National Property Maintenance Company
The company selected Connect365 to manage their 800 SIM mobile estate
Snapshot:
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Turnover £170 million
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Selected our SIM only offering
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A culture of bill shock has been removed
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Support levels are now where they need to be
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Overall management of the mobile estate is now seamless and accurate
About the client:
The company are an award-winning property maintenance company with a very clear mission: to deliver a safer workforce that provides quality service, commitment, and sustainability to communities throughout the UK.
Challenges:
The company were not impressed with Vodafone who were their incumbent. The relationship had become unmanageable due to several reasons. Support was lacking, billing discrepancies, and the estate was hard to manage due to inaccurate information. They made the decision that when the current contract was up for renewal, they were going to find a new provider to work with. They had to find a partner that shared the same values.
Support levels were low. A big issue was that Vodafone were continuously billing overcharges. They would subsequently bar the account due to bill limits being triggered without prior notification or warning. When the bill limits were removed it took considerable time for SIMS to become live again leaving employees without mobile service. In telecoms when managing a large mobile estate, you will always have to remove bill limits, but they needed to find a partner that could do this and restore service within a quick turnaround. They could not afford for any individual to be out of service for several days.
They had a big issue during Covid-19. Vodafone agreed with them that they could reduce the tariffs during Covid as the phones were not being used anywhere near the same level as pre pandemic. They believed this was good and the appropriate course of action from a partner. However, things did not conspire as they had thought they would. Vodafone made the company pay a minimal threshold at the end of the contract so although the tariff was altered it made no difference commercially, they were forced to pay a huge sum at the end. This latest scenario in a string of issues and misinformation ultimately led to a decision needing to be made. The company now knew they had to find a partner they could trust.
Solutions:
The company were introduced to Connect365 through one of our most valued and trusted resellers, who are a large Managed Services Provider. The company already had a long-standing existing relationship with the MSP so when the introduction was made there was already a great deal of trust in place.
After in depth analysis of the current mobile estate, Connect365 were able to propose our solution to the company. We broke the 800 SIM estate down and dissected each user individually to see how much data they were consuming and what network would be best suited. Our solution was clear and effective, with flexible tariff options. With Connect365 you can have multiple networks on one contract. 90% of our proposition was on O2 (5GB, standard & unlimited) but there were also a minority of users that required Vodafone due to coverage reasons (5GB, 10GB & unlimited) and EE (unlimited). The flexibility to have multiple Networks on one contract was a major attraction to our solution. We have provided the company with the ability to scale up or down with 30 days’ notice without any penalty fees and all without a minimum holding threshold. Previously through Vodafone, if new connections were required, a new contract had to be signed and yet another contract end date was put in place. With our solution there would only ever be one contract end date. Everything would be co-terminus.
Deployment is a major part of moving to a new mobile provider. 90% of the proposed solution included a number port and a new SIM card as we were switching most of the base from Vodafone to O2. Prior to deployment, we demonstrated to the company how we intended to collect data on our master data capture sheet and then use this to deploy labelled SIMS to each site. The company have 40 sites, each site had a batch number and required a great deal of extensive pre-planning for when they wanted to go live. A clear and precise project plan for rolling out a large deployment is key to ensure everything is accounted for and no stone is left unturned. They were comfortable and confident in our approach. Each SIM card dispatched was sent with a SIM tool so the existing SIM card could easily be removed and accompanied with a letter of instructions.
Results & Benefits:
The Head of Infrastructure and Cyber commented - "When moving 90% of your base over to a new network there can be lots of logistical challenges. Connect365 managed the entire process from start to finish and ensured everything went according to the plan. The service we have received from analysis to rollout and support has been of the highest standard throughout”.
The culture of bill shock has now been removed. The company now have an accurate and clean inventory of their account with all usernames captured on the portal along with their corresponding individual tariff(s). Procedures have been implemented that allow Connect365 and the company to manage the estate effectively. If a user is travelling abroad, they must advise the internal IT team and in turn they liaise with us so we can select the most appropriate and cost-effective roaming bundle that aligns with the destination of travel. It is also not just roaming fees that can cause bill shock.
If a typically high data user is on the incorrect tariff, they can incur substantial overspend charges. Due to the analysis, we did at the start and continue to do, we move forwards together. All employees are on the most optimised tariffs, and the account is under control and managed proactively. The business can now run month by month with a stable billing, meaning the same invoice value doesn’t vary much from month to month.
The proactive management of the account also means that no employees are left for days without any service. Bill limit alerts and Usage alerts are dealt with in real time by a dedicated and named support. As soon as bill limits are lifted, service will restore for the end user within minutes. Previously with Vodafone as the provider, the business had lots of disruption and angry employees when the phones were not working. This has now been resolved and the workforce are happy. The pre-approved contacts within the IT team give authorisation as to whether the bar should be lifted or not. Once notification is given the bar is lifted and the phone works.
There are many benefits to the business from working with Connect365. Connect are pro-active in managing the account. On a monthly basis our internal operations team produces a monthly usage report with key detail that is used to spot trends, identify areas of optimisation, monitor spend history that ultimately helps them make informed decisions. This report along with the self-service portal enables the company to carry out Sim swaps, bill limits and all the other variants that you need to manage a large estate. This has greatly enhanced the IT team’s ability to gain control and have accurate information and functionality, at their fingertips.
The estate is accurate, well managed and supported to the highest level.
Inspiration:
The company have been an absolute pleasure to work with. We have forged a strong working relationship that is maturing as time goes on. The IT team at the company and the support/provisioning teams at Connect365 are on first name terms and all parties are of the same mindset. For Connect365 it is all about a positive customer experience. We will do all we can to ensure our customers are happy and that the long-term working relationship is good.
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If you would like to speak with the end user about the solution provided, please reach out and we can arrange a call.
