Business Mobile Data And Unexpected Overspend
Coronavirus restrictions and working from home has seen a rapid uptake in the use of mobile broadband dongles. Depending on business model, job, and location, in 2020, it quickly became clear home broadband could not always meet demand. Performance was unpredictable, and personal data caps too restrictive. Though many homes have access to fast fibre optic internet, many are stuck with notoriously slow ADSL products.
Products that are neither quick nor stable enough to accommodate the uploading of sizeable files and video conference calls means slow speeds, outages and connectivity issues. The knock-on effect is a decrease in employee productivity and company revenue, something businesses sought to offset with the use of dongles.
Jamie Lloyd, managing director of Liverpool's JL Business Mobiles, said. "There are sectors where connectivity issues and overspend are not tolerable. For example, our frontline staff, primarily those working in the NHS and ‘NHS Group Working’. Merseyside Primary Care Trust has teams of 3-4 nurses working together out of remote Covid secure pop-up offices. For them, intercommunication is critical, and for an already underfunded NHS, overspend is unsustainable”.
While a dongles flexibility is ideal, allowing you to access the internet quickly and from anywhere, there are pitfalls. One of the biggest for any business is buying dongles and data sims and allowing them to run unmonitored. The result, companies running up huge bills as unscrupulous network providers look to cash in from data overspend.
Do business owners really know how much data their workforce will use? Realistically, the answer is no, as usage varies from day to day, and that’s why services like those offered by JLBM are vital.
JLBM’s alerts and monitoring software means they’re able to get in ahead of any overspend and advise and manage your accounts before an unexpected and big bill hits. They can set up alerts for both the end-user and JLBM, ensuring overspend issues are caught before they become prohibitively expensive. A service applicable to mobile data, international calls, travel and more.
Jamie Lloyd explained, “JLBM’s monitoring software has and continues to save our customers thousands. A client of ours, a large production company based in Manchester, spent the festive period on location in South America. They were there for five weeks, but it took our system just 20 minutes to flag usage outside of their data allowance. We calculated that if they had not been using our service to pick up on calls, usage and apply the appropriate bolt-ons, they would have incurred an added cost of £4500. Without monitoring software in place, bills like that could be crippling, particularly for smaller businesses”.
JLBM provide bespoke business mobile services and pre-emptive management of your business-mobile contracts. Developed in-house JLBM's custom-built portal ensures businesses only pay for the services they use.
To find out how business solutions from JLBM can help your company communicate more cost-effectively, head to their website or call 0151 459 3140 to discuss your options.
By George-Carter Cunningham