Maniolas

WHEN the e-commerce Law was first pushed in the late 1990s, the battle cry then was that e-commerce can level the playing field for small businesses. Almost 20 years later, the bigger an organization is, the more likely it is to embrace e-commerce. However, majority in the business community still has not embrace it – from doing corporate purchases, receiving sales and making online payments to suppliers. Some people in business do not recognize that they are doing e-commerce at all. This is especially true for those who define e-commerce in a limited manner – only when there is online payment via credit card. The creation of a country’s e-commerce roadmap as being worked on by the Department of Trade and Industry (pursuing its mandate under the E-Commerce Law or Republic Act 8792) should look at e-commerce not only from its various functions in the business supply chain, but also in encouraging the adoption in various industries from government, manufacturing, retail, services, telecommunication, and many more. When looked at and embraced as a whole, we can make strides in measuring its impact in our economy – in our country’s gross domestic product, among others. Last week, I made an appeal for the creation of a national privacy commission and the release of guidelines for data privacy in government and private sector. It is also important to monitor E-Government Fund-supported projects. The Bureau of Internal Revenue is currently in talks with three service providers that will release an electronic official receipt Read More …

‘TIS the time to go holiday shopping and people are scouting out the perfect gifts for family, friends, co-workers, clients, and anyone who matters. ‘Tis also the time when many are looking for ways to make the season more meaningful. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a way to do both at the same time? Thus, Globe Telecom enjoins everyone to consider items produced by social enterprises and local producers when buying gifts. By patronizing products from these micro-entrepreneurs, shoppers are able to help create a wonderful Christmas for many workers and their families. Globe currently supports several social enterprises as part of its corporate social responsibility advocacy to promote sustainable livelihood in underserved communities. Globe partner social enterprises include Bayani Brew, Bote Central, Custom Made Crafts Center, Gifts & Graces, Jacinto & Lirio, and Rurungan Sa Tubod Foundation, Inc., and Hineleban Coffee, among others. Each one boasts unique items carefully crafted using indigenous materials by communities from around the country. Bote Central Bote Central focuses on providing sustainable livelihoods to local communities using forest and agri-forest products. Its Kape’t Buhay Program provides income opportunities to local coffee farmers by equipping them with technology, training, and marketing support, among other things, in order to start their own agricoffee business. Featured by the likes of National Geographic, CNN, and the BBC, its Coffee Alamid is one of its most popular selections. (PR) Published in the Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro newspaper on December 19, 2014. DISCLAIMER: Sun.Star website welcomes friendly debate, but Read More …

DATCHE Phils was one of the sponsor-exhibitors in the PhilSME Business Expo 2014 held last Nov. 21 to 23 at the SMX Convention Center, Pasay City, Metro Manila. “Filipino SMEs are our top clients. And this is our way of getting involved and helping them be competitive in their respective industries,” said Johny Benjamin, branch manager of the DATCHE Phils – Manila. On exhibit during the event were POS systems and POS peripherals. There was also a free consultation and demo to the booth visitors. DATCHE’s Manila branch is one of eight branches nationwide, but has been one of the company’s priority branches to develop. “For more than three decades now, DATCHE has been at the forefront in the VisMin,” Benjamin said. He said DATCHE -Manila’s client base is growing fast, with clients in areas even outside of the Metro. As an importer for more than three decades, DATCHE said it guarantees its clients with a reliable backup of machines spare parts and continuous research and development works. DATCHE has served major retail, fast food, and fine dining establishments and is accredited by the BIR and major malls such as SM, Ayala and Robinsons, among others. Aside from exhibits on the latest business innovations and trends, PhilSME also conducted seminars, forums, workshops, product presentations and other activities to seek growth opportunities to help SMEs be competitive in an Asean Economic Community. In one of the forums, DATCHE product support manager Francis Lim discussed how using the right POS machines can Read More …

IT feels strange, to the point of being surreal. Here we are, barely a year out of the most damaging storm ever to hit the Philippines. And again, we are staring at the prospect of another, just as equally devastating weather disturbance, trying to retrace the steps of the one that went before it a year ago. Strange, too, to hear the name that has been chosen for this incoming weather system. While we were accustomed to hearing meteorologists talk about the “hagupit ng bagyong Yolanda over our airwaves,” I am not sure “hagupit ng bagyong Hagupit” would have quite the same ring to it. Nevertheless, poetic rhyming or not, it promises to be just as destructive as the one that went before it. We’ve all heard of the expression “like watching a train wreck in slow motion.” Oneknows it is going to come, one can see it coming, but there is very little one can do about it. Except, to get out of the way, of course. Getting out of the way, it seems, is our only option these days. As people living in a land renowned for devastating natural phenomena of every kind, it is almost inescapable that we will be subject to these furies of nature every now and again. And nature being nature, it will not care where these furies pass. Whether it be through human habitation, or remote and far-flung locations. The only problem, it seems to me, is that we are now having to Read More …