Our Solutions Consultants are meeting with prospects on a daily basis learning the ins and outs of 100’s of enterprise wireless programs. This section shares our findings from quick client snap shots to more in depth analysis of how Mobi is able to address the common to complex issues of all types of wireless programs.

Step 2: Improve the Wireless Management RFP by Understanding Ownership

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How do you save even more time while getting an accurate representation of wireless management providers during the RFP process?  Take ownership questions up with the providers’ references.

When we talk about ownership we mean two things: what services, if any does the provider outsource, and how does the provider accept ownership when challenges arise?  In the RFP you will establish if services are outsourced.  You can clarify how this relationship is managed with the providers references.

According to Murphy’s Law, “anything that can go wrong will go wrong”.  After selecting a provider there’s bound to be some rough waters before both parties get settled in. Right?  So what can you do to help prepare for the upcoming changes in your program’s management? Exhaust all possible questions with the provider’ references.

Here are 5 must-ask questions for these references.

  1. How have the outsourced services impacted your relationship with the provider?
  2. What other challenges have you experienced that you did not foresee during your initial conversations with the wireless management provider in question?
  3. Did the wireless management provider take responsibility and ownership for any surprises or mistakes along the way?
  4. What lessons did you learn from the implementation process?
  5. What (if any) was a welcomed surprise during your relationship with the wireless management provider so far?

Obtaining appropriate references is important.  Whether you are considering switching providers or you’ve never used one, you will get the best references by first requesting companies of similar size and in a situation similar to that of your organization.  Additional criteria to request includes a program similar in scope, inclusive of device count and carrier mix.  Finally, you also want to get a reference with a more complex program to make sure that you’re given the same level of attention as the rest of the providers customer base.

The final step to improving the wireless management RFP process explores the technology development cycle and why it matters to your company.  Be sure to subscribe or revisit the blog next week.

Step 1: Improve the Wireless Management RFP by taking the Schwarzenegger Out of the Process

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MOBI has worked with several companies that have gone through the RFP process, only to be surprised by certain aspects of their selected suppliers offerings.

This exact shock feels similar to recent headlines surrounding a certain ex California Governor.

Here are three experience-based ways to prevent an unexpected shock during your next RFP for wireless management services.

1) Prequalify

Let’s start by admitting that this will be a time consuming process for all parties involved. However, it is absolutely necessary.

For starters, if you can’t make time for an hour phone call with the suppliers you’re considering, chances are you’re considering too many providers.

If your company previously used a wireless management provider or is exploring wireless managed services for the first time, you should have a prioritized list of essential services and capabilities you would like to improve. So, why not use that list to vet providers on the front end of the process and save a tremendous amount of internal resources in the long run.

Another valuable takeaway from the pre-qualifying process, is sharing knowledge. The more a wireless management provider knows about your specific challenges the better the RFP responses can be tailored to specific wireless management capabilities. If pre-qualifying is overlooked, providers will interpret your questions incorrectly or make inferences, which only needs further clarification later.

Ultimately, you want to pick the best wireless management provider that meets your needs. The only way to make sure you’re getting clear, applicable responses and not marketing fluff is to pre-qualify.

Hopefully, I have provided you with enough takeaways to make pre-qualifying a requirement during your RFP process for wireless management.

This 3 part blog series will be continued next week.

This next post in this series will discuss ownership of the specific services you are looking for.  Finally, I will explore the technology development cycle and why it matters to your company.

Addressing Wireless Fraud

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Addressing Wireless FraudCorporate wireless policies are dependent upon a number of unique factors based on the overall business environment. However, some general rules exist regarding fraud that can be applied to most wireless programs.

Educate

  • If a device is cloned, there may be inconsistencies with service. End users should understand how they can identify a cloned device.
  • Fraud should be addressed in an organization’s wireless policy. To further protect the enterprise, there must be a way for end users to review and acknowledge the policy.

Prevent

  • Company team members with access to carrier account PIN or password information should take every measure necessary to ensure this information remains confidential.
  • End users should not have access to direct carrier portals.
  • When transferring liability account information should not be communicated to anyone outside of the wireless team or carrier contacts.

React

  • When fraud is suspected, individual end users and wireless administrators should follow a previously agreed upon communication plan created by the Wireless Fraud Team.
  • In the event an end-user experiences interrupted wireless service during the fraud investigation, a pre-identified alternative method of end-user communication should be enacted.
  • If password or PIN information must change as a result of fraud, there should be a process in place to communicate the correct information to the internal telecom team.

Diving Deeper

If you would like to learn more about creating a Wireless Fraud Team or if you have questions about how your organization could better educate, prevent and respond to account fraud, please contact Mobi at 855-259-6624 or email@mobiwirelessmanagement.com.

Preventing Wireless Fraud

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Wireless Fraud PreventionWireless fraud can happen in a number of different ways within a corporate wireless environment from device cloning and erroneous purchases of equipment or services, to cases where a terminated employee fails to return their device while service continues.

Identifying a Wireless Fraud Team within your company can pay huge dividends for an organization.

Wireless Fraud Team

Identifying a group of internal employees to act as a Wireless Fraud Team can help pinpoint who has the preventative and reactionary responsibilities for incidents of fraud.

Responsibilities for this team include, but are not limited to, the education of end users, fraud policy creation and facilitating interactions with the wireless carrier during a fraud investigation.

What role can a carrier play in preventing and reacting to account fraud?

In addition to an internal team, it is also important to have a pre-identified point of contact at each wireless carrier that can help your team react quickly to potential fraud.

In cases of fraud, wireless carriers must act as an extension of internal resources to investigate the incident and resolve the issue. Identifying a key point of contact within the carrier is only one-step in the process. There are additional questions to ask of current or prospective wireless carriers.

  • Do you have a process in place to help prevent account fraud?
  • How have you resolved fraud incidents with other customers?
  • What does that process involve?
  • Have you been able to track down the responsible individual(s) and hold them accountable?
  • Who is the point of contact for our account if a fraudulent incident occurs?
  • What is the policy for responding to cloned devices verses erroneous purchases made on an account?

What Does the AT&T / T-Mobile Deal Mean for your Enterprise?

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Our Mobi crew visited the CTIA Wireless 2011 show this week and the hot topic surrounding the event was the announcement from AT&T about acquiring T-Mobile. In an effort to stay on top of this subject, I attended the Voice Report webinar titled “What the AT&T / T-Mobile Deal Means for You and Your Deal” and summarized the critical points below.

WHO WINS?

During the webinar plenty of time was devoted to  the effects this merger will have on the United States wireless industry.  As you can imagine, there are some strong opinions about who wins and who looses from the acquisition. For example, AT&T has $29 billion in cash tied up in the merger so chances are they are not going to be able to aggressively  finance the expansion of their LTE network like their counterparts at Verizon would be able to. AT&T is also stating they may not start seeing benefits of such a merger until 2015! That might as well be decades away when you’re talking about wireless.

HOW SOON?

The overall feeling is that the acquisition isn’t going to be completed in a timely manner. With any merger of this size there is going to be substantial scrutiny from the FCC and more than likely strong conditions will be placed on both AT&T and T-Mobile before the deal is done. Let’s say the deal does get completed there is no shortage of work on AT&T’s plate from integration of billing systems, account teams, merging customer support models, provisioning, etc. In fact, pages and pages of content could spawn off about how this will affect the United States wireless industry for years, so what was the big takeaway for you, the enterprise customer?

ENTERPRISE IMPACT

If you are a current customer of AT&T or T-Mobile this is your time to negotiate.  The recommendations covered a wide range of negotiation topics and I’d like to hit on a couple of interesting points.

T-Mobile Customers

  • If your company is currently negotiating a new or renewal wireless agreement with T-Mobile get it done quickly.
  • If you are currently in a T-Mobile agreement extend the contract for another 3 or 4 years, if you are able to negotiating generously early termination fees.
  • Make sure the T-Mobile rates are fixed for the entire term of the contract not only for the initial term, for any renewal extensions or any transition periods.
  • Make sure the contract that says the contract is binding on each parties successors and assigned.  Basically that indicates that if there is an acquisition AT&T has to honor the contract.

AT&T Customers

  • In your AT&T contract negotiate the right to terminate any line whose home spectrum was sold off because of the merger.
  • Negotiate the right where you can port some lines over to T-Mobile to take advantage of their cheaper rates as long as they are coupled with an early termination waiver.
  • If the network quality or service performance drops and the carrier doesn’t address the degradation within 30 days you have the right to cancel service.  You will need to have started tracking incidents so you can have some backing to indicate X number of dropped calls since the switch or X drops in customer service, etc.

I’m sure these negotiating topics will be discussed at the Voice Report’s 19th Annual Telecom Negotiation Conference in Washington, D.C.  starting tomorrow, so we’re excited to attend, learn more and report back.