By Jonathan Ebido

When you hear of "Ask Niles", what comes to your mind? Who's "Niles"? Why can we ask him questions?

In the early ‘90s, a popular American television sitcom, The Nanny, featured an English butler character whose name was "Niles". Complete with an impeccable British actor Daniel Davis ably portrayed the character of Niles the Butler for the wealthy Sheffield family. He was the quintessential British Butler-efficient, jack of all trades, reliable and impeccable in his manner and devotion to duty.

In the stereotyped British homes of the affluent, the household was actually managed and directed by the butler, the quiet power behind the master or the mistress. And thus outside of England, the rich and famous of the world would often avail themselves of the expert services of the butler, and having a British butler shows you have the best of the best. Batman/Bruce Wayne himself had the wise and omnipresent services of Alfred Pennyworth, another British butler archetype.

The idea for "Ask Niles" was actually a collaboration of ideas by Dual Action Blender, a software company and Marketing Services Vice President Belle Tiongco. Ms. Tiongco was in search of new and recent technologies and tactics that would fulfill a basic communication goal: to reach out to the consumer and encourage him/her to be more proactive and interested in our products and services. As the Filipino consumer's dependency on the web and other online technologies grow, it is important to be prepared and ahead of what will be an online revolution in the next couple of years. Consumers will rely more on more websites and online facilities to get information about anything in this world, local or international. It was therefore crucial to be in the web, and at our consumer's and potential consumers' fingertips.

Enter "Ask Niles", our very own microsite. A microsite, or as it is better known, a "minisite" or "weblet", is an Internet web design term that refers to either an individual web page or cluster of pages designed to function as an auxillary supplement to a primary website.

Ask Niles complements our website because it is focused on answering specific questions on financial planning, and how our products fulfill the consumers' need for financial security in the form of life insurance products and services. the site functions like an FAQ, where clients are free to ask questions and view previous and historical interchanges that deal with financial concerns related to life insurance protection, retirement, savings and investment needs.

More changes and improvements are underway but right now, Niles will be more than happy to answer any queries you may have whenever you visit www.askniles.com.ph. Spread the word. Just Ask Niles.