A full 35% of Americans now use their cell phones to text message, and another 13% would like to have the feature, finds a study released in April by the Pew Internet Life Project, the Associated Press and AOL. Researchers, who contacted 1,503 Americans (752 by landline and 751 by cell phone), found text messaging to be the most popular non-voice feature on mobile phones, just ahead of taking still pictures (28% do it and 19% more want to) and games (22% do it and 12% want to). Text-message use is growing at a pace of 8% per year for enterprises, reports Chuck Serapilio, CEO of Cellution, a Rochester, N.Y.-based firm that manages as many as 20,000 devices for more than 30 enterprise clients. Serapilio, a participant in the most recent Telecom Junkies episode, says the issue is “prime for corporations to take a look.” Ayall Schanzer, president and chief operating officer of MBG Expense Management, agrees. His New York City-based telecom expense management firm, which audits invoices representing tens of thousands of wireless devices each month, has circled text messaging as a key area to target. He relates how one audit performed last summer turned up a user who was posting as many as 300 text messages a day, many of which were with the apparent intention of advancing a love affair with another employee.
Such audits not only assist in reducing your cost of services, Schanzer says, “but there also is some behavior modification that goes on.” Consider the productivity of an employee sending that many personal messages, he adds. At Yonemoto’s enterprise client, which was reimbursing for 134 cell phones, text messaging was most frequently requested by the younger, Generation Y employees, the consultant reports. A large percentage of the messages, however, were personal, he notes. But text messaging isn’t the only cellular cost to more closely examine. Here are four more cost-reducing catches, courtesy of Yonemoto’s recent $100,000-saving audit: Smart Phones Not in Pool & 3 Other Wireless Hairs to Cut Look out for employees who go from carrying both cell phones and smart phones to just smart phones. The calls made on their smart phones may not be in your pooled plan. When Yonemoto’s enterprise client initially provided BlackBerry devices, they were used for data only, he says. But when these users began relying on their BlackBerries for voice, too, their calls were carried by Cingular at a per-minute rate, instead of being under a pooled plan. One user racked up as many as 750 minutes at $185 on his BlackBerry during a one-month period. By getting the enterprise to add 20 BlackBerry devices to its pooled plan, Yonemoto estimates he saved it $21,315 per year. " Beware the unlimited data plan. Yonemoto says he saved the government contractor $5,400 per year by discovering that 70% used fewer than 10MB of data on a monthly basis. " Look out for new phones that didn’t get your agreed-upon discount. In reviewing the 134 cell phones of his enterprise client, Yonemoto says he found 11 missing the voice discount that Verizon Wireless agreed to provide and 16 not getting the agreed-upon data discount. " Be careful about which users you suggest get device insurance. Yonemoto saved his enterprise client $1,194 by advising it to eliminate insurance for 16 users who never lost their phones. To account for users who are accident prone, Yonemoto suggests purchasing insurance for each user for the first 24 months. If a user doesn’t lose a phone during that time, take him or her off the insurance, he advises. If all 134 of the enterprises’ cell phone users were paying the standard $5.99 per month for insurance, it would cost the enterprise almost $803 per month, Yonemoto notes. “If you assume the cost of a replacement phone is $200, you will need to replace four phones a month in order for the insurance to be cost effective,” he calculates. ( | 
