4G MOBILE DATA EXPLOSION HAS HAPPENED IN US AND EXPECTED IN EUROPE. REPLACING BLACKBERRY BY SMARTPHONES DOES NOT DRIVE UP COST. PRIVATE USAGE MAY DRIVE UP YOUR MOBILE TELEPHONY BILL.
Amsterdam, March 21, 2014 – Ezwim, the European Telecom Management leader, presented the results of the Telecom Monitor 2014 during the Smart Telecom Event in Utrecht, the Netherlands. A representative sample of enterprises in 4 countries (Netherlands, USA, Germany, UK) has been researched.
The main findings are:
- 4G and abandoning BlackBerry has quadrupled data volumes for US mobile business users in 2 years. The same data explosion to happen in Europe this year.
- Calls to service numbers are no longer a potential source of cost cutting
- Though the out-of-business hours spend has gone up, identified private spend has gone down. This gap may offer potential cost cuts.
- The fixed portion of the telecom bill (plans, features) has increased. The relation fixed cost : variable cost is now at least 1:1 in all countries researched.
- Trend to increase number of mobile subscriptions has been reversed in some countries: Users move to one subscription for all traffic.
- Blackberry is abandoned at increasing rates. This does NOT drive up the cost per user.
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) – user costs remain the same
People are increasingly working with privately owned devices such as tablets and smartphones. As a rule these are non-Blackberry devices. Extensive research has been done on the actual effects of BYOD. Surprisingly, the conclusion is that the ARPU does not increase as BYOD is deployed. In addition, some cost categories such as data roaming need extra attention, as well as costs for any MDM implementation (Mobile Device Management).
There is still enough to save on your mobile telecom bill
Savings can be achieved along two lines: Influencing the behavior of your end users and optimizing your contract. Especially data roaming during the holiday season is still a significant. Businesses should ask themselves if these costs serve a business purpose and if not, take measures to reduce them. Be aware that a massive increase of data volumes can be expected in Europe in 2014, due to the proliferation of 4G.
Next to that, smartly applying “flat fee” plans to those users who need them can generate significant savings.
“Our analysis and results confirm that companies miss opportunities for significant savings”, said Bram Cool, Managing Director at Ezwim.
“With this report we want to address the importance of knowledge about the trends in telecom usage. It is crucial for managers to get the right tools”, stressed Hein Remmen, Director Product Management and responsible for the Ezwim Telecom Monitor 2014. “The massive differences per country keep surprising us. The most striking result is the massive explosion of data volumes in the US compared to Europe.”
The Ezwim Telecom Monitor is a report of the main trends in mobile telecom costs over the past year, based on a representative sample of the Ezwim database.
# # # END # # #
For more information please contact:
Hein Remmen, Ezwim Product Manager
hlremmen@ezwim.com
About Ezwim
Ezwim is a market leader for Telecom Expense Management (TEM) solutions. It is the originator of the Lean TEM approach facilitating highly effective and straightforward technology combined with expert support as a means to eliminating waste, maximizing savings, introducing flexibility, and enabling efficient and effective telecom management processes.
Ezwim's ISO27001 certified TEM solution enables the management and optimization of the entire lifecycle of an enterprise's mobile, landline and data telecom assets and services. The Ezwim TEM solution includes a combination of cloud-based software, consulting and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services, as needed per customer.
Ezwim serves over 350 customers spanning 44 countries. Ezwim's TEM Suite integrates with over 150 carrier systems worldwide with additional integrations (Data Loaders) developed continuously.
Ezwim is headquartered in the Netherlands and has offices in the USA.