Yankee Group is considered a small to midsize business, and so other SMBs could stand to learn from the consulting firm about how it has saved on wireless, e-mail, and messaging costs.
The Yankee Group is a famous consulting operation, well-known for giving high-priced tech advice to large companies. But Yankee Group also is a small to midsize business, facing many of the same challenges as other businesses its size.
As a consulting house, though, the Yankee Group was willing to share an inside look at how it addressed those issues, specifically, what company CTO Jeffrey Breen did to wring excess costs out of three critical areas: corporate wireless plans, e-mail, and messaging.
Don't Miss: Which Wireless Service Provider To Choose?
A couple of new focus reports, written by Breen and Yankee Group VP -- and bMighty columnist -- Steve Hilton, offer some practical suggestions.
Wireless Phone Savings
For corporate wireless plans, the advice is simple: "Get a corporate plan from an enterprise-savvy carrier and stop reimbursing individual-liable cell phone bills. An average 125-person, U.S.-based SMB will save $96,000, or 47%, in the first year -- 51% over three years -- yielding a six-month payback period while providing better applications." All with up-front migration and implementation costs totaling less than $15,000.
Yankee Group saved big bucks by moving to a corporate account for mobile telephony.
Those numbers didn't come out of thin air. They're based on Yankee Group's own expenditures and experiences with "33 employees on individual-liable plans, 40 employees on an AT&T/Cingular corporate-liable plan, and 10 employees on a Verizon Wireless corporate-liable plan." There was no easy way to track overcharging, improper use, or less-than-optimal plan choices.
Such an "unmanageable hodgepodge of carriers, device platforms, features, and reimbursement schemes" is common among small and midsize businesses: A 2008 Yankee Group study found that 47% of employees at businesses with 100 to 499 employees have individual-liable cellular plans. Among other things, those plans make it impossible to "holistically review wireless costs and suggest changes."
In contrast, "consolidating all wireless voice and data expenditures" can help even smaller companies "gain leverage with a corporate-level agreement with a single carrier." Yankee moved to a T-Mobile corporate-liable account, with 35,000 pooled minutes for 100 users, and eliminated all reimbursement for individual-liable plans.
The company chose T-Mobile 8320 Curves that "support unlicensed mobile access (UMA) calling over Wi-Fi, so employees traveling abroad can avoid outrageous international roaming rates." It used an existing server to run the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) software, but needed to purchase more client access licenses (CALs) and a maintenance plan. Yankee implemented BES and budgeted one day per month for device management, adds, moves, and changes. In addition to the cost savings, the new arrangement covers more users and adds new features and applications.
Yankee lays out seven recommendations to small and midsize businesses thinking of making this kind of move:
- Issue a simple RFP. This forces you to determine and quantify your needs, helps you define the structure and time line for proposals, and signals to the carriers that they need to compete for your business.
- Be honest about your goals. Let the carriers structure a deal that really works for you, based on operating expenses, capital expenses, and so on. Be willing to sign a two-year agreement to get a great deal, but be wary of three-year contracts.
- Pay attention to the details of the sales process. The proposal should match your RFP, and be sure to find out who will be servicing your account.
- Pick a provider with an online billing portal. Access to billing information should be easy for finance and IT.
- Make sure to implement corporate mobile e-mail and IM on new devices. And for maximum productivity, don't skimp on training.
- Beware of international calling and international roaming charges. These charges can be enormous. Use Wi-Fi whenever possible.
- Be up-front with employees about the change to a corporate-liable-only plan. Some employees may lament the loss of handset choice, and a corporate plan could potentially restrict future business plans.
Next Page: How To Save On E-Mail And Messaging
