Most businesses overspend on wireless, says Gartner

Gartner has said that 80 per cent of businesses will overspend on wireless services over the next few years.

By Richard Goodwin, 23 Jul 2009 at 17:15

The majority (80 per cent) of businesses will overspend by as much as 15 per cent on wireless services by 2014, according to Gartner.

“Our research shows that the majority of companies are not adequately managing their mobile users or services,” said Phil Redman, research vice president at Gartner.

As mobility has grown among businesses, so have costs and enterprises need to become better at managing such overheads, according to Gartner.

“They need to look more closely at their key user segments and requirements in order to match those needs with the right services and optimize their spending,” added Redman.

If they wish to reduce the costs associated with increased mobility, Gartner said that businesses will have to focus their management into four key areas: contract, international roaming, mobility management, and desktop replacement.

Redman said businesses need to move away from individual contract plans for employees, and adopt corporate liability plans instead. This will allow for better control of costs through the optimisation of wireless services and corporate discounts.

Redman added that there is no “magic” answer for reducing international roaming charges.

But by switching to smartphones and obtaining specific package deals for remote users, companies will reduce costs linked to using international wireless data.

The report said businesses should be looking to adopt outsourced services, such as telecom expense management (TEM) in addition to unified communications, linking landlines to mobile devices, to effectively manage the costs associated with increasing business mobility.