The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has heightened discussion of the use of business mobile phone in an outbreak response. Many studies have shown that most businesses are now relying on their business mobile phones as the workforce has moved to working remotely. This has meant that the bills have mounted. Let us know how businesses can reduce their spending even with high usage of business mobiles.
Figures from Ofcom, the communications market regulator, show individual and business users began to spend more time on our phones due to the changes wrought on society by the coronavirus lockdown.
How the business calling data changed during COVID
In the weeks before social and working restrictions began in late March, the average mobile call was around 3.40 minutes. But once lockdown began to bite, average duration stretched out to almost 5.30 minutes.
- Mobile usage has increased during typical working hours, possibly indicating that consumers are using their smartphones while also relying on their desktop computers to work from home during the coronavirus pandemic, per a press release about a new study from Valassis. Consumers also are staying up later on weekdays while using their phones.
- Mobile users have tended to increase their usage of web browsers rather than apps as their media consumption habits change. The growth in internet usage is linked with consumption of information rather than entertainment. Consumers have tended to view more serious topics like finances, the economy and healthcare, while cutting back on lighter topics like celebrity entertainment news.
- Location data revealed unsurprising results as authorities ordered lockdowns on public gathering places. Visits to colleges, concert halls, theaters, airports and bars all declined in late March amid the restrictions on travel, according to the study.
4 ways you can reduce the spending on business mobile during COVID
- Find the mobile plans best suited to your business budget: There is a massive difference between consumer and business tariffs. They can be customised to suit your business requirements. If your company’s requirement is to use 1000 minutes per month, then that is plan you can be put on.
- Take advantage of shared plans: Sharing business plan between the staff is a great idea and leads to reduction in cost. This plan is most effective for start-ups and SMEs as it lets them to take one plan out and share the usage data, minutes and texts for the month, without additional mobile plan fee.
- Clean up your inventory and remove inactive services through Mobile Device Management: Removing the clutter of unwanted inventory and inactive services through Mobile Device management could be your go to thing for reducing costs. SMEs should focus on customer centric MDM. This will lead to top-line growth while delivering operational savings. There aren’t many initiatives that can aim to deliver both cost savings and new revenue streams.
- Trust the numbers: Are you looking to cut down on business mobile cost? 30 – 40% cost reduction is effectively delivered through active bill monitoring, analytics, reporting and by freeing up personnel from hours of administration. On an average, customers report a cut to their mobile bills by an average 35% with better monitoring and reporting.
You are spending more than you would want to and this pandemic situation has worsened it? You will have to use a strategic approach to get this right. If this is something you want to know more about, we are happy to assist you.
Book a call now to discuss this with our team of experts.