Blog by Elvira Dautovic-Mouradi (intern at Fairbanks).

When following a study it’s almost always necessary to do an internship in order to complete your study. Many dread this time because it means actually starting to work and taking on real responsibility. So, for my study international creative business my time came to do an internship in a business direction. However, required it be a business direction we were free to decide in what industry. I decided to approach Fairbanks and got my internship there. Fairbanks is a company that delivers infrastructure as a service and creates cloud infrastructures for companies nationally and internationally. Hence, the English blog.

I was really excited about starting my internship at Fairbanks! I had the prospect to figure out how to behave in a professional environment and to be able to adapt to various industries as I have never worked in the cloud industry before. Most importantly I think for me was to gain confidence when it comes to working in a professional environment.

Fairbanks is not a big conglomerate like Nike or Philips (where some of my classmates do their internship at). So, the result of that is you can really help the company and have input into it. In turn, having real input into something makes you feel more satisfied. You don’t feel like you’re doing the tasks just because no one wants to do them. This motivates and enhances creativity. What I also noticed from Fairbanks is that it is a very brave company. It’s realistic but ambitious at the same time. Even though it’s not Nike or Philips, these are the type of companies with which Fairbanks does business with.

It’s interesting and very different from what my classmates do. Especially because it’s B2B. Marketing in this segment is very, very different compared to marketing directed to consumers.

When comparing business to consumers (B2C) and business to business (B2B) I have noticed that B2C marketing is very much based on emotion. B2B, however is very depended on connections, references and mostly a unique value proposition. It’s important for prospects to recognize themselves in your unique value proposition as well as for them to know how to find you, so you have to put yourself out there. To be successful you also want a network of business acquittances, flexibility, availability, accessibility and elasticity to replace the emotional appeal part. Last but certainly not least in this industry you need an impeccable team of technicians to deliver, which in my opinion Fairbanks has no lack of. So as a company we have put our priorities at flexibility, accessibility and professionality in order to help our clients in the best possible way.

Now that my internship is finished, I can say I have learned a lot and had some crucial experience. Not just from doing things my internship requires but also from joining into meetings. I must say I am lucky with my internship supervisor, as he involved me in almost everything. And he was very enthusiastic to motivate me to do sales. Even though, I was more reluctant in this I was determined to try everything in order to gain more experience.

All in all, I was very lucky to have Fairbanks as my internship company. I was able to put real input into it, do interviews, empathize with the clients and create campaigns together with my supervisor. It was a fun experience where everyone was approachable. Never did I imagine I would be eating lunch with the CEO as an intern, but that’s how Fairbanks is. Open to everyone’s views. Even mine. Therefore, you haven’t heard the last of me yet. Even though my internship is over I will continue to communicate with you through the Fairbanks blogs. In that light, talk to you soon.