As mobile phones become synonymous with enterprise unified communications, the costs of mobility are also increasing.

 

Gartner (News - Alert) Inc. predicts 80 percent of enterprises will overspend on their wireless service costs by an average of 15 percent through 2014. To start curbing costs, now is the time telecom managers need to become better at streamlining expenses related to mobility. 

 

Pankaj “PJ” Gupta, founder and CEO of Santa Clara, Calif.-based Amtel (News - Alert), a company that helps enterprises to rein in wireless management expenses and improve productivity, said wireless expenses often account for one-third of total telecom expenses.

 

To deal with the growth of mobility in an enterprise, Gupta said telecom managers should start by crafting a solid wireless procurement policy, and then follow up with check points at each stage of its implementation.

 

A good procurement plan is chock full of details, and includes checks and balances that address “who gets what type of wireless device and plan,” said Gupta. The policy should break down wireless usage by device and job profile of the employee as well as geographical location.

 

Plus, the plan needs to spell out how managers will handle the changes in ownership of wireless numbers for new employees or disconnection of services for employees leaving the company, Gupta said.

 

In September Amtel reported record revenues for the first half of 2009, in the six-month period ending June 30.

 

Gupta credits the results to Amtel’s newly introduced “Telecom Information Management System” platform, which allows companies to conduct centralized order management of all types of telecommunication services, such as mobile, pagers, calling cards, conferencing, calling cards, conferencing accounts, voice lines and data circuits.

 

“In this economic environment, our clients are finding that they can save 10 to 40 percent of telecoms cost and their management charges.” Gupta said. “Clients are appreciating the depth and integration of our services delivered using state-of-the-art platform developed by our engineers.”