Mobile Phone Insurance Services
For many people, their mobile phone is an indispensable tool for both personal and business life and with the quantity of personal information and business data that can be stored on a handset, its loss creates a significant risk of misuse of confidential information and a risk of identity theft.
Handset insurance services now extend beyond device replacement and provide an extended range of benefits and protection for mobile phone users.
20:20mobile offers a range of services for insurance providers, bringing efficiency to the whole insurance supply chain.
- Our forward and reverse logistics services are ideally suited to supporting the insurance claims process. We can dispatch replacement devices on a same-day basis, collecting a damaged or broken device if required. Our repair services allow an insurer to provide the option of a lower-cost insurance proposition based on pristine, refurbished replacement handsets.
- As a multi-vendor handset distributor, we have access to a wide product range including devices that are no longer current in retailer’s assortments. Since insurance claims often relate to older devices, the ability to replace like-with-like reduces the cost of claims, as the insurer does not always have to offer the latest handset as a replacement.
- We provide a web-based decision support tool for claims agents, listing the availability of handsets and equal-or-higher-value alternatives. This enables agents to mitigate costs and increase customer satisfaction by immediately satisfying claims from a range of handset models.
- Our call centre agents are under the same roof, and on the same IT system as the inventory and the logistics service. This makes for a tightly integrated and responsive service able to own the entire claim cycle.
- As insurance services extend into the realm of support and advice, agents need access to additional tools and information. Our technical knowledgebase is available for self-service; in-store support and call centre use, so that users’ operational problems can be resolved quickly and conveniently.
- From the perspective of device support, we have tools to backup and restore settings, applications and content, transitioning the user seamlessly to a new handset. For security, we can “kill” a lost or stolen device remotely if required, wiping out confidential data and putting it out of service.
Supply chain financing
Increasingly mobile network operators are concluding that spending on handset inventory is not the most profitable use of their shareholders’ capital. Consequently, they need to take handset inventory off their balance sheets, reducing the demand for working capital and the risk of product obsolescence.
20:20mobile offers a unique supply chain programme that allows network operators and major retailers to outsource the ownership and risk of products throughout the supply chain, from the factory gate to the final point of sale. Under this outsourcing programme, the client continues to benefit from all existing vendor contracts.
For example, handset exclusives and other special terms are still available but 20:20mobile manages the payment to the vendor and sells the products to its client on dispatch from the distribution centre or at the point of final sale.
The programme also allows the client to specify extended payment terms of 60, 90 or 120 days (subject to credit status). Taken in combination with outsourcing inventory management, this permits the client to return a significant amount of cash to its balance sheet, with an immediate positive impact on company valuation.
In addition to the one-time cash benefit and associated annual interest expense gain, 20:20mobile’s client enjoys ongoing cost and profit advantages.
- Reduction in product obsolescence expense. Network operators typically experience obsolescence expense of 2% to 4% of the cost of goods. As the owner of the stock and the associated risk, 20:20mobile takes care of that expense line.
- Reduction in operating expense. With over 20 years experience of efficiently managing mobile phone logistics, 20:20mobile would expect to deliver valuable cost savings in warehousing and distribution.
- Improved service levels and higher sales. 20:20mobile will normally carry proportionately more inventory in the normal course of business than a network operator, due to the need to service un-forecasted demand from multiple sales channels. This means fewer out-of-stock situations for the client, so fewer lost sales.
- Lower product costs. Pooling of product spend results in bigger discounts on product purchases. Combining the purchasing power of the client and 20:20mobile can yield important savings in the cost of goods.
- Headcount reductions. In the course of implementing an outsourced product supply chain there is the potential for personnel transfer and consequent reduction in the client’s headcount and payroll cost.
