Designing a Cost-Effective Mobility Program

IT organizations in midsize and large businesses have accepted the inevitability of mobile computing. As a business driver, mobility’s challenges are far outweighed by the advantages gained when employees can conduct business wherever they are, whenever they want.

By providing users with tablets, IT departments can reduce challenges that arise when users bring their own devices to log on to company networks. Company-funded tablet programs cut down on variables by standardizing on specific devices, operating systems and configuration options.

But IT leaders also must decide how they’ll procure hardware, when they’ll upgrade devices, what mobile apps they’ll permit and restrict, and how they’ll secure and support the entire ecosystem.

Here’s where a managed tablet subscription can deliver several advantages over IT-managed programs. By purchasing subscriptions that bundle tablets, enterprise mobility management (EMM) software and help desk services, IT departments can extend mobility programs to all employees without shouldering the burden of managing them. This reduces the workloads that a mobility program creates for IT staff and delivers financial and other benefits as well.

The Financial Benefits

Managed tablet subscriptions offer IT leaders the financial flexibility they get from other managed services. Subscriptions bring agility to the traditional, lumbering budget process. Funding for mobility initiatives becomes an operational expense (OPEX) rather than a capital expense (CAPEX). IT departments can parlay the predictability that OPEX offers into technology investments that better align with needs. Why should an enterprise buy hardware piecemeal when it can lease a tablet bundle and regularly refresh the devices?

With a subscription bundle priced as a single offering, OPEX benefits extend to EMM suites, which might encompass mobile device management (MDM) and mobile application management (MAM) software, as well as help desk services. When IT leaders can champion key mobile technologies and services as a lower-cost integrated solution rather than making a case for every component, they’ll spend less time trying to convince executives to buy in to their mobile vision.

The Grand Total

An enterprise tablet program is a multifaceted operation, with multiple moving parts that affect the total cost of ownership (TCO). It starts with the cost of devices and extends to EMM, mobile applications, carrier plans and disposal, as well as direct and indirect support costs. These costs multiply when IT staff support more and different devices.

By offloading the management and support of its mobile fleet, an IT department can reduce TCO from the outset. Further, by taking advantage of a managed tablet subscription service that leverages the provider’s economies of scale and a single acquisition point, plus consolidated billing for hardware, software and voice/data plans, TCO can drop significantly.

For more information about enterprise mobility management, download the white paper “Bundle Up with Managed Tablet Subscriptions.”