18(b) How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?

Prototypical answer:

i. What is the goal of your proposed gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels, or reputation?

Specialty

The proposed TLD will also reinforce the company’s strategic positioning by offering high-end customized online services branded under its own TLD, which will leverage the brand equity and differentiate the entity online from its targeted competitors.

The .erni TLD will prove the company’s commitment, integrity, professionalism and teamwork as well as will enhance the trust of its customers, employees, shareholders, investors and society based on the highest quality services that will be provided by its different professional web sites comprised under its own Top Level Domain.


Service levels

Protecting the brand and having exclusive control of what can be done is a top priority for ERNI. It will help the group in controlling the brand presence online and will help the company to protect its trademark as well as the company reputation and will limit security risks, posed by scams based on counterfeit identities in the second level domain name registrations under any other existing TLD, that may be registered due to their possible similarities with ERNI that can be purchased and put to fraudulent use, tarnishing the brand’s reputation.


Reputation

Unquestionably, the .erni Top Level Domain will strengthen the brand and will enhance its recognition internationally, a fact that will naturally increase the value of the group as a result.

ERNI’s core competence lies in the innovation of processes and technologies. The company supports its customers with engineering and consulting services for achieving an innovative upgrade of working processes and software technologies on the business and technology side. The acquisition of a .erni Top Level Domain will reinforce ERNI’s core values and competences and will showcase ERNI GROUP HOLDING as an advanced and innovative group within its competitors.

The .erni TLD will represent:

* Commitment and responsibility,
* Long-term vision and strategy,
* Proximity to customers and key clients,
* Excellence in service,
* Technological innovation,
* Model of corporate governance,
* Sense of belonging for all our targeted audience.


ii. What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space, in terms of competition, differentiation, or innovation?



Competition

This new space will not only distinguish ERNI’ s identity, placing the company as a pioneer within the IT engineering consulting sector, but will help reaching new potential customers as well as expanding the target market internationally.

As important as logos, brand names and trademarks to be used in physical support have been, are and will be in the future, it is critical for a company specialising in innovation process and technology, and expanding internationally, to have a digital, unique, global identity. Our services are not embodied in physical products, but are basically embodied into digital communications. A Top Level Domain is hence the ideal expression of our digital identity on the Internet.


Differentiation

In terms of differentiation, ERNI’s core competitive advantages are on one hand its unique abilities in both enabling its customers to improve their processes with our consultancy and support, and, on the other. delivering concrete solutions, procures results that better fit their needs.

The .erni TLD will add a wide array of new ways of usage of the proposed string that will be intrinsically related to ERNI’s services and work methodology and will be enabled across diverse interfaces within the different requirements related to each process.


Innovation
The growing complexity of products along with the trend towards outsourcing is making requirements engineering increasingly worth wile, if not necessary. ERNI acts as a bridge between market and technology from business-driven development, to trendsetting products. Requirements engineering plays a key role in this process.

The freedom to create innovations has never been so great as it is today. Technological advances are enabling more and more innovative products with unique benefits for consumers.

The .erni TLD will be a significant amplifier of the holding’s branding and marketing endeavours by creating innovative marketing formulas for customers, stakeholders and employees worldwide. Some of the great challenges, benefits and innovative elements that the .erni TLD will bring to the company’s structure are:


* To strengthen its leadership internationally within the IT engineering consulting sector,
* To grow and be known internationally,
* To maintain a distinctive investment portfolio,
* To maintain financial strength,
* To improve on return of investments,
* To progress in organisational efficiency and flexibility,
* To develop and motivate talent,
* To communicate the aims of the holding group both inwards and outwards.



iii. What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?


Compared to other already existing and open generic TLDs, the .erni TLD experience will greatly enhance mnemonics and security. The .erni TLD will simplify the way the customers find information about the company on the Internet by creating a more easy and understandable online identity and will drive customers into deeper levels of engagement with the company.

Internally, the .erni TLD will facilitate and enhance communications between departments, ERNI’s different business divisions and subsidiaries

i. Switzerland,
ii. Germany,
iii. Spain,
iv. Slovakia,
v. Philippines



This engagement will increase:

* Affinity
* Corporate identity
* Ease of use,
* Customer service efficiency.


The .erni TLD will adapt its internal and external communications structure and services to the possibilities of what the new string could offer, setting a fully-branded user experience for both, our costumers and our different internal departments and business divisions labelling services such as:

i. Service Requirements Engineering (business analysis), a service that makes methods and tools available, which support ERNI’s Requirements Engineers during the entire requirements engineering processes.
ii. The service software engineering supports our customers in the professional software development. The service includes services that comprise the core area of state-of-the-art software development, covering the activities between the Services Requirement Engineering, Testing and Project Management.
iii. The ERNI testing Service, a service that organises and coordinates all testing activities with regard to software and applications. This service is based a test process, which consists of a planning, design, implementation and evaluation of tests.
iv. Project Management, which offers tools and methods making it possible for project managers to successfully manage their tasks, especially with regard to complex and unique projects.
v. Process improvement. This process designs, improves and expands process management systems by using existing reference models. Existing processes are analysed and improved, especially through the use of successful best practices in the industry.


iv. Provide a complete description of the applicant’s intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above.

The .erni TLD will be for the exclusive use of the ERNI GROUP HOLDING’s services and purposes. ERNI does not contemplate at this stage opening the registration to any third party. Therefore, the mandatory registration agreement will refer to the following terms and conditions:

a) Eligibility: The registrant will be ERNI GROUP HOLDING or any Affiliate.
b) Name selection: .erni domain name registrations must be related to the ERNI GROUP HOLDING services and products.
c) Use and content: .erni domain names may only be used in relationship to the ERNI GROUP HOLDING’s services and purposes, subject to the approval of ERNI. Domain names used must be commensurate to the role and importance of the ERNI services.

Considering that,

(i) ERNI GROUP HOLDING will register and maintain all domain name registrations within .erni its own exclusive use, and that
(ii) ERNI GROUP HOLDING will not sell, distribute or transfer control or use of any registrations in .the erni TLD to any third party that is not an Affiliate of ERNI and that;
(iii) Application of the Registry Operator Code of Conduct contained in Specification 9 of the Base gTLD Registry Agreement to .erni is not necessary to protect the public interest;

ERNI GROUP HOLDING will request the exemption to the above mentioned Registry Operator Code of Conduct, and expects ICANN to grant such exemption as ERNI provides reasonable satisfaction of the conditions hereof expressed. ERNI GROUP HOLDING may in the future consider extending the use of domain names for employees, customers and partners, but this is not foreseen neither allowed in the current description of the registration policies.


v. Will your proposed gTLD impose any measures for protecting the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users? If so, please describe any such measures.

ERNI GROUP HOLDING recognizes first-hand that this is a relevant issue and an evolving area of law in which there is no international standard. The protection of privacy and confidential information of registrants and users will comply with applicable Law, in particular the Swiss Data Protection framework and legislation, as well as any ICANN requirements in the area.

Nevertheless, the specific model of the .erni TLD and the registration policies as described above limit to a great extent the possible concerns on privacy, as no third parties and even less individuals will be allowed to register .erni names.


vi. Describe whether and in what ways outreach and communications will help to achieve your projected benefits.

Outreach and communications will be entirely done in-house for internal communication to inform ERNI GROUP HOLDING’s stakeholders in the four countries the group operates.

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