The practice of using corporate phones has become popular thanks to soaring workplace demands across various business fields. It is also the result of business owners and managers continuously looking for great ways to boost productivity and efficiency while reducing costs.
Having a central location where staff and management can gather routinely to plan, collaborate, and accomplish different business tasks is the norm. However, your company can also get important things done when you let your key employees work while on the go.
With the best business mobile plans, you and your workers can stay productive even while you are away from your desk. This further means that you can draft and send essential documents, check email, and collaborate on projects even in the car or in public transport, in the park, or at home.
Of course, since no two corporate phone plans are exactly the same, it’s only wise to look at how they can benefit your business as well as study any potential drawbacks. To help you determine whether a business mobile plan is right for your needs, here are the advantages that you can enjoy, as well as things to consider before making your decision.
Advantages of Business Mobile Plans
- They keep everyone connected
Equipping your key employees with reliable mobile phone plans will ensure that they remain connected to you and their co-workers, which is crucial in boosting productivity. It also means your employees do not have to be in the office to handle even the most urgent matters. Instead, they can perform these tasks directly using their smartphone. They can manage their time more efficiently as well.
- They are cost-effective
Getting mobile phone plans for your business translates to additional expenses. But with today’s fierce competition, most carriers offer deals that can help you enjoy significant savings. These include unlimited call minutes, SMS and data at a super discounted price that can even be shared by multiple users.
- They allow the right level of control over your team
Are you frequently reimbursing employees for their mobile expenses? Have you established a threshold? Despite giving your employees a monthly allowable expense for their mobile use, you may not know exactly how they use their phones. In some cases, employees use their smartphones for non-business purposes – something you will be unaware of if they use their personal phones.
But if you provide a business mobile plan, employees will become more diligent about only using their mobile devices for business rather than for personal purposes like browsing through social media and chatting with their family and friends. They will know that their activities are monitored.
- They help keep company info secure
If your company data gets stolen or leaked, you stand to lose your trade secrets and intellectual property. Also, customers could file a lawsuit if their personal information gets leaked.
If you allow your employees to use their personal phones to access company accounts or perform business operations, you would be constantly worrying about all the data that could potentially be exposed when their devices are lost or become unsecured.
On the other hand, business smartphones allow you easy control over sharing capabilities and app use, helping you make sure that all the sensitive company data remains secure at all times.
- They are reliable
While there have been impressive advances in technology, it’s a fact that there are still locations that have lousy reception. Dropped business calls can harm your enterprise.
But if you take advantage of great business mobile deals from a reputable carrier that covers all the areas you and your employees frequent, you are assured that you will always have excellent reception.
Things to Consider with Business Mobile Plans
- Work-life balance
Giving your employees company phones will ensure continuous connectivity. But if they keep getting calls or handling business tasks even after hours, this could result in burnout. As a result, your company might spend more resources to make up for the time lost and decreased productivity whenever they are absent from work.
To prevent this from happening and to maintain work-life balance, it’s best to avoid extending your employees’ hours on the job when you equip them with corporate mobile plans. For instance, contact them only within business hours, or after hours only if there is an absolute need to deal with urgent matters. Advise them as well to take calls from their clients or answer emails only when necessary.
The goal here is to give your staff some privacy and time to recharge so they will always perform at their best at work.
- Sense of community
If your workforce works remotely, the sense of business culture and community may slowly disappear. And this can interfere with the vision of your business.
But with the rise of apps and online services that allow video conferencing, you can establish a good and open relationship among your employees. So be sure to set up a routine video call meeting, especially for those who are always working remotely.
Corporate phone plans can definitely benefit your business. The right thing to do is to value their benefits as well as take care to manage their use. Most importantly, make sure to get the best business mobile deals from a reputable service provider and implement ways to get the most out of this investment.
AUTHOR BIO
Al-moottil P Antony is a C-Suite Executive Support Professional for Zain, a leading mobile and data services operator with a commercial footprint in 8 Middle Eastern and African countries.
