Sponsored: Partnering with a mobile management service provider needs to be carefully undertaken.
Whilst suppliers may broadly offer the same service, there are significant differences in their respective capabilities and support packages. It is in these areas that multinational corporations can leverage the most benefits from these partnerships.
An organisation that partners with a mobile management provider without considering the full impact of the decision can become locked into a restrictive contract with an unsuitable partner. It can also lead to an inefficient relationship with redundant functionality, which still has to be paid for.
When it comes to deciding which mobile management supplier to partner with, it is vital to take the time to consider all available providers, their partnering arrangements, and the benefits they could bring.
Since 2003, the leading European mobile operators are forming a mobile services hub that spans over 100 countries, called the FreeMove Alliance. As a trusted partner of TOP multinational corporations worldwide, the Alliance is supporting their customers to leverage their global mobile strategy and access the best-in-class national operators.
With its international expertise, FreeMove Alliance offers a deep dive into the six main factors that global enterprises should carefully analyse in order to find the best mobile management partner.
Know your requirements
From the outset, it is critical to understand the operational drivers and market forces behind your organisation; knowing your own requirements is key to a successful partnership. This is more than simply a business analysis: it’s a technological assessment of the network architecture and functionality underpinning the company. Operational regions and those of external clients also need to be considered.
With this information to hand, it will become easier to identify those mobile management providers that offer the most suitable packages.
Scalability
Multinational corporations need to consider their planned trajectory, as well as current network infrastructure. It is important to ascertain whether potential partners will be able to accommodate projected growth, in terms of the network’s scale and depth. Flexibility is also required, to meet new and unforeseen demands.
The requirements of a mobile network will change as a company expands and evolves over time. Being locked into a partnership that does not have the capacity to match growth can lead to restricted expansion, inhibiting returns upon investments.
User experience and reviews
As with all things, reputation is everything. Those partners that provide a consistent level of professional service will be reviewed as such. Therefore, conducting a thorough background check on any prospective partnering supplier becomes an important factor in the selection process.
Likewise, researching a potential partner’s existing client base will give further insights into their reputation. For example, if a provider has several long-term clients, this tends to indicate a positive approach towards customer care.
Coverage
Mobile management partners should provide adequate coverage for all regional operations. However, coverage no longer means just having the necessary infrastructure in the required regions, but also having internal processes in place to meet each region’s legislative requirements.
In the wake of GDPR, the recent swathe of regional data protection policies means that service providers are far more responsible for traffic on their network. Without the appropriate data protection policies in place, companies can become subject to severe financial penalties. Data sharing agreements may be necessary, but these can slow the flow of information.
Support and security
Mobility management providers are ideally the silent partners – they underpin the collaborative networking that drives multinational corporations. Yet, if unforeseen issues arise, their true value will quickly become apparent.
Organisations need to minimise any downtime in order to reduce disruption to their services. As such, those mobile management suppliers that have a pro-active approach to client support will be invaluable.
Security considerations also need to be taken into account; not just in terms of sophistication but the extents of their security measures and how they interact with a client’s network. Ignoring this aspect could leave multinational corporations vulnerable to certain threat vectors.
Extras and options
It is in the supplementary and optional extras that modern enterprises can leverage optimum returns in their partnerships, as they will be able to take advantage of the full range services being offered. Redundant features will become a loss-leader, as this will be functionality that is paid for but is unused.
Synergising in partnership
The appropriate service provider should understand the global needs of the partnering organisation as well as the local markets where the execution takes place.
A Global Account Manager, as a single point of contact, harmonises all the local knowledge and offers based on the customers’ global needs, therefore making the most out of the customer’s centralised buying power.
This will in turn enhance profits, improve growth and enhance customer satisfaction.
The FreeMove Alliance was created specifically to assist multi-national corporations with their unique mobility challenges. Since 2003, FreeMove Alliance members and partners provide clients a mobile connectivity hub that spans over a hundred countries, enabling multinational corporations to rely on the best mobile networks wherever they do business. Get in touch to explore how to leverage the power of global mobility.