Companies look to outside firms for wireless management

SYRACUSE -As wireless communications become more complex - but ever more critical - for all types of businesses, more executives are turning to outside vendors to manage those services.

By 2008, half of all large organizations will purchase wireless-management services from an outside source,

"This is a trend that will become more prevalent as the years go on," says Charles Serapilio, CEO of Cellution, a Rochester-based wireless-management firm that also does business in the Syracuse area. "This expense is becoming more visible."

In the past, businesses viewed wireless technology as a luxury item. That attitude is rapidly evaporating, Serapilio says.

Now that wireless devices can handle e-mail and other data streams, they are more like desktop computers than simple cell phones.

"It's a natural progression to look at who's managing that expense," Serapilio says. "That migration is just going to continue."

Most wireless-management companies offer a variety of services, from simple rate-plan analysis to full-fledged management of customers' wireless needs.

There are several reasons why companies outsource that function, according to Gartner.

Firms often don't have the resources to manage wireless services on their own, Gartner's report says.

Serapilio agrees. Wireless management can be overwhelming for a large company with thousands of devices, he says.

"If you have 100 phones or even 1,000, you could do it on your own, but it's going to take a lot of work," Serapilio says. "When you get into thousands and thousands of devices, you've got to hire at least four or five people to do that. And they all have to understand wireless."

Many firms simply aren't willing to invest in that many full-time employees, he adds.

That's true for smaller companies as well, says Samuel Serianni, a senior partner at Wireless Business Group, LLC in Syracuse, a wireless-management firm.

"There's a real need out there for [wireless management]," Serianni says. "Small businesses don't have the resources to hire a full-time person to do this."Lack of knowledge is another reason for outsourcing, according to Gartner. Keeping track of the constant changes in technology and services is a daunting task for any business.

That's one reason companies may feel more comfortable hiring a wireless consultant than assigning an employee to the task, Serianni says.

"A consultant is going to bring their A game," he says. "As a consultant, you have to prove your worth every day. If you slip and trip and fall all over yourself, you're probably done."

Another reason for outsourcing is a pullback in customer service by wireless providers, says Thomas Huegel, another senior partner at Wireless Business Group. Before launching his company with Serianni, Huegel worked for Cingular in Syracuse.

When he left in April 2006, the company's local customer-support staff was down to just one person from 10 or 11 years earlier, Huegel says.

"Back then there were fewer customers and more support people," he says. "Now, as the customer base has grown exponentially, you have fewer support people within the local marketplace."