Ever lost signal at the worst possible moment, or been hit with unexpected charges at the end of the month? It happens more often than you might think—but it’s avoidable.
Your business mobile plan might feel like a small part of your setup, but it plays a bigger role than you’d expect in how smoothly your business runs. When it’s set up properly, it helps you stay connected, control costs, and keep your team productive. When it isn’t, the impact can be felt across your whole business.
In this guide, we’ll look at what an effective business mobile setup should deliver, and what can go wrong when it doesn’t.
The real cost of a bad connection
No matter your business size, every penny counts. Research carried out, and featured on Mobiles UK, shows that businesses are draining £18.7 billion per year due to poor connectivity in the workplace. This is especially true for small and medium sized businesses. On average, the study found that employees lose about an hour a week due to poor connectivity or difficulty getting online. And those minutes add up – depending on your team size, that’s a good chunk of time and money wasted on nothing.
The knock-on effects of a poor plan
The scary part of all of this is how many areas of a business get affected when things aren’t running as they should. The consequences ripple out much further than a dropped phone call.
Dropped calls and missed opportunities
Imagine if a new client is trying to get hold of you but it goes to voicemail because your connection isn’t strong enough. Or if an existing customer is also trying to reach you, but they give up after another failed call and go to a competitor. Clients expect swift, reliable communication. If your network coverage can’t keep up, it’s worth checking which provider best serves your area and making the switch.
Unpredictable and nasty bills
If your current plan doesn’t include enough data or unlimited usage, you could be facing some pretty-hefty bills at month end, especially if you’re not using Wi-Fi throughout the day.
A poor business mobile plan rarely scales well with your usage. You might think you’re saving money by going for a low money cost, but it could sting you down the line with higher additional charges you didn’t expect.
Frustrated teams
Your staff rely on their business mobile to get the job done. Whether you’re using them for calls, navigation, emails or documents, they’re going to need a mobile which can handle multi-tasking and a reliable data source.
When data runs out, your team can’t work effectively. This can lead to a level of frustration you don’t want to have to deal with. Every once in a while, check their mobiles are up to the task in terms of hardware and check they’re not getting too close to their data limit. Give them a little extra capacity so they have a cushion for busier periods, making sure they’re not caught short when workloads spike.
Why it’s time to upgrade
It’s important to know when to switch as you don’t want to get caught out. There’s SIM-only plans out there if you’ve got a handset to use already or full handset and SIM offers. If you’re struggling with your current setup, that’s the sign to get online and start exploring your options.
Better cash flow management
By ensuring your business mobile plans are setup correctly, you can make the most of predictable billing. Make sure you choose the right handset and data allowance, so you can stay on track all day without surprise costs. Plus, it’s always nice to know which day you’ll pay for your business mobile and how much.
Scalability for growth
A great business mobile plan can scale with you as your business grows. Bring on more handsets or SIMs when you come to expansion or scale down if you’re looking to refine your outgoings. Setup your plans to have shared data pools so staff can use data to their hearts content and leave no data allowance wasted.
It’s also beneficial to keep everything with one provider. That way, you avoid managing multiple accounts, and you’re more likely to secure a better deal when sourcing several handsets or SIMs from a single source.
How do you know when to switch?
It’s surprisingly easy to forget about your business mobile plans and just let them roll from month to month but giving them a thought is an easy way to get some pennies back in your pocket. Spend a little time reviewing your current setup and ask yourself…
- Are you paying more than you’re expecting?
- Do staff complain about poor signal or slow handsets?
- Are you using more data now than this time last year?
- Are you unhappy with your current provider and the data speeds they offer?
If you answer yes to any of these, we recommend to start looking around.
Taking the next step
Take some time out of your day and give your business mobile setup a thought. It can pay off, literally, and you’ll have a more efficient tech standpoint at the end of the day. It’s also nice to not worry about your business mobile plan when you don’t need to – get it setup properly and pop it in your back pocket. Do you need some assistance with what to do next? Let us know and we’ll be happy to help.
FAQs
A bad plan costs you through hidden out-of-tariff charges, expensive data overages and possible poor employee productivity due to slow data speeds or poor coverage.
If your plan does not have good-enough data limits or roaming, any usage outside your basic allowance will trigger additional charges, causing your bills to be unpredictable.
Upgrading gives you predictable monthly billing, access to faster 5G networks, better customer support and the ability to easily add or remove users as your business grows.
Clients expect quick and reliable communication. Dropped calls, missed messages and slow response times due to poor signal make your business look unprofessional and can drive customers to your competitors.
You should look to switch if you are regularly paying out-of-bundle charges, if your staff complain about poor signal, or as you approach the end of your current contract terms to avoid automatic, expensive rollover rates. Don’t get caught out!