Wireless Expense Management Blog

Oct 28 2010

Learn 3 Ways Your Company Can Battle “Bill Shock”

So, have you experienced “Bill Shock”?

If you’re like most people, you know the feeling…and it’s not pleasant. Wikipedia describes bill shock as “the negative reaction a subscriber can experience if their mobile phone bill has unexpected charges.”

Well a recent study published by The New America Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative (OTI) suggests a lack of competition is the culprit for “bill shock”. The OTI goes as far as to suggest the U.S. establish regulations to encourage competition amongst wireless providers to ensure “…the U.S. becomes an engine of innovation for the better and more competitively priced service offices.”

At The Bill Police® office, we couldn’t have been happier to hear this. Not only does this highlight the drastic cost avoidance opportunities that we currently implement, but also what savings opportunities the future holds.

So in our quest for helping your organization conquer wireless costs, we present 3 ways you can battle bill shock:

1. Contract negotiation

Understanding what other companies are paying makes great negotiation ammo. Unfortunately, most for-profit organizations aren’t exactly open to sharing this sensitive information. What to do? Leverage the experience of an expert who has worked with multiple large wireless accounts. They understand carrier cost structure and know what other companies with similar usage spend. This allows for supreme bargaining power when digging deep within contract negotiation

2. Get an Audit

Telecom auditing became popular in the days before corporate wireless, when landlines ruled the workplace. Luckily, this same process has been heavily-adapted (think complexities from data, roaming, apps, etc.) to apply to wireless. Outsourcing a wireless telecom audit is the fastest way to drastically reduce wireless spending.

3. Understand Individually Liable Dangers

We find that in certain organizations, this can add up to hundreds of thousands in wireless overspending annually. You can read more about this is our latest whitepaper.

Have you had “bill shock”? Share your experience in the comments below!

Oct 25 2010

Fortune® 100 Client Celebrates their 10th Year with The Bill Police®

Here at The Bill Police office, we are excited to celebrate a decade of wireless management service with one of our amazing clients!

This just goes to show that the excellent value-added services that we strive to maintain do not go unnoticed. With a 95% cumulative retention rate, we really find that our clients appreciate the personal service and expert, cost-saving advice we offer.

I will admit, we do drive a pretty tough argument – we’ll reduce your wireless expenses or don’t pay for the services. Plus, with savings usually in the 20%-40% range, this can amount to tens (if not hundreds) of thousands in wireless costs avoided each month.

Although this is our first 10 year client, many others have been with us for well over 5 years. In fact, we still continue to build our client base each and every month…and, more importantly, continue to provide on-going value for clients new and old.

A huge thanks for all of our clients – we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for all of your support!

Note: Because we maintain confidentiality agreements with all of our high profile clients, we do not publish any specific client information.

Oct 20 2010

Why the Death of ‘Feature’ Phones will Skyrocket Enterprise Wireless Data Costs

Been inside your local retail wireless store lately?

If so, while you are browsing all the new shiny devices you probably noticed something – the serious lack of “feature” phones. In fact, did you notice what devices the majority other people were buying, or having serviced? You guessed it – Smartphones.

The Death of the Feature Phone

An article over on RCR Wireless last week described that the consumer market is trending far away from the low-tech feature phones to Android and Apple iOS equipped Smartphones.

This should not come at a surprise – the Smartphone revolutionizes organizational (and personal) productivity in a way never before possible. Add to that the fact that device prices are dropping as low as $50 range and you can expect feature phones to become relatively extinct* by late 2011.

How this Effects Enterprise Wireless Mobility

This brings a multitude concerns for enterprises who currently have a large scale wireless program and are switching over to Smartphones – over those who are not fully integrated. Typical problems that organizations are expected to experience are based around:

New security concerns
Application issues
Compatibility

However, the biggest factor facing enterprise wireless is the rise of costs due to mandatory data packages.

This tradeoff in productivity is (in most cases) well worth the extra $10-$30 a month in extra fees. Nowadays, this is a simply necessary cost of doing business.

Nonetheless, these extra costs can put strain on an organization’s wireless budget and should be watched and protected very carefully. For instance, Verizon is adding its much-awaited LTE 4G network which brings new technology and great advances in speed of mobile computing. On the contrary, there is also serious talk about capping monthly data usage plans, which can be deadly for enterprise users.

If not managed properly this can mean an unsettling impact on an enterprise’s bottom line. This also means corporate subscribers will be subjected to variable data costs, thus making an increasing positive business case for proactive wireless management.

It’s Not All Bad News

The news of Android and Windows OS integration (late 2010) should make the transition from feature phone to Smartphone easier for most enterprise managers. We’ll keep you updated on this as we learn more!

*Sure there will still be a feature phone market, but largely overshadowed by the Smartphone offerings

Oct 18 2010

Wireless Contract Negotiation Success Story!

We recently re-negotiated an existing wireless contract to save a client an additional 17% off their monthly bill.

17% might not sound like a lot, but when your monthly costs reach $204,963, well, it means they avoided paying $34,843 per month – on top of other avoided costs from optimization! This intense re-negotiation took almost nine months and went through 4 incorrect revisions from the carrier.

For example, some items added to one agreement not in the earlier draft. Other items were left off or changed from the earlier agreement and were not included. Talk about frustrating! But as with all things worthwhile, our disciplined patience prevailed…and to the tune of some dramatic savings.

We weren’t surprised to learn the carrier had issues determining exactly what it was billing our client each month (Read that again). They had serious trouble figuring what discounts would be offered to the customer. At one point we were even asked to provide the carrier with our proprietary data to help them determine the amounts they would bill!

The unfortunate truth: this is not an isolated incident. Carriers are often able to drop their rates significantly when pressure is applied from third party experts.

For The Bill Police® team, this process can be exceptionally rewarding. Now, our client is paying less than they were 2 1/2 years ago (same carrier) with 300 more devices, 20x times the amount of data and 2 times more the amount of voice minutes.

The moral of the story? If you’re serious about cutting costs, hire a wireless management specialist to get the absolute lowest rates before entering contract negotiation. Even if you have recently negotiated with your carrier, a specialist can usually find areas for further expense reduction. Because they know what other enterprise organizations are paying, they have bargaining power and leverage to deliver and negotiate extremely cost-effective contracts.

It never ceases to amaze us how far you can get when negotiating with expert data close at hand…which is exactly why our clients love us. We protect our client’s 3 wireless “rights”: right plan. right price. right result. As you can now see, the results can be amazing!

Oct 14 2010

2010 Wireless Industry Stats

How Much is Wireless Stealing From Your Bottom Line?

Sure, you probably have more important things to think about than your wireless cost…it’s not exactly an exciting topic. But think about it, how many other expenses have risen as quickly as wireless over the last 5 years? It’s easy to overlook considering the high levels of increased productivity that wireless mobility brings to a corporation. However, this increased productivity comes at a significant (and sometimes unnecessary) cost.

In fact, according to the CTIA, mid-year figures (U.S. only) show total revenues from wireless and data reached $202.6 billion. This is an increase of more than 55% in a mere 5 years.

Wireless Industry Stats 2010 — Stats courtesy of CTIA. Click to view full size.

Obviously, with new technology and increased usage, we expect costs to go up – it’s simple economics. Unfortunately, because of the increased complexity associated with wireless plans and programs many organizations are spending a lot more than necessary.

How much you ask? Most clients we’ve worked with were spending anywhere between 15-50% more than they should have been on their corporate wireless plans.

Companies who are taking advantage of all the productivity of 3G coverage, mobile browsing and email, are usually overspending $20 per phone, per month. From large organizations (and even small ones!) this can mean a big chunk of your wireless program’s (or department’s) budget every month is being unnecessarily wasted.

Not to toot our own horn or anything, but this is exactly why so many government, non-profit and corporate organizations have been so impressed with our wireless telecom expense management services. For most executives, it’s a no-brainer. Save 15-50% on wireless by letting The Bill Police® handle all my bills…where can I sign up!?

The real takeaway here is that no matter the size of your wireless program you should be continually optimizing and managing your billings. Most organizations find that is makes greater financial sense to outsource these duties, but even if you manage your wireless optimization and billings in house – or with another wireless management firm (gasp!) – you should still see your wireless costs drop significantly.

Learn how easy it is to reduce your wireless telecom costs. Schedule a free savings analysis and see exactly how much your overspending each month on wireless.