According to a telecom expense management company, unlimited data plans are all the rage these days, especially since the four major cellular carriers are offering attractive incentives to take part. As more and more personal consumers are choosing plans that include unlimited data, businesses are starting to explore their options as well. But unlimited data may not always be the best idea, even though it seems like the smart choice at first.
Limited Business Data Plans May Still Be Cheaper Despite Overages
If the nature of your business does not require significant consumption of data per month, working on a limited plan may be cheaper. You may have an employee here or there that happens to exceed their limit, causing your business overage fees. But even factoring that extra cost, choosing a limited plan may be less expensive. Bottom line, compare the rates and evaluate if your company is a high data consumption customer.
High Data Companies
Yours may be the type of business where access to data in a variety of situations is critical for most employees. Companies that deal in real estate are perfect examples of the business customer that use up large amounts of data. If this is the case with your company, then your employees may feel constrained by their limited data each month. If they’re worried more about keeping tabs on their usage instead of getting the job done, then switching to an unlimited plan may be the best choice for you. If your business is big on network inventory management, then it’s in your best interest to sticking to unlimited plan.
Going Crazy With Data
Then again, if your business is not the type where high cellular data consumption is necessary, having an unlimited plan may tempt some employees into conducting too much activity on their phones or tablets that are not necessary for getting the job done each day. A limited plan may be better able to rein some of those more data-hungry employees and keep them on track and productive.
Ask Your Employees
Often it may be the case you just don’t know how much data your employees need. That’s perfectly okay. The quickest way to find out is to ask for yourself. Inquire as to how much business they conduct over their phones or tablets on a monthly basis. Find out if they think they would be more productive if they had an unlimited plan. Your employees will have a wealth of opinions on the subject, and they can provide valuable insight for you when considering whether or not to go with an unlimited data plan.
If your employees spend a significant amount of time outside the office, they may benefit from an unlimited plan. If most of your workers are inside the office working off of an internal network with little customer interaction, then an unlimited data plan may not be necessary. Also look at how many of your employees actually have business phones. If it’s only about 5% and that’s just for making sure your key employees can be reached, it may not be worth it. Then again, if it’s 20% and those phone holders are the networkers of your company such as the business development team, then your investment in an unlimited plan may reward you tenfold.
