The other day I was asked why business mobile contract options are more expensive than personal mobile deals. It felt like an odd question at the time, but it is something I have been thinking about since then. 

  • Are business mobile phone deals more expensive?
  • Do business users expect more from a mobile than a consumer?
  • What other factors are hidden behind the question?

Day to day, business mobile contracts operate in almost exactly the same way as a personal contract. You sign an agreement for a set amount of inclusive usage and a number is loaded onto a SIM for you to use with your chosen mobile device. It’s pretty straight forward. 

I’ve had a quick look at the market and some of the deals available online and on the high street, and the costs do favour personal contracts marginally. The consumer market is almost entirely cost-driven and there are always some crazy offers to tempt footfall and ‘buy’ new users. 

But surely there is more to it than a simple cost comparison?

The marginal financial gains of a personal contract can be mostly offset by the fact most organisations don’t pay VAT. More significantly, a business contract should provide a huge amount of added support to ensure the service is fit for purpose and working in the best interests of your business – through the duration of the agreement. 

Whether your organisation requires 1 mobile or 1,000’s, like any other service to your business, you probably want to know you have the right support if things go wrong and choose a partner who understands your requirements and appreciates your business. 

The problem with most mobile providers (personal or business) is that in order to offer the lowest airtime rental costs available, they end up compromising the quality of the service. The meagre savings delivered are quickly offset by any time and effort your team must waste dealing with issues. 

When your business has an issue with any subscription or service provider, it’s important to know that you can get a quick, professional and personal response and dialogue with them. 

We do occasionally meet organisations who run multiple personal contracts and simply dealing with the billing and payments can be hugely time consuming! What’s more, cutting costs creates an appetite from the provider to make money elsewhere and profit from (usually preventable) unplanned overspend! 

At Agile, we do things a little differently. 

As standard, our business mobile contract services are designed to offer simplicity, flexibility and great value. With Agile, you can: 

  • Choose any mixture of O2 and Vodafone connections
  • Enjoy ultimate flexibility with simple 30-day minimum contract terms
  • Provision and manage usage alerts and caps to mitigate overspend
  • Take advantage of our self-service portal to manage the contract, alerts and billing

For more detail, take a look here: Business Mobile Services – Agile Comms (agile-comms.co.uk)

So, I guess the answer to the question is: yes, on the face of it, the fixed monthly cost for a single mobile agreement can be cheaper on a personal contract, but a business contract should offer a lot more support and efficiency and will better suit your business requirements. 

Please get in touch if you run mobiles in your business and would like to see how we can support you.