There's no single best selection for a wireless carrier, partly because available services and carriers vary by geographic market. But Yankee Group's Steve Hilton offers four strategies for finding the right carrier for your company.
Each month, SMB expert Steve Hilton of Yankee Group answers real reader questions about small and midsize business technology in Ask Steve.
About a third of the questions we get these days are about mobility and wireless. We get questions on rate plan advice, mobile applications, the next hot device, sales channels and carrier plans. Here's a good one to help us lay out the US SMB market for mobile solutions.
Dmitri from Amherst, Massachusetts, asks: Which cellular companies are best for SMBs?
Good question, Dmitri. Let's start with a little review of the US carrier SMB market share for voice and data services:
Source: Yankee Group's Anywhere Enterprise-Small and Medium: 2008 US FMC/IP Communications Survey
Verizon (including Alltel) leads the market with SMB mobile voice and data market share of 30% and 22% respectively. Reliance on its "it's the network of choice" messaging across fixed and mobile solutions has given Verizon a rather staid but reliable image. This image certainly resonates in certain segments of the SMB market, especially those where quality-of-service is top-of-mind, such as in professional/technical services, healthcare and some financial services.
AT&T (including Centennial) is in close second place with SMB mobile voice and data carrier market share of 26% and 21% respectively. Iconic devices like the iPhone have helped AT&T attract SMB employees with fashionista or prosumer data tendencies, although smart phone adoption at SMBs has lagged that of larger enterprises. Interestingly, while Verizon leads with mobile voice market share, it is tied with AT&T for mobile data market share in SMB markets.
Sprint (including Nextel) -- was long the darling of SMBs, although that leadership has long since vanished. With 18% mobile voice and 15% mobile data market share, Sprint is off its game. However, the company has an ace in the hole with its network of channels that once weighed strongly with SMB decision-makers. In addition, Sprint has a renewed focus on using its network in machine-to-machine applications (e.g., telemetry and remote asset tracking), something that will increasingly be important in SMB markets.
T-Mobile, with 11% SMB share of mobile voice and 11% share for data, has an opportunity to capitalize on it price leadership in the market. SMBs are notoriously price conscious, although once committed to a solution they are loyal. Switching costs are high for SMBs because they generally do not have time for technology replacement. Yankee Group has found the best SMB deals on corporate-liable voice services through T-Mobile, and certainly T-Mobile's UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) solution is appealing to SMBs.
U.S. Cellular. With 6% SMB mobile voice and 5% share for data market share, U.S. Cellular builds upon its local-community presence to solidify relationships with SMBs. Many of U.S. Cellular's markets are 2nd and 3rd-tier, however, we find that ex-urban and rural SMBs have needs that are often more mobility-centric than their urban counterparts.
Now that we know the players, it turns out that answering your question is still a little difficult, because wireless services and carriers vary by geographic market. Here is my advice.
- Pick a carrier that has sales and support channels to match your needs. Some carriers might be willing to sell to your business with a sales agent, others will want you to deal with a retail store or an agent. Check around and pick the model that's right for your company.
- Pick a provider based on the total solution you want, not based on your impressions of network quality. The "which-carrier-has-the-best-network" battle is over. The war now being fought is at the solution level. Consider the mobile-enabled applications you need, the device operating system(s) you want to support and your existing on-premises technology. Remember, your mobility solution need not be another IT silo. You can integrate mobility into your existing technology architecture, but it requires some forethought. As my mother used to tell me, "Think twice, act once."
- Lower your international roaming costs (if you have any) by picking a carrier that offers UMA. International roaming is one of the last remaining cellular gotchas that can surprise you at month's end. T-Mobile is one of the few carriers that allows UMA-enabled devices to access WiFi networks and make Internet-based phone calls. So when your employees are roaming internationally, they can call domestic U.S. numbers without incurring excessive international roaming charges.
- If you have trusted technology advisors, ask them their opinion. They may have had experiences with various providers' solutions and found differences. These differences in integration capabilities might impact your implementation. Ask your technology advisors or channel partners if they can provide you guidance on appropriate devices and operating systems to use or stay away from.
After you select a corporate mobility provider for your business, send us an email, Dmitri, and let us know how you made your selection.
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Do you have a question to ask Yankee Group analyst Steve Hilton?
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Steve Hilton is VP of Enterprise and SMB research at Yankee Group. Hilton is recognized as a leading, global SMB expert.
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