Five Ways to Save (or Make) Money on WirelessFive Ways to Save (or Make) Money on Wireless

Wireless services remain one of the fastest growing and most poorly managed elements in the telecommunications mix; anyone with a modicum of business acumen will undoubtedly sense a relationship between those two attributes. Given the growing importance of mobility and the dependence on wireless services to provide it, it is clear that this is an area that we need to bring under better management control.

One of the “can you top this” categories at the recent Fall Conference of the Society of Telecommunications Consultants (STC) in Reno was the quest for the highest monthly cellular bill. Ryan Larsen of Urban-Technology Group thought he had it pegged with an executive who ran up a $6,500 tab on a one week overseas trip (not surprisingly, all potential entries involved international cellular). However, telecom attorney Martha Buyer took the prize with the story of a $45,000 monthly cellular bill. Someone’s kid took his not-so-smartphone on an overseas trip, and the kid spent most of his time watching streaming videos. While this sort of news might be met with great delight by the cellular carriers, I can assure you that your CFO isn’t laughing.

As the percentage of wireless in the network services mix is growing exponentially, we can anticipate that these problems (and the associated waste) will continue to grow in the coming years. Before this situation gets too far out of hand, here are five recommendations to begin getting your wireless environment under control.

1.) TAKE OWNERSHIP

It’s time to end the foolish management practice of having employee-owned handsets and reimbursing for charges through expense vouchers. Most large organizations have taken this step, though there are still plenty of loose cannons out there. The surveys on this indicate that somewhere around 50% of business cell phones are user owned and company reimbursed. From my experience, virtually all of those are in smaller businesses and the majority of large users have moved to company-paid contracts.

Making the cell phone a company-owned item is important for financial control, but it is also critically important for security. While I have heard other opinions on this matter, as far as I’m concerned, the only way to have adequate security on mobile devices is for the company to own them, have clear policies regarding their use, the ability to ensure that those policies are being followed, and real penalties for non-compliance. That type of meaningful mobility policy will require a commitment from the top; we’ll have more on mobile policies in a moment.

2.) TAKE CONTROL

Once we own the things, then it’s time to start getting the data we need to manage them effectively. There are any number of good telecom expense management (TEM) programs that can help with the task of analyzing cellular expenditures, and lots of consulting firms that can help you get a handle on your wireless spending. You might need a two-phase plan where you first reduce the number of cellular carriers you’re using. Focus on carriers who can provide the type of computerized billing you will need to do a meaningful analysis.

Based on this analysis, you may be amazed to find how much your company is spending on downloadable ring tones. Take a good look at data overages, particularly if all you thought you were paying for was Blackberry-based business email. Along with stanching the bleeding, this exercise will put you in a much stronger position when it comes time to negotiate your next cellular contract. Thanks to computer-based TEM programs, you can now deal with more granular calling information (like who called whom and when), so you can start to get a grip on where you might get a break on in-building or employee-to-employee usage.

The first objective of this exercise will be to secure the best cellular contract(s) for your legitimate business cellular usage. Once you have that under control, there are a number of additional strategies you can explore. Many organizations currently use cell phones for in-building mobility; replacing those with WLAN phones (assuming you have deployed a voice-capable WLAN) is a no-brainer. If you have a population of heavy mobile users who split their time on- and off-site, a dual mode fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) solution like one of those from Agito or DiVitas Networks could be an option.

While you’re at it, take a look at any other wireless solutions you’re using. That might include licensed or unlicensed point-to-point systems, push-to-talk radio, and other specialized systems. In the end there may or may not be a way to incorporate them in an integrated solution, but you don’t know unless you look.

3.) DEVELOP A MOBILITY POLICY

Normally I would put the policy recommendation first, but as enterprises are often hemorrhaging losses in the wireless area, you can probably start focusing on getting the house in order before the mobile usage policy is fully defined.

That policy should start with an overall description of the role of wireless communications and a clear statement of acceptable use. It should also identify who owns the phone (the company), and the purposes for which it can be used. That policy may allow a user to port their personal number to that phone when they join the company, but if they do, that personal number should never be made known to business contacts. Most IP PBX vendors have solutions that will route all incoming and outgoing mobile calls through the PBX, thereby hiding the cellular number.

The policy should look to provide users with the tools they need to do their jobs effectively while curtailing unnecessary expenses. The starting point will be to define who needs wireless access, what services they need to do their jobs, and how that can best be provided. That means you start at the bottom, and work your way up to what is required for each job category that entails mobility. It is important to pilot test those planned wireless solutions to ensure that they really do work. A low-cost solution can wind up costing a lot more if it impacts the user’s efficiency.

Once you have a handle on what you need, you can begin to negotiate with your cellular carriers in a meaningful way. You should look to prohibit consumer frivolities like downloadable ringers, pictures, music, and the like. Given the outrageous roaming charges involved, international is always a big target; the carriers don’t bother doing much about these because they feel they can simply blame it on the other carrier. Of course if you have European users visiting the U.S. and U.S. users visiting Europe, you’re getting hit coming and going!

The primary strategy we are using to reduce those international roaming charges today is mandating the use of IP-based softphones on international trips. Whenever possible, have the user connect their laptop to a broadband Internet connection and use the softphone client to place their calls. If you are using dual mode Wi-Fi/cellular handsets, look into the possibility of having them operate over the local office’s Wi-Fi network when the user is visiting a company location, or through public hot spots if that can be done securely.

Mobile security must also be a key element of the policy, and once again, there should be real penalties for non-compliance (e.g. first infraction you lose it for a week, next infraction you lose it for a month, third infraction and it’s your job). The need for a strong mobile security policy stems from the fact that a growing percentage of those business cell phones are smart phones or PDAs. These computer-based devices have considerable storage capacity, operating systems that may be vulnerable to viruses and malware, and will typically have multiple communications interfaces (e.g. Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth, IrDA, etc.) to serve as entrance vectors. You can also include the synching process as a two-way entrance vector to pass malware back and forth between the mobile device and the user’s PC; the first Windows cross-over virus that could pass between a mobile device and a desktop was described in 2005.

While mobile malware gets a lot of coverage, the most typical exposure is bad user practices. The typical scenario is simply losing a mobile device that does not have basic security mechanisms such as power-on password and on-board file encryption. Mobile devices have slipped under the security radar for too long, and that’s an accident waiting to happen.

Finally, the mobility policy should also protect the organization from liability. If an employee is involved in an accident while talking on a company phone and driving a car on company business, there is no doubt that the liability lawyers will be coming after the company. As an attorney, Martha Buyer prefers that the mobile devices not be owned by the company at all. Unfortunately, that approach conflicts with our security objectives. Ms. Buyer recommends that if the company is going to own the mobile device, every employee should be made to sign a document confirming they understand and will adhere to the company’s no-exceptions policy banning cell phone and mobile data use while driving. That agreement should also specify that the user understands the penalties for non-compliance, and that in extreme cases this could lead to termination.

A mobile policy with this level of enforcement calls for strong management commitment. However, the issues are serious, and along with the obvious danger to the employee, the company’s potential liability could be tens of millions of dollars. In the meantime, we may want to define an additional presence status called "driving," which means "leave me alone!"

4.) BEGIN TO THINK STRATEGICALLY ABOUT WIRELESS

When most organizations consider wireless, they look at one or two small parts of the overall picture, most typically Wi-Fi and cellular. There are lots of other pieces to the wireless puzzle. A meaningful wireless plan should address all of the current and potential applications for wireless technology. WiMAX services are starting to appear, albeit on a miniscule scale, but if you have a location in Baltimore, you may want to consider a pilot test of Sprint-Clearwire’s new Xohm service. If you have groups that use push-to-talk systems, there are a growing number of alternatives to the Sprint Nextel iDEN service.

Many universities hold licenses for 2.5 GHz Educational Broadcast Service (EBS) channels. The EBS program is a legacy of the Kennedy administration, but those are the same Broadband Radio Service (BRS) channels that carriers are using for commercial WiMAX services. Recently, Florida Atlantic University entered an agreement to sell their EBS rights to Clearwire for as much as $173 million over the next 30-years.

While you may not have a wireless windfall in your future, you have to learn to think outside the narrow confines of what is being offered in the marketplace today. The FCC appears to be poised to move on the white space initiative, and that could evolve into a real alternative to cellular in the future. Unrealistic speculation abounds in the wireless arena, so you should be sure that what you are considering is feasible from a technical and regulatory standpoint. You may want to bounce your ideas off a consultant who specializes in wireless to make sure you’re not wasting your time. However, you should not expect any revolutionary ideas from a cellular carrier who has the most to gain from maintaining the status quo.

5.) USE WIRELESS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE AND PLAY TO WIN

Wireless holds the potential to shrink communications links, eliminate human latency, streamline countless business processes, and directly impact overall organizational responsiveness. Every businessperson recognizes the impact that mobile data services have had on the package delivery business, but they falter when it comes to taking the next step, which is to ask: "How can I make something like that work in my business?"

Cost saving and better controls are important, but you should really be looking at how mobility can be used to change your overall business processes. I recently posted an article on UC Strategies titled, "Managing the Mobilization of UC" that lays out some basic steps for organizations to move past canned applications like push email to real mobile communications enabled business processes. The biggest step is to recognize that these types of systems can be built, and enterprises of all types can benefit from them.

Unified communications is going mobile and users have already recognized the productivity advantages, even if their companies have not. Organizations that have not put systems in place to manage their wireless expenditures are in a poor position to capitalize on these trends. If you find yourself in that position, it is time to start getting the wireless house in order. Depending on where you are in this overall process, it may take years to get to a point where you are technically and organizationally ready to take advantage of the move to mobile communications. Regardless of where you are today, the sooner you start, the better.

Michael Finneran is president of dBrn Associates, an independent consulting firm in Hewlett Neck, NY, specializing in the design and installation of domestic and international networks. He is a regular blogger for No Jitter and he helps create the Mobility/Wireless content for the VoiceCon events.