If you’re asking employees to work remotely, providing the tools and software they need to do their job is essential.

Even if you’re staying office based, providing mobile equipment so employees can adapt to sudden changes in the way they work is still critical – the last two years have proved that.

This could include investing in dedicated business phones.

Business phones are a great way for employees to deal with work related calls and emails during the day, without giving customers and clients their personal number, or downloading their work email onto a personal phone.

It also makes it easier for them to leave their business phone to one side when they’ve finished work, rather than feeling tied to their job 24/7.

If you’re going to invest in business phones, you need to make sure you get a business mobile deal that’s suitable for everyone in the business.

That means asking some important questions.

Is the data restricted?

Do you only get a set amount of texts to use each month?

Are there roaming charges?

You need to think about what you and your employees will need from a business mobile phone. 

Here’s what you need to consider when choosing a business mobile phone deal 

Contract vs sim only

Before deciding on anything else, you need to think about how you’d want to pay for it each month. 

Having a contract phone deal means you pay for your phone and any extras including minutes and data, each month for a set amount of time. 

Most phone providers allow you to get additional texts, calls or data for varying prices. 

So if you have an employee who has a contract business phone plan, and are working out of the office in a particular month, you could up their data allowance for when they need it.

This is an easy option if you have a lot of business mobiles within the company, as the money can come out each month without having to keep an eye on it. 

With a sim only deal, it’s still a contract, but you don’t get the phone included. 

This way you don’t have to pay the monthly cost for the phone itself, but still get the benefits of texts, calls and data. 

If you want to reduce your monthly outgoings, sim deals are a great option. 

They’re more flexible than a standard contract, as you aren’t stuck with a certain phone for a certain length of time. 

You can change your phone whenever you want and still have everything that’s stored on the sim, including phone numbers and pictures.

Minutes

If you make a lot of calls during the day from clients and colleagues, it’ll be worth having a deal with a large number or unlimited minutes available.

Unlimited calls are the best option for most businesses, so you don’t risk suddenly running out of minutes during an important call.

If you can’t afford a deal with unlimited minutes, you’ll need to figure out your average minutes per month and get something around that number. 

Texts

Using text messages is a quick and easy way to communicate with both clients and colleagues. 

Using group chats is a modern and great way to stay up to date with team meetings and business updates. 

If you use text messages a lot in your company, it would be worth having a phone deal that gives your employees a large number of texts to use each month, with room to buy additional ones if they need them.

Data Plans

With remote working, most business mobile phones require larger data plans so employees aren’t reliant on unsecure Wi-Fi networks when they’re on the go. 

Using public Wi-Fi can be dangerous.

If someone was to log into an unsecure network, hackers can get into their business mobile and get access to all the information stored on it. 

To prevent this from happening, provide your employees with sufficient plans for their data usage. 

Roaming charges

If your employees travel a lot for work, you need to take roaming charges into consideration when you’re looking at phone plans. 

Before agreeing to a phone deal, check the roaming charges for the countries you travel to the most. 

Roaming charges are a network wide thing, so you’ll have to pay extra no matter what plan you’re on.

When planning your budget for how much you’d like to spend on business mobile phones, keep these extra charges in mind.

Contract length

The length of your contract determines the length of time you’ll have the phone and all it’s features (data, texts, minutes, etc) for. 

If you want to keep up to date with the newest phone launches and want your employees to have an upgrade when a new model comes out, it would be pointless having a three year contract. 

Business mobile phones are used more than the standard phone, and are expected to work and respond quickly. 

Before agreeing to a phone contract, ask if the option to upgrade early is available. 

What else do you need to look at when choosing a phone provider?

Flexibility in the contract

Unlike a standard phone, business mobile phones need to be flexible in their contract. 

Some employees may leave half way through their contract or realise they need additional features throughout their plan. 

If this is something that concerns you, look into flexible contracts that enable you to cancel at any time and customise your allowances from month to month. 

Any deals for multiple phone purchases?

If you’re buying mobile phones for a large group of employees, you’ll want to save as much money as possible. 

By looking into companies who offer deals for buying multiple business mobile phones at once, you can get access to high quality phones without the price tag. 

At Communications Plus, we have a savings calculator. 

Try it today to see how much you can save.

What phone management support is available?

Supplying mobile phones across a company can be hard to keep track of. 

Not only do you need to keep up with payments, you also need to monitor employee usage and internet safety. 

By having mobile device management (MDM) in place you can keep track of how business mobile phones are being used, and make sure your company’s information is only accessed by owners and other employees. 

When choosing a phone provider, make sure you can have MDM available for your IT team, so you can keep business data and your employees safe. 

What network do you want to be on?

There are so many mobile phone networks to choose from now, it can be quite overwhelming to know which one is best for you. 

You first of all need to think about what you want from a network. 

Who offers the best internet connection in your area?

Who offers a plan that suits your texting and calling needs?

And who offers prices you can afford?

The more aware you are of what you want, the easier it’ll be to pick a network provider. 

Do they offer dedicated business phone plans or are they consumers plans?

Business and consumer mobile phone plans are very different. 

Companies opting for business phones expect money saving offers and regular support in case everything goes wrong. 

Especially now many workers rely on their phones for working on the go, so it’s important they have access to a working mobile phone at all times. 

Consumer plans are different. 

They are catered to the average user who has a mobile phone to make calls and check up on their social media. 

But they don’t always have the capacity for larger scale use. 

Using a company like us, you can save money through our multiple phone offers and customisable plans. 

What support is available?

Even if you have an MDM, keeping track of how your business mobile phones can be a lot to handle. 

Whether it’s to ask to upgrade your current phones, or find out how long you have left in your contract, it’s important to have people on hand to answer all of your questions. 

With Communications Plus, you have access to our team of experts whenever you need them.

Get in touch now for more information on how we can help your business get used to the hybrid working world.