Cell Phone Abuse - Tips to Curb Employee Abuse

Looking for a way to save your enterprise or government organization tens of thousands of dollars a month or more on wireless mobile communication use? First off, it's going to take some discipline and innovative management for your cellular communication services to become more cost efficient and less prone to abuse. Cell phone and handheld usage can bleed a corporation's IT communications funding dry without so much as a turn of the head, or at least until it's too late.

They're Everywhere ...

It's more common than not for a large organization to have employees carrying company owned devices such as cellular phones, pagers, PDAs, and Blackberry devices. All these wireless devices meant to increase employee productivity are more than likely draining funds and ultimately decreasing actual corporate productivity. It's an ever increasing telecommunications expense on a road to disaster.

One is Better ...

One way to better manage corporate employee mobile communication cost is to buy ALL cellular services through ONE provider. Buying through one provider gives your organization the chance to receive volume discounts. If you are giving your employees the opportunity to purchase their company wireless device themselves on the corporate account, you are opening the door to higher rates and actually taking away control from the company as a whole.

Close To Home ...

Secondly, audit not just the usage, but who uses the mobile communications. You need to investigate exactly who is a necessity mobile user and who is not. An office employee who spends most of their time within corporate headquarters and who is not prone to traveling; may very well be responsible for inflated mobile usage. An employee calling friends and even relatives overseas is not entirely uncommon. This kind of abuse has been known to accumulate to a bill well over a $2,000.00 in a matter of days with just one employee.

Allowance, Not Just For Teens Anymore ...

It's important to weed out vanity from necessity. If the hardship of striping cell phones and their usage from employees is too hard to bear, consider revising this strategy. A method that can be effective is allotting an allowance to employees on their usage. In other words, set up a preset amount of acceptable minutes per month per employee type. If any employee goes over their allotted amount of minutes, it is garnished from their paychecks. Many companies have deployed this method to curb abuse with much success.

Reward the Good ...

In addition to an allowance program, a rewards program could be put in place as well. To sweeten the sour, award the employee with the least amount of minutes a percentage of the company savings. Let it be announced beforehand and you may find employees trying to conserve so they can take home a larger paycheck. To make it more viral, perhaps first, second, and third place winners every month. That will ensure that employees know more than one employee each month will go home with a fatter paycheck. Increasing the odds always helps feed the fever. Works in Vegas, right?

Easier Said than Done ...

Now, keeping track of who is who and who calls what can equal to a big headache and ultimately take more time and money to manage. Luckily there are some companies out there that make a living from auditing and managing wireless bills or supplying the firmware to do so. While costs associated with such services vary, they are valuable and more importantly; save money. Some of the companies that provide these services include Let's Talk www.letstalk.com, Traq www.traq.com, and Vercuity www.vercuity.com.

Carriers Feel Your Pain ...

Aside from these companies that audit, track, and manage wireless usage, the mobile communications industry has seen the aches and pains of employee abuse. Many cellular carriers now offer more cost effective wireless options for large employers knowing of employee abuse and the minutes (money sacrificed. In other words, lower rates for the higher volume to curb the cost of abuse whether or not it is taking place.

One of the better cell phone providers for corporate services is Nextel. They offer over the phone ordering exclusively for corporate volume clients for all products and services which include some good plans for busy mobile users. You can call them toll free at: 1-866-720-4177 Business Code: 15376 Reference: LL UNLIMITED

This article was provided by TopSavings.Net, an online resource for IT professionals seeking communications services and products. Cellular Calling Plans

In The News:


BBC News

Cancer Expert Issues Warning On Cell Phone Risks
InformationWeek, NY - 2 hours ago
In a focus on mobile phone use by children he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that a child's developing organs "are the most likely to be sensitive to any ...
Institute head’s mobile phone scare Nature.com (subscription)
Pittsburgh Cancer Institute Issues Warning On Cell Phone Risks eFluxMedia
Cancer expert issues mobile warning The Press Association
The Money Times - Consumer Affairsall 705 news articles

CNET News

Superhero saves lost cell phones
CNET News, CA - 21 hours ago
The downloadable software lets subscribers go online and remotely lock their mobile phone once it goes missing, meaning thieves won't be able to make call ...
Recover your phone with Cellphone Hero Yahoo! Tech
Secure your data and recover your phone Geek.com
YouGetItBack.com Safeguards Cell Data Digitaltrends.com
Business Wire (press release) - TMCnetall 19 news articles

PhysOrg.com

China's mobile users top 600 million: govt
AFP - 3 hours ago
BEIJING (AFP) — The number of mobile users in China, the world's biggest cellphone market, now tops 600 million, the government said, as subscribers ...
China mobile phone users top 600 mln - govt Forbes
China Mobile Phone Subscribers Pass 600 Million Mark PC World
all 15 news articles

Playing Russian roulette with your brain
The Age, Australia - 10 minutes ago
"The question is do you want to play Russian roulette with your brain," she said in an interview that she did from her mobile phone. "I don't know that cell ...

Qualcomm Rises on New Sales Goal, Dispute Settlement (Update1)
Bloomberg - 5 hours ago
``We can get on with the cell-phone business now.'' Qualcomm can devote the money spent on patent litigation to developing new products, he said. ...
Trial delayed in Nokia-Qualcomm lawsuit The Associated Press
all 116 news articles

ReQall's iPhone app saves brain cells, cell phone minutes
CNET News, CA - 17 hours ago
Reqall's iPhone app gets around the issue of using your mobile phone minutes to make notes by sending your reminder as an audio file instead.

Malawi consortium wins cell phone licence
Reuters South Africa, South Africa - 12 hours ago
LILONGWE (Reuters) - Malawi has awarded a mobile phone service licence to Global Advanced Integrated Networks Ltd, making the local consortium the third ...

CBC.ca

Canadian spectrum auction rings in better cell phone deals
PC World Canada, Canada - 4 hours ago
The great expectations are lower rates and better services for Canadian mobile phone users, who for years have been paying among the steepest contract fees ...
Competition: smart call for cellphone users Regina Leader-Post
Cellphone revolution welcome Calgary Herald
Ring in the new - Canadian cell phone users big "winners" of ... ITBusiness.ca
CBC.ca - Times Colonistall 373 news articles

TAP launches new in-flight cell phone service
Easier (press release), UK - 7 hours ago
TAP has launched its first commercial test of in-flight cell phone use. This system offered by OnAir – a company specializing in SITA and Airbus mobile ...

Gammoth: We'll Fix Your Cell Phone or PDA, Do Good for Planet Earth
TMCnet - 3 hours ago
In today’s increasingly mobile world, living with a broken cell phone is extremely frustrating, according to the company. Since most carriers offer a phone ...
mobile cell phone - Google News

Can You Anticipate The Cell Phones Of The Future?

We have become a society that demands the most technologically... Read More

Mobile Commerce: An Expectation for the Mobile Users In Pakistan

Mobile commerce is electronic commerce over wireless devices. Mobile commerce... Read More

Small Business Phone Systems ? A Brief Explanation

How a business presents itself to its customers has to... Read More

Will Your Cell Phone Work in an Emergency?

If you're one of the millions of cell phone users... Read More

Location Sensitivity - Cell Phone GPS

This is basically a system to locate the handheld when... Read More

Camera Cell Phone Verizon

Camera cell phone by Verizon ? offer with a service... Read More

Is That Your Cell Phone Ringing or Mine?

The newest technology is incredible and getting better. The newest... Read More

The Different Cell Phone Accessories Available

Where do I start? Always start with the essentials. If... Read More

Protective Accessories For Your Cell Phone

Like most electronic devices, cell phones are remarkably fragile. Your... Read More

Cell Phone Safety

Cell phone safety is a topic widely debated around the... Read More

Choosing a Voice Mail System

Voice Mail put simply In its simplest form a voice... Read More

Mobile Phone Accessories

Discounted Mobile Phone AccessoriesMobile Phones have become a part of... Read More

Prepaid Calling Cards and Terrorism: Where Did All The ?Chatter? Go?

Does that necessarily mean that there are no terrorist communications... Read More

Cellular Phones and Television

What if you want to catch up on the morning... Read More

Hurricane Katrina Aftermath; Time to Launch Balloon Cell Towers

One of the most critical infrastructures for restoring order to... Read More

Short Messaging Service (SMS) for Enterprise Messaging

SMS for Enterprise Messaging ? Value added servicesShort message service,... Read More

Calling Cards and Prepaid Phone Cards To Help You Save Money

You can now save quite a bit of money on... Read More

Cell Phones Accessories - Get More...

Accessories can complete an outfit, dress up something like a... Read More

Renegotiating a Cell Tower Lease- Can It Be Done?

While cell towers actually started being built in the late... Read More

Getting the Most of Your Cell Phone Batteries

Are you planning on buying a new phone in the... Read More

Camera Cell Phone Sprint

Camera cell phone by Sprint ? offer with a service... Read More

Review of Bluetooth Wireless Headsets

Bluetooth headsets make up one of the fastest wireless markets... Read More

Call Russia Feeling Like a Royal Romanov

Get set to be greeted by the Russians, with a... Read More

Customize Your Cell Phone With Ringtones and Wallpaper

As an important part of your daily life, your cell... Read More

Free Cellular Phone

Free cellular phone offers.You can definitely find a free cellular... Read More