While ethernet chords are commonplace at most businesses, some days they can feel more like chains binding you to a desk that feels more like a cell. With a modern workforce that needs/wants to be on the move and on-site more and more, the number of mobile devices that companies have to supply and manage grows daily. All of this started even before the giant curveball that is 2020 was hurled at all of us and will only continue to accelerate in the aftermath of recent events.
With the incremental growth in mobile users some companies are seeing an exponential growth in their mobile bills. More devices, more data usage, overages and more application licenses are only scratching the surface of how the costs can add up quickly. Managing mobile cost can be an administrative nightmare considering that each user may have a different set of applications they use when on the move, which means a variety of different acceptable usage streams. Making sure that users are sticking to company policies and not running up overage bills while making sure they have everything they need to do their job is a task that can seem monumental. Another important consideration is the amount of time it can take to manage moves, adds and changes to the company mobile account and the chore that is mobility management and cost management becomes an even larger chore. Of course, considering the alternative is crippling bills from your carriers, it seems like a problem worth solving.
The good news is that there are multiple vendors available in the mobility management industry that can not only help you wrap your arms around the problems presented by today’s mobile workforce, but also help the ongoing management an achievable task without having to dedicate staff to it. With the right tools, your IT and accounting staff can have a single pane of glass that will allow them to view current contracts, data plans, devices, usage and policies in order to make changes and verify current spend without hours of digging through bills.
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This first step helps you get your arms around the current situation and sets your team up to manage adds/changes long term and identify anomalies and push company usage policies to all devices at once. It will also allow your team to easily identify devices or data plans that aren’t being used and can be canceled. This could be a device that was returned and not deactivated, part of a temporary project or even something that belonged to a user who is no longer with the company. Being able to rapidly identify unused devices and eliminate them from your monthly bill can be a short term windfall. Many companies see 20% savings in the first year from mobility audits and mobile device management and as much as 40% savings long-term!
Another great tool available via many MDM tools is the ability to right-size data plans each month to adjust for usage. If used correctly this could be the end of paying overages as you can adjust the size of your data pool each month to accommodate for that month’s usage. Whether this is saving you from users streaming, allowing for an unexpected event that sent more users to remote offices, a temporary project increasing the number of phones and tablets or any other change bringing about a spike in data usage. Considering the difference in cost between larger data plans and paying, on average, $15/Gb in overages; this could be a game-changing development for many companies.
Whether you are looking to wrap your arms around your current billing/usage, wanting an ongoing management platform to simplify mobile support or just a way to accommodate surprising turns in data usage that won’t break the bank; then consider engaging an outsider rather than piling on your already overworked IT and accounting teams. Surprisingly enough, Wired Networks has significant expertise here (hint, hint, wink, wink).
