Over the last 25+ years of working and consulting in the cell phone and telecom industry, one of the most common questions that we still get is, “How can I lower my ever-increasing cell phone expenses?” That is the ‘million dollar question.’ Well, maybe not a MILLION dollars but often, several thousand dollars.
Our company Nuvo Solutions, has served and worked for well over a hundred organizations as a telecommunications integrator and serves as a full-service shop with all the major cell phone carriers under one roof. These experiences have given us valuable insights into the industry and helped us create, what we feel, is the template to get those ever-increasing cell phone expenses under control.
#1 Itemize What You’re Currently Spending
As my grandad used to say, “You can’t hit what you can’t see.” So how can you possibly lower expenses on your bill if you don’t have all the facts? This is by far the most daunting task out of the five listed, but it is the most important one. There are three main components that you must know in order to proceed. How many lines and devices do you have? How many of those lines are not in use, and why? Who is assigned to and has possession of each device? Often as a consultant and telecommunications integrator, when working with a new customer, the very first thing we do is find the answers to those three questions and only then can we know what we are working with. From there, we can begin to clean up those unused lines and start calculating rate plans, miscellaneous fees, and organizing the data in such a way that we can see a clear target. This is where we lay the foundation.
#2 Don’t Pay for Insurance Through Your Carrier!
We have been doing this for a while, and not once has the math on insurance ever made sense. Did you know that the average cost of insurance for a phone is now up to $12.50 per line, per month? Did you know that deductibles range from $30 (cracked screen only) to $200 (everything else) per claim? Fact is, in one year you are spending $150 per device, just on insurance, without receiving anything in return. If you do end up breaking the device you have to pony up that $200 deductible, increasing costs even more! The average (outright) replacement cost of a refurbished device for most technicians is around $300. (Quick note, almost all replacement insurance phones are refurbished). So, do the math yourself and see if it makes sense for your organization. Chances are it doesn’t.
#3 Use a Mobile Device Management (MDM) Software.
How can spending more money save you money? Simple! Make sure you control what you own. We find that the most egregious spend is from lost assets like phones and tablets. How many times has someone left your organization – or turned in an older iPad, iPhone, or Android – just for it to be locked to an iCloud or a Google account? How many drawers and boxes are in your office holding old non recoverable equipment? What did that cost you? The solution here is really simple: get an MDM solution so you can control these devices and stop losing your assets.
#4 Get Competitive Bids
News flash! Wireless carriers are more focused on new activations and grabbing your business than any other metric. This pays great dividends to you, the consumer, especially now that all things are getting fairly equal in the coverage arena. The main providers today are all focused on what we call the two c’s: cost and coverage. If you look at the unbiased consumer reporting groups, you will see that most carriers are within fractions of a percent of each other in regards to coverage areas. So go get a competitive bid from an alternate provider even if you don’t plan on switching! If nothing else, you can use it to drive down your existing provider and have a new metric of where you should be. Side note here, be careful with this when you look at the proposals. They are loaded with incentives but can also have some contract extensions or payments that you might not be familiar with; make sure you give it an honest comparison to your existing provider.
#5 Hire a Professional
Sometimes cutting costs also means increasing your efficiency, so consider contracting a professional company to handle the telecom shopping and implementation. As business owners and department heads, we outsource many things in the organization which are just not at our core, such as human resources, accounting services, legal, and even IT or security, to name a few; so why not do the same with your cell phones?
TEM (Telecom Expense Management) companies do a great job of negotiating rates simply because they see so many customers and they have many profiles to compare them to. In addition to TEM companies, there are also what we call “telecommunications integrators” that will handle your projects “soup to nuts” where they will negotiate the rates of the carriers, order the devices, and manage the day to day as it pertains to customer service, technical support, and the overall lift of your cell phones for your organization. Depending on the circumstances and your level of comfort and understanding of all the telecom jargon, sometimes it just makes sense to let a professional handle it. As cell phones have become such an integral part of operations and a large expense for most companies, it also has become a heavy burden for executives and managers to navigate and make sense of the ever-changing landscape. More often than not, you will find that the money you save by using these companies offsets the expense of their services, and then some.
Cell phones and tablets have become one of the most intricate parts of the operations for fire safety and service organizations, from baseline communication to accessing field service software in the field. The need for these devices as well as the expense tied to them, isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The goal should be to harness the technology to get more done, while limiting the monthly expense tied to running the technology, so your organization can grow and operate and get more done than your competitor. Put this template into practice, and you should be able to get a handle on rising expenses. Hopefully this helps with the “million-dollar question” and you can get on your way to saving those thousands.