Real-Time Visibility – the New Data Management Solution

Increasingly, enterprises are experiencing a steady growth in mobility costs due to a rapid increase in data usage. Without a response mobile invoices will grow 20 – 30% in the next five years. Fortunately, where problems surface innovation is usually not far behind. Managing data usage once a month in arrears is no longer prudent – it is increasingly important to be able to view usage in real time.

Real-time Version 1.0: Nice, but Insufficient

With uncontrolled mobile data growth a growing concern, companies are looking for answers through real-time notifications to provide increased insight throughout the invoice cycle. While having information in real-time allows for immediate action to avert data overage costs, early real-time implementations fall short of providing a full solution:

• Knowing individual device overage information isn’t nearly as useful as overall pool usage levels
• Running aggregate usage reports days before cycle close is just as effective as daily real-time tracking of overage
• Carriers allow retroactive data plan changes prior to cycle close in order to eliminate possible overage charges

Real-time alerts to avoid data overage sounds useful but is not impacting the source of the problem: out-of-control data usage.  Download our White Paper The Data Boom is Coming!

Behavior Modification is the Real Solution

While avoiding overage charges has merit, the real underlying issue is that companies are paying more than they should on data due to the lack of ways for identifying and controlling waste. Download our Savings Tip Don’t Pay for Data you Don’t Need.

• Adding data at month-end to reduce overage charges is a reactive behavior focused at the symptom, not the problem
• A focus on eliminating data overages masks the real issue which is paying for unnecessary and uncontrolled data usage
• The best solutions focus on enforcing policies that limit non-business use and unneeded spikes in data usage

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Real-Time Version 2.0: The Real Impact

It isn’t so much what you can know in real-time, but what you can DO in real-time.

• Recent innovations provide not only actionable feedback in real-time but the ability to preset alerts and controls
• Actions are automatically taken when unacceptable data access is detected or when data thresholds are exceeded

These new controls aren’t just aimed at putting a ceiling on overall data usage for company employees, but can be used to prevent access by a mobile device to entertainment sites, video streaming or sites deemed unacceptable by company policy. Download our Savings Tip Defining your Mobility Management Strategy.

Bringing the Same Internal Network Controls to Mobile Devices

Mobile technology is finally catching up with technology used for years on corporate networks to control website access from company computers with additional flexibility.

• Individual profiles can be created for a single device, groups of devices or all devices
• Certain data access can be blocked or all data volumes limited

Don’t be misled into thinking that an MDM preventing the installation of an application is blocking employee access. All it takes is a web browser on a smartphone to find the backdoor to blocked data. Companies can now have similar policies for site control not only at the desks of employees, but on mobile devices as well.

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Setting Soft and Hard Limits

As a telco administrator, receiving limit violations mid-month is useful but it is ineffective to rely on manual intervention processes to stop data waste. Managing control logic monthly, coupled with real-time enforcement is much more efficient. Today’s solution can be tailored to match the company’s culture when it comes to policy enforcement.

• Pre-set control logic can be defined and triggered when real-time monitors identify that a pre-defined limit has been exceeded
• Text alerts can be sent automatically notifying employees that they have reached or exceeded a company policy threshold.
• Categories of usage can be blocked completely and overall usage can be blocked beyond defined thresholds

If your organization is not already reacting to data usage growth trends, you may want to consider real-time monitoring to avoid an increase in your mobile budget. MobilSense can help.

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