The Reasons Why Mobile Bundles Should Be Avoided By Companies With More Than 250 Phones

Bundled tariffs seem to offer the buyer a simple easy to manage
solution to their companies mobile fleet requirements. However, time
and time again this has been proven to be a false dawn. They are
simple, fixed cost options which allow companies to budget effectively
by paying a certain amount every month for the length of a contract.
This amount will not change and will have in that subscription a
certain amount of voice calls to certain destinations, national voice
calls, calls to other mobile operators, calls to same network, and
possibly SMS, MMS, and e mail depending on the bundle being offered.
Typically they will not include International calls, or calls to
premium rate numbers, or premium rate texts."Simples!" As the furry
meerkat says!!!Not at all simple unfortunately!
Buying a Bundled
tariff takes away any possibility for your organisation to manage its
costs. If you sign up to paying x per month for a period of time, that
is exactly what you will pay. What happens if your user leaves the
business whilst in contract? Typically I find most companies mis
manage this to a large degree, with the device going into a drawer and
being forgotten about whilst still paying x per month for the rest of
the contract. What is even worse the same companies are often starting
a new minimum period on another device for a new starter elsewhere in
the business! Commercial Suicide! Reducing your monthly commitment by
paying lower subscriptions then managing any subscription devices much
more professionally, either internally or via a managed solution from
an external company is the only way to consistently reduce your total
cost of ownership of your mobile fleet
Managing your call profile and traffic is fairly pointless with a
Bundled deal. Why? Because you have signed up to pay that amount
whether you use all your bundled minutes or not. Very few operators
will entertain a mid contract review even if your company usage has
changed dramatically. What happens if your company reduces its
workforce? What happens if you start to manage your traffic better?
Can you reduce your monthly commitment because you no longer use the
full bundled minutes or texts? Not a chance!
Spend outside the bundle is inflated. Any spend on premium services,
or international calls is held at the highest rates possible, and any
in bundle type calls made once you have reached your bundles ceiling
will also be held at inflated rates, typically the same or close to
published consumer rates. This is fine as long as you know you will
not break the bundle so to speak. But can you guarantee that over say
a two year period. In these current volatile economic times a bundled
deal is a real risk to your business.
How do you monitor your usage against the bundle size. You might be
persuaded to consider a large bundle which offers a great free device,
or large SIM bonus, but do you really need that bundle? What are your
current call costs, do they match the bundle chosen? Are traffic
profiles a good match for the bundle, or does it fail to capture a key
tariff you need to focus on?
Finally, if you are to look at managing your spend and users more
effectively bundles hide too much of the data you need to be managing.
As you look to review your deal and potentially go out to market for a
new offer you absolutely must know what your traffic profile is and
what call types are key to you business. Having bundles means you lose
some of that insight. Bundled deals work for small enterprises where
they just want to keep their mobile deal simple, but do not work once
you have a larger fleet. Better then to look at a pay as you use
solution which can be tailored to your exact traffic profile, making
sure you are in a position to negotiate on the key areas where you
spend the largest proportion of your bill.