Mobile devices have become the beating heart of modern business. Employees text clients, send emails on the go, join conference calls from the road, upload files from airports, and rely on apps to get their work done. Mobility has made teams faster, more flexible, and more connected than ever.

But there’s another side to this story — and it’s not nearly as exciting.

As mobility has grown among enterprises, costs have grown right alongside it. In many companies, mobile spending has quietly spiraled out of control. Voice minutes, data usage, international roaming, and a maze of confusing plans often lead to one inevitable result: bill shock.

And if you feel like you’re not managing your company’s mobile ecosystem as well as you should… you’re definitely not alone.

Gartner’s research shows that most organizations still struggle to adequately manage their mobile users, services, and contracts. As Phil Redman, Research VP at Gartner, put it: “The majority of companies are not adequately managing their mobile users or services. They need to look more closely at their key user segments and requirements in order to match those needs with the right services and optimize their spending.”

In other words: businesses are paying for a lot of things they don’t really need — and not managing the things they do.

Let’s break down why enterprise mobile costs get so high, where the biggest problems usually hide, and what companies can do to take back control.

The Silent Cost Creep: How Mobile Bills Get Out of Control

Whether you have 50 employees or 50,000, mobile costs can build up incredibly fast. What makes it tricky is that these costs rarely show up all at once. Instead, they creep in quietly — excess data here, roaming minutes there, legacy plans that no one remembers signing, and devices that are still active but no longer used.

According to Gartner, companies with 500+ employees that fail to actively manage their mobile telecom expenses may be overpaying by 30% or more. That’s not a minor administrative issue — that’s real money, often six or seven figures a year.

And this isn’t a theoretical problem. Gartner reports that some global companies spend $20 million+ annually just on roaming costs alone. Yes, only roaming.

Meanwhile, the workforce has shifted dramatically. By 2018, Gartner predicted that 8 in 10 email users would access their inbox primarily from a mobile device — which turned out to be true and has only increased since. Today, mobile-first work is simply the norm.

Yet most enterprise mobility strategies still feel like they were built for 2012.

Where Costs Explode: The Three Big Areas Every Business Needs to Manage

If you want to get mobile spending under control, you need to look closely at three areas:
contracts, international roaming, and mobility management.

Let’s break them down.

1. Contracts: The Invisible Cost Trap

The way companies buy mobile services has changed dramatically in recent years. More than 60% of midsize and large enterprises have moved away from individual plans — mostly because individual plans are objectively terrible at cost reduction.

But here’s the catch: simply switching plans isn’t enough. A lot of companies jump into “enterprise” offers without understanding what’s actually inside them.

Some of the common traps include:

• Pooling plans that aren’t sized correctly
• Flat-rate plans that sound good but aren’t used fully
• Zero-minute phones that employees rarely touch
• Legacy contracts that renew automatically
• Plans with huge roaming markups baked in

Every organization has different user types — heavy travelers, field workers, managers, desk-based staff, contractors, interns, hybrid workers, and so on. Putting everyone on the same plan is almost guaranteed to waste money.

The most cost-effective mobile setups typically include:

• Segmented plans aligned to user behavior
• Regular audits every quarter
• Automated alerts for unusual usage
• A clear policy on upgrades and device replacement

When companies match the right plan to the right user, costs almost always drop.

2. International Roaming: The Fastest Way to Blow a Budget

If there’s one area where enterprises routinely overspend, it’s roaming.

The math is brutal:
10% of international travelers generate about 35% of total mobile spending.

It only takes a few people checking email from airports, joining Zoom calls from hotel rooms, or using Google Maps abroad to rack up thousands in charges — sometimes in a matter of days.

Roaming has become one of the most unpredictable expenses in enterprise mobility because:

• Rates vary wildly by country
• Employees rarely know how much data they’re using
• Carriers don’t warn you until it’s too late
• Many businesses still use outdated roaming packages
• International data is significantly more expensive than voice

The result: shocking invoices, angry finance teams, and unnecessary spending that could have been avoided with better planning.

Smart companies are starting to:

• Negotiate roaming discounts
• Switch to global eSIM plans for travelers
• Pre-assign travel packages before an employee departs
• Monitor live roaming usage
• Educate travelers about data-hungry apps

There’s no magic wand for roaming costs — but with the right setup, you can cut them dramatically.

3. Mobility Management: The Foundation of Cost Control

Most companies don’t have a mobility problem. They have a mobility management problem.

Devices and plans aren’t the issue — lack of visibility and oversight is.

Common scenarios include:

• Employees with multiple active lines they don’t need
• Old phones still connected and billed
• Data add-ons never removed
• Plans never updated even when usage drops
• Devices upgraded automatically instead of strategically
• No central policy for procurement or usage

Active mobility management fixes all of this. It’s not just about saving money — it’s about creating a clean, efficient system where you know exactly who has what, how much they use, and what it costs.

This includes:

• A centralized mobility policy
• Regular contract reviews
• Automated usage reports
• Expense thresholds
• Device lifecycle management
• A budget aligned with real usage

And perhaps most importantly: assigning an owner. Someone needs to be responsible for mobile spending, not five different departments pointing at each other.

Final Thoughts: It’s Time to Get Serious About Mobile Spending

The message is simple: mobility is essential, but unmanaged mobility is expensive.

There’s no reason any enterprise should be paying more for less — not when there are smarter plans, better tools, cheaper roaming solutions, and clearer visibility available today.

If your company hasn’t reviewed its mobile strategy recently, now is the time. Look at your user groups. Look at your contracts. Look at your travelers. Look at the processes that keep everything running.

A bit of attention now can save thousands — or millions — later.

And in a world where every employee depends on mobile to work efficiently, giving them the right tools at the right cost isn’t just good financial management.

It’s good business.