Statements go mobile

Johannesburg, 17 Apr 2009

Multimedia Solutions, a mobile marketing company, has unveiled its mobile statements solution, which enables companies to send account statements to their customers on their mobile phones, via MMS.

Eddie Groenewald, Multimedia Solutions CEO, says the solution was built to address the challenges of physical posting of statements and sending out statements via e-mail.

“On the physical front, there is the high cost of printing and sending statements via post. Then there is the challenge if people submit incorrect address information, move addresses or live within say an informal settlement, where there are no formal addresses.”

Groenewald says the problems with sending statements via e-mail stems from companies blocking attachments, so statements may not be delivered to the company's customers.

“This has led to people switching to Gmail and other Web-based e-mail in order to receive their statements while at work. However, these sites are now generally also blocked by many companies, which are looking to try and increase their employee productivity by preventing them from taking care of personal tasks at work.”

With MMS, a simple account statement with balance and payment options can be sent to customers' cellphones, Groenewald says. This can then direct them to a mobile Web site (mobisite), which requires a login and password, for a detailed statement.

“The advantage of the mobile statement is that companies know their customer has downloaded it, so they know it has been received. Furthermore, it is much cheaper than printing a statement and also overcomes all the challenges presented by e-mail statements.”

Customers can also check account balances while on the go, and if they have set up mobile banking on their cellphones, they are able to pay accounts from wherever they are.