Arcay Systems has launched MTN`s General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) data service to independent financial advisors (IFAs) using the company`s server-based portfolio system.
IFAs can now log in, using high-speed GPRS, and provide an up-to-date view of the client`s portfolio, without relying on fixed-line communications or cellphone dial-in.
The system, I-Trac, is a locally developed professional portfolio system with administration and reporting tools that ensure compliancy with financial services provisions governing the IFA profession, says Arcay Systems MD Doug Kalkwarf.
"I-Trac users will be the first IFAs in SA with a secure GPRS connection across the MTN network. I-Trac also automates their compliancy with legislation which governs the selling of financial services products, how information is recorded and so on."
Kalkwarf says GPRS connectivity has multiple advantages, including significant cost savings due to a fixed cost per megabyte sent and/or received, regardless of time spent online or location, and a fast connection speed of up to 128kbps (ongoing upgrades will see the speed increase) - much higher than Telkom`s analogue lines.
In addition, Arcay will subsidise the cost of the MTN service for a final cost to the user of R9.80/MB, as opposed to the normal cost of R50/MB.
IFAs using Arcay`s system are given a SIM card, programmed for the Arcay system, on a data card slotted into the IFA`s PC. "The data card is the equivalent of a cellphone. It acts as a modem for the PC to connect via GPRS, and therefore gives true mobility," adds Kalkwarf.
More than 500 IFAs are using the system.
GPRS revisited
"Until now, we thought of GPRS as a means to browse the Web," says Kalkwarf. "Now there is a true business-to-business (B2B) GPRS application, for the first time in SA."
GPRS has been given something of a bad name by consumers who find it difficult and time-consuming to surf Web pages, such as the first bookmark on Nokia phones, Club Nokia. Either Web sites are typically served in other countries, and are time-consuming to download, or are too graphical for scaled-down browser devices.
Another South African company, WASPlab, has also cottoned on to the B2B possibilities of GPRS, piloting several projects including a stock-checking application for sales staff.
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