8 Steps to a Successful Mobile Phone Migration – Do Not Fear Changing Your Mobile Airtime Provider

Agree and Draft a Communications Plan

Make sure you spend time writing the first draft of your communications plan at the start of the process. The earlier the better is the rule of thumb with this, but make sure whilst you have the main body of the document completed you are also able to make last minute changes to take account of any unexpected changes, especially timescales which can often be dictated and changed by either network provider.

Audit your Base

Make sure you have a complete picture of your base. You need to know who has what device, which devices haven’t been used for a period of time so you can consider disconnecting them and not taking them into a new contract term, and finally you will need a database of users addresses for new sim card delivery, unless you are in a position to bring all users into a central or small number of regional locations. An audit is key to making sure you only take through into your new contract devices you actually need. This is even more critical when you have a number of subscription attracting devices in your base like iPhones, blackberry, or data cards.

Get Unlatching Codes

First of all remember it can take up to 28 days to get your unlatching codes from your old network provider! Ensure unlatching takes place as soon as possible, and make sure your users have some way of communicating back to you that their devices have been unlatched. You need this information to project manage your migration so your port day goes without any hitches. Make sure you budget for new devices at this point as you will have some devices which are too old to take forward into a new contractual period, your migration process is a great time to remove these older devices from your base.

Obtain your PAC Codes (uk)

Remember that again it can take up to 28 days to receive your pac codes. You can improve these timescales by maintaining your relationship with your old network provider, making sure you both agree you have met the conditions of your contract with them. Plan your migration to suit your needs and not those of your new network, make sure you have allocated enough internal resource to the project, set only an acceptable number of migrations in any day, not trying to complete too many in any one day, and finally DO NOT migrate users on a Monday or Friday.

Porting Dates

Build a solid communications plan to inform users of their migration date, using a centralised point f contact for migration information, an intranet site is ideal for this. Ensure your communications are ready to send to all users and be careful to account for users who may be on holiday or sick leave, or out of the country on migration dates.

SIM Card Receipt Information

Build some method of allowing users to confirm they have received their new sim card, again an intranet site is ideal for this purpose as all communications are held in one central point which is bespoke to each individual user, remember it may be difficult to get another sim to a user on their migration date if they haven’t received the sim and formally accepted it.

Change of Address

Take care to log any users that may change address between your audit date and migration date, make sure you have a central and robust method of capturing this detail, you need to give networks at least 5 days notice for address changes

Migration Date

Make sure all users have a point of contact on migration day should there be any issues, and where possible obtain in office network support especially where your VIP’S are concerned. Following migration think of other information users will need like new mobile policies, and new voicemail instructions, and handset instructions if deploying smart phones or blackberries for the first time.

If you build a plan around these key points, and add any other specifics that you need for your business, there is no reason your migration shouldn’t be a success, and you have no reason to fear the move.