This is the second article in a series that teaches you how to use industry-standard calculations to assess the value of IT expense management solutions from Tangoe. Use this guide to estimate your potential savings and ROI. Don’t miss the other articles on telecom savings and cloud savings.
Corporate mobility programs must manage more than just devices today – they must also address financial management for mobile devices and data plans. Those who excel at IT financial management are more effective at reducing waste, controlling spending, and making room in the mobile budget for more innovation.
CIOs need to move beyond simply looking at how well the mobile fleet is administered day-to-day, asking themselves questions like: How mature are we in our financial oversight? How much time and money could we save if we improved the efficiency of mobile device management or worked with a managed service provider to optimize our costs?
This value equation guide can shed some light on your savings.
Tangoe has established the following industry-standard calculations to give business leaders some basic rules of thumb for sizing up their situation, discovering how much they stand to save, and unpacking the ROI of a mobile expense management solution. The average savings below are based upon years of managing more than 14M devices and working with enterprises of all sizes to monitor ongoing spending trends. With some simple math, you can use these insights to calculate your own savings potential.
We’ve also created a guide to help you with these exercises. Need a hand? Tangoe offers customized evaluations and ROI reports too. Request one here.
Mobile Device Management: How to Estimate Your Savings Potential
Many of the standard principles and savings calculations from our first article on telecom expense management also apply to mobile. Take for instance:
- Optimization: Companies typically save 10-15% of their total annual mobile spending by creating an accurate inventory and optimizing mobile expenses. An additional 1.5% can be saved by reviewing service utilization and contractual rates and terms.
- Reporting & Analytics: Companies typically spend 4-6 hours building each financial report every month, which can be reduced to just seconds through automation.
Jumping back to the previous article will provide a wider perspective. However, here are specific appraisals for mobile savings.
Mobile Tariff Optimization: Stretch Your Budget 1-3%
Many companies take advantage of a mobile tariff plan, but without careful usage monitoring, data overage fees can diminish the value of these plans. This is why tariff optimizations are effective. See how one company recognized 246% ROI on a mobile tariff optimization project.
Tangoe’s experience in tariff optimization confirms companies can save 1-3% of their total spend in years 2 and beyond. What would you invest in if you could stretch your mobility budget 1-3%?
Unauthorized Purchases: Govern Spending and Save 1-2%
Every company has a few mavericks on their team – employees who buy devices on their own without going through official corporate ordering processes.
Order management tools help govern spending by putting parameters around employee purchases, saving companies 1-2% of their total annual budget. Where would you expand your investments, if you had 1-2% more money in your mobility budget?
Help Desk and Self-Service Portals: Save 45 Mins/Interaction
Delivering technical support for mobile users can be cumbersome for overstretched IT teams, particularly when there are a variety of device types, operating systems, and ownership models in place.
IT organizations can save 45 minutes per interaction when they rely on a partner to handle their mobile Help Desk services.
How many interactions/tickets does your mobile Help Desk team handle per month/year, and how long does it take them to handle each one on average? How many hours of productivity could you save by reducing your handling time by 45 minutes per interaction?
Even IT and mobility teams that build self-service portals for employees still require interactions with service providers and must take time out of their day to update tickets and employees with the status of their requests. Partners that handle these follow-up tasks can reduce the cost of self-services. Use this calculation to gauge your savings: 25% of your employee population multiplied by $30. How much money could your mobility program save?
Service Changes: Accelerate Processes, Save 1.5 Hours/MACD
Mobility services are always on the move — whether companies are updating device hardware, adding new devices and lines to accommodate growth, or updating service plans to align with revised travel policies. Orders and fulfillments take time, and services can accelerate turntimes.
Data intelligence reveals that every month 5% of devices require a service change (or “MACD” Move, Add, Change, Delete). On average, companies can save 45 minutes per order when they leave mobile procurement to a partner like Tangoe. Plus, they can save another 45 minutes per order when they leave mobile fulfillment to Tangoe. That’s a total savings of 1.5 hours per order or MACD. How many hours of productivity could your mobility program save?
Device Catalogs: Reduce Manual Work, Save 2 Days/Month
Inventory maintenance is one of the top three issues for any IT team trying to track their growing fleet of devices and all associated changes in device status or ownership.
Insights gathered from thousands of companies indicate that employees on average spend 2 days (16 hours) per month per mobile provider updating catalogs. Companies can get those 2 days back by automating and outsourcing that work to a partner like Tangoe.
How many carriers do you manage, and much time do you waste updating catalogs and inventories?
How would you elevate the focus of your mobile team by removing that burden?
Mobile Security: Productivity Savings = 1-2% of Spend
Protecting devices against cybersecurity threats and ensuring data is protected as it flows through mobile devices are key priorities for every company. Unified Enterprise Management (UEM) services automate IT security updates and controls, enabling companies to reduce the time and effort needed to administer security policies.
On average, clients who build a fully integrated, fully managed UEM environment can automate and offload mobile security processes with a productivity value equivalent to reducing their total mobile spending by 1-2%. How much do you spend on mobility each year? Where would you invest more time with productivity gains equivalent to 1-2% of your spend?
Want a quick summary of these calculations? Download our mobile savings guide.
Build Your Business Case with a Personalized ROI Evaluation
Prefer a customized ROI evaluation for your business? Tangoe offers consultations that dive deep into your financial management health across mobile, telecom, and cloud technologies. You’ll walk away with action items for making tangible improvements and a customized ROI report showing you the value of an investment in Tangoe’s software and services. Email us at Sales@Tangoe.com.
Ready to assess your ROI in other arenas? Don’t miss the other articles on telecom savings and cloud savings.