JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-South African financial services companies are reported to be using General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology as a key means of delivering products and services to customers. The technology is regarded as part of a mobile vision for both end users and mobile corporate workers.
Kobus Venter, group chief information officer (CIO) of local insurance company Sanlam, said that GPRS has excellent potential to enhance the company’s mobile business strategy and that the preliminary results of the GPRS trials are promising.
“The benefits from GPRS include extensive cost savings, improved interactive customer contact and the breaking down of traditional communication barriers,” said Venter.
“The partnership with mobile operator MTN is in line with our vision of thinking ahead and ensuring cutting edge, innovative product and service offerings, which benefit customers, employees and business partners.”
Thinus Delport, head of information technology (IT) at Innofin, a subsidiary of Macquarie Bank of Australia, which provides investment and portfolio management services to the high net worth markets, agreed. “By integrating the new technology with our systems and incorporating m-commerce into our business practices, we can offer our investors and their financial advisers, ‘always-on,’ secure interactive access to their investment portfolio,” Delport said.
He added that functionality is already available via GPRS for clients to use. Clients and their financial advisers can access the public pages on the Innofin site and will soon be able to access their portfolio values.
To back up the services, MTN announced the creation of a Business Solutions division that provides services and products targeted at companies of all sizes.
“MTN is dedicated to enhancing people’s lives at work and at play. We are optimistic about the response and believe it demonstrates the viability of GPRS as an alternative for the provision of mobile data,” said Georges Bongi, group executive of marketing at MTN South Africa.
Venter said that the company’s focus on mobile business is driven by the company’s desire to deliver client-centric solutions. Mobile handsets are pervasive, and the financial services industry wants to offer clients and intermediaries easy options to obtain the information needed.
