<div> <p>Businesses are always looking for new ways to save a few dollars, especially in today's economic environment. For companies that provide cell phones for their employees, one area they may be able to save a few dollars is by repairing employee's broken cell phones instead of replacing them.</p> <p><strong>The Problem</strong></p> <p>If your company provides cell phones to its employees, you have almost certainly had them come in one day with a broken screen, water damage, non-responsive key pad, it's not charging, or maybe their 2 year-old just got a hold of it and used it as a chew toy. Either way, in today's day-and-age, you can't have an employee without a phone. So what do you do?</p> <p><strong>The Bad Solution</strong></p> <p>If you're like most companies, your solution to this problem is to simply buy a new phone. This will get your employee up and running again, but unfortunately, you're going to pay a lot more for this replacement phone than you did for the original. The reason is because cell phone companies make their money on the contracts, not the phones, so when you got that first phone, your carrier gave you a huge discount on the phone. Now that you need a replacement and your under contract, there will be no discount. The iPhone, for example, costs $299 with a contract and $599 to replace when it's broken.</p> <p><strong>The Good Solution</strong></p> <p>There is an alternative solution: Have the phone repaired. This is not always an option. For example, if the dog got a hold of it, chewed it up, and then buried it next to your favorite slippers, you may be stuck having to buy a new phone. However, in many cases, the phone can be fixed.</p> <p>There are two options to repairing your phone: Do it yourself or have a professional do it for you. The first option is definitely the cheapest if you or someone in your company is handy with repairing electronics. You can usually find the spare parts on eBay and a video of the repair online.</p> <p>Be careful, though, because if you don't know what you're doing, the phone can be damaged beyond salvation. If you're not sure what you're doing, there are a variety of people online that can do the repair for you. A Craigsist search will often reveal good results if you live in a big city and want to take it to someone local. There are also a number of companies that do mail-in cell phone repairs. I actually run one such company, <a href="http://www.jetcitydevices.com">Jet City Devices</a>, but there are others like <a href="http://www.cellulardr.com/">CellularDr.com</a>.</p> <p><strong>Real World Examples</strong></p> There is a Seattle based company that provides T-Mobile Dash cell phones to their employees. A common problem for that brand of phone is the LCD screen cracks and becomes unreadable. When this happens, employees typically bring the phone to the IT manager who simply gives them a new phone. The old one is discarded. <p>"When my phone breaks, IT just throws it away." says Paul Dean, an employee. "They waste time and money ordering new phones. I waste time having to reset my contacts, preferences, and downloaded apps." Different companies have different agreements with their cell phone providers, but they will almost always spend more money replacing a phone versus repairing it. The T-Mobile Dash phone, for example, costs $299 brand new and a screen repair is often under $70. If your company uses an iPhone, the differences are even more staggering, a new iPhone will cost about $599 and a repair can often be gotten for under $100.</p> <p>Another company I've dealt with is Acree Air Conditioning of Florida. One of their employees discovered my company and sent us his T-Mobile Wing for repair. We fixed it and sent it back. Then a couple of weeks later he sent us 3 more phones from his company. It wasn't that these other phones just broke. Rather, they were broken and a new phone bought for the employee. Then the broken phones were thrown in a box somewhere and left for dead until someone at the company discover that they can be fixed. Unfortunately for most companies, this money saving realization never actually occurs.</p> <p><strong>A Final Word</strong></p> <p>Getting your companies cell phones repaired might not save you millions of dollars, but it can save you hundreds of dollars in purchases and even more money in employee time saved (by not having to resync and reload software). So the next time an employee drops his expensive smart phone on the ground and it looks like it might only be good as a paper weight, take a few minutes to see if you can find a local or online company that can fix it for you at a fraction of the cost of a new phone.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> 2009-04-28T16:51:14Z -8.5328 255 4382 true 5 2639 reducing-your-businesss-cell-phone-costs 1 2009-05-02T15:58:55Z 2009-05-02T16:02:23Z

In tough economic times, every dime counts. So if you have a business that provides phones to its employees, be aware that repairing broken phones can often be a big money and time saver over purchasing a new replacement phone.

1 2009-05-02T16:02:23Z