Introduction and Background
Wireless services represent the fastest-growing segment of enterprise telecom expense. As device counts proliferate,corporate-liable smartphones, tablets, IoT sensors, field service devices,many organizations find their wireless spend expanding faster than their ability to control it.
A Fortune 500 company with thousands of mobile devices across their workforce faced this exact challenge. Despite multiple optimization attempts through their mobile carrier, wireless costs continued to grow with no meaningful reduction in sight.
Like many enterprises, they had turned to their carrier for help. The carriers offered "free" periodic rate plan optimizations,a seemingly logical solution. After all, who knows carrier plans better than the carriers themselves?
The reality was different. Despite multiple carrier-led optimization cycles, the company saw limited cost savings that quickly eroded, continued overbuying of minutes across the subscriber base, usage patterns that didn't align with the plans subscribers were on, and no visibility into why optimization efforts weren't delivering lasting results.
The company engaged EntryPoint's eXsight team to conduct an independent analysis and deliver a solution that would achieve sustainable wireless cost reduction without disrupting existing carrier relationships.
The Challenge
The Challenge: When Carrier Optimizations Fall Short
The fundamental issue the company faced was straightforward but often overlooked: carriers have no financial incentive to reduce your bill. Their optimization efforts, while sometimes well-intentioned, lack the independence and granular analysis required to truly match each subscriber's unique usage profile to the optimal plan.
The carrier's optimization approach treated subscribers as categories,"sales reps get Plan A, executives get Plan B." This role-based assumption left significant money on the table because two people with the same job title often have vastly different communication needs.
Additionally, carrier optimizations are point-in-time events. Usage patterns evolve. New rate plans become available. Without ongoing analysis, any savings achieved quickly erode within months.
The company's IT and finance teams knew there had to be a better approach. They needed a partner who would analyze their wireless environment independently, optimize at the individual subscriber level rather than by role category, deliver results quickly without requiring carrier changes, and provide ongoing optimization to maintain savings over time.
Key challenges identified included systematic overbuying of minutes across the subscriber base, feature bloat with international calling packages and data add-ons attached to lines that didn't need them, and no usage-to-plan matching with subscribers placed on plans based on role assumptions rather than actual usage data.
The Solution
The eXsight Solution: Subscriber-Level Optimization
EntryPoint's eXsight platform leverages sophisticated rating engine technology to perform what carrier tools cannot: true subscriber-level optimization that matches individual usage profiles to the optimal voice/data/text rate plan and feature set.
Phase 1: Data Collection (Days 1-7)
eXsight gathered detailed usage data directly from the carrier,with no burden on the client's IT team. This included call detail records, data usage patterns, messaging volumes, and international activity for every subscriber.
Phase 2: Usage Profiling (Days 8-14)
Each subscriber's usage was analyzed across multiple dimensions including peak vs. off-peak calling patterns, voice minute consumption trends, data usage distribution and growth, international calling frequency and destinations, and messaging and feature utilization.
Phase 3: Optimization Modeling (Days 15-21)
eXsight's rating engine modeled each subscriber against all available rate plans and feature combinations, identifying the configuration that would deliver the lowest cost while maintaining required service levels.
Phase 4: Recommendation Delivery
The client received comprehensive reporting including current costs by category, usage trend reports by line and usage type, pool buffer analysis, management summary with total savings potential, and line-by-line recommendations requiring changes.
Phase 5: Implementation Support (Days 22-90)
After client approval, eXsight worked directly with the carrier to implement rate plan changes, validate accuracy on subsequent invoices, and confirm realized savings matched projections.
A critical aspect of the eXsight approach: achieving savings did not require changing carriers. All optimization occurred within the existing carrier relationship and contract terms. This eliminated the disruption, porting complexity, and contract penalty considerations that often derail cost-reduction initiatives.
Technologies
Key Discovery: The Carrier Conflict of Interest
This case study highlights a pattern EntryPoint sees repeatedly across enterprise wireless environments.
The Carrier Conflict of Interest
Carriers are not incentivized to minimize your bill. Their optimization tools are designed to prevent churn and maintain revenue,not to systematically reduce your spend. Even well-meaning carrier account teams lack the independent perspective and analytical depth required for true optimization.
Category-Based vs. Subscriber-Based Analysis
Carriers typically optimize by role category. eXsight optimizes by individual usage pattern,recognizing that two people with the same job title may have vastly different communication needs. This granular approach is what unlocks the savings that carrier-led efforts miss.
Static vs. Dynamic Optimization
Carrier optimizations are point-in-time events. Usage patterns evolve. New rate plans become available. Without ongoing analysis, savings erode within months. eXsight provides annual optimization cycles to maintain savings and capture new opportunities as they arise.
The company's experience validated a core truth: independent analysis delivers dramatically better results than carrier-provided optimization.
Beyond One-Time Savings: Ongoing Optimization
The initial optimization was just the beginning. EntryPoint's eXsight platform provides ongoing value through several mechanisms.
Annual Optimization Cycles
Usage patterns change, and so do carrier offerings. Regular re-optimization ensures savings persist and new opportunities are captured as they emerge.
Clean Inventory Foundation
The optimization process creates an accurate, validated wireless inventory,essential for any future TEM initiative or technology evaluation.
Visibility and Reporting
Ongoing dashboards and trend reports keep stakeholders informed and enable proactive management of wireless costs before they become problems.
Technology Readiness
A clean, optimized wireless environment is the foundation for evaluating mobile applications, MDM platforms, and other strategic initiatives. The company now has the visibility and control needed to make informed technology decisions.
The engagement transformed wireless expense from an uncontrolled cost center into a managed, optimized component of the IT budget.
Key Takeaways for Enterprise IT Leaders
This case study offers several important lessons for organizations struggling with wireless costs.
Carriers lack the incentive and methodology to truly minimize your spend. Independent analysis delivers dramatically better results.
Category-based optimization leaves money on the table. True savings come from matching each individual's usage to the optimal plan.
Major savings are often available within your existing contracts and carrier relationships,you just need the right analysis to find them.
A 21-day analysis cycle means you can validate savings opportunities quickly and begin realizing value within a single quarter.
Usage patterns and carrier offerings evolve. Annual re-optimization protects your savings and identifies new opportunities.
Organizations with 500+ mobile devices that suspect carrier optimization isn't delivering its full potential should consider an independent assessment. The results often exceed expectations significantly.
About eXsight by EntryPoint
eXsight is EntryPoint's comprehensive Telecom Expense Management solution, combining industry-leading technology with deep domain expertise to help enterprises gain visibility, control costs, and optimize their entire telecom ecosystem.
eXsight Wireless Optimization Capabilities:
- Sophisticated Rating Engine for subscriber-level analysis matching individual usage profiles to optimal rate plans
- Rapid Time-to-Value with savings identified within 21 business days and realized within 90 days
- Full Service Delivery where EntryPoint manages the entire process,data collection, analysis, recommendations, and implementation
- No Carrier Changes Required with optimization occurring within existing contracts and relationships
- Comprehensive Reporting including usage trends, buffer analysis, management summaries, and savings validation
- Ongoing Optimization through annual cycles to maintain savings and capture new opportunities
Additional eXsight Services:
- Wireline and data circuit optimization
- Invoice audit and dispute recovery
- Contract negotiation support
- TEM platform implementation
- Wireless governance and policy development
- Full wireless help desk and expense management
EntryPoint is a House of Innovation serving mid-market and enterprise organizations across healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, and professional services. With teams in Tel Aviv and the USA, EntryPoint partners with leading technology providers to deliver integrated solutions that drive measurable business outcomes.
Results
Results and Business Impact
The optimization engagement delivered results that far exceeded the carrier's previous efforts.
Quantifiable Outcomes:
- 2,271 rate plans changed across the subscriber base
- 43% decrease in wireless access fees
- $1.8 million in annual savings
- 22.9% reduction in cost-per-minute-per-line
- Zero increase in overage charges
- No carrier changes required
The most significant finding was that the company had been overbuying minutes across the board. By identifying subscribers whose usage patterns best fit the company's negotiated custom flat rate,and migrating them appropriately,eXsight achieved a 43% decrease in access fees with no increase in overage charges.
This wasn't about finding billing errors or disputing charges. It was about systematically aligning each subscriber's plan to their actual usage,something the carrier had neither the incentive nor the methodology to do.
Timeline Achievement:
- Savings identified within 21 business days
- Full implementation completed within 90 days
- Savings validated on first post-optimization invoice
The speed of delivery meant the company began realizing value within a single quarter, with the engagement essentially self-funding through recovered spend.