Network managed vs independently managed mobile phone fleets

25 February 2010

As the management of mobile phone fleets becomes increasingly complex and very much more time consuming, many larger (and some smaller) organisations are considering outsourcing the management of their mobile phone fleets to third parties. At the same time, the mobile networks are faced with the inevitable problem that their standard voice and data offering has become "commoditised", with little to choose between any of the networks when it comes to price, handsets, customer service (?), billing and "free" add-ons. All the networks are really trying to identify something that will set them apart from their competitors, and what better way than to offer a "fully managed" outsourced solution?

Already, one of the mobile networks has launched a "fully managed" solution for larger customers, and at least one of the other networks is believed to be considering doing so. In this article we consider the questions that you should ask yourself (and any potential provider) before you get too dazzled by the sales hype:

Whilst you may be very happy with your mobile network provider today, what happens to your mobile fleet management and billing system when you want to change network at some point in the future? If you change mobile network, perhaps to take advantage of a newly introduced technology only available from one provider, will you also have to change your fleet management and billing system, or will this continue without any noticable interruption?

None of the four major mobile phone networks have 100% coverage. Will your fleet management provider allow you to have handsets from more than one network managed at the same time? Will they allow you to use handsets from all four networks if you wish to do so, all connected on OGC Buying Solutions framework agreement contracts, or their private sector equivalents?

Will the billing and management information be in the same format each month, irrespective of which network your handsets are connected to? The billing and reporting formats of the four main networks are quite different and not all are as clear as they could be. If you receive bills from more than one network, wouldn't it be better if they all followed the same format? Is your provider able to combine usage and cost reports from more than one network, or will you have to do this yourself?

Will the fleet management provider supply fully cost coded e-Payment files to suit your specific financial management system to ensure that no invoice data needs to be re-keyed? Some may apply cost code information to invoices, but none of the network operators currently provide true e-Payment files to suit your finance system.

Can you have your Blackberry BES and handsets fully managed under the same contract as your voice handsets? Do you need someone to ensure that your Blackberry BES is remotely managed, with updates being installed and security managed on your behalf? Will you be allowed to have your data devices (Blackberry or Windows Mobile) on one network and your voice only handsets on a different network, to benefit from the differing tariffs?

Is your billing independently audited each month, or is it merely checked by the company that produced the billing errors in the first place?

And finally, how long have the fleet management provider been delivering their service and how many satisfied clients do they have?

We have been delivering a full fleet management service to public and private sector clients for nearly 10 years, and have clients currently using three networks at the same time, with consolidated, standardised billing and reporting. Most of them have changed network at least once whilst we have managed their fleets, without any noticeable change in their billing and reporting formats, other than our routine service improvements that get introduced from time to time.