it feels like I am violating the trust and confidentiality of the rest of my Connections by allowing these headhunter connections that I have to browse their profiles. For all I know, getting headhunted is the last thing in the minds of my friends. So, for me to increase my network without unduly violating the confidentiality of my Connections, I would have to turn down all invitations for connection by headhunters, which is something useful but will have to be sacrificed. And still it doesn't solve the issue of how to limit what my Connections see in terms of my profile and other connections.

3. Too many things for a price. You want to be able to create folders? You have to pay (though they have a free trial at the moment). You want to see who's been checking your profiles? You have to pay. In this age, the concept of having to pay a networking site to keep it alive is probably resting on a wrong business model.

4. Lack of innovation. I had my Linkedin account for quite some time now, and I can't remember getting excited again after the time that I joined when I thought it was the best thing in the world after Facebook. No real new features. Tripit is the only application that seems to be improving, albeit so slowly, and for additional features that I hardly find any value in.

With that said, Linkedin still has the potential to provide benefits to its members. A wider network allows you to bounce your ideas with more effectively; groups catering to professional niches; and of course, the possibility of developing your own personal brand. Companies themselves find Linkedin so important, that every Fortune 500 company has a presence in it. Just right now, I am reading a magazine that says the boss of Accenture intends to hire no less that 40% of its new staff in the coming years through Linkedin. And Linkedin has responded by hiring key personnel to drive its direction and spruce up the site.

So, I'd probably keep Linkedin despite those "problems", which I hope they would get to address soon.

Have you Linkedin as well? How was it able to help you so far?