New mobile data sharing from carriers offer a step in the right direction, but they will require enterprises to negotiate lower costs before they gain market acceptance.

The Telecom Expense Management Industry Association, TEMIA, the authoritative voice for Telecom Expense Management, TEM and Wireless Expense Management, WEM and Mobile Device Management, MDM Solutions Providers, react to Verizon Wireless' Share Everything mobile data plans.

“Verizon’s new mobile data plans are a step in the right direction with sharing of mobile data allotments among as many as ten different devices," stated Erik Eames, founder and managing director of Wireless Analytics. "However, the fees for these new plans come with big price increases, and the allowances for each tier of data are stingy. I look forward to seeing mobile data pooling for enterprises, but we are counseling our corporate clients to negotiate better pricing from wireless providers before they jettison their less costly unlimited data plans."

With regard to possible enterprise mobile data pooling options, Jeff Poirior president and chief operating officer of Valicom, says “Companies need to prepare for this. You can’t manage what you can’t measure. Implementing a strong wireless expense management program now, with a TEM/WEM firm, will ensure the information is available when the time comes to compare current plans to new mobile data pooling tiers.”

“As data usage becomes more pervasive on mobile devices, even cost conscious employees are generating high charges and bill shock because they don’t anticipate the effect of smartphone apps," stated Dave Stevens chief executive officer of MobileSense. “One of our clients employees didn’t realize that streaming audio all day through their smartphone would result in a bill over $2,000 for the month.  This is a wakeup call for managers to revisit their wireless usage policies, and seek solutions that enable policy enforcement,” added Dave Stevens.

Organizations should implement TEM, WEM and MDM best practices to prevent unnecessary wasteful spending with:

• policies that communicate expectations for mobile data use and limit wasteful consumption

• optimization of service plans to ensure that employees have the right plans for their usage

• automaton of invoice processing for processing efficiencies to avoid late payment penalties

• validation of charges on bills through TEM and WEM systems

• better accountability and visibility through charge-back reporting of usage and mobile expenses