Retrieving memory
Most of all they’ve become a multipurpose business tool indispensable to the technology adept consumer. Such is their iconic status that some consumers don’t just see them as a storage facility for key business contacts but also as a critical part of their lives.
So imagine the implications of someone losing their cellphone or having it stolen. With crime featuring high in the SA psyche and cellphone theft ranking tops, the odds of that happening are extremely high. Without doubt, the first reaction of a consumer who’s just lost a handset is often: "What will happen to my contact details?"
To cushion consumers from the anguish of losing a cellphone, local IT company Qualica Technologies has launched a data recovery solution called SaveMyStuff, which enables cellphone users to easily recover data stored in a stolen or lost cellphone.
Marc Hoffmann, Qualica’s business development manager, says that its motivation for developing its recovery solution was largely the surge in cellphone theft. "A consumer’s immediate concern after losing a handset is the value of the information and not the cellphone. Take into consideration the fact that handsets – after the introduction of mobile banking – have now become portable banks. Losing a handset is as good as losing your wallet."
Recovering lost data was the main objective of the SaveMyStuff concept, says Hoffmann. Qualica developed SaveMyStuff, the platform used in the back-up and recovery processes, in SA. For R10/month the service enables users to back up the data stored on their cellphones to a secure server hosted in a carrier grade data centre. To activate the data storage function a subscriber sends, via an SMS, the word "save" to 35541.
On receipt of the SMS, synchronisation settings are then sent to the applicant’s cellphone. The applicant should then save the settings, after which he can make a back up. "The magic of the SaveMyStuff platform is its simplicity – no complicated downloads are required," says Hoffmann.
Before subscribing to Qualica’s service, Hoffmann advises that cellphone users transfer any contacts stored on a SIM card to the phone’s memory, as cellphones don’t make their SIM contacts available to the technology. Should a subscriber lose or have his cellphone stolen and want to retrieve data and transfer it to a new cellphone, he simply calls SaveMyStuff’s contact centre on 082 230 2222 to activate his data for his new cellphone.
Says Hoffmann: "For now, the only data we’re able to back up are contact numbers, calendars and tasks. But we’ve noted an increasing demand for us to include other services. So we’ll soon add images, ring tones and SMS recovery services as well. The experience so far has been that all data saved in a subscriber’s cellphone is important and, as such, we want to preserve that."
Another benefit is that SaveMyStuff’s technology is independent of SA’s cellular network operators, Vodacom, MTN and Cell C. With mobile number portability – which allows subscribers to switch network operators and keep their existing cellphone numbers – now firmly in place a subscriber that has ported his numbers wouldn’t be required to re-sign to SaveMyStuff.
Though Hoffmann was unable to give current subscriber numbers, he says the service – though still in its infancy – is enjoying a phenomenal uptake. "We only launched the service in November last year but as more people learn about it we anticipate an upturn in subscriber numbers.
"The challenge now is to market our service to potential clients. To that effect we’ve partnered eXactmobile to augment our marketing and subscriber recruitment drive."
Finweek
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