My Cellphone My Terms

Over the last few months, we have worked with several business owners that are suffering from a serious case of cellphone bill shock. Confused and frustrated these business owners know they need to do something but don’t quite know where to start or how to go about lowering their company’s cell phone bills. The bill shock isn’t often immediate, as many business owners are too busy focusing on business, but once they realize the extent of the problem swift action is required. As a result, we put together this list of tips to prevent business owners – like yourself perhaps – from being a candidate for Canada’s worse cell phone bill.

So here are 5 tips for lowering your business cell phone bill.

1. Get rid of your consumer plan – If you are a business owner trying to conduct business on a consumer plan you are operating at a serious disadvantage and chances are, your cell phone bills are higher than they should be. Business cell phone plans are richer than consumer plans and include more anytime minutes and better rates for overage minutes and long distance. Even if you have a small team of two, create your business cell phone plan and start saving today.
2. Make sure your business is on a share plan – For companies of any size this just makes sense. Having this feature can significantly reduce the likelihood of incurring overages. Many times business owners find themselves paying overages because they are on the wrong cell phone plan or paying for excessive minutes and not using them. Either way, business owners pay more for services they aren’t benefiting from. A business share plan is particularly helpful in managing a company’s usage and by having a bundle of pooled anytime minutes, and more recently data, it’s easier to track how things are going.
3. Buy a travel saver package before traveling internationally – Don’t get burned not having a travel saver pack put on your account, as the rates for making and receiving calls or roaming are steep. How steep? Well, international data rates of $50/MB and voice rates of $3/min are common. A travel pack will provide you with a lower rate per min for voice minutes, as well as an allotment of data while abroad. For instance a bundle of 50 voice mins may costs $125 and adding a data saver pack will give you the luxury of checking your email or surfing on your device for $1/MB in North America or $15/MB internationally. As a business owner, turning off your phone or buying a SIM card aren’t feasible options when traveling, so make sure you get the travel saver package before you set foot. All it requires is a call into your carrier prior to traveling to have the package added.
4. Choose your fleet of devices smartly – While purchasing non-smartphone devices makes sense in some cases, there are a few reasons to consider the upgrade to a smartphone when assessing your business’ wireless needs. Regular phones are limited devices and they do not have the productivity gains of a typical smartphone. Many of these gains include email connectivity, calendar and meeting scheduling, internet access as well as access to a host of applications which can make typical business tasks easily accessible while employees are away from their desks. Given the falling prices for smartphones and tools available on these devices it just makes business sense to include them as part of your requirements.
5. Set up an audit committee to review your company’s cell phone bills annually – This may seem like a lot of work and – it is. The real goal here is to understand your business’ evolving needs and make adjustments to suit. We suggest setting up a committee tasked with reviewing your cell phone needs annually. Too often we work with business owners that find themselves paying excessive overage charges due to team members being on the wrong plans. In addition, many owners have multiple bills from different carriers and sometimes even incur charges for phones that are sitting in a drawer unused or just missing.

If this all seems like too much work, we understand. You have a business to run and let’s face it, while the intent is there the time often isn’t, so get the help you need by taking advantage of our service and find real savings. We work with you to understand your needs, analyze your bills/usage and create an RFQ that the carriers will bid on to win your business. With our expertise and money saving recommendations you will get the best cell phone deal for your company. Our Managed Services team is totally independent and has delivered hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings for businesses like yours, with the average business saving 40% on their business cell phone bills.

It’s time to reduce your cell phone bills, so contact our managed services team to get started. Best of all it’s FREE. We make our money from the carriers that compete for your business. It’s a true win-win-win.