Hand Banking 30 Horas was launched in May of last year and now has more than 2,000 registered users. According to Unibanco's product and project manager, Moisés C. Cunha, "The service adds value to the relationship we have with our clients because it projects an image of technological leadership for our bank which, in addition to providing access to information, is simple, safe, and very convenient."

To activate the service, customers register with the bank's Internet banking system and download special HotSync software to their PCs. They can then work offline on their Palm handhelds. The system is protected by cryptographic encoding, ensuring that only the client and the bank can access the data being exchanged.

The project was developed by EverSystems (at http://www.eversystems.com.br), a Latin American provider of e-Banking and Remote PC Access solutions. The addition of payment capabilities to the service is being planned for the near future. "The goal of this project is to put the bank wherever the client is, regardless of his or her geographical location," said Silvio Signori, account manager at Eversystems.

Peixoto Atacadista
We now need to travel to Brazil's Uberlandia, which you can learn more about at http://www.uberlandia.mg.gov.br. It's in Uberlandia that you'll find Peixoto Atacadista (at http://www.peixoto.com.br), the country's third largest consumer goods wholesaler and distributor. Their headquarters is pictured in Figure A.

FIGURE A

The headquarters of Peixoto Atacadista is located in Brazil's Uberlandia. Click picture for a larger image.

Peixoto Atacadista provides wholesale, transportation, point of sale, and promotional services to its over 150,000 clients, consisting of supermarkets, department stores, and small merchants spread throughout a territory larger than the continental United States. The company has more than 1,700 sales agents who visit the average client once a week and within 24-48 hours of receiving a call.

Considering this large client base, the company's extensive product line and numerous pricing variables, and the large territory the sales agents needed to cover, Peixoto Atacadista sought a solution to help its mobile sales force by providing it with the information and connectivity necessary to meet these difficult demands.

The company got the help of Sao Paulo-based developer Portway Sistemas to create a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) solution that allows the company and sales team to send and receive customer specific data on past sales, current orders, financials, sales goals, and available inventory. Members of the sales team can be connected at any time and in any place using one of the Palm IIIx devices chosen for deployment.

They realized it was important that the transaction be kept safe via encryption technology when a member of the sales team uses a Palm IIIx to access the company's mainframe and process sales requests. Since they were unable to find any other safety solution in the market that could serve them the way they needed, they decided to develop a proprietary product. They've dubbed it Transgate. Transgate provides cryptography and safety for all kinds of communication through Palm handhelds. This has led to an unexpected benefit for Peixoto Atacadista, as now they plan to market this solution.