Starting and growing a business has never been more affordable in the UK than in today’s climate. There are however a number of careful selections a business leader must make to ensure the right services are in place, but for a realistic cost.
Alongside the likes of property rent and IT hardware, picking a good business mobile phone contract is important to minimise overheads and mobile a workforce. To find out more, we quizzed Ashley Bailey, founder and CEO of Compare Business Phones, to discover what his service involves and what goes into the selection process.
(1) What does the business do and how is it valuable to businesses?
Compare Business Phones is a comparison site for business mobiles, mobile broadband and tablet contracts. With technology and communication being a vital tool for any small businesses, visitors to the site will find all of the best deals, and best handsets, in one place and visitors can easily compare across networks to make sure that they get the best tariff for their usage.
The tariffs are updated daily so businesses can be certain that these are the best prices in the market. Once the visitor has found their perfect tariff they can buy directly with the network. It’s quick, easy and hassle free way for small businesses to make great savings. We find the most small businesses are paying too much for their business mobile contract, and know that by comparing and switching to a more suitable tariff they can typically get upgraded handsets and save.
(2) How has this space changed during the last year?
With mobile phones not progressing with technology as fast as a few years ago we’re seeing more and more companies keeping the same mobiles and looking at other options as SIM only and lease options, this gives SMEs a much shorter contract (30 days/12 months) and more in the package for much less every month. With SIM only unlimited plans starting at £13.33 per month and lease contract which offers an iPhone 5S, unlimited minutes/texts for £36 per month (all Ex VAT) this can be a great cost effect solution.
(3) Why can it be a confusing thing to do for SMEs?
Alternatively, they will deal with a reseller who will manage the contract and invoice the SME directly so the relationship is with the reseller rather than the network. This can sometimes prove to be confusing and doesn’t promote transparency to the SME who would actually prefer a relationship directly with the network.
(4) How do businesses make sure they are finding the best deals for different services whilst not expending too much time?
SME’s are now shopping more like consumers and trying to find the best prices available to cut costs. It is vital that services such as Compare Business Phones are available to enable SMEs find the best deal easily and in the shortest time.
(5) What do you think are some of the other big challenges facing SMEs these days?
The biggest issues for SME’s is help finding offers and the difficulty to actually switch suppliers across many different services. In the consumer space we can see comparison sites for everything imaginable, including mobiles, but in the B2B market this is a relatively new concept.
