According to Billmonitor’s new analysis, the first of its kind in the UK analysing actual billing data from SMEs, an astonishing 49% of UK businesses are spending more than twice what they need for mobile phone service with the three major providers (Vodafone, EE, O2). Billmonitor estimate total annual overspend for UK SMEs of £1.0bn, whilst an extraordinary 38,000 UK SMEs could each save at least £10,000 per year. manage telecom expense

Billmonitor analysed billing data from thousands of connections using proprietary software developed by Oxford mathematicians. Contrary to expectations, the analysis shows that where consumers overpay on average by 66%, businesses overpay on average by 96%. Even in a tender process, the lowest of your offers is unlikely to be nearly as low as that network can offer if you know what to ask for.

The business mobile market lacks transparency in two key areas: it’s too hard to work out what you need, and too hard to find what’s available. The operators provide fully itemised bills, from which even some experts would struggle to extract the information you need: a business with 50 connections typically receives a bill of 150 or more pages every month.

Then, the operators do not publish all available tariffs. With limited visibility as to what is available and how much it costs, you are unlikely to find the best deal for your business.

It’s easy to be happy not knowing. Though 93% of SMEs could save on their bills, 80% believe they enjoy a good tariff. The most substantial savings come from diverse and hard-to-predict sources, not from switching network but from negotiating the right contract with your existing provider. In order to demonstrate this, we have analysed two pairs of businesses with similar usage. In the first, one SME pays nearly twice as much as the other, and both can save: one by switching from shared to individual data allowances, the other by terminating dormant lines. In the second, two larger SMEs have tailored contracts yet both overpay substantially, one through charges for individual UK voice calls and the other through bundles for UK voice and data.

Although you might think that a larger SME would enjoy more bargaining power with the mobile operators, our analysis finds that the average amount a business spends per connection actually increases with the number of connections a business requires. The typical potential saving also increases faster than the number of connections: in Billmonitor’s sample, larger SMEs with 50 or more connections can on average save some £231 per connection per year, whilst SMEs with 1 to 9 connections can on average save some £178 per connection per year.

Ofcom’s latest mobile statistics show a total bill for UK businesses of £3.3bn per year for 11.3 million business mobile connections. Extrapolating from our data and the Business Population Estimates for the UK and Regions 2017 as published by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, we estimate total annual overspend for UK SMEs of £1.0bn, and that an astonishing 38,000 UK businesses could each save at least £10,000 per year.

Billmonitor’s analysis of total savings by number of connections per business shows that most SMEs could save, with larger SMEs able to save proportionately more. Some very substantial savings indeed:
– Micro SMEs with an average of 3 connections can save on average £178 per connection or a total of £483 per year.
– Smaller SMEs, with an average of 21 connections, can save on average £197 per connection or a total of £4,058 per year.
– Larger SMEs, with an average of 105 connections, can save on average £231 per connection or a total of £24,177 per year manage telecom expense

An astonishing 49% of businesses pay not just more than they need but more than double what they need, a fate shared by only 28% of consumers. Whereas the most efficient 10% of SMEs overspend by a mere 2%, the least efficient 10% overspend by 292%, paying nearly four times as much as they
need.

For micro SMEs, some 69% of savings come from reducing the cost of tariff and bundles. For SMEs with 10 or more connections, some 49% of savings are from reducing tariff and bundles and 10% from increasing UK data allowances. Reusing or terminating connections accounts for a further 19% of total savings. Businesses with international activities can save by optimising roaming bundles and through bundles for calling abroad.

Billmonitor research was done for UK, same situation is in US, Germany, Russia, UAE, everywhere… get your Alertify.

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