Mobile phone management tools reduced costs by 55%

The challenge of mobile cost management

Any business with a large number of mobile phone users understands the monthly burden of billing. Not just the burden of call carriage costs, but also the detailed task of processing and reporting on those monthly bills.

For the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA), a Commonwealth Government department with 470 mobile phone users spread across Australia, these difficulties presented a significant challenge.

“We needed increased visibility into our mobile telephony fleet – knowledge about which employees were using phones, how much they were spending and how well they adhered to our usage policies,” said Ian Fletcher, Director, Voice Services, DVA.

"Macquarie Telecom provided the level of support and account management we sought, and has set up our fleet according to specific Departmental needs. The company demonstrated a flexibility and willingness to please that is most welcome in today's complex telecommunications environment.”
Ian Fletcher,
Department of Veterans' Affairs

Reducing mobiles costs - Innovation and execution

Following an independent evaluation of nine providers, DVA awarded Macquarie Telecom the contract for carriage of its mobile fleet, the mobile management software was a key component.

“Macquarie Telecom emerged as a clear winner due to its competitive pricing, its high levels of service and support, and the reporting power of FleetView management tool,” said Fletcher.

Macquarie Telecom began switching user handsets over to proprietary GSM and CDMA mobile phones matching individual user profiles to one of the two coverage options.

Today, over 440 phones in the DVA fleet are supplied and reported on by Macquarie Telecom and DVA is recording significant cost savings.
Macquarie Telecom's web-based fleet management tool, FleetView, enables the Department to better analyse, manage and control the use of its mobiles, with an ability to monitor usage patterns across different criteria and analyse and implement usage policies.

“FleetView has automated our reporting, billing and mobile phone inventory management. This gives us the flexibility to make ‘real time' changes to user profiles to accommodate business travel requirements, annual leave and a range of other changes of circumstances,” said Fletcher.

For example, some DVA employees travel to commemorative ceremonies overseas, so global roaming is a requirement for different people at different times.

“FleetView is a powerful tool that puts the management of the mobile telephony fleet back in the hands of the people who run the business.”

Since moving to Macquarie Telecom DVA has recorded a 55% drop in call carriage costs. Administration costs have also been significantly reduced. Processing and reporting on monthly usage, which previously took between three and four days, now takes just three hours thanks to the online billing functionality provided by FleetView.

Now, how can we help you?

If you want to reduce costs, reporting time and increase the efficiency of your mobile management; 

Start a conversation today with Macquarie Telecom.