VoxPlus, a leader in prepaid telecom services, is introducing two innovative products to the North American mobile prepaid channel partner market: BullGuard Mobile Backup (BMB), which stores content and information in the cloud for easy migration or restoration, and BullGuard Identity Protection (BIDP), which also includes social media protection.
To bring the products to market, VoxPlus has signed a republishing agreement with BullGuard, which is the No. 1 mobile and online security brand throughout Europe. Overseas, BullGuard is typically sold in retail outlets as a boxed product, but VoxPlus has transformed the distribution strategy for the North American market by creating a prepaid version, which is activated with a license key sold in card form and can be applied to both prepaid and postpaid devices.
VoxPlus is the exclusive BullGuard source for these prepaid products. For distribution, the company is tapping independent sales organizations and wholesalers as well as master agents looking to sell to sub-agents or direct to retail.
“We have 20 years of experience in the prepaid market, and we saw a wide-open opportunity to bring mobile security to the mix,” said Jeff Lauzon, President at VoxPlus. “It’s a sophisticated offering that speaks to how the market opportunity has changed since the prepaid calling days. Smartphone users are increasingly looking for prepaid options to help control costs or to implement within, say, a family plan. Small businesses can use prepaid to track expenses. But prepaid or not, the security concerns for wireless remain the same. This addresses a growing requirement and need in the marketplace for mobile cyber-safety.”
Mobile devices go everywhere with us, and are goldmines of personal information. In many ways we carry our life around with us via mobile: pictures of life’s important moments, music and video, entire address books, conversational strings and more. Sensitive data, like passwords, is also often stored in the apps on that device.
BMB allows users to auto-backup all mobile content to any phone or tablet, regardless of platform. In case of loss or theft, or a simple change of device, the service allows instant access to backed-up data for an easy transfer or restoration of all mobile content (including contacts, photos, text messages, MMS, calendar, music, videos, ringtones, user settings and selected files and folders).
BMB uses encrypted transfer and offers 2GB, 5GB or 10GB of secure storage (up to 15GB of additional storage is available). Also, it comes with 24-hour live support.
“With BMB, whether you’re getting a new version of a handset, or going from an Android device to an iPhone, or a BlackBerry to a Windows Phone, BMB allows users to preserve and seamlessly migrate all of their personal information and content regardless of what platform they’re using,” Lauzon said. “This comprehensive functionality is useful whether upgrading to a new phone, or in the case of loss or theft.”
BMB is available for a $14.95 list price for one year of service and access to online account management. For distributors, it’s available in master cases that contain packs of 30 shrink-wrapped prepaid cards ready for Retail distribution.
Meanwhile, ID protection is an increasing mobile security requirement, considering that mobile malware is the fastest-growing segment of the virus arena. At the end of the third quarter of 2013, Trend Micro found there to be one million malicious and risky mobile apps in the wild. Many are banking Trojans, which steal financial credentials, or spyware, which sniffs out personal information in order to send it back to attackers, often via SMS, unbeknownst to the user who is being charged for the messages.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says cybercrime is worth around $400 billion annually, and the U.S. National Institute of Justice estimates that there are 9 million incidents of identity theft each year. Cybercrime as-a-service is also a growing phenomenon, where anyone can buy hacking or malware software to steal identities often for a few dollars.
Against this escalating threat landscape, BIDP offers a simple and effective way to protect personal and financial information, while monitoring Facebook account activity, regardless of which devices are in use to access the Internet. Users simply purchase a prepaid license key, and no software installation required.
BDIP continually monitors the Web, social networks and the “dark Web,” the shadowy cyber-criminal world where personal data is traded every day, and searches for private information. Users can register cards, debit cards and bank account numbers, driver’s license information, passport numbers, phone numbers, e-mail and postal addresses, and usernames and passwords. If information is compromised (stolen and traded online) BIDP sends an alert to the user to warn them in order to protect them from identity theft and fraud. For Facebook, it flags up inappropriate content and suspicious people. Instant alerts via SMS and e-mails are available to allow users to take immediate action to protect their data.
Users can securely add as many or as few private details as they want, and can make use of 24-hour live support.
BDIP costs $39.95 per year for up to three accounts with online management; for Distributors, it’s available in master cases that contain packs of 10 shrink-wrapped prepaid cards ready for Retail distribution.
The channel partner strategy is an important part of VoxPlus’ North American BullGuard launch, Lauzon said.
“Our agents and resellers are the lifeblood of our business,” he noted. “We think we are bringing them a truly differentiated product offering for their prepaid portfolios, and one that can be paired with both prepaid and postpaid wireless plans. This is a unique mobile security opportunity for sales partners to uncover brand-new revenue streams.”
A unique perk in the sales strategy is the VoxPlus portal, which allows distributors to keep a real-time track of their inventory. When cards are assigned out, VoxPlus tracks the authorization codes, and when a card is activated, it’s deducted from the inventory to which it was assigned.
“To go even further, we also can resupply the store or agent on our distributors’ behalf,” explained Lauzon. “We deliver the shipments, collect the money and push it back to the agent, so they can focus on new distribution.”
