Published in ‘The Education Times’ in year 2000From growing MNC investments in local Internet companies to increase awareness of information-age strategies by Indian corporates, the writing is on the wall – the Internet revolution is being unleashed. Indian web-sites are now mushrooming by the thousands. Online shopping, booking of movie tickets, product inquiries, corporate Intranets, online recruitment, Web-EDI, personalized news services and even Web matrimonial services have hit Indian cyberspace. The advent of the Internet revolution has opened up enormous job opportunities in India not only in the Web-Designing and Web-Publishing field but also other areas involving concept development and the marketing of Web-Sites. Client servicing a term widely used in advertising world is now applicable to Internet solution companies. With many software solutions and software training companies entering into the E commerce consultancy field the ring has been thrown open to a lot of e commerce consulting professionals. So were exactly does an Internet Client Servicing executive fit in? Let us consider an Internet Solutions company providing web designing, web hosting and e- com solutions getting a inquiry from a corporate house or an individual to design, build and host their web-site. Here is where the Internet client-servicing executive comes into action. The client-servicing executive interacts with the corporate house, finds out about their line of business and gathers information on their client’s Internet solution needs. Now the client-servicing executive comes back to his Internet solution company with the brief from the client. Together with the concept development team he comes out with a working model of the web-site. He is now ready to brief the web-designers at his office. After the web-designers are finished with the web-site, the client-servicing executive goes back to his client for his approval and possible corrections and rectification’s. The job profile of the client-servicing executive is act as a via media and facilitator between the client and the solution implementation team. You may be curious to know what prevents the Web-designers from directly interacting with their clients? Well just like in the ad world were the creative copy writer is not equipped to handle the client similarly a web-designer may not have the necessary skill sets to deal with a client. The role played by the client-servicing executive is very critical in establishing a good working relationship between the client and the Internet Solution provider. Having dedicated service executives for key accounts also assures constant Web-maintenance contracts, which also is a good revenue generator for the Internet Solution Company.
Here is the background and some of skill sets required to fit-in as an Internet Client-Servicing executive within an Internet Solution firm.
- The person should be an MBA in marketing preferably with a dual specialization in Systems. An engineering background is usually preferred.
- Should be aware of the web-site design, development and hosting procedure such as domain name registration, web designing tools and software, registering on search engines etc.
- The person should have adequate knowledge of current trends in web-development and e commerce models.
- Should be aware of existing portals and web-sites.
- Should have knowledge of off-line and on-line advertising avenues.
- Should have good conceptual skills.
- Should be a good visualizer.
- Should have good communication skills and presentation skills.
Many top-level managers in consultancies and other traditional businesses are leaving their high profile jobs to set up their own Internet solution companies. All it needs is a couple of good client-servicing executives who would get the business in and some web-designers who would be involved in implementation of the web-site. With many medium sized and small scale businesses turning to net for their business opportunities there would be a great scope for small internet solution providers and hence Internet client servicing executives.