10 Ways to Cut Corporate Wireless Costs

In today’s economy, businesses are doing everything they can to reduce expenses. One of the most effective ways to reduce costs is by evaluating your spending on wireless services. With a little attention, you can cut costs, save valuable time, and take control of your wireless assets.

Develop and maintain a list of all company-owned devices

The first step is to become familiar with your company’s current wireless situation. Using your wireless bills, compile a list of all the wireless devices the company pays for. Include: first name, last name, department/hierarchical unit, mobile phone number and operator. If possible, you should also add the device model, wireless plan, and any information specific to your organization.

Then look at the list. Consult department heads and end users about questionable accounts. Are the users still working for the company? Does it make sense that all the users on your list have a company cell phone? Do they need a Blackberry or will a cell phone suffice? Can connection cards be shared among a group?

This may take some time. However, it will not only help you identify immediate savings, it is a necessary step in maintaining a healthy corporate wireless environment.

If you have too many lines to undertake this project, consider outsourcing this to a company that specializes in managed mobility services. A good provider will have the tools and experience to facilitate this process.

control recruitment

All your hard work building your company-owned device list will quickly fall apart unless you rein in the acquisition of new wireless devices. No one should be able to go out and get the most expensive phone with a high priced plan on any carrier they want. Procurement control will ensure a consistent end-user experience, a secure environment, and reduced support and equipment costs. You must control the types of devices and plans a user can choose from.

This can be accomplished in several different ways. Smaller businesses often have a single point of contact that, along with their other functions, handles wireless device procurement.

Midsize businesses may have a person or department whose sole responsibility is wireless procurement and utilization of a wireless policy. However, they can hire a third party.

Enterprise companies typically outsource the management and acquisition of wireless services to a third-party managed mobility provider.

Terminate wireless devices with little or no use

Sometimes when positions are terminated or employees leave the company, the phone is returned but the plan itself is not cancelled. You may also find, after looking at your wireless bills, that a phone or connection card hasn’t been used in months. Someone using only a few minutes can do without that service. It never ceases to amaze us how many of our customers are paying for cell phones or connection cards for employees who left the company months or even years ago.

Adopt and enforce a corporate wireless policy

A wireless policy is a must for any organization with corporate-owned phones. It must be in writing and readily available.

A corporate wireless policy defines the rules and policies for the company’s wireless devices. You must set restrictions for personal use, including limits on storage of music, photos, and other personal information.

You must also describe the policy for the acquisition of new devices and what is the acceptable use of those devices, including the use of text and data. Finally, you need to describe what should happen to the device and the service line when an employee leaves the company.

Own phone and phone number

Always remember that the wireless devices AND the phone number are active. Employee-owned phones can be a huge liability for a business. Your phone number is available to customers, prospects and suppliers. If they leave, they can take the data, the contact lists and, most importantly, the phone number.

Additionally, employee phone use can be difficult to track. Are they really using it for business? Are your high costs due to an out-of-control texting problem? Are they on an optimized plan based on your usage?

Another consideration is quantity discounts. If you’re paying for phone usage anyway, you might as well help with your corporate volume discount.

Consolidate carriers

When coverage is comparable, it is best to consolidate to one or a few providers. Not only does this make billing considerably easier, but you’ll also get higher volume discounts and can help when negotiating contracts.

Pool-minutes

By pooling minutes instead of having each user on their own plan, you can significantly reduce your total spend, over 40%. You can have users who always go over their minutes and users who never use all of their minutes. With bundled plans, plans balance out, reducing overage fees and waste. This may require consolidating multiple accounts with your carrier.

Negotiate wireless contracts

Competition is high among wireless carriers. Often they are willing to work with you on your wireless costs to earn your business. There may be volume discounts, loyalty programs or unpublished special offers that you can take advantage of. You won’t know until you contact them.

For large accounts, you may want to outsource contract negotiation to a managed mobility company that has the experience and inside information necessary to get you the best possible deal.

Deploy a set of devices for international phones

Instead of paying extra to add international roaming to every phone for every user who might one day travel across the sea, consider a set of international devices. Before a user travels, he simply removes a phone from the group and forwards his domestic mobile phone calls to the new number.

Also, there are special phones available that are specifically designed for international travel. These phones can significantly reduce your international roaming costs.

Consider outsourcing wireless management

Once they reach a certain number of lines, many companies choose to outsource their wireless management to a third party. A good managed mobility company knows the wireless industry inside and out and can pay for your services and more by significantly lowering your wireless bills, lowering human resource costs, and putting you in control of your wireless environment.

Through rate plan optimization and contract negotiation, an experienced provider can dramatically reduce their wireless spend. After initial optimization, they can continue to keep costs down by identifying high-usage users, controlling acquisitions, and discovering idle devices.

Additionally, a managed mobility provider can save hundreds of human resource hours handling technical support, as well as moves, adds, changes, and deactivations. They can also provide insight into everything that happens to an asset.

Third-party managed mobility companies are not appropriate for all companies. Only you know how many lines you can effectively manage in-house.