One Employee, Two Devices

Maintaining work-life balance – and optimizing wireless expense.

Mobile phones proved their worth in the business world long ago. The productive advantage of being always connected quickly became a necessity, and having a ‘work phone’ became relatively common. Since then, mobile phones have become a personal necessity for most Americans in their day-to-day life. With the advent of Social Media, games, and thousands of applications – personal use can often overshadow mobile work functions.

It might seem that carrying one device and one phone number would be the most efficient, but the implications of mixing business and pleasure on your mobile device are often too much to swallow. In a time where personal privacy seems to be increasingly limited, employees are increasingly opting to carry two devices – one for work, and one for play – keeping their employer’s prying eyes out of their personal life, and saving their company some money in the meantime.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the main benefits of the two-device policy:

Work/Life Balance

As mobile devices become thinner and lighter, more individuals are finding that they can bear the burden of carrying two devices in order to preserve work-life balance. The benefit of being able to physically ‘put away’ your work device at night or on the weekends is often the main selling point. Although turning of notifications for your work email at certain times might suffice for some, there always is the temptation to get involved by checking your messages after hours. As life outside of work bleeds over into every part of the day – its unreasonable to think that someone would be able to completely swear off all personal activity while on the clock.

Privacy

For others, privacy might be the biggest concern. In the age of big data, no company wants to leak any sort of information on a insecure network, or have a sensitive email accidentally leak out to an employee’s personal contacts. Safeguards do exist. Companies securing devices with a Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution can place restrictions on what kind of applications can be downloaded, and can track device location and usage. Furthermore, companies might also place an outright ban on all personal use on a company provided device, forcing employees to purchase their own devices for personal use. On the other hand, employees might not want their employers peering into any personal and confidential correspondence. Partitioning that to another device can remove this concern.

TEM Implications

What does this mean for companies seeking to optimize telecom expense? Management can be tough. Especially when a seemingly innumerable amount of variables seem to go into the bill you receive at the end of your cycle. The risk-averse might swear off all personal use – an unwelcome and possibly mutiny-causing policy, upsetting those who do not want to carry two devices. Plus, allowing personal use on a company device can lead to often unpredictable expenses – leaving the company, and not the employee – liable for those long phone calls and data overages.

About mindWireless

Unsure how to answer these questions concerning your company’s mobile devices? Let the telecom expense management (TEM) experts at mindWireless optimize your wireless expenses and policies. With nearly 15 years of experience providing enterprise mobile solutions, mindWireless offers a full suite of TEM services including: Billing Optimization, Branded Help Desk, Expense Management, as well as Wireless Consulting. Unwary of your employee’s personal lives intruding on your wireless goals? Get a Free Cost Savings Analysis from our team of experts.