Ricky’s Online Business Blog

Perhaps you work in a company with offices in a few countries or a few branches.  Or perhaps your company has many staff with various departments.

Would you like to indicate your location or department in your email address?  You can use subdomain in your email address such as sales@malaysia.mycompany.com or ricky@hr.mycompanycom!

What is a subdomain anyway?  It is anything that goes before your domain name.  For example, in “singapore.mycompany.com”, “mycompany.com” is the domain name” and “singapore” is the subdomain.

It’s easy to create email address with your chosen subdomain.  Let’s create an email address called ricky@malaysia.mycompany.com.

1. Log into your web-based control panel cPanel.
2. In cPanel, go to the Domains section and click Subdomains.
3. Enter “malaysia” as subdomain, specify the location of the subdomain (such as /public_html/malaysia), and click Create button.
4. In cPanel, go to the Mails section and click Email Accounts.
5. Enter “ricky” as the email username, select “malaysia.mycompany.com” from the domain list, enter other details such as password, and click Create button.
6. Now set up your email software such as Outlook to start using your email account. Done!

By the way, if you have created a subdomain as above, you can also use it to have a different web site for your branch in Malaysia under your domain name with the address http://malaysia.mycompany.com!

From time to time, w can hear web sites being defaced and turned into something else. We also know server scan be brought down by DDoS (distributed denial-of-service attack). Just months ago, a customer’s web site (at that time not hosted by me) was attacked and had been down for a few days, due to sabotage by a disgruntled ex-employee who happened to be a computer expert.

I don’t like hackers’ act of hacking web sites. They are only creating nuisance for people and economic waste for the soceity, yet gaining nothing for themselves. Yes they may feel an empty sense of achievement, but it’s vanity, just like going after the wind. Even if they are paid for the job, deep down in their heart they know they are breaking the law and doing something wrong that they will not like to tell their children.

Anyway, like it or not, hacking is already being used as a tool to advance one’s propaganda, to bring down one’s business rivals, or even enemies in war. I have customers who asked how to hack their competitors, for business or even political purpose.

Perhaps in future wars, where cyberwar is a main feature, hackers will be the ones very instrumental. I’m not justifying for hackers. But my point is that hacking is here to stay.

But in a broader sense, “hacking” also means playing around with technologies, possibly to improve them. There are many scientists and inventors we acclaim who were actually “hackers” (not computer hackers) at their times to “hack around” to see what works better. Without their “hacking” skills, we would not be enjoying the standard of life we have now.

We don’t need the computer hackers. But they are not going away and we have to accept the fact. But we need the “hacking” culture, without which our society will not advance.

In customer service, perhaps there are three kinds of attitude that we can adopt.

We can be obedient to the customers and obey whatever they ask us to do.  Tell me what you want and I’ll do it for you.  If you don’t tell me anything then I will not do anything for you.

We can also be of service to the customers and serve them in their needs and wants.  Is there anything I can help you?  I have become more proactive in serving you.

We can also be “loving” to the customers by giving them our “love”, not only our service.  We are here to bless you and make your life better.  We will serve you even if you are not (yet) our customer.