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Internet enters 'another phase' Financial service executive says managers must learn multiple ways to serve customers if their businesses are to thrive By GREG STILES Mail Tribune The dot-com boom and bust are behind us, but the Internet is here to stay. That means businesses had best learn to serve both present and potential customers electronically to thrive. "The Internet is not at all dead; it is in fact taking on another phase, a phase that all of us should be paying attention to because we can all profit," said Patrick Swanick, executive vice president of Consumer Product Management for Cleveland's KeyCorp, the nation's 11th largest bank-based financial services company. Swanick told a capacity crowd at Monday's Chamber Forum at Rogue Valley Country Club that the Internet was adopted by the American public far faster than other technological innovations. It took 54 years before 25 percent of the population flew, 46 years for household electricity to gain that level of use, 44 years for the automobile, 35 years for telephones and 26 years for television. Personal computers needed 15 years to reach the so-called critical mass of acceptance, cell phones 13 years and the Internet just seven. "Many new technologies are often overestimated in their infancy and underestimated later," Swanick said. "We have an awful lot to learn from the dot-com bust so as not to repeat it, but we also have a lot to learn about how the Internet can help us serve our clients." Swanick said Oregon ranks 15th among "new economy" states - between Minnesota and New York - with Massachusetts No. 1, followed by California, Colorado and Washington. "A new economy state is one that has the skills, the infrastructure, the community involvement - all of the tools you need to be successful in this new economy," Swanick said. Swanick praised several Southern Oregon Web sites. He also noted the need for contact information and responses to customers within 24 hours. Swanick said companies thinking of themselves as global players simply because they are on the Web are going to be disappointed - unless they have the ability to market themselves in targeted areas. He urged businesses to encourage visits to Web sites on after-hours phone messages. The banker also warned businesses not to pursue new clients at the risk of losing existing ones. "Don't abandon your bread-and-butter of your business and the bread-and-butter customers," Swanick said. At the same time, he encouraged cultivation of "next generation" clients who are much more attuned to electronic communication. He pointed out that 50 percent of KeyBank's transactions are done at ATMs and more than 10 percent are handled on the Internet, while face-to-face transactions at financial centers have fallen to 30 percent - from nearly 60 percent in 1995. The danger, of course, Swanick said, is that it is a challenge to keep relationships with increasingly invisible customers. Swanick said one of the problems leading to the dot-com implosion was that entrepreneurs often failed to know their objectives and marketplace. While venture capital, strategy and technology were available, part of the equation was missing. "You had 20-somethings able to get venture capital, but their plans were tactical rather than strategical," Swanick said. "You need experienced successful people to make the business model work." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.