It's time to get off the device treadmill and focus on the real issue at hand

This article will be seen as heretical by many of my colleagues in the Mobile Solutions space, but it needs to be said. If you are managing a fleet of mobile phones on behalf of your employer, you need to take note of these three key messages:

• Don’t pay for International Roaming – there are better solutions
• Don’t buy the latest handsets – in fact don’t buy handsets at all, they're a personal choice
• Don’t migrate your employee’s numbers on and off your company account – maintain your own fleet of services. Your employee's personal mobile number is their business

These three functions account for a significant amount of cost and time when managing your corporate fleet, and it’s time you started focusing on the real agenda of digital transformation, not the daily grind of adds moves and changes, “broken” handsets and accidental blow outs in Roaming costs.

Is this ringing bells for you? Take 10 minutes to read on.     

One of my first ever roles in the “professional” world was working for a finance company called AGC, I’m sure many people here from my vintage will recognise that name.

On day one at the office in Epping I was given a package that included two pairs of grey slacks, about three white business shirts, a tie and jacket, all emblazoned with the company logo. Not long after that, companies like AGC realised they didn’t need to provide work attire for back office staff, most people were more than capable of buying shirts, slacks and suits.

Similarly, a few years later my first role in the telecommunications industry was with a company called Link, a paging and answering service company. On my first day at Link I received a pager of course, and the keys to a relatively new white Ford Falcon and a company fuel card.

Today the idea of an employee using a company owned vehicle or even having a uniform is reminiscent of a bygone era. Walkthrough any corporate car park, there are very few company owned vehicles amongst the array of 4WD’s, Sportscars, Family wagons and even Motorbikes.

In 2020 an account manager or sales rep achieves much of the same function through their mobile technology, that they once did via a company owned Vehicle. The company sedan was there primarily to ensure the rep was in front of their customers having those regular conversations that kept the relationship humming. Today we do that via email, voice calls, TEAMS meetings, SMS even social media like LinkedIn. Similarly in 2020 the idea of a candidate for any role not having a reasonable quality mobile device already in their hand when they turn up for an interview, is unheard of.

So why is it in 2020 that so many companies, particularly Enterprises, still maintain fleets of increasingly expensive and time consuming mobile devices for their staff? The answer of course is the Enterprise wants to maintain control of the conversation and content passing though those devices – not the least being the actual mobile number used. They don’t want customers to have old phone numbers for ex staff, especially if that staff member now works for a competitor. It’s about maintaining a consistent experience for customers regardless of who is on the end of the communication.

Right now I am managing a portfolio of accounts for a colleague who is on maternity leave, our customers will call the same numbers but will reach me not her Voicemail while she is at home with a brand new baby. The key point here though is I am using my own iPhone 8+ loaded with exactly the right Apps and settings, and she is still using her Samsung device, we have simply swapped sims. In reality almost all my personal communication now happens via Social Media or messaging apps, so it’s irrelevant what Mobile number I am using.

I regularly have this conversation with family and friend when they travel overseas – “What should I do about roaming…?”. Nothing, absolutely nothing, whatever you do DON’T have Roaming enabled on your personal mobile device when you are on holidays, it’s an potnetially expensive liability you don’t need. Everywhere you travel in the world will provide you with access to good quality WiFi as well as local sim cards for as little as $5. Your family and friends know how to get in contact with you via Email or Social media, and those that don’t have those details aren’t your friends or family and will be wasting your time while you’re on holidays. Leave a voicemail making it clear you are away on leave and asking people to send you a note on Social Media if it's urgent.         

This is just one of the the realities of mobile fixed convergence and digital transformation. Even my 84 year old father uses WhatsApp to contact me now, and I call him back on his landline to chat. Don’t get me wrong Mobile phone numbers are critical to any business, but that business should own that number and maintain that consistent experience over potentially multiple employees filling a customer facing roles such as Sales and Service. 

It’s simply time that Enterprises in particular broke the nexus between managing mobile services and buying handsets on what is effectively the original consumer model of a 24 month contracted payment plan. The real value and cost of a new device is being obscured by a “simple” monthly payment and the associated contract. That model worked well when the handset cost a few hundred dollars and breaking a contract would incur an ETC of maybe $250-400. But now we are seeing handset ranges that are increasing in cost at a rapid rate, the cheapest iPhone 12 is over $1200. The handset now is the major expense not the monthly voice and data plan, and yet the handset is the most irrelevant link in the Digital chain, and is increasingly becoming a personal choice.

The components that are critical to an Enterprise are the choice of network and the security of all company data.

Those choices are not decisions that should be left to the individual, regardless of who they are.        

Telstra has recently launched a new range of Mobile plans called Adaptive Mobility. One of the striking features of these new plans is the fact they are causal – switch them on, switch them off. As a consequence there is also not a large hardware subsidy, instead technology funds accrue over time. Anyone who manages Corporate fleets should also recognise that the average monthly cost now of a Corporate Mobile service is closer to $50 than $100.

The competitive landscape of Corporate mobility also doesn’t offer the price delta it once did. Halving the monthly mobile service charge once upon a time might provide a CFO savings in excess of $100,000 a year. Today migrating a fleet of mobile services to a Tier 2 network is only shaving a few thousand dollars here and there at the very real cost of a significant impact upon useability. As the old saying goes, you don’t need mobile coverage until you do.    

The digital transformation I mentioned earlier also means the information passing through a device is far broader than it has ever been, and that poses a very real risk of corporate damage through malicious activity. Who owns the device plays no role in mitigating that risk. An appropriate MDM solution as well as a security application maintained across an entire organisation should be the key focus for all CIO’s and their IT teams.           

I told you right at the start of this article what you shouldn’t be doing in 2020. So what should you absolutely be doing?   

1. Do - Own the sim card not the device
2. Do - Deploy a secure environment on all you rcorporate mobile servcies – use an MDM and a Security Application
3. Do - Converge your fixed and mobile environments – incorporate mobility into your digital transformation strategy

These three things should be front of mind for every administrator of a Corporate Mobile fleet, and your provider should be talking to you about that and that alone.

If your Mobility partner is emailing you regularly about the price of handsets and accessories, you’re having the wrong conversations about Mobility.