It’s time to abandon your mobile apathy: the market just got exciting again.
Years of hype of how mobile phones will revolutionise the way we do business is finally delivering. Network providers have called a truce, of sorts, in the tedious text/minutes tariff war and are actually focussed on making the technology out there work for you.
Interested? You should be. After all, the ideological power of mobile business has always appealed – it was just the reality that left us under-whelmed. Any one of you who has actually tried to fully mobilise your business will, until recently, have found it rather self-defeating.
By the time you’d laden staff with all the must-have cutting edge technologies – laptop; data card; chunky multi-functional PDA; almost certainly another mobile – and tried to configure it with your server and systems and got someone in to keep it all flowing together you’d have most probably added layers of inefficiency, not removed them. And that’s before you’ve tried to keep the ongoing costs under control.
All that’s changed. Fully converged technologies are here. Really. A single mobile device can penetrate every level of your business or you can assign all the technologies you want to one supplier and one bill – and that’s where productivity potential becomes a reality.
According to John Lillistone, head of enterprise data services for Vodafone, providers have tackled the traditional barriers to entry for business. “Networks have answered concerns over security, cost control, reliability, speed, and support,” he assures.
OK, the technology is here, but how do you mobilise it? First of all, take a step back. Remove the piece of technology you were told would boost your productivity and switch it off. Now start thinking the other way around: where is there room in your business to improve productivity? Once you’ve identified this, you’ll be in a better position to think again about your technology needs.
THE MARKET AND MAJOR PLAYERS
Today’s mobile market is a three-horse race, with a fourth making ground rapidly. The usual suspects are Orange, 02 and Vodafone, while T-Mobile is the new kid on the block.
Who occupies what position in the top three is open for debate. O2 has made exceptionally fast progress over the past 12 months, pushing traditional market leader Vodafone hard and claiming it is now No. 1.
O2’s SMB director Peter Rampling says his company has 34% share and “we’re the ones with the momentum”. Vodafone while not openly disputing this, questions it. Orange claims to be No.2 level with O2 despite insisting it’s focused on quality rather than quantity. Indeed, it seems each of the big three likes to claim supremacy while at the same time masquerading ambivalence for it.
T-Mobile has no such qualms. Newer to the market, it claims to be collecting new subscriptions on par with the big three. “We have aspirations to break level with the others,” asserts Derek Williamson, head of business marketing for T-Mobile.
Research Growing Business conducted among readers earlier this year revealed that Vodafone held 27.7% of the magazine’s readership, O2 26.7%, Orange 20.8% and T-Mobile 9.2%. Another 17% used alternative networks. What does all this mean? Well, not a lot – except, you’ll be pleased to hear, that it’s very much a buyers’ market. So what is each network doing to attract your business?
KEY DIFFERENTIATORS
We asked all four providers what their USP was. Tellingly, the answers weren’t that different. It seems wherever a key differentiator opens up, the others work on closing it – this doesn’t, of course, mean there aren’t any. It just means the message being radiated is ‘we’re no longer about technology, we’re about enabling your business’. Nice sentiment, but not overly helpful. So let’s see what we know about their strengths.
O2 has claimed much of its growth on value for money. Its impressively priced unlimited service bundles have attracted plenty of custom from elsewhere, while it’s offered 20% off loyalty incentives to hang on to what it’s got.
Orange’s message has traditionally been about quality and service, but since its acquisition by France Telecom is increasingly about convergence and views itself as a complete communications provider.
In the same way O2 has looked to counter Orange’s traditional strengths by “over investing in its customer care”, Shaun Orpen, SME segment director for Orange, was keen to spell out the company’s commitment to value, with incentives such as half-contract tariff reviews. “Value is quality and reliability at a fair price,” says Orpen.
Vodafone made its mark with BlackBerry, selling more than any other company outside the US and than O2 and Orange put together – but it too is becoming increasingly blurred on its USP Microsoft’s entry into the market has forced Vodafone to open its market and it’s led the way with a range of other devices, solutions and innovations. Security is high on the agenda and is deep-rooted in its mantra of being “a trusted business partner that responds to businesses’ needs.”
T-Mobile has hit the ground running with a clear message that it’s the business owner’s flexible friend – in terms of tariffs, bundles and technology – backed by a strong WiFi offering.
Richard Millman runs the UK’s largest independent mobile reseller, Genesis Communications. He says: “The big three jostle for place, and while they’ve all got their advantages, Vodafone overall, has the most credible claim to be number one. However, while in hardware there are a few exclusives and some slight differences in tariffs, it’s more about getting the value you need.”
Even Vodafone’s Lillistone is honest enough to admit: “The technology being delivered is essentially a level playing field.”
WORKING OUT WHAT YOU NEED
So a bigger challenge than picking a network, or at least the challenge to tackle first, is establishing where the opportunities exist.
Millman says it’s a case of working-out where technology can directly impact on productivity. “It could be that movement of documents and email on the move totally changes the way you do business, or it might be you just need 10 rugged phones for voice in vans and nothing else.”
Orange’s Orpen advises a more holistic approach, considering how every area of your business could run more efficiently: “Look at the widest possible breadth of what you’ll need. Think of your need for broadband, data, network requirements, the overall package not just for now but going forward.”
Russell Lux, MD of IT and telephony supplier LuxTech, had already invested in BlackBerrys and a range of other handsets for his business but realised while the devices had advantages they didn’t provide the practical mobile solution the company needed. He switched to O2 XDA IQ six months ago.
“Previously staff were carrying a BlackBerry and a phone, which didn’t make sense anyway, but they’d still make calls from the BlackBerrys and it was costing us a lot,” says Lux. “We needed to get one device that did everything we needed.”
In an added complication, the BlackBerrys didn’t integrate with the company’s Microsoft CRM solution, so what initially had seemed like a forwarding thinking move was in fact offering scant reward.
Since the switch, Lux has seen an upturn in efficiency and profitability: “Now when an engineer is at a job he’ll use the XDA to send document reports to the office and get immediate feedback. We know what stage of the job they’re at and everything goes straight onto the CRM system so if the client phones five minutes after the engineer has left, whoever picks up the phone knows exactly what’s gone on and all our departments have access to live progress.”
Lux also had a buying requirement – he didn’t want to make an outlay. “Not paying for the devices was key for us as well as switching the numbers over seamlessly,” he says. “It’s all gone very well.”
T-Mobile’s Williamson says: “Positional work is a must. Businesses must decide want they want to achieve and where there is demand.”
WHAT'S ON OFFER?
The market is caught in a quandary of offering sophisticated bespoke solutions to business issues and trying to simplify how they do it. While it’ll involve some ground work, you should take the same approach: research what’s available before buying – there are some great innovations out there – but once you know what you want, keep it simple.
VOICE
Data is the hot technology, but voice is where it started and is still highly important.
However, talking tariffs is becoming increasingly peripheral; networks are very closely priced for pure voice and offer bundles and packages suited to your requirements.
Look out for how individual calls are charged (Orange bills per 20 seconds, others per minute), whether minutes roll over to the next month and additional charges, for calls to other networks and overseas use for instance.
More interesting are developments in how you can control voice usage. Different tariffs can be applied to different handsets, departments, workers etc, and billed separately.
Staff using phones to make personal calls is estimated to cost UK companies £990m a year. All the providers now offer options to get round this: Vodafone offers a dual sim, while O2 provides a prefix and can bill separately. Orange offers more than one line per phone or one number across two devices.
However, providers are increasingly reverting to fl at-rate use-all-you-can tariffs – and these often offer simpler solutions.
For instance, for a £10 per month premium, O2 provides unlimited off peak calls for staff. Rampling says: “It means staff only need one number, are more likely to answer work calls out of hours and it just takes much less time and money to manage. Very few corporate clients are actually asking for programmed sims”. In terms of tariffs, Millman reiterates: “As with devices, there are few real differentiators. It’s more about getting a tariff and bundles which offer value to you.”
DATA
“It’s all about email!” exclaimed every single person we dared ask about mobile usage – in these days of data delirium it was clearly a silly question. BlackBerry clearly took the craving for email on the move to the masses and opened the fl oodgates for other data options to be accepted. T-Mobile’s Williamson summarises: “Data is now completely synonymous with voice.”
The data market is still evolving. In the past 12 months, email options have increased and the market has become switched-on to full document communication. And that’s where you need to be searching for maximum performance.
Consider what level of email interaction your business needs. Do your staff need to simply read email? Do they need to send short replies, or do they need to converse in the same way they would in the office? Do they need the option to type a report, insert images or view a Powerpoint presentation? Do your salesman need to swap documents on the move and access customer records? Do they require live calendar facilities? Do they need a QWERTY keyboard?
These should be massive considerations. Push email – sucked into a device live from your desktop inbox – is standard fare for devices now, but how well your device interacts with your systems and copes with how you want to interact with it, is more complicated.
Microsoft’s entry into the market has offered fresh opportunities and challenges with characteristic aplomb – and has created a RIM (manufacturer of the BlackBerry) versus Microsoft-enabled devices debate. The requirement for Microsoft Exchange Server in order to make many of the applications work further complicates matters.
O2’s Rampling’s take is simple. “You can go two ways, Microsoft or RIM,” he says. Orange’s Orpen elaborates: “It’s down to what you need. If you want to send a one word email a Nokia can do that, if you want volume email then look at a BlackBerry, if you want lots of attachments with Windows then you’ll need something like an M5000.”
Millman agrees to a limit, but believes – as it seems most networks do – there’s room for both to co-exist. The key is fi nding a device which meets the demands you’ll ask of it and ensuring it interacts the way you want it to.
In terms of differentiation, once again, it’s minimal in terms of tariffs. Deciding if you’d prefer to pay for unlimited access or per MB is the key decision, and after that, it’s about fi nding a security and care option you’re comfortable with.
3G/WIFI
For sophisticated data usage, connection and speed will be considerations. The latest devices are 3G/WiFi-enabled, so in theory the need to squeeze in-between the yummy mummies at your local Starbucks to feed into the offi ce, has lessened – except more of us are doing that too.
3G/WiFi device uptake and the number of hotspots are growing alongside each other. In the same way that BlackBerry continues to appeal to large segments of the market, some work will always be more conducive to a laptop than a handheld device.
T-Mobile leads the way in WiFi hotspots, with more than 1,000 UK sites. WiFi continues to roll-out in ever more useful locations. From golden-arched burger chains to pubs, and now trains. Virgin Trains’ West Coast line just became the latest service to add hotspots, following T-Mobile’s successful installation on the Southern Trains Brighton Express route from London, and GNER’s satellite-based 3G/GPRS broadband offering.
Logically, increased availability and competition from heldheld devices should threaten the use of plug-in data cards. The release to market of 3G sim-fitted laptops pioneered by Vodafone and quickly followed by O2, further questions the future of data cards.
Lillistone, whose company led the way with 3G cards, admits: “The technology in sim-laptops is exactly the same but it negates the need to have those lumps of plastic sticking out the side.” However, unless you’re looking to reinvest in the latest laptop technology at entry price, 3G data cards perform a valuable service.
There is little appetite for a WiFi versus 3G war with networks recognising the value of both markets – and also the added bandwidth WiFi offers. O2’s Rampling concludes. “My view is that it’s about freedom and that people will continue to switch between the two.”
CONVERGENCE
There are devices out there that offer complete voice, data, WiFi and 3G enabled, Microsoft-fluent interaction. Whether they are right for your business is another matter; the reality is it’s likely to be a combination of these technologies – probably varying approaches for different members of staff – that’ll prove most productive.
Once you’ve established those needs and the solutions, they are increasingly convergent ways of being supplied. Orange is the leading supplier of converged technologies. You can now get your full mobile and office communications through them, and receive a single bill. Orange’s Orpen goes as far as saying: “We’re no longer a mobile networker, we prefer to be seen as an integrated communications operator. Businesses have known for a while that these technologies existed, but we’re the only ones who have pulled it all together.”
The expected sale of AOL’s UK broadband, with the likes of Carphone Warehouse and Orange reportedly in the bidding, suggests this could be where the future lies.
SECURITY
Security was one of the major barriers to business uptake and providers have worked hard to overcome concerns. There’s every which way of securing a device with pins, passwords and access codes but the market is more sophisticated than that now.
Microsoft’s technology via O2 XDA’s enables you to wipe a device if it’s lost or stolen, while Vodafone can remotely freeze or delete individual programmes if you call them and will scan devices to check for programmes added without permission.
Vodafone’s Business Email service also provides an independent secure data network using the same technology as online banking systems, while every email passed to and from it is virus-checked.
THE BUYING PROCESS
You’ve two choices: go direct to the networks or use a reseller. O2 takes 60% of its business through resellers and Rampling acknowledges he understands why: “A big percentage of the SMB market buy locally and prefer a local dealer.”
Vodafone has tackled the dominance of resellers by opening 100 high street business retail sites and will have 50 more by 2007, while T-Mobile were quick to promote the benefi ts of dealing directly with one of its trained experts “who have better knowledge of the technology than a reseller”.
There’s probably an element of truth to this, but consulting an independent reseller still appears the smarter move overall. Independents will help you get a network suited to your requirements. They can also negotiate down tariffs and standard bundles.
Millman, as an independent reseller, backs up his obvious bias with fi rm evidence: “We can resell the standard, we know where there is fl exibility and where there’s not. We can source hardware to match network if you want a particular device. It’s a face-toface service – and it doesn’t cost you anything.”
He has a point: in most instances you’d be expected to pay for such intermediary expertise, so why not take advantage of it? A localised point of contact throughout the instalment process can prove valuable.
AFTER-SALES SUPPORT
Discard after-sales support from your buying considerations at your peril. When it comes to mobiles, after-sales is hugely important.
Firstly, installation and integration needs to be spot on otherwise you won’t see the benefits and then there’s the development angle – you want to maximise usage and be as efficient as possible. You’ll need help getting started and you’ll want ongoing advice about how to upgrade and stay super-innovative.
You should also seek around-the-clock support. A recent report on remote working by Thus plc revealed that 45% of employees don’t take advantage of flexible working options because of technology and support issues.
Vodafone was first on the scene with BlackBerrys and all of its installers and technicians are Cisco and RIM-qualifi ed – an unrivalled claim. Just as importantly, you need to stay in control and that’s where the real power of after-sales kicks in. Millman says it’s an area where there are clear differentiators, and there are some impressive offerings.
Vodafone and O2 have got big on offering direct contact to corporate clients. Phone them once and they claim that next time you call they’ll route you through to the same person – or one of six dedicated to your account.
Vodafone’s 2,500 strong support team has the capability to set up a personalised helpdesk for you, where staff call as if they’re calling an internal IT department.
Orange is traditionally strong on customer service and its award-winning Orange Care offering comes free with all business tariffs. T-Mobile too has recognised the value of strong customer service and bases its message of fl exibility on the ability to respond swiftly to your needs.
DO YOUR HOMEWORK
Everyday, companies like yours are fi nding innovative ways of applying mobile technology to drive productivity. It’s no longer about how a piece of technology will revolutionise your business, but how you execute it. Find a way to boost effi ciency and improve the service you provide and there will be a technology to match – what’s more it should be cheaper, more reliable and secure then ever before. Do your homework and the opportunities are endless.
