Editor’s note: Ascend Media sells the advertising for Smartphone & Pocket PC on a contract basis. This article was inspired by a visit to Ascend Media’s Overland Park, Kansas facility. I was quite surprised when so many of the staff who had nothing to do with the magazine told me how useful they found each issue. Then I spoke to Jena who explained their new program. Jena told me that after reading several issues of our magazine, their team realized that Windows Mobile was an ideal solution for Ascend Media’s mobile needs. – Hal Goldstein

Offering to subsidize employee purchases of smartphones may sound like a potentially costly endeavor, but Ascend Media’s facilities manager Jena Brooks suspected that it would save the company thousands of dollars every year. According to Brooks, 30 of the company’s 335 employees were using a combination of cell phones and mobile devices with Web browsing capability. On average, Ascend Media’s costs were $60 per employee each month.

“They had to carry two devices, which is a pain,” Brooks said. “We wanted to make things more user friendly and reduce costs.”

Gauging needs and selecting Windows Mobile

In an effort to gauge employee needs, Brooks proposed that Ascend Media, a business-to-business media company based in Overland Park, Kan., survey its users. The results: The majority wanted a single device that did everything. To help facilitate this and to gain employee buy in, Ascend Media offered the subsidy.

“We told them, ‘Go out and renew your contract with your provider. You can pick the provider. We’ll give you up to $200 toward the smartphone. If you leave the company, the phone is yours to keep,’” Brooks said.

Brooks, who previously used three different devices including a pager, now saves the company $70 a month by using one Windows Mobile phone-enabled device. In addition to the cellular telephone component, the technology gives users the ability to read and respond to e-mail and browse the Internet.

The company chose to support Windows Mobile devices because 90 percent of the employees use PCs and are familiar with the Windows user interface. “With regard to functionality, training was less on the Windows Mobile devices. Plus, we already used Outlook (on the PCs),” Brooks said.

Making the transition

Having previously polled its employees about their individual cell phone contracts, Ascend Media timed the transition so that it would occur during a period when a majority of contracts were nearing expiration or had already expired.

“Most employees could go to their providers and offer to remain for two more years if the provider added data capability,” Brooks said. “The employees made the deals, and they got a nice Windows Mobile device. We were initially out of pocket very little.”

Only two people did not participate in the program. Of the rest, some were initially hesitant about the offer, but they quickly saw the advantages. According to Brooks, 90 percent of employees spent more than the $200 allotment, making up for the difference out of their own pocket

For Roger Dusing, vice president of human resources at Ascend Media, the change in technology was a win-win.

“The employees now have better and more flexible hardware and only have to carry one device,” he said. “The company saved money, and we have fewer technology support issues.”

“It saved us a truckload of money…”

Ascend Media employees can simply visit the company’s Intranet site to access special employee offers on discounted wireless service from AT&T, Sprint Nextel, or Verizon. These deals allow them to save as much as 27 percent, depending on the provider, on corporate programs negotiated by Brooks.