“Replace mobile hardware spend with mobile apps and BYOD”, suggests Thumbtel’s CEO

With government departments and local authorities facing ongoing pressure to reduce spending, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is offering a solution for IT and telecoms departments in public sector organisations to replace capital expenditure on mobile devices with intelligent apps that staff can use on personal mobile phones, confirms Andy Munarriz, founder and CEO of Thumbtel.

With the right BYOD policies and data security measures in place, public sector organisations, local authorities and government departments can instead roll out apps that provide staff with a managed work mobile number, which can be seamlessly accessed on personal devices. For example, Camden Council is one authority which has been recognised for its focus in this area*1.

Confirms Andy Munarriz: “With over 14 million*2 people in the UK said to use a second mobile phone for work purposes, many prefer to instead use one device rather than juggle between two different handsets and chargers. If managed correctly, public sector organisations have the potential to create cost savings as they can instead provide a managed mobile number for staff, without the need for procuring new hardware devices. In addition, research*3 has also found that BYOD can help boost staff productivity and job satisfaction.

Another Number for Teams from Thumbtel is a GDPR-friendly solution for any organisation that supports or is considering adopting mobile Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). It allows employees to use their personal smartphone for work, while enabling administrators to control organisational data on the device, from a central portal.

“Another Number for Teams adds a second mobile number to employees’ personal smartphones via an easy to use app. The work number and contacts list is completely separate from the personal phone so ensures that the user never has to give their personal number to colleagues and work contacts. Organisations are protected as they own the number, so if a device is lost or an employee leaves, the number can be switched off, diverted or assigned to their successor.”

Another Number for Teams is now available via the G-Cloud Digital Marketplace for public sector organisations. This enables public sector bodies, including central government, local government, health, education, emergency services, defence and not-for-profit organisations, to easily and cost-effectively procure services.

Concludes Munarriz: “Consumers are keen to keep their smartphones up to date to have access to the latest technology and have come to expect the same in their work environment. Personal preference and brand loyalty is an important factor to many, so by allowing an employee to instead use their personal smartphone for work, you increase both happiness and productivity.”

Cost Savings to Organisations
It has been calculated that business mobile phone contracts average at approximately £30 per month. Another Number for Teams offers an affordable alternative solution to deploying handsets to staff, as numbers are priced at £9.99 per month. This includes rental of the number and 300 credits – a credit equates to a one minute call or an SMS to a standard UK or US landline or mobile.

Installation is quick, with administrators able to purchase numbers via the Another Number Team Portal. Employees are then invited by email to download the app and as soon as it’s installed, their number is ready to use. The organisation pays so there is also no need for time consuming expense claims.

For more information or to sign-up for a demonstration or trial, contact Thumbtel on https://www.thumbtel.com/another-number/ . Alternatively, visit the team at the forthcoming Digitech18 event in Leeds, which is taking place on 31 October.

Ends

Notes to Editors

1. https://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240226118/Camden-Counci...
2. 14 million – source: https://www.itproportal.com/2016/03/09/why-carrying-two-phon...
3. Job satisfaction and staff productivity: https://www.zdnet.com/article/byod-boosts-staffs-productivit...

About Thumbtel
Thumbtel specialises in creating apps that hitchhike your mobile network to bring you better services. Apps include the award-winning HulloMail voicemail service, in addition to the Another Number app for helping people better manage multiple numbers on one device. Thumbtel is all about improving services to make your mobile work harder for you.

Founder and CEO Andy Munarriz has worked in the tech industry for over 25 years. He previously founded VoxSurf; a company that pioneered the world’s first web and open standards IP messaging platform for traditional mobile operators, serving over 400 million end-users globally. In 2008, Andy took these services directly to consumers as HulloMail, which now makes up part of Thumbtel.

https://www.thumbtel.com

Editor’s Contact:
Peppa Sheridan
Peptalk Communications
01787 313822 / peppa@peptalkpr.co.uk