Sourcing company phones: three ways
With concepts like "Samsung DeX", the smartphone can even become the central work tool — and for some employees this is already the case today. In principle, procurement or office management has three options to source company phones in the required quantity.
How can both employers and employees benefit from a co-payment model for company phones? It''s all in our whitepaper.
1. The "classic" purchase
When it comes to procurement, this one is obvious: just buy. Sources for company devices are, on the one hand, system houses and distributors, and on the other hand mobile network operators are also worth considering for hardware sourcing. And of course you can also pick them up in retail — via the online shop or in a brick-and-mortar store.
2. Buying a company phone in installments
Another option is buying in installments. The most common case is purchase through the mobile network operator. So-called bundle offers (i.e. "bundled" deals consisting of a business mobile plan and a mobile device) often lure customers with very low device co-payments — such as an iPhone for 49 euros or other models for just one euro.
If you look a bit more closely, however, these offers are by no means as cheap as they appear — because the devices are subsidized through the contract and ultimately paid for by the customer anyway.
You can find more details in our article:
5 facts about business plans that mobile carriers would rather keep quiet.
More than just a "nice to have": in many jobs, a smartphone has become virtually indispensable.
3. Renting a company phone
But you can also rent company phones. That makes you more flexible overall, because you separate the device from the plan and the SIM card. If an employee leaves the company, for example, or wants a different phone model, you simply return the rental device — instead of "storing" it in some IT graveyard drawer, which is the case at 26 percent of the companies that took part in our survey on company phones at German organizations.
Question: What do you do with your company phones after use?
Device graveyard: at many companies, discarded smartphones pile up (image: Everphone)
With a rental model like Everphone''s, an exchange service kicks in if a device is damaged, and companies are also supported in managing the devices — meaning IT is permanently relieved.
The rental model also offers the option to let employees have a say in choosing the model ("Choose Your Own Device" / CYOD) — without it getting more expensive for the company. That makes employees happy and IT too.
More on this here: Rolling out company smartphones with CYOD.
Consider "soft factors" when sourcing smartphones
What should you keep in mind when sourcing business phones? It is advisable not to focus solely on the actual purchase price. All too often, supposed bargains turn from price hits into price drivers — for instance when they put additional load on the helpdesk or generate other extra effort. Hence a few pointers below.
For real productivity, entry-level models are usually not well suited. Make sure devices have enough processing power and storage.
Avoid choosing devices purely for cost or technical reasons. Doing so completely ignores the aspect of productivity and employee satisfaction.
"End users decide which device they use. The days when IT determined the equipment for employees are long gone."Dr. Martin Engel, CIO of the Year 2019
Also look at the effort involved in sourcing and maintaining the devices: can you simply order new devices, or does it require a highly specialized expert (think: IT compliance) to allocate resources?
What happens if a smartphone or tablet is broken and has to be repaired or replaced? Is it handled quickly and easily, or does a less-than-enthusiastic IT specialist have to drive to a phone repair shop? What does the repair cost?
Are employees allowed to use the smartphone privately as well?
If not, why not?
If yes, are the GDPR rules for company phones implemented?
If yes, is corporate data separated from private data via MDM software or at least a container app?
Would your employees possibly even be willing to make a co-payment for a top smartphone? Just ask your colleagues whether they would be willing to chip in if they got an iPhone 11 instead of an iPhone SE (as of 2019).
Are work tools that can also be used privately communicated as an employee benefit at your company? Then in the "war for talents" you shouldn''t miss the chance to use the company phone for employer branding as well. Also read: Company phone instead of office party.
Consider tax aspects: would you rather tie up investment capital or instead raise operating expenses? For company smartphones, this difference can be quite significant from a tax perspective.
Do you need to source company phones?
Buy, "lease" from the mobile network operator or rather rent? If you are responsible for sourcing mobile devices and want to lower the cost of your company phones, simply compare your options: we''ll advise you free of charge and with no obligation — request a quote here.