October 19, 2011 Toronto, ON - Mobile Maestria, the Canadian leader in corporate wireless management expense solutions, to introduce its latest offering ‘MaestriaWeb Team Edition', at a press conference at 20 Queen Street, Suite 1504 in downtown Toronto.

“Businesses need tools that will allow them to better control costs related to their wireless fleet to curb needless overspends that amount to thousands of dollars off their bottom line, “ said C.E.O. and Founder, Mr. Normand Cyr.

MaestriaWeb Team Edition is a cloud-based solution that allows Canadian business owners to better manage and save by simply choosing the best assortment of services for their wireless employees.  Mobile Maestria is able to provide various services through reading electronic invoices specifically based on each, individual business needs. MaestriaWeb Team Edition allows business owners to manage it all online with their wireless service providers in Canada and USA optimizing their contracts.

This new service named ‘MaestriaWeb Team Edition' will be available online on October 19^th providing companies the capability to directly manage telecommunications budgets effortlessly and, ultimately, change how businesses manage their telecommunications budgets.

When asked what is key in cost savings for businesses managing wireless expenses Mr. Cyr responded, “Businesses can work more closely leveraging MaestriaWeb Team Edition directly with their wireless service providers and reducing their wireless management time.  Despite the experiences with potential confusion that wireless management may cause, it's never been easier to get cost visibility on wireless fleet expenditure with the service we are prepared to launch.”

Ms. Marco Matern, Media Relations

Telephone: 1.416.775.5831   E-Mail: mmatern@mobilemaestria.com

What is pooling?

Since the introduction of digital technology in Canada by mobile telephone service providers, the number of subscribers across the country continues to rise sharply. At the end of 2011, more than 25 million cellular phones are in use in Canada, that is a subscriber penetration rate of almost 50%.

Such a high penetration rate has a ripple effect on customer loyalty. To stem the tide and enlarge customer base, major telecom operators and service providers have created a wide range of service plans or programs.

This marketing strategy has also been directed at business clients, in fact, since the spring of 2001 when Canadian telecom service providers introduced the concept of pooling. Today, most of them offer this plan, however fewer businesses have opted for it. If pooling plans are as advantageous as touted, why have businesses been so slow to subscribe to them?

Pooling plans are based on a simple concept. Cellular phone users under a same account share a pool of allotted minutes. That way, when frequent users exceed their quotas, they can obtain additional minutes at lower costs based on the number of minutes still available to other users. Pooling plans seem all simple and logical. However, when applied to a business environment, the devil is in the details as clients seek to cope and overcome obstacles.

First obstacle, Centralized billing

There is, as the saying goes, no free lunch. The savings promised in pooling plans are no doubt significant, however, when implemented, they create new administrative headaches because these plans inevitably require centralized billing. For companies where cellular phone users are required to report billing charges as expense account items, centralized billing means profound changes in business processes. In fact, the task of validating and authorizing cellular phone expenses may soon befall a single employee either in the accounting department or administrative support unit. Account analysis becomes all the more tedious and error prone since a single person is responsible for combing through extensive billing records which, for 100 business users, may amount to 500 or 600 pages. Given that this administrative process is repeated every month, it will soon become obvious that centralized billing is neither efficient nor productive for your business.

Second obstacle, How should detailed cellular phone bills be interpreted?

Centralized billing is normally a requirement under a pooling plan. As such, users no longer receive individualized billing items, unless a person is assigned the task of mailing photocopies of current statements to respective users. Even if that were the case, users would not have a true accounting of their cellular phone costs, thus calling into question the very principle of billing on a pooling basis.

To illustrate this point, lets consider the following scenario. Dez is allotted 200 minutes in a pooling plan with more than 200 users. Lately, he has been tallying at least 600 minutes a month, exceeding his allotment by 400 minutes, which was made up by drawing from the pool of shared minutes. Unless the pool is completely exhausted, Dez's descriptive billing will show no dollar amounts against the additional minutes used as provided under a pooling plan.

If the company wishes to assign budget accounts per user or even user groups, it will have to go through a complex rebilling process whereby cellular phone costs are prorated in order to determine with some accuracy the expenses incurred by each user or group.

Third obstacle, Billing errors

In a perfect world, there are no billing errors. Unfortunately, in the North American telecom market, such errors are common. Who will pay for them? Businesses in the dark. How can a single person be able to check every month several hundreds of pages in cellular phone bills? How can you tell whether certain users really need the options billed? In the first place, who was responsible for adding those options? Have all the expected credits been received and recorded? Was a line actually deactivated as requested? Over time, this monitoring activity will become overwhelming, tedious and frustrating because it will require an in-depth knowledge of telecom operators business practices and the options they offer as well as a proven follow-up process to ensure that adjustments have indeed been made on the previous month's billing charges.

A solution that has its rewards

Pooling plans may in the final analysis prove advantageous. To reap the rewards, businesses must review their contracts with their telecom service provider and agree to pay roughly a five-dollar monthly fee for each user. A complete review of each user's plan must be carried out before implementation, because pooling does affect the way available minutes are used. The goal here is to secure minimal charges for all minutes required by all users, though, under this scenario, additional minutes will be billed at a higher or often twice the per-minute rate. In other words, the successful implementation of a pooling plan requires rigorous management, analysis and review of all cellular phone bills.

Moreover, businesses must put in place control procedures to ensure that:

• service options are validated and billing errors are referenced and corrected
• user plans are reviewed on a monthly basis to determine levels of need
• users comply with the existing or new policy
• real costs per user are rebilled and debited from designated cost centers
• users are kept informed of existing policy aimed at limiting abuse
• requests to add or retrench users are closely monitored to prevent needless expenses associated with inactive lines

maestriaweb A real option for Canadian companies

Mobile Maestria has developed an online solution called MaestriaWeb to enable clients implement pooling plans with optimum results. Designed for Canadian businesses seeking to achieve significant savings as well as curb the rapid growth of their cellular mobile telecom expenses, this service delivers the tools and monthly management reports based on consolidated billing data provided by telecom operators, thus allowing clients to enjoy maximum benefits from all the options and pooling plans available in Canada.

MaestriaWeb, an intelligent choice for businesses ready to regain control.

About mobilemaestria

Mobile Maestria is the ideal partner for businesses seeking to considerably reduce their wireless telecommunications expenses as well as streamline the management of their wireless fleet including cellular phones, pagers, personal organizers, laptop computers with wireless network adapters and calling cards. MaestriaWeb, an innovative solution designed by Mobile Maestria, provides clients with a set of powerful, seamless tools to manage wireless telecommunications services from both ends: use and billing. For more information on Mobile Maestria, visit our web site at www.mobilemaestria.com.

Post them on your expense account!

Since the advent of digital technologies, specifically the introduction of cellular phones into corporate circles, related expenses have almost always been posted to expense accounts and, despite the fact that these expenses continue to rise with no end in sight, very few companies have actually made it a priority to hold the line. In fact, access to wireless data transmission has introduced a new variable, which, if left uncontrolled, will increase overall costs more rapidly.

Consistent with corporate structure, many companies will delegate the task of auditing to employees who have neither the expertise nor the tools required to verify and validate telecom related expenses. As billing errors are quite common, users find themselves in a situation where they are ultimately responsible for seeking redress. According to the Aberdeen Group, it is precisely this lack of expertise as well as the appropriate tools and methodologies which account for the fact that the return on investment from corporate initiatives are below the ROI generated through the implementation of a specialized telecommunications management solution.

Businesses bent on tackling this mounting problem must first of all recognize the facts about the expenses incurred in support of employees using wireless devices. To this end, they can retain the services of qualified management consultants to help identify potential sources of savings as well as recommend a stream of actions to reduce costs and better monitor users.

In addition to generating discussion, this consulting exercise will also enable companies to clearly define the measuring elements that could led to a policy on the acceptable uses of wireless devices. For many companies, the trigger is often a quantitative assessment of abusive practices. In fact, it is not unusual to find within some organizations users who abuse directory assistance or call questionable online services unrelated to their work. Businesses must therefore be ready to change their control procedures and auditing methods if they are to fully achieve the potential cost-savings.

A business practice that wins unanimous support

The underlying approach is quite simple. Instead of unleashing an army of albeit unqualified users to negotiate with telecom operators, companies can centralize both the information management and negotiation function. This centralized model places them in stronger position to better manage their telecom services as well as negotiate with service providers. Under this scenario, information is truly synonymous with power, and all that is required is simply better information management. Having access to the electronic billing information, which Canadian telecom operators already provide, is sufficient to reach this goal. In fact, it is easy to analyze this information once it is consolidated on a mobile communications management platform such as MaestriaWeb. This business approach allows companies to continuously reduce costs relating to telecom services while forging essential tools for good business management.

What is maestriaweb?

Telecom operators flood clients with billing information about cellular phones, pagers or calling cards, which they find practically impossible to manually manage and thoroughly analyze. As such, businesses miss out on cost-savings opportunities by adopting better management practices or using the various options offered by telecom operators, like time-sharing, mobile-to-mobile calls, frequent calls to a designated number. The scope of this task, which to some seems Herculean, has discouraged many companies from seriously tackling the staggering increase in telecomrelated expenses.

Then came MaestriaWeb. Every month, once all billing information is downloaded to our management platform, we provide the key reports that will enable clients to determine where expenses are incurred, understand the dynamics of air-time usage and identify abuses as defined by existing user policies.

A well thought-out and efficient solution

By contracting out the management of their telecom services, businesses can optimize use, reduce costs as well as maximize benefits including the following:

• Immediate savings in telecom expenses
• The elimination of administrative problems relating to the management of user service plans and options
• Access to standard-industry expertise
• Single-window office for better integrated management services

In view of the new wireless technologies coming on stream, such as high-speed connection, text messaging, multimedia network data transmission (photos, MP3 files, icons, sound devices), companies must establish for employees who uses wireless devices guidelines and check points consistent with business needs. Independent telecom management service providers enable such essential check points by allowing companies to regain control of telecommunications expenses that have ballooned over the years. This intelligent solution becomes all the more attractive when companies realize the tremendous savings they can achieve while eliminating the need to validate, authorize and process billing items against internal expense accounts.

In a nutshell, with an independent telecom management service provider on side, the question is no longer how much telecom expenses will amount to this year, but rather how much can you save on your operating budgets.

About mobilemaestria

Mobile Maestria is the ideal partner for businesses seeking to considerably reduce their wireless telecommunications expenses as well as streamline the management of their wireless fleet including cellular phones, pagers, personal organizers, laptop computers with wireless network adapters and calling cards. MaestriaWeb, an innovative solution designed by Mobile Maestria, provides clients with a set of powerful, seamless tools to manage wireless telecommunications services from both ends: use and billing. For more information on Mobile Maestria, visit our web site at www.mobilemaestria.com.

For your company, the progressive uptake in the use of mobile technologies is having a direct impact on operating budgets and, as you have probably noticed, these costs are up more than 15% a year, based on reported expenses in this area of operation alone. In fact, according to a study conducted by the International Engineering Consortium, wireless communication expenses are expected to spiral, reaching 30% by 2005 and 40% in 2009. What can businesses do to halt this spiral without compromising operational needs as well as the increased mobility and productivity acquired over the years? What are the priorities and where do we start? As a business leader, you are not the only one asking these thorny questions.

The winners and losers

Telecom operators offer a myriad of service packages and options that do not in any way help clients make informed choices, simply because they are in reality too complex. Some offers even generate more administrative nightmares — centralized billing, arbitrary allocation of service options to unsuspecting users — than the much-touted cost-savings. In addition, the upswing in wireless data transmission, though certainly beneficial to employee productivity, will adversely impact your operating budget. Likewise, the recent introduction of the CDMA 1X technology in Canada, the growing use of Wi-Fi hot spots, the popularity of text (SMS) and multimedia messaging (MMS) enabling users to relay images, video clips and MP3 files don't help curb spiralling costs.

On the contrary, these wireless devices provide telecom operators a new generation of tech-savvy clients, eager to try and own every possible gadget at the earliest opportunity. Their mobile device is more than a mobile telephone. It has become a symbol of social status, a fashionable item or even a new way of life. By some estimates, almost 12% of young adults (18-24 year old) have disconnected their main telephone lines and adopted cellular phones as their sole means of communication. According to the Yankee Group, this population segment will, by 2005, increase by another 28%. To help them indulge in their quest for mobility, telecom operators are betting on the convergence of on-line entertainment, another highpotential market. But, what will this trend mean for your company? How can you better monitor access to all the new features offered to your business users? What will be the ground rules of acceptable uses within your company and how will you enforce them?

Taming the growing monster

Many companies consider the management of their fleet of wireless devices as a monster to be tamed. Where does one start? Are there really savings to be had by my company? Will fleet management become a recurrent task that requires the allocation of additional resources?

Studies have shown that companies seeking to seriously tackle the problem of escalating telecom charges could achieve savings in the region of 20% to 30%. The solution lies not only in sound and ongoing monitoring of users, but also the ways wireless devices are used. To start with, the dynamics of wireless communications among users must be understood. Who are the heavy users? Are most of the calls business-related? Do users have service plans commensurate with their needs? How are expenses reported and who approves them? Do you have a clear wireless device user policy as well as control procedures to ensure its ongoing enforcement? Companies which cannot account for their telecom expenses are indeed the hardest hit.

Managing wireless communications should be a priority

According to the Meta Group, 30% to 40% of companies allow employees not only to transfer cellular phone charges to their expense accounts, but also to personally select service plans and options. In this context, how can expenses be controlled if the ultimate decision-making authority is entirely in the hands of employees?

Businesses must first of all understand user dynamics and the ways wireless devices are used before developing and implementing a corporate policy on acceptable uses. Mobile Maestria has designed advanced analytical tools that allow businesses to define the parameters of such a corporate policy as well as set in motion a strategic action plan aimed at achieving significant cost savings.

Mobile Maestria also implements company-wide management tools designed to ensure that:

• the corporate user policy is enforced
• users are monitored based on exception reports
• expenses are apportioned on a business unit basis
• service plans and options are optimized

Mobile Maestria's management services enable clients to consolidate all telecom accounts in Canada and to determine costs per employee. The goal is quite simple: leveraging the service packages offered by various telecom operators while dramatically reducing costs and maintaining business efficiency and flexibility.

An intelligent choice for businesses ready to regain control.

About mobilemaestria

Mobile Maestria is the ideal partner for businesses seeking to considerably reduce their wireless telecommunications expenses as well as streamline the management of their wireless fleet including cellular phones, pagers, personal organizers, laptop computers with wireless network adapters and calling cards. MaestriaWeb, an innovative solution designed by Mobile Maestria, provides clients with a set of powerful, seamless tools to manage wireless telecommunications services from both ends: use and billing. For more information on Mobile Maestria, visit our web site at www.mobilemaestria.com.