Mobile devices are omnipresent, and everyone uses them for communication and computing. But few management teams know what it costs to the company. Do employees know what their mobility costs the company, and how they are accounted for? Mobility costs can spiral quickly and unexpectedly. Are companies themselves budgeting for these costs, creating accountability centres and trying to determine the impact of overspending on mobility costs?
Mobility management is a relatively new subject for many companies. Corporates are yet to realise that the decision to invest in mobility is simple, but managing its costs is not. However, mobility cost visibility is of vital importance to decrease mobility costs for businesses of all shapes and sizes. If you want to reduce your mobility fleet costs, you must first know what these costs are, down to the last detail.
Visibility Of A Business’ Mobility Costs
There are several advantages to the visibility of mobility costs, such as:
- Builds an asset inventory management system
- Informs employees that the company is serious about employee accountability and wants them to be responsible for their mobility behaviour
- Collects and utilises data for mobility costs savings strategies
- Useful in service provider contract negotiations as well as dispute resolution
This visibility demands appropriate asset management. To make all mobile costs visible across your company, you would need to have a comprehensive register that contains asset and usage details. It will become the benchmark for the implementation of cost reduction plans, cost analysis, as well as optimisation outcomes.
The Asset Register Should Be A Database With Information Such As :
- Communication and computing devices – Smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktop computers, hand-held terminals, routers, Wi-Fi hotspot devices
- Device information – Date/proof of purchase, IMEI numbers, warranty details
- Ownership Information – Employee name, title, SIM cards by service number, address, cost centre
- Carrier plan details – Price, contract start/end dates, allowances, inclusions
- Carrier network services – International roaming, premium MMS, directory services
- Allocation identifier of cost centre
Maintaining an up-to-date and accurate assets register is vital for cost control. You need to have a system in place to capture any changes in the information mentioned above. Cross-referencing the information with tel-co carriers helps to monitor billing expenditure. An accurate register is a preventative step to ensure that expensive devices continue to be the company’s property and do not disappear with an employee leaving the job. Look for a well-managed mobility service that provides life-cycle management such as dynamic asset inventory processes. This ensures that the information in the asset register is accurate.
Visibility Ensures Your Employee Are Accountable
Visibility has to become a part of employee behaviour. When an employee knows that the bills are monitored, the honesty level automatically goes up. A mobile policy is also an efficient way to let employees know the limits of corporate mobility. Support it with a system of sharing the bill for every service with the end-user and the concerned manager.
Instituting a system of business intelligence analysis goes a long way in improving compliance to corporate mobility policy. Delivering the results of the analysis to the employees and highlighting billing anomalies and non-compliant use will set the alarm bells ringing.
Visibility Helps Form Savings Strategies
Merely having a reporting system in place is not helpful to reduce mobility costs. An effective cost reduction strategy requires a thorough analysis of the expense-related raw data and identifying cost-saving opportunities. Business intelligence analysis provides strategic telecom expenditure analysis and supports the efforts for the visibility of company mobility costs. It serves to:
- Focus on savings opportunities
- Save telecom expenditure
- Fine-tune policies and procedures for employee telecom usage
- Identify carrier plans, services, and devices where cost optimisation plans are implementable
These efforts have to be consistent for them to have an effect and be sustainable. It’s also essential to assign this job to experts that can follow-up on all the data and keep track of mobility costs in your company.
For effective and sustainable cost reduction solutions & efficiencies that will increase your bottom line, contact the experts at Benchmark Cost Solutions at this number – 02 9525 0777. If you prefer, write to us at this email address, and we will revert quickly.
Thanks for reading,
Benchmark Cost Solutions Team
02 9525 0777
