Corporate Cellular Management

Is your organization struggling to keep pace with its cellular program? Have the costs of maintaining smartphones and tablets become a management headache? Has your company given up entirely on its corporate-sponsored cellular program altogether?

If you answer ‘yes’ to any of these questions don’t fret and don’t throw in the towel. There are solutions available to help you manage your corporate cellular needs successfully. Make no mistake, it is well worth the effort to revisit your corporate cellular program sooner than later.

According to Gartner’s 2016-2017 surveys on cellular management, businesses can save upwards of 10-35% simply by establishing usage policy controls for their users. So, consider your current expenditures. If your organization is spending 5k/month or more, then the potential savings can be considerable.

In our experience, however, policy controls are only the beginning of realizing a worthwhile program. The first and most important question to ask yourself is this: can my team realistically manage all the facets of our cellular needs on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis?

For the uninitiated, here are the needs (and challenges) our clients face:

1. Multiple Cellular Providers – your personnel may require devices and services from different carriers. This may be especially important if your company has divisions in different parts of the United States.
2. Performance – anyone who uses a cellular service long enough may want to switch for a variety of reasons. Let’s face it, certain providers have stronger network performance in some areas than others. As business mobility becomes more and more prevalent the underlying
   carrier network becomes more critical to the performance of your users.
3. Billing – in most cases, billing maintenance requires too much time, expertise and commitment for your internal staffers to succeed. The cellular providers know this. Plans change quarterly if not monthly in the cellular business. Given the potential for voice and data overage charges, someone in your organization will have to stay dedicated to learning and
   maintaining knowledge of multiple carrier plans. Depending on the number of users and providers, this dedication can quickly become a part-time job.
4. Security – if any of your team study cyber security trends they will tell you that smartphones and tablets pose a huge risk to your network security. The only way you can realistically manage this risk is by establishing guidelines and controls over those devices. With a managed cellular program, you can establish corporate policies and limitations on
   device use and applications. Putting strict guidelines in place will minimize your security risks and the potential for hackers to use these devices as entry into your corporate IT environment.

Consider a Cellular Service Aggregator to help you manage your cellular needs.

If your business has 50 or more mobile devices there are some very good outsourcing alternatives available today. Vendors known as ‘aggregators’ specialize in the integration of various carriers for convenience and performance. These aggregators provide a single invoice and a dedicated help desk to manage various cellular providers under one support system. Your personnel don’t have to give up their preferred carrier, device or phone number. Consider the time and effort (and frustration) your accounting and IT staffers endure managing multitudes of cellular plans for your organization. Under the care of the right aggregator, the potential time savings for contract management, moves, adds and change orders can be substantial. These folks bring a wealth of knowledge and experience you can leverage to ensure your interests are best served.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have the flexibility of ‘carrier choice’ for your personnel so they get the best performance possible? The best aggregators can provide your personnel the flexibility to change carriers, get better service and still remain a part of your existing plan while helping you minimize costs and multiple invoices.

Finally, when it comes to cyber security, the best aggregators can offer solutions to help IT staffers carry out their policies.

The best solutions provide sophisticated web portals that offer:

• access controls for each end-user device
• usage statistics for each end-user device
• management controls for installing and limiting specific applications
• management reports tracking contract dates and program data

While no one can guarantee 100% security, an aggregator’s resources can certainly be used to enhance your corporate security policy.

If your organization is serious about shoring up its corporate cellular program consider an aggregator for help. Most aggregators do not charge additional fees for their time and expertise. Rather, the aggregator uses its carrier agreements to provide plans and devices to you. By helping you combine carrier plans and devices on their platform, you save money and time while the aggregator collects an annuity from the cellular provider. When executed properly, this business arrangement is often a win-win for both parties.

Contact RAM Communications today and let us help you find the right provider for your organization.