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by Rebecca McReynolds
Mobile phones have become a critical tool for small businesses. After all, beyond the work-from-home trend, many employees today aren’t regularly stationed at their desks because they are working in the field with customers or at another remote location (whether a coffee shop, hotel or co-working space).
Business owners might be tempted to have employees simply rely on their personal smartphones in order to save money, but that’s unwise for many reasons, experts say.
“A dedicated business mobile plan lets your employees provide your customers with a more fulfilling calling experience no matter where they are working from while also providing a host of other benefits for your company,” says Bryan Hagedon, senior director of mobile product at Spectrum Business.
So, what are the key benefits of having a business mobile plan? Here are five important ones:
Consider all of the company data that could be accessed and stored by an employee’s mobile phone, from customer contact information to confidential internal documents to your project management platform. When employees use their personal phones for work, you have no idea who else has access to that phone, the sites they visit or the other apps installed on the phone.
With a separate business phone, you’re in control of the carrier you use, the apps that are allowed on it and how the devices are secured. Stefan Chekanov, CEO of Brosix, an instant messaging platform company, provides all of his employees with a business mobile phone and has created rules for how each phone must be secured.
“We require a combination of passwords and other security measures to prevent the loss of important data if the phone is lost or stolen,” he says. “We’ll also install additional layers of protection for phones that contain sensitive material.”
When you provide employees with mobile phones, you can ensure each one is equipped with the apps and other tools your team needs for their jobs—improving efficiency and communication. This is particularly important as more businesses adopt cloud-based applications that employees need to access from wherever they are working.
“Most of our employees use several mobile apps for their work, which can be challenging to store on a personal phone due to the size of the apps,” Chekanov adds. “Business phones, however, allow us to fully utilize the available space and install necessary apps and programs.”
When an employee mingles personal calls with professional calls on one device, there’s a far greater chance they will answer calls in a casual, unprofessional way. Not to mention, it looks unprofessional to the outside world (including your customers) when employees are obviously using personal mobile devices.
“Everyone needs a mobile phone these days, but using a personal phone for business calls is unprofessional,” says Adam Chase, president of Music Minds, an online music publication that provides some of its employees with mobile phones.
With a business phone, you can control the outgoing voicemail message and connect that voicemail box with your business telecommunications platform, so messages don’t get lost.
Leading business mobile carriers now offer a wide variety of data plan options that let you customize plans to fit your company’s needs. For example, Spectrum Mobile for Business—available to Spectrum Business Internet customers—offers an unlimited data plan as well as the option to buy data by the gigabyte. That means you don’t have to overspend on data you don’t need.
Also, with Spectrum Mobile for Business, there are no contracts, so you’re never locked in and you can easily add or remove users and adjust your data requirements as your company grows or changes.
Moreover, having a business mobile plan means that when an employee leaves, their mobile number can remain with the business to prevent customer confusion. And the device—along with its apps and any access to sensitive business data—remains with the business, too.
Leading business mobile carriers now offer a wide variety of data plan options that let you customize plans to fit your company’s needs.
When your business mobile devices are connected to your company’s WiFi network (instead of running off cellular service), they can take advantage of your company’s high-speed internet. Spectrum Mobile for Business customers, for example, have business internet plans starting at speeds of 200 Mbps and up through Spectrum Business Internet Gig.
Moreover, they also have access to high-speed Spectrum WiFi hotspots around the U.S., along with 5G wireless connectivity in areas where it’s available.
Faster internet means your employees can work more efficiently on their mobile phones without the slowdowns they might experience on their personal mobile phones and non-business internet networks.
Spectrum Mobile for Business unlimited data, text and talk plans are available to Spectrum Business Internet customers for $45 per line monthly. To learn more, contact us at 855-299-9353.