Managing mobile phone expenses: Manufacturing vs. the rest
27 Jan 2020
Billmonitor is BFPA’s newest Strategic Alliance Partner (SAP) and is focused on helping clients reduce their mobile phone costs, with clientele ranging from hospitals to manufacturing and financial services. Members of BFPA are primarily in the manufacturing industry, where the savings potential is similar to other sectors and industries.
Headline savings are comparable, but the components differ significantly
Billmonitor’s research shows that the headline savings across all industries are quite comparable, with an average of 49% or £390 over a standard 24-month contract, whether they have 50 or 500 connections – i.e. a client with 100 connections should expect to achieve savings of £39,000. The only sector that bucks this trend is the NHS/public sector, where the average savings are comparable but the sterling savings per connection is significantly lower. We have therefore focussed our analysis on industry sectors only.
Where are the differences: manufacturing vs. the rest?
Source: Billmonitor Research
- Dormant lines: a higher proportion of dormant lines of about 26%, versus an average of 12% across the rest
- UK Data: Exceeding the UK data allowance nearly twice as often as other industries, resulting in significant excess data charges
- Roaming charges: Roaming data and voice usage is very limited, generally less than 10% compared to other industries (distributors with significant international activities would be the opposite)
How to realise savings
An important administration point is contract end dates. These seem to be all over the place, with some larger companies enjoying co-terminus contracts, while the majority still suffer from disparate end dates. Aligning the contract end dates so that all connections can be renewed simultaneously, thus improving a client’s negotiating position, requires careful planning, sometimes 12-18 months.
Also, the removal of dormant lines is usually only possible on contract renewal, so creating a timetable of when this can be achieved is a core part of a company’s housekeeping. Excess UK data charges and roaming voice and data charges can often be addressed by adding relevant bundles and add-ons while connections are still in contract.
Periodic reviews of mobile phone contracts can allow businesses to achieve 20-30% savings while still in contract and 40-50% savings on renewal – and this where we come in. Our software allows us to highlight savings that a client can realise while still in contract. We then work with our clients towards unifying the contract end dates and help to extract the best possible contract terms and conditions in order to maximise our client’s savings, i.e. minimising their monthly cash costs and, if desired, maximising their handset fund.
Next steps
For more information on how Billmonitor can support you in saving money on your monthly mobile bills, you can visit their SAPs page here Billmonitor Details
Or, you can reach Klaus Henke directly on klaus.henke@billmonitor.com M: 07968 723 235.
Special introduction offers for BFPA members
Billmonitor are offering all BFPA members an initial assessment free of charge and will apply a 20% discount on their standard commission for members who sign up before the end of February 2020. Billmonitor’s remuneration strategy is 100% success-driven and the company charges a share of savings as their fees (usually a standard 30% commission on savings achieved).