Tip on disabling lost mobile phones (or "Channel 9" for Singapore company blogs?)

NTUC Income CEO shares a tip on disabling your lost mobile phone, to prevent the thief from using it even if they switch the SIM card.

BTW, I've been following his blog and noticed a distinct improvement in his blogging style. His posts are much more conversational, and he now gives direct replies to the comments (see previous post).

Perhaps seasoned bloggers might think, "That's Blogging 101 -- nothing significant". But one has to recognise that those new to blogging may not realise certain subtleties to blogging. In my experience, many don't.

Anyway, would his blog make people buy more products from NTUC Income? Hard to say. But it sure makes NTUC Income seem a lot more accessible. In Accounting, there's something called Goodwill:

...an accounting concept that describes the value of a business entity not directly attributable to its physical assets and liabilities (source: Wikipedia)

I'm sure blogging contributes positively to the company's Goodwill. If Mr Tan is reading this, here's a suggestion:

• Implement an NTUC Income blog (think Microsoft Channel 9)
• At an appropriate time, commission a survey to measure the Goodwill value.

On certain airlines, you can plug in a headset to the seat and listen to the"Channel 9" banter between traffic control, ground control, and the pilot. That's what inspired Microsoft (read it here and here). Their Channel 9 Doctrine is worth a read too.

I had a chance to listen to such a channel on a flight and well, it's quite boring after a while.

So the idea (for company blogs) is more of applying the principle of letting people take a peek into how the business is run, rather than listening in to everything. For potential customers to get an idea of how the people working in the company (rather than "The Company" itself) think. Potential customers can therefore infer certain values about the company.

Can such an organisation blog be "faked"? It could. But if it's found out (and it will be), the company would be quickly seen through and lose all credibility.

If NTUC Income does this, I think they might end up changing how insurance companies do business in Singapore.


[Tag:singapore business blog, ceo blog]