David Le Page
One of the easiest ways to improve access to investments is to make the whole process of purchasing them far easier. This is the motivation behind Old Mutual’s investment in a “mobile portfolio management system” for its clients.
Meanwhile, online stockbroker Tradek has also launched a new product to allow customers to manage their portfolios online
Old Mutual’s system is an Internet portal with a difference – it can be accessed via a WAP-enabled cellphone.
WAP stands for wireless application protocol. The “World WAP Web” is the Internet we’re all familiar with, but without the pictures and with a lot less text. It’s all compressed into a cellphone screen-sized space.
There are only two cellphones available in South Africa that can cope with WAP, Nokia’s 7110 and Ericsson’s R230s.
According to Nokia, around 7 500 7110s have been sold, which is comparatively few. The 7110 is the only phone worth considering for this particular exercise, as it is the only one with the required 128-bit encryption security measures.
Given the likely proportion of WAP- enabled cellphone users who also happen to own Old Mutual unit trusts, the initiative may seem a little premature.
But Old Mutual is relying not only on figures, which suggest that most cellphones will be WAP-enabled within two to three years’ time, but also, one suspects, the company is hoping to capture a little cachet by being the first on the market with this service, making it look like a technological leader as well as being the country’s biggest unit trusts company.
It’s encouraged by the growing use of its Web service, which is attracting 5% more users every week.
But probably the biggest incentive in offering the new service is that it probably hasn’t cost the company all that much. In fact, the WAP service is simply a front-end to what it calls straight-through processing.
Previously, if you bought unit trusts through the Old Mutual website, the process would generate a fax which would then be handled like any other order.
This system conjures up images of the kind of fictional antique clock which turns out to be driven by captive elves on treadmills, rather than by clockwork.
Fortunately, straight-through processing has ended the slavery of the Old Mutual elves.
When you buy or sell units now, the order is processed completely automatically, with no human intervention involved.
Obviously, this makes for great increases in efficiency and accuracy as well as helping to combat fraud.
It also costs less, and Old Mutual has generously passed on part of this saving, discounting the costs of WAP and online purchases a whole 2%.
If you combine the attributes of being an Old Mutual unit trust owner and a 7110 owner, you can link the two together by creating a profile for yourself at www.waphome.co.za, and then clicking on the Old Mutual icon. The required settings will be sent via SMS to your phone. The new profile must then be activated in the settings section of your services menu.
ENDS