Mobile costs 'too high for businesses'

Date: 18th November 2009

Many small business start-ups could be spending an unnecessary amount of money on mobile call costs, new analysis has suggested.

Industry experts Damovo UK have found that overall mobile spend among the firms has grown in an "ad hoc way" and can be reduced by careful budgeting.

The comments follow the release of figures from the tech specialists, which showed that around £264 million is wasted in this way each year across all businesses.

According to the report, 42 per cent of employees' corporate mobile calls were made from within the office - and could therefore be replaced by cheaper landline calls.

Damovo UK also recommends increased use of WiFi voice applications rather than mobile phones in order to reduce spending.

Glyn Owen, portfolio manager at the firm, said: "Perhaps it's an issue of belief [about whether] the solutions are now there, [and if] they're able to do what [providers] say in delivering some real cost benefit when it comes to mobiles."

He added: "There has been reluctance in the past about whether WiFi from a security point of view, from a performance point of view, whether they should be putting voice applications on it. That may have held some organisations back."

Research from Citrix GoToMyPC, published earlier this month, show that 62 per cent of commuters wish to reduce the amount of time they spend travelling from and to work.

Posted by Thomas Fletcher