We’re guessing that you’ve already considered how mobility products and services might be part of your portfolio. Have you thought about how wireless expense management might be a part of that too?

Industry insider Matt Coffy, who has written in the past on WEM basics and the opportunity for channel partners, recently explained WEM for international services, carrier negotiation strategies and customer management.

Hey, we don’t have to tell you how creative carriers can be when adding fees to their customers’ cell phone bills, what with roaming charges, termination fees and this and that. Bottom line, yes, international wireless calling can be expensive -- “with charges for global text messaging, international data and voice, a typical phone bill can easily be $1,000 to $6,000 a month,” Coffy says. And as the saying goes, once you start adding zeroes you’re talking about some real money -- imagine a company having more than a dozen or a couple dozen people roaming the world. It adds up.

Coffy gives some hints for ways to keep those costs under control.

“Start by analyzing international usage trends.” Collect a year’s worth of data, and let a “knowledgeable WEM company” look at it to compare results with other programs they can find or negotiate. It might surprise you how much you could be saving -- as Coffy says, many customers are simply unaware of the money-saving programs carriers offer, or other ways of lowering costs. “The goal,” Coffy explains, “is to sync wireless devices and plans with users' typical travel patterns.”

Carrier negotiations. It’s an old story -- unpublicized discount rates. They’re there, yes, but you have to know how to ask for them. One advantage of having a good WEM firm working for you is that they know how to persuade carriers to provide programs to a customer to get the kinds of rates offered to Fortune 500 corporations.

Coffy notes that even SMBs can sometimes qualify for these rates, if their WEM partner knows what they’re doing, since “direct negotiations between carrier and customer are rarely successful because customers are not as experienced in pitching the overall scope of work to the carrier. Obtaining really large discounts requires working in a friendly manner with the carrier account rep, area manager, vice president or other chief decision maker.”

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO East 2012, taking place Jan. 31-Feb. 3 2012, in Miami, FL. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. For more information on registering for ITEXPO registration click here.

Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO. Follow us on Twitter.