Business mobile phones are vital for many business owners and their staff. They offer many considerable benefits in the workplace, including improved customer service and the ability to work remotely. They can also boost productivity, and the safety and morale of your workforce. Here are some of the other benefits that having business smartphones can bring to your business:
Benefits of having business smartphones
Admin
It’s easier to keep on top of what phones are operating within your company using business mobile phones, because you have a list of the phones being used. If you allow employees to use their own phones, you will have no idea what phones they are using.
Maintenance
Many businesses are under the impression that they will have high costs for maintaining business phones. However, most business smartphones come with insurance and guarantees that the supplier will replace or repair them. Employees’ personal phones, on the other hand, will incur a large bill for replacement.
Limiting your business to a particular operating system (iOS vs Android)
Whilst the compatibility issue is less of an issue than it used to be, it’s still easier to have everyone using the same system.
Costs
The cost to upgrade when the time comes will work out cheaper than the lost productivity costs from some employees struggling with older phones.
The tax benefits to your business will further offset the upgrade costs.
Additionally, with business smartphones, you will always know how much your phone bill is going to be at the end of the month so you can budget better.
Employees managing two phones
Whilst this could initially be seen as a drawback, it actually makes it easier for your employees to maintain a good work-life balance. Their business phone can be left in a drawer overnight, and they’ll never have to take work calls on their personal phone.
Challenges arising from business mobile phones
Whilst the benefits of business mobile phones are substantial, it’s important to note that significant business challenges can arise from using mobile phones at work. We will now discuss what these challenges are and how to deal with them.
Decreased productivity caused by mobile phones
Always-on communication in the form of personal and work-related calls can disturb employee workflow and decrease their productivity.
To avoid potential problems, you should have a clear-cut policy on the use of mobile phones at work. Also, it’s a good idea to put personal phones away during office hours.
Compromised work-life balance
It is not an easy task to achieve a good work-life balance in today’s unpredictable and fast-paced business world. It has become commonplace to check emails at all hours, take business calls at the dinner table and work on our laptops on weekends.
The ‘all hours’ availability that having a business mobile phone provides can interrupt your employees’ personal life if they receive calls outside their working hours.
Setting clear guidelines to ensure your employees know it’s okay to switch their business mobile phone off outside of office hours will help your staff to achieve a better work-life balance.
Cost of business mobile phones
Many businesses think that business mobile phones will be expensive.
However, business smartphones are seen as a legitimate business expense, and as such, can provide great tax benefits to your business. This makes them a much better option than paying towards individual employee phones, as there are no tax benefits for this.
If employees are using their business phone for personal reasons, costs could get out of hand. However, you can enable features on all your employees’ handsets and SIM cards to restrict the use of their phones to business purposes only.
You can also choose a tariff that will suit your company usage. Speak to us about our business tariffs today.
Using business mobiles overseas
If you expect your employees to travel overseas for business reasons, you should check costs. Keep in mind that you may need ‘tri-band’ handsets if your staff will be travelling to North America.
Fortunately, we have various small business tariffs available that include international minutes and texts. We also offer bolt-ons for international minutes from just £3.
For information on how we can help with business mobile phone packages please click here or alternatively contact us on 03701 020204.
Whilst this could initially be seen as a drawback, it actually makes it easier for your employees to maintain a good work-life balance. They can leave their business phone in a drawer overnight. They should also never be expected to take work calls on their personal phone.
Challenges arising from business mobile phones
Whilst the benefits of business mobile phones are substantial, it’s important to note that significant business challenges can arise from using mobile phones at work. We will now discuss what these challenges are and how to deal with them.
Decreased productivity caused by mobile phones
Always-on communication in the form of personal and work-related calls can disturb employee workflow and decrease their productivity.
To avoid potential problems, you should have a clear-cut policy on the use of mobile phones at work. Also, it’s a good idea to put personal phones away during office hours.
Compromised work-life balance
It is not an easy task to achieve a good work-life balance in today’s unpredictable and fast-paced business world. It has become commonplace to check emails at all hours, take business calls at the dinner table and work on our laptops on weekends.
The ‘all hours’ availability that having a business mobile phone provides can interrupt your employees’ personal life if they receive calls outside their working hours.
Setting clear guidelines to ensure your employees know it’s okay to switch their business mobile phone off outside of office hours will help your staff to achieve a better work-life balance.
Cost of business mobile phones
Many businesses think that business mobile phones will be expensive.
However, business smartphones are seen as a legitimate business expense, and as such, can provide great tax benefits to your business. This makes them a much better option than paying towards individual employee phones, as there are no tax benefits for this.
If employees are using their business phone for personal reasons, costs could get out of hand. However, you can enable features on all your employees’ handsets and SIM cards. This will restrict the use of their phones to business purposes only.
You can also choose a tariff that will suit your company usage. Speak to us about our business tariffs today.
Using business mobiles overseas
If you expect your employees to travel overseas for business reasons, you should check costs. Keep in mind that you may need ‘tri-band’ handsets if your staff will be travelling to North America.
Fortunately, we have various small business tariffs available that include international minutes and texts. We also offer bolt-ons for international minutes from just £3.
For information on how we can help with business mobile phone packages please click here or alternatively contact us on 03701 020204.
