Get a handle on mobile phone connection fees: don't let mobile phone costs outweigh the productivity gains of mobile technology.DO YOU KNOW IF YOUR EMPLOYEES are on the most cost effective mobile phone rate plans possible? If you're you're Contraction of you are. you're you are you're be like most, you don't don't 1. Contraction of do not. 2. Nonstandard Contraction of does not. n. A statement of what should not be done: a list of the dos and don'ts. . "U.S. enterprise customers are some of the most inefficient buyers of wireless services in the world," says AT&T CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. David Dorman David W. Dorman (born 1954 in Georgia) is an American Telecommunications executive, currently serving on the board of Motorola.[1] In 2000, he took on the task of rebuilding AT&T, whose total stock value had fallen from a high of $110 billion to a low of less than . "Most of these companies use expense reimbursement Reimbursement Payment made to someone for out-of-pocket expenses has incurred. as a way to buy wireless services. Your employee buys wireless, turns in an expense report, and you reimburse re·im·burse tr.v. re·im·bursed, re·im·burs·ing, re·im·burs·es 1. To repay (money spent); refund. 2. To pay back or compensate (another party) for money spent or losses incurred. them." Sound familiar? If it does, chances are good your company's wireless connection fees are out of control. Problematic plans The biggest problem with letting employees expense their mobile phone connection fees is you're passing up potential volume discounts. Plus, some mobile phone service providers offer free calls between phones covered on the same contract, or calls within its own network. If you're letting employees choose their own mobile phone service providers, they're they're Contraction of they are. they're be probably choosing their own phones, too. If you want to deploy e-mail or applications to these devices, your IT department has a huge support issue on its hands. But, that's another column. Many mobile phone plans are based on a flat fee for a set number of minutes. But, from a customer's perspective this is an inefficient way to buy air time unless your employees are exactly hitting minute limit (without going over). When your employees go over their limit, you get hit with per-minute fees that can be two or three times the normal rate. If they don't hit their limit, you're paying for something they aren't aren't Contraction of are not. See Usage Note at ain't. aren't are not aren't be using. Getting a better handle on mobile phone costs also helps you enforce usage policies. If you limit or prohibit pro·hib·it tr.v. pro·hib·it·ed, pro·hib·it·ing, pro·hib·its 1. To forbid by authority: Smoking is prohibited in most theaters. See Synonyms at forbid. 2. personal calls, 411 queries, etc., you won't know if the policies are being followed. Do your homework Painful but true, the only solution is to understand what you're spending, understand what your employees need, and negotiate the best deal you can from your mobile phone service provider. If your employees are based in multiple regions, you might have to negotiate plans with multiple providers. No small task. Mobile phone service providers are getting better about providing electronic data reporting to enterprise customers. But, some carriers only send the reports on a quarterly basis, and the reports can be difficult to analyze. Plus, it's still up to you to find information on alternate plans to save you money. Companies like LetsTalk, Digital Reliance, and Traq-Wireless provide tools and services to help you do this research. These options range from tools that let you input your current rate information and compare it to other available plans, to full-blown services that analyze the, reports you get from your carrier and give you detailed information on what what carriers and plans you can take advantage of to cut costs. These services come with their own costs, but some--for example, Traq-Wireless--offer the option of basing their fee on a percentage of the savings you gain from the service, guaranteeing you come out ahead. You went mobile for a reason Some companies take a short-sighted approach to controlling mobile spending. They let employees continue to expense their mobile connection fees, but put a cap on how much they'll pay per month. This lets them avoid the expense and hassle Hassle () is a location in Närke, Sweden, where a Celtic treasure was found in 1936. It comprises a large bronze cauldron which contained two Bronze Age swords of the Hallstatt type, a pommel of bronze, two bronze buckets with of tracking, analyzing, and switching carriers and plans, and cut costs. Unfortunately it also cuts productivity. If you use mobile technology because you want to streamline your business and increase productivity, it doesn't make sense to limit the tools needed to do so. How many mobile service providers are you writing checks to every month? If you think you have a handle on mobile costs, share your wisdom in the blog blog, short for web log, an online, regularly updated journal or newsletter that is readily accessible to the general public by virtue of being posted on a website. for this article at http://Advisor.com/doc/14120. Staggering Statistics * Wireless voice and data services represent 25 of telecommunications Communicating information, including data, text, pictures, voice and video over long distance. See communications. spending in U.S. enterprises. * 30-40 percent of companies let employees select their wireless plans and expense their mobile phones and connection fees.--META Group * The average cost for wireless service is more than $1,800 per user annually.--Gartner Research * Only 10 percent of companies have sufficient control over wireless spending to enforce usage policies.--META Group |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion