This is the final post in a series highlighting BYOD, taking a look at what concerns and procedures organizations need to evaluate as they embrace devices in the workplace.
Most IT managers believe that the cost savings inherent in BYOD (assuming, again, that support costs are controlled) accrue primarily from not having to buy an unnecessary mobile device. But a potentially even larger savings can be realized by optimizing the reimbursement strategy that compensates users for their monthly wireless carrier services charges.
These costs, for voice, data, messaging, and sometimes other services, are many times those of the initial device purchase over the life of a given contract, even if one pays full retail price for the device itself. And, since staff are using their personal devices in the service of their employer, some form of partial reimbursement of those monthly costs is in order.
The problem here is in deciding on such a strategy, as a good number of options are possible. These include, in a nutshell, the following:
- Fixed amount – This is by far the easiest strategy overall, and is just what it says: each BYOD user gets a fixed amount of money each month towards their wireless service expenses, irrespective of actual use and the relative percentages of personal and organizational data volumes. There is no simpler way to address the reimbursement requirement, and the options can below can address pushback, typically based on “fairness”, should these occur. Still, we’ve found that most users find this policy fair over time, especially if they get to pick their own cellular plans.
- Fixed percentage – In this case, users receive a fixed percentage of their cellular bills as compensation, for example, a 50/50 split. The challenge here is in placing any required limitations on the range of plans available, such as an upper bound on data charges, as users may be tempted to purchase (often much) more than they really use, with net costs and consequently reimbursement payments thus being much higher than they really need to be.
- Variable percentage– Some organizations divide BYOD users into categories by job function. Salespeople, who spend a lot of time out of the office, might under such a scheme receive a greater percentage of reimbursement than those who have default access to lower-cost communication services, such as Wi-Fi and landlines.
- Actual expenses – While all of the above options require no audit of end-user expenses (but note that such might be desirable on a sample basis from time to time, to aid in policy revisions), it is in fact possible in some cases to obtain detailed transaction histories and actual data volumes for individual users. Of course, such can lead to debates about whether a particular site was really accessed for business purposes, so this option is appropriate only in a very restricted set of cases. We usually recommend that this option be avoided based simply on the accounting costs involved – ROI here can be very low.
Note that these are in order of increasing difficulty with respect to implementation. Not to take too much of a Henry David Thoreau/Occam’s razor approach here, but simpler solutions usually have the lowest costs over time, in terms of both dollars and the maintenance of good will.
Two other important points:
- While most cellular plans today offer unlimited voice and messaging, major restrictions on data volume remain common. Users actually have very little control over data utilization in most cases, and, while frivolous usage should always be discouraged, so should worry about consuming data while in the service of organizational goals. Larger firms should still seek to negotiate deals with carriers that cover mobile staff, as these will almost always offer a better deal overall – with improved management visibility in the bargain.
- Avoid any temptation to offer different reimbursement plans to different users other than on a group basis. Such can be a source of ill feelings once discovered, as is almost always the case.
Check all posts in this series:
BYOD Success: Aligning with Enterprise Mobility Management strategy