NU#9 by Anthony Parungao - What pisses me off in the neighborhood?

NU12 # 9 –  What pisses me off in the neighbourhood?

    PLDT Internet Service

by Anthony G. Parungao

SPentrep S10       

As one of the largest and major service providers in the Philippines, PLDT boasts its numerous innovations, accomplishments and success over its competitor Globe.  So how do they define or measure success?  Do they ever conduct or solicit  customer surveys?   They always claim  that they've achieved customer satisfaction but is it reliable?  Since I secured the facility services of PLDT (telephone & internet) in 2001,  PLDT's services are unsatisfactory.

While they have online payment systems and other innovative services for the customers, it is quite frustrating experiencing consistently slow internet service and even intermittent downtime of service.  Nowadays, we rely so much on the internet connections which we use for communications, research, and work related activities.  Another thing is the manner of billing the customers, we are all billed based on a flat monthly rate, unlike electricity & water, they have meters which measures the amount of actual consumption.  Why can't PLDT provide a device that can measure each subscriber/users elapsed time of usage of the internet – similar to what internet café's use to monitor each PC users?  In this manner, we are assured of the accurate amount billed based on the availability of the internet facility and actual usage per hour or a fraction of an hour.  Don't you think this manner of billing will be fair?  If Meralco and Manila/Mayilad Water is capable of measuring a commoditized product/service, there is no excuse for PLDT.

Another problem is rating PLDTs customer service level.  So how can PLDT address customer service without accurate survey data?  In statistics, there is an acceptable ratio count of survey required for x number of subscribers of PLDT (sampling).  They can easily compute this and send out online surveys with a specific timetable.  The system can generate and collate these survey, tabulate and analyze specific problems encountered by the customers so PLDT can provide if not immediate but short and long-term solutions that will enable them to improve services. 3  <same here>

Too bad the end users only have two service providers to choose from (PLDT or Globe).   PLDT has the reputation of a bad customer service and a pain in the neck.  Well at the end of the day both giants are always considered winners and we end users are always in the losing position.

By Anthony G. Parungao

SPentrep S10

NU#7 Multi-Chamber Cooking Pot by Anthony G. Parungao

NU12 # 7 –  Multi-chamber Cooking Pot

by Anthony G. Parungao

SPentrep S10     

In a fast paced lifestyle, eating home cooked food is always what we crave for day-in day-out for our self and our family.  Families or bachelors who are used to living without household help exerts extra effort to prepare meals on a daily basis or every other day in bulk, stores in the refrigerator and re-heats it in micro-waves or cooking pan.  At home, we prepare at least three meals during Sundays so we'll have enough for the next three days for kid's lunch and dinner when we arrive home.  Breakfast is easier to prepare and we can just have toasted bread, pancake or oatmeal.

I worse part is I do all of these because, these are one of the set of skills I learned when I was a kid.  Watching my aunts in the province prepare dozens of "putahe" for the annual fiesta.  The usual meals I prepare like adobo, asado, beef stew, menudo, caldereta, pinatisan (white adobo) using fish sauce instead of soy sauce, arroz ala cubana, bicol express and many other meat and chicken base recipes have common ingredients (i.e. onions, garlic, tomatoes, ready to cook mixed vegetables, potatoes, ginger, etc.) .  Each meal is prepared separately in a cooking pot.  If you can multi-task (which Paolo disagrees) you can switch on your gas range (maximum of two pots only) I use electric stove for the third pot, heat three pans all at the same time and start cooking three different meals.  I can do that, believe me Paolo, that's multi-tasking.

I was thinking, if I can cook in three separate pots at a time, then a multi-chamber stainless steel cooking pot, large enough to accommodate 1 kilogram of meat each will do the trick.  Variations will be as follows:  If it was a round cooking pot, a single stainless plate permanently positioned as barrier will provide two chambers, a Y stainless plate will provide three chambers.  A square pot with a cross stainless plate will create a four chamber cooking pot.  In this manner this will allow you to cook two to four meals at a time.  This will also save you on electricity or gasul. 

I can probably experiment on this with a conventional stainless pot.  I can buy a good quality plate with just the right gauge (thickness of stainless plate) then use tic weld (this is the variation of welding machine used to bind stainless steels w/out damaging the material) to position my plate. A pressure cooker version will also serve me well.

This will make life easier and faster for chefs and cooks like me. 4

By Anthony G. Parungao

SP Entrep S10

NU12 #5 New Spending habits - Anthony G. Parungao

NU12 # 5 – New Spending Habits

by Anthony G. Parungao

SPEntrep S1

 Christmas season is in the air and additional spending will always be part of the equation and a traditional Filipino way of spending.  Most of us employed will be receiving our Christmas bonuses as early as November.    So how do we get money wise this spending season?  We as an individual, whether living independently, with our folks,  in a relationship, or as the head/budget minister of the family,  we always find it difficult to exercise and take control of our finances whether it's a need or a want.  

 Most of us define savings as Income minus expense is equal to savings, but it should be Income minus savings is equal to expense, following the first formula (latter) will not lead you to financial freedom.  It takes extra-ordinary discipline to keep a portion of your monthly income before spending whatever is left.  So make it a habit to set at least 20% of your monthly income and you'll be surprised at the end of the year how much you have saved for your future needs or wants.  It will take a while before you realize that it only takes no more than 80% to live within your active income.    "Your income must first be reduced by your savings needs.  What is left after is then available for living expenses".  I've read from the book of Francisco J. Colayco – author of Wealth within Your Reach that Savings is really an expense, It is, however, an expense that buys your future.

Set a limit on your expenses for this Christmas season.  We always hear that Christmas comes once a year and spending for your loved ones with extravagant gifts is a metric or gauge for ones status or success in life.  However, we can set limits or provide a budget allocation for the gifts we intend to buy so we do not exceed within our capacity.   Happiness is relative, we can never be really sure if expensive gifts will satisfy the receiver.  What is important is our genuine love and care that we show them and the meaningful moments together this Christmas.  "Life itself teaches us that sharing our blessings always brings back more blessings.  This is especially true when we do not expect anything in return for the good that we do."  Mr. Colayco emphasized that we must always share part of our wealth, whether it be in terms of money or talent or "genius".  As Ruth Smeltzer said " You have not lived a perfect day, even though you have earned your money, unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay you". 3

Anthony G. Parungao

SPEntrep S10

NU12 # 4 Anthony G. Parungao - Business Innovation

NU12 # 4 by Anthony G. Parungao –  Business Innovation

SPEntrep S10

Inside our subdivision, majority of the successful business enterprises are related to food (shawarma, siomai, goto/mami, tapsi, burger/hotdog kiosks, liempo, pancitan, etc).  My sister-in-law started a home-based siomai/siopao wholesale business.  Last month an opportunity to rent a space was offered and she grabbed the 15 square meter rentable space for Php 6k/month along one of the major roads and fronting a public school.  Initially, she set up a counter with a streamer that displayed the siomai & siopao being sold and cold softdrinks to go along with the siomai or siopao. 

After a week,  she consulted me and solicited suggestions on how to attract more customers and increase sales.  I suggested she sell lugaw with a variety of toppings (hard boiled egg, crushed chicharon, siomai, tokwa't baboy and turbo liempo) to make the simple lugaw more exciting and flavourful for the customers.  Then the   canton with varieties like the plain canton with vegetables and chicken stock, canton with hard boiled egg, dry pancit canton, rice toppings with siomai and barbeque was added in the menu.   The menu can be unlimited in terms of combining the available ingredients.  So far, customers enjoyed the variety of menu and price was very competitive compared to other eateries serving the same food.

 The business started with relatively small capital and it now earns a daily revenue of Php1,700- Php2,500/day.  Overhead cost is only Php 6k/ month on rental and a fixed Php 700/month for water and electric consumption.  Not bad for a start-up business.   <wow this should appear in your presentation tomorrow!>

Aside from the food joints, there are numerous internet shops within the vicinity that attracts customers majority are students from the public school and residents inside the subdivision.  Every now and then my sister consults me on the next move or gimmick that we will launch. < you are  the NU business ideas generator for her? Magaling>

Our next project is to expand our market from the loyal customers within the neighborhood and the walk-ins from the peak foot traffic that is generated every Mondays-Fridays.  In one of my visits in the eatery,  I took time and observed outside the store, in less than an hour, I noticed customers coming out of the internet shop and bought snack to fill their cravings.

This gave me the idea on how to expand market reach.  We initially talked to the owner of the internet shop and offered that we put a food menu display inside the internet shop.  When the customer places the order, they can call us and we can deliver.  Internet shop is only a few steps away from our eatery.   Food is delivered on foot and is still hot and fresh upon arrival. 

After only a week of delivery service, the owner called us and suggested that we put-up a table right outside their internet store and display the food we can serve – free of rent. 

This may not be a so unique business idea but somehow, we managed to see the opportunities surrounding the environment and also managed to innovate on  simple Filipino meals that we always crave for anytime of the day.

By Anthony G. Parungao  4  Vg

SPEntrep S10

NU12 # 6 Anthony G. Parungao biometrics ID for ATM

NU12 # 6 – Biometrics for ATM  

by Anthony G. Parungao

SPEntrep S10

Have you ever been victimized by ATM card skimming?  One of our classmate Paolo was victimized about three months ago.   He posted in his NU about this incident but apparently he did not provide or suggested a countermeasure to deter skimming. 

Have noticed that almost all ATMs are now equipped with a cover on the keyboard which make it difficult for customers to key-in the PIN when transacting.  Aside from the built-in CCTV cameras installed in the ATMs and keypad covers I don't know if there are other monitoring devices installed inside the ATMs to deter skimming. 

Why not incorporate a biometric device on the ATM that will require customers to identify themselves via thumb prints or hand prints after inserting the ATM card and encoding their PIN?  With the existing technology, this will also prevent unauthorized personnel transacting in behalf of the ATM card owner (We are all guilty of this practice).  This will be a fantastic solution to absolutely eliminate skimmers.  It will be useless to copy the data of the ATM card and steal the PIN in the absence of a thumb or hand print validation.   It's about time the ATM manufacturers do something about the rampant modus operandi of criminals. 4

Anthony G. Parungao

NU12 SPENTREP S10

Serendipity Walk by Anthony Parungao

NU12 # 2– Serendipity Walk by Anthony G. Parungao

Regalado Avenue corner Quirino Highway, Novaliches is a sprouting business hub.  In my 13 years of residing the area, I've seen how the business giants Henry Sy (SM Fairview), John Gokongwei (Robinson's Novaliches) changed the landscape of the business in Lagro, Novaliches.  And coming soon,  the Ayala's (Fairview Terraces) whose first phase is to be completed this 2013.

In the early 90's when we still reside in East Fairview, the nearest commercial mall that we can visit is the Ever Gotesco along Commonwealth Ave fronting Don Antonio Village.  Fairview and Lagro residents rejoiced when SM Fairview opened its doors to the customers in 1997 followed by Robinson's Novaliches in 2001.  The presence of these malls made residential and commercial real estate within the area appreciate in terms of value.

Today, business establishments have sprouted within a kilometer radius from the intersection.  According to the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP), the MRT 7 grid will traverse from North Avenue then along Commonwealth Ave, Regalado Ave. & Quirino highway up to Araneta San Jose Del Monte City Bulacan.  The corner of Regalado-Quirino Hiway will be a node (one of the major MRT terminal) will be the most strategic locations for a business.  Considering the MRT 7 has not yet materialize, this intersection is already being flocked by heavy foot traffic because buses, jeepneys and UV express unloads passengers from Manila/Makati and loads passengers travelling to Novaliches/Bulacan. 

When you see heavy foot traffic in an area, it only means opportunity for an entrepreneur. 

Legitimate entrepreneurs and street hawkers ply their business competing a portion of their meager daily earnings.  Maybe if I were to put up my own enterprising business, here are the potential businesses that I will venture that will cater to the C&D markets:

-     Roving food cart (siomai, gulaman, lugao, fish ball)

-     Ready-made bus/jeepney/UV express placard with various destinations for sale

-     Pre-paid call cards

-     Mobile phone pre-paid cards & accessories

-     China made gadgets (pocket size transistor radios, tools, flashlights, laser pointers, etc.)

-     Watch repair/battery replacement shop

-     Ready-to-wear garments & shoes, face towels, belts

-     Fruit & vegetable stand  3

NU12 # 1 Anthony G. Parungao - solving the long lines at supermarket

Tuesday September 10, 2013

SPENTREP S10

Long waiting time for queuing is always a common problem that we will always see and experience in any business establishments especially supermarkets, groceries and department stores.  But the  grocery takes most of or time since the cashiers have to deal with numerous merchandise that you have to scan before payments are made.

Weekends are the most chaotic days in a supermarket.  Even with the numerous manned cashiers, whether basket lane, Preferred lane, senior citizens lane, these supermarkets/groceries does not seem to address the long queue problem.

Since SM Supermarkets have loyalty cards with specific identification number and names, the system can initially pilot a project for these regular customers and provide a staff who will be equipped with a wireless handheld scanner who  will assist in the queue and scan the bar codes of the grocery items and swipe their loyalty cards.  The list of grocery items together with the costs will be generated in the cashier system of SM Supermarket.

When it is already the customer's turn to pay, the cashier will only have to punch the identification number of the customer and the complete list will pop-up the scanned items with the total cost.  The bagger will only have to load them in their eco bags or just retain them in the carts for customers with private cars.  This in turn will save the cashier the time and motion of bar coding all the grocery items.  

This will shorten the waiting time of the customers since they will be dealing with the payment via debit cards, credit cards or cash transactions.  There will be a smoother flow of queue, less waiting time and more cool and smiling customers.   

The bar code readers within the cashier will still function and operate normally, customer service assistance will only be present during peak hours/days. 4