The KITES Summer Internship Program by ITC started with a royal induction program in ITC Windsor Hotel, Bangalore. The 2-day induction program took us through ITC’s Culture, the success stories and a teaser to the challenges that await for every management intern in the coming two months. The interns joined their respective project locations post that and the roller coaster ride started from Day 1.
I interned in Kolkata Marketing Branch, Trade Marketing, and Distribution (TM&D) Division, ITC Kolkata. My project involved benchmarking technology solutions that enable business processes for Wholesaler/Distributors and in market operations. Over the period of two months, I incorporated changes in ITC’s Distributor Software, Employee Mobility Solutions & also implemented changes in the entire workflow of delivery process management and the suggested Plan is also under the process of a PAN India Rollout in ITC.
Tackling different challenges – faced during my internship:
Being in the busiest branch of ITC in India– Kolkata Marketing Branch, It was extremely difficult to get inputs right from the Executives to the Managers. It is really your perseverance and patience that keeps you on your feet and lets you do the best each day and get the required data and guidance from everyone around.
The toughest task during any sales internship is to collect the data from the market. Hence you need to get all the skills on board to convince, negotiate and anyhow get the competitor data which forms a backbone of your project – and yes it took me 3 complete weeks in the market to collect relevant info and benchmark them against the competition. This work undoubtedly creates a Launchpad to unleash your entire plans and recommendations.
The most critical part of your internship starts when you have rolled out a Pilot program with your ideas and insights. Unless you follow it up daily and measure daily results – it is going to be very difficult to see the desired results and hence I ensured I did that.
I made sure I prepared my daily and weekly reports (in ppt format) irrespective of whether my mentors went through it or not which was the key during my final review and also made my job much easier while making my final presentation.
I also received a Pre Placement Offer from ITC and I believe in the end – It is your passion towards your work and the important relationships you form with every stakeholder during your internship that makes the difference.