Ezwim Telecom Monitor 2008: Private usage of corporate mobile phones is 28%, and wireless costs continue to grow

Posted by Ron van Valkengoed

Telecom costs continue to increase and the number of corporate mobile phones increased in 2008 by 13%. These are some of the findings from the Ezwim Telecom Monitor 2008 (Ezwim hyperlink), a statistical analysis among Ezwim’s Telecom Management user base that offers an accurate picture of how the corporate mobile is being used by employees.

Key facts:

• Telecom costs continue to rise with an increase of 2,5% in 2008 compared to 2007
  • Strong increase in purchase of flat-fee bundles for both voice and mobile data
  • Data cost category continues to grow while smart phones become more popular
  • Number of mobile devices increase by 13%
• Private use of corporate mobiles is common
  • 28% of call costs are private
  • Holiday destinations are top roaming countries in July & August\
  • New Year’s Day and Bloody Friday (global stock exchange decline) are top days for SMS volume
• Regional Differences
  • Roaming continues to represent an important cost consisting 24-28% of the telecom cost in European countries, whereas USA is only 13%;
  • SMS and Service Numbers (Voicemail, Number Information) are most popular in the USA and UK, when compared to European continental countries (Germany, Netherlands).

Find all results here: http://www.ezwim.com/news/ezwim-telecom-monitor-2008

My take:

• Mobile/wireless cost are still on the rise;
• Enterprises follow the trends in the consumer markets; flat fee voice & data bundles grow strongly in popularity;
• Strong growth of mobile data usage are pushed by private usage; mobile data is being used, next to corporate email for downloading music, keeping in touch with social network and using YouTube, Twitter, MSN etc.

What to do?

• Get insight into what you spend and how you are spending it on a global level;
• Increase end user awareness of their private usage and make them responsible of their own private costs (private/business cost allocation), and create clear policies;
• Centralize cost and service management globally and automate the processes (Install, Move, Add, Change) with your service provider.

Tags: corporate mobile phones, Ezwim Telecom Monitor 2008, private usage, Telecom Expense Management, Telecom Management

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 at 8:50 am and is filed under Analysts, News, Telecom Expense Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.