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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 31, 2000)
Favorite part of the job: "Working with the people in the community, understanding their needs, and creating a successful company around that." Toughest aspect of the job: "You can't meet all of the community's needs at once." Salary: $125,000 with new situations, new technologies, and new networks. And there's always something interest ing to talk about." Toughest aspect of the job: "There's a lot of demand to generate business and do billable work. You can't spend a week on an interesting problem just because it's fun." Salary: $60,000-$ 140,000 6. Email Channel Specialist qualified for his new role: In 1994. he created Seidman's Online Insider, an email newsletter that now has 50,000 subscribers. Favorite part of the job: "Being at the fore front of the industry. Schwab wants to be the smartest company in the world about email, and I've been given license to figure out how to do that." Toughest aspect of the job: "Adapting quick ly and changing on the fly as we learn what works and what doesn't." Salary: $95,000-5180.000 5. Ethical Hacker It's the dream job for a gener ation of hackers: A company paying you to break into its net work. By simulating attacks from the Net or from an inter nal source, ethical hackers locate weak spots in a company's network. Then they work with clients to prioritize which are the most serious threats, and suggest solutions. Jeff Moss, director of security assessment services at Secure Computing in San Jose. Calif., and founder of hacker convention Def Con, got his first computer around age 12 and was a network consultant before he found this outlet for his hack Some top Web businesses believe plain-old email is the next great channel for new products, services, direct-mar keting efforts, and sales. In house experts such as Robert Seidman. vice president of email at Schwab's Electronic Brokerage Enterprise, oversee out bound email channel operations, from product development and strategic planning to corporate policy issues. Defining a policy for the use of out going email. Seidman says, is a simple step to ensure email products provide value to customers, and aren't just a cheap and easy solution for the company. By designing subscription-based services, email developers offer content that customers choose to receive—not spam. Schwab's daily email alerts deliver information such as closing results for market indices and the client's cus tomized list of stock and mutual fund holdings. Seidman directly oversees the testing of new products to learn what customers will find accept able. Schwab is currently experimenting with HTML email, which allows for richer content and graphics. Later this year, Schwab will begin test ing the addition of some marketing messages, such as updates on financial services or new fea tures on Schwab's Website, within the body of its existing email products, n Evolution: Initially, Internet businesses focused their Web efforts on creating online brands and securing customers. Now, email looks like a natural complement to existing Web products. "If we're communicating with customers by email five times a week, that may drive more traf fic to our site," says Seidman. "It's potentially a tremendously powerful tool." Skills needed: Software development expe rience is required to work with technicians on design issues and rollout schedules. But an email channel manager must also understand cus tomers’ needs and anticipate how they would use certain services. Seidman has worked on product development in the software and Internet space for the past seven years, but he is also uniquely 7. Consumer Experience Manager Mark Reese, the chief ecom merce officer for education al-toy seller toysmart.com, monitors the total quality of a customer's experience, from shopping the compa ny's site to the delivery of orders. Reese works with the content team and Web applications developers on new features and functions that will make the shopping experience better and easier. For example, toysmart.corn's new Website includes customized, one-click searches based on toy category, age group, and price range. Reese also oversees operations for the back end of the transaction process, such as order fulfill ment, supply-chain management, delivery, and billing. He's often in the warehouse watching orders go out the door, and frequently shops toys mart.com under false names. For all strategic decisions, and with any proposal of new tech nologies or services, Reese ensures that first con sideration is given to how it will affect customers. ing hobby. Network weaknesses usually develop when fast-growing companies add new technologies to their networks without following a defined security policy or having a dedicated security expert manage the process. Another potential open door for hackers, says Moss, is a router or firewall programmed to let in too many proto cols and applications. Clients are often rattled by his team's quick break-ins that exploit these common weaknesses. "First they're in denial, then they're terrified," says Moss. "We usually have to tell them that it's not the end of world, that problems are solvable." Besides perform ing intrusion tests, Moss also puts on hacking demonstrations at trade shows to evangelize the need for intrusion testing. Evolution: Only the "ethical" part of the title is new. The best hackers, like Moss, were illegal ly penetrating networks long before there was a market for that skill. But as more companies put operations and sensitive data on the Web, demand for intrusion testing experts (once known as "tiger teams") is exploding. "This is a huge paradigm shift for those of us who grew up learning how to break into things and are old enough to have real jobs," says Moss. Skills needed: An ethical hacker with a col lege degree is rare, says Moss. Instead, expertise in multiple operating systems, applications, secu rity software, and networking protocols, along with a good reputation, are the best credentials. Favorite part of the job: "Constantly dealing "I put every idea through that filter to make sure that we have considered its effect on any part of the transaction process," says Reese. "Our CEO likes the fact that there's one person accountable for the end-to-end customer experience." Evolution: In the race to launch ecommerce operations, companies may have neglected cus tomer service in favor of issues such as market ing, price, and strategic alliances. But the Web offers new ways to develop relationships with cus tomers, collect personal information, and design better-targeted products and services (see "Devil's in the Details," May ’99). An expert dedicated to the online customer experience can help bring ecommerce to the next level of personalization and customer interaction. Skills needed: Reese likens his role to that of a chief operating officer. Operations experi ence, systems engineering skills, and creative and strategic thinking capabilities are essential. "You have to be both a right-brain and a left To subscribe to BUSINESS2.0 call 1 800 234 0804. Ask for the special jobpOSti/igS rate of only $12 for 26 issues!
