1. Pricing. The price that the "company" I work for is actually within a few pennies of what I pay myself for a voice + data plan through Verizon (for the few very privileged people who get a phone in the first place). Perhaps our negotiators just aren't any good, but that's the way it is.
2. Avoid unnecessary invoice processing. Where I work the company avoids this by making you pay for it yourself. You want or think you need a phone? Get out your checkbook - otherwise you aren't getting one.
3. Leverage cost allocation data. Not needed since its free as far as the company is concerned (see item 2).
4. Don't lose control of data. Yes this is a problem. However before employees can connect their personal phone, they have to read and sign the mobile device agreement which gives us the right to configure the phone for them, cut off the device's access as we see fit and requires them to provide the phone to IT for a wipe if their employment terminates for any reason. Yes there are plenty of holes there. but if the company owns the phone, there is just as much risk of it being lost or stolen. It's my belief that an employee would be much less likely to promptly report loss of a company owned device (still hoping they will find it) for fear of getting in trouble.
5 Match devices and plans to job roles. Well, there are plenty of people we feel have a legitimate need for a phone. But there is no money (the "company" is government if you hadn't guessed) and no matter how great the need they are not going to get a phone of any sort unless they buy it and pay for it themselves.
The point of all this being that in our environment, the choice is not employee liable vs corporate liable. The choice is employee liable or no phones at all.
Top five reasons to take your mobile environment corporate-liable
Summary
Here's why you can't just let any employee use their own devices on a corporate network. You could be asking for trouble says John Shea of Rivermine.
Topics
Commentary - Companies are frequently faced with employees who want a mobile device that isn't listed as a company-approved device for internal procurement, e.g., iPhone. While the natural inclination may be to let that rogue device simply hook up with the network and remain employee-liable, if any corporate data will reside on the device or the device will touch company assets, then major cost and security concerns make a strong case for going corporate-liable. A simple solution to the iPhone example is to either broaden the pool of approved devices to include popular models or to transfer ownership of a particular employee's device and plan after the employee buys the device. With this issue in mind, following are five critical reasons why companies should establish a corporate-liable environment for mobile devices that have interaction with corporate data.
1) Pricing: Why leave money on the table? - Unlike employee-liable mobile environments, corporate-liable policies allow companies to leverage significant volume discounts and pool plans. This isn't chump change: We're talking $1-2 million in annual savings, which two of our Fortune 1000 customers recently realized. One Fortune 1000 customer transferred its employee-liable devices to corporate-liable and, with our wireless expense management (WEM) solution, soon discovered after the consolidation that they were a specific carrier's second-largest customer in the U.S. This enabled them to realize significant discounts and bolstered negotiation power. Also, another Fortune 500 customer was able to evaluate its current overall usage by utilizing WEM and used that data to then create efficient pool plans and add text plans to yield substantial savings amounting to millions of dollars per year.
2) Avoid unnecessary invoice processing - Say your organization has 5,000 employees who each own a mobile device. Now picture the administrative nightmare and time involved with processing 5,000 monthly invoices submitted with each employee's expense report, as well as cutting 5,000 checks each month through payroll. This scenario can be avoided with a corporate-liable mobile environment as a typical corporate-liable organization receives a maximum of two to three comprehensive wireless carrier invoices. These invoices can be constantly monitored and tracked against changing plan costs through a WEM solution, to ensure that the company is receiving the best rate at all times (and paying the correct contracted rate) for their actual usage.
3) Leverage cost allocation data - Utilizing a WEM solution in a corporate-liable wireless environment, companies can connect to their HR system and automatically cost-allocate mobile expenses for individual departments or projects, as well as fully track spending trends and take appropriate action. They can also easily identify zero-use phones to be disconnected from the plan to avoid ongoing service charges and ensure that employees who no longer work for the company aren't still expensing their mobile invoices.
4) Don't lose control of data on mobile devices – Simply put, if the employee owns the device and owns the wireless service contract, he or she controls primary access to the data and there is a limited amount of activity a company can do if the device is compromised. If the company has a Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution, then it could be deployed to gain remote access to a device; however, the contract is still owned by the employee, creating major limitations on corrective action that can be taken. For example, an employee may delay reporting their device as lost or stolen because they believe they will find the device or they feel sheepish for losing it. This type of situation can be avoided with a corporate-liable scenario, which allows companies to utilize real-time wireless usage management services for help desk services and to better enforce corporate-wide mobility policies, such as remotely preventing certain devices to make international calls or setting parameters to identify whether a device is being used. Additionally, if the device is owned by the corporation, then it must be returned when employees leave the company-- lessening the chances for sensitive corporate data to remain exposed on the device.
5) Match appropriate devices and plans to job roles - In an employee-liable device environment, there is no regulation of which devices and plans can be used by different employees. Certain devices are best suited for specific job roles and can result in out-of-control costs if over-servicing devices and/or plans are purchased. For example, if an employee signs up for a plan including 1,000 monthly minutes but routinely uses only 300 of the minutes each month, then the company is significantly overpaying. Also, mismatched device capabilities for intended job functions can result in lower productivity. A corporate-liable approach streamlines this issue by allowing a WEM solution to tap into the HR system to determine which devices are designated for various title levels. For example, a field technician is often well suited to use a walkie-talkie style device without a texting plan, while a sales executive is more suited to a smart phone equipped with a hefty data plan.
biography
John Shea is the chief marketing officer at Rivermine
Talkback Most Recent of 4 Talkback(s)
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cornpie21st Apr 2010 -
Kind of missed the point....
The post is aimed at businesses that supply a
mobile device to all it's employees not just a
handful of "privileged" users.
We manage all employees phones (350) with the
help of our corporate account management team
at the service provider and our IT team have
full remote access to the devices as they do
for the terminals and PC's.
As for the post and my comments on that, it
just feels like a sales pitch to me and quite a
lot of common sense?!
Parassassin22nd Apr 2010 -
RE: Top five reasons to take your mobile environment corporate-liable
Great Article. I am in the distracted driving space and
another good reason is enforcing cell phone use policy.
With Distracted Driving lawsuits on the rise,
corporations MUST take this seriously.
Leigh Gilly27th Apr 2010 -
RE: Top five reasons to take your mobile environment corporate-liable
"One Fortune 1000 customer transferred its employee-liable devices to corporate-liable and, with our wireless expense management (WEM) solution, soon discovered after the consolidation that they were a specific carrier's second-largest customer in the U.S."
Uh, huh. A Fortune 1000 company is one out of 1,000 ... and yet there are millions of businesses and most too small to even represent a blip on the radar screen of a typical carrier.
The articles is not only premised on the idea that all businesses considering these options are large businesses, but that there is only one model. For example, a company may choose to subsidize employee phone costs eliminating the risk of 5,000, or in the real world, more likely 50, employees submitting invoices every month.
As well, such a model provides a business with a known cost every month for cell phone usage. The big factor in corporate liable phones isn't the flat fee paid for the basic service supplied to each phone, but all the extra costs (roaming, LD, premium texting, etc ...) that occur each month.
Sean Hurley10th Feb 2011
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