Reader Forum: Embrace mobility without breaking the bank

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reader Forum section. In an attempt to broaden our interaction with our readers we have created this forum for those with something meaningful to say to the wireless industry. We want to keep this as open as possible, but maintain some editorial control so as to keep it free of commercials or attacks. Please send along submissions for this section to our editors at: dmeyer@rcrwireless.com or tford@rcrwireless.com.
Cost is the one immediate and perhaps most obvious downside to enterprise mobility. But, letting cost keep your company from embracing a mobility program could negatively impact your business.
The average spend on wireless service per employee is $120 per month, according to a late 2010 survey from iPass Inc. In the report, iPass surveyed enterprises to gauge the corporate perception of mobility and the taxing effect it can have on a company’s bottom line. Of those that responded, 42% said deployment of mobile devices would likely outpace inflation with an increase of at least 5% over the coming year, while 30% said that mobility costs would increase by percentages in the double digits.
What’s important to highlight is that mobility costs go beyond wireless service, or what the carriers refer to as “monthly recurring charges,” which should be predictable per employee. The areas of spend that are difficult to predict, budget for and control, are “non-recurring charges or overages.” These are charges, such as international roaming and long distance, and voice and data overage fees that can go into the thousands each month for companies that can’t gain visibility and reign in employee usage.
Making matters even worse, is the fact that most mobile-related costs are buried under departmental budgets and expense reports, making it nearly impossible for businesses to get a clear handle on what they spend for mobile connectivity. The survey found that 30% of enterprises bury their mobility budget this way. With those figures alone, it doesn’t take much to see how important mobile cost management is for any enterprise that’s taking advantage of the mobile opportunity.
Four tips for reducing your company’s mobile spend
Assign and communicate a mobile budget: Companies need to assign needs-based budgets to each of their mobile users in order to create a reasonable expectation of mobile phone usage. Think about employees and their roles within your company – and assign budgets that make sense for what they do, how much they use their wireless device, what type and how many devices are needed. Over time, employees become more productive because they have the right mobile devices and services to do their job. In turn, your company can readily enforce budgets that can be driven through regular employee communication and monitored monthly throughout the fiscal year.
Align your plans and features with actual usage: Make sure your international travelers are on an international voice and/or data roaming plan – and consider asking your travel desk to notify your telecom team when someone books a trip, so you can enable a roaming plan ahead of time. On the other hand, you may be loaded up on more features than you need. Look for people that have an unlimited text feature who are only sending five or ten texts a month and either remove the feature or scale down to a lower cost option.
Create a mobile policy: Policy is the foundation of any successful and cost efficient wireless program. Clearly documenting ground rules, expectations, and repercussions for out of policy behavior will ensure that employees are aware of what is considered acceptable usage on a corporate device. However, most organizations stop at the creating and delivering stage. Without the visibility to understand when behavior is out of policy, or the tools to take corrective action either with your employees or carriers when there is an incident, policy is just a sheet of paper. Performance against expectations should also be communicated to employees on a regular basis as visibility creates accountability, and awareness drives behavior.
Staying ahead of your mobile spend with inventory management: It is essential that businesses educate themselves about the best ways to manage wireless assets for increased employee productivity without the increased spend. Devices themselves are one of the biggest costs to an enterprise as most replacement devices are purchased off upgrade cycle and often times at face value. In addition, the actual device or equipment is not the only item that can be tracked, making the inventory management piece of the equation more challenging. SIM cards are often a critical component of a company’s asset, as well as the actual mobile number for critical sales/customer facing functions and roles that require a company to suspend lines of service for seasonality. Keeping track of these inventory elements, along with the ongoing move/add/change events that could occur contribute to a complex task.
The continued consumerization of enterprise IT will prompt more employees to expect full support for their smart phones and tablets. Industry analysts agree that the workforce of today requires and expects anytime, anywhere access to information, for both personal and business use – and your business will need to gain visibility and keep up with employee demand while maintaining acceptable mobile expenses and overall wireless spend.