Xigo: Average Employee Uses Only 13% of Monthly Wireless Data Cap

31% of Monthly Mobile Voice Plan Minutes Go Unused

MANASSAS, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Xigo, the cloud-based solution that simplifies managing enterprise telecommunications costs, conducted a research audit on data gleaned from its base of 250,000 phones under advisement for the month of March 2011. Xigo’s research findings indicate that average enterprise mobile phone users with wireless data plans use less than one-sixth of their monthly cap, and users with voice plans use slightly more than two-thirds of their allotted minutes. As a result, enterprises are paying for considerably more data and voice bandwidth than their employees actually need.

When budgets are already tight, the idea of paying $90 for an unlimited data and voice plan, knowing an employee might use only 1GB of data and 3 hours of voice per month, is counter-intuitive. However, many companies hone in on the word “unlimited” and feel the need to ensure added protection against sudden overage charges and special circumstances, despite the fact that most employees rarely “max out” a traditional data or voice plan.

How much data does an enterprise user actually need? The fact of the matter is that 31% of average mobile voice plan minutes go unused every month. For the average voice plan – which includes 513 minutes on a monthly per-line basis – only 303 minutes are used. With a $50 plan, that’s just over $15. For companies with 2,000 employees, that’s $30,000 a month wasted, just on voice calling.

Despite today’s culture of constant emails, social networking and mobile video, Xigo finds that on average, employees consume only 13% of their wireless data plan cap (the most common plan being 2GB).ⁱ The top half of their allotted data plan goes completely unused. With a little finagling (and greater use of Wi-Fi), most employees could operate perfectly well within 50% of their current data cap. A 2GB plan ($40 a month on average) could become a 1GB plan ($20 a month on average). Combine that with a reduced voice plan for 2,000 employees and the savings in unused minutes/bytes alone would come to $840,000 in annual savings without denigrating productivity.

Additionally, the prevalence and power of smartphone devices in the enterprise may already be spurring carriers to downplay the idea of “unlimited use.” According to Xigo research, smartphones represent 40% of all devices in business and “Air Cards” represent the fastest-growing category by mobile device type. Air Cards, provided by mobile service operators, are mobile network access cards that can be used with PCs.

Dave Spofford, CEO of Xigo, says of the company’s research insights: “Ultimately, we all know how much money it takes just to stay afloat in the business world. Our advice to our customers and to everyone in charge of managing their organization’s mobile expenses is to inspect your carrier plans on a regular basis and vet them with tools like Xigo Now. You can save significantly more money than you think.”

Mobile expense management (MEM) solutions like free SaaS-based Xigo Now can analyze any company’s wireless bills and immediately recommend practical ways to reduce costs. To see a demo video of how Xigo Now works, please visit: http://www.xigo.com/products_services/xigo_now/index.html

ⁱ About Xigo’s research figures:

• The metrics are based on invoices for the month of March 2011 across all Xigo Enterprise clients
• Voice plan numbers were limited to phones associated to a voice plan having plan minutes >0 and <=3000
• Data plan numbers were limited to smartphones associated to a data plan with a populated KB included value

About Xigo

Xigo instantly reduces and controls mobile, fixed and global telecommunications costs for organizations of all sizes. The company provides the first and only solution that uploads wireless bills and automatically generates immediate cost and time-saving results -- in minutes, not months. Xigo’s single, cloud-based platform accommodates company growth without adding complexity and satisfies the full range of enterprise communications expense management requirements. Xigo’s success is attributed to customer-centric innovations and industry firsts with more than a decade of expertise spanning wireless and wire line communications. For more information visit www.xigo.com or email info@xigo.com.

CONTACT:

fama PR
Vinda Rao, 617-986-5012
xigo@famapr.com

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