Carrier's enterprise managed services bundle includes connectivity, unified communications via Lync, MDM and tech support.

Sarah Thomas, Director, Women in Comms

March 16, 2015

3 Min Read
Sprint Officially Unveils Workplace-as-a-Service

Sprint's big push into the enterprise officially starts Monday, as the carrier announced Workplace-as-a-Service (WPaaS), its fully managed service including WiFi, wireless, mobile device management (MDM) and unified communications (UC).

Light Reading first reported on WPaaS in early February, detailing the carrier's plans to bundle WiFi access points with Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT)'s Lync UC service. That will be core to its new platform, which also includes WAN connectivity, managed WiFi, voice service, video conferencing, online collaboration, IM and presence, MDM and optional Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) wireless service. (See Sprint Plans WiFi + Lync Enterprise Bundle.)

Sprint is, of course, hoping enterprises will take it up on subscribing to its wireless service, and Mike Fitz, vice president of business solution commercialization with Sprint Business, says Sprint is offering discounted plans for those employees of WPaaS offices who do sign up -- $5 per month for 5GB of data on tablets and $40 per month for smartphones. It's able to do so because WiFi offload is a prominent part of the WPaaS offering, he explains, so these customers shouldn't be heavy cellular data users.

"When everything is on one provider, including wireless, you'll get the best experience possible from a customer care and SLA standpoint," Fitz says. Even if employees do not switch, however, Sprint -- through partner AirWatch LLC -- will provide MDM for all of the organization's devices.

Fitz said the service is ideal for small-and-midsized businesses that are opening a new remote office for 20 to 200 employees or looking to upgrade outdated technology. Sprint will bill for the service on a per-user, per-month basis. In its pre-sale phase, Fitz says Sprint has signed up customers in the double digits, including Knoll Inc. and SATO Global.

"We can transform how IT leaders buy their services -- one at a time from different vendors," Fitz says. "Now it's a single vendor, single bill, single point of contact, integrated SLAs and so forth."

Read more about WiFi strategies on the carrier WiFi channel here on Light Reading.

These are all services that Sprint has provided to the enterprise market for some time now, with the newest being managed WiFi, which it began offering in 2013 through a partnership with Ruckus Wireless Inc. . But this is the first time it's bringing it all together under one managed services platform and acting as everything from the systems integrator to the help desk. Fitz says the goal is to free up IT departments to focus on other initiatives rather than troubleshooting wireless services and to save them money by going all in.

"A lot of IT leaders today, as much as they are knee deep in managing it, they don't know what they are spending per employee," Fitz says. "We have good data that tells us what they're spending today and forms to help them figure it out. We think this can save them about 50% of what they spend today."

Fitz didn't go as far as AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) CFO John Stephens to say that Sprint would be an enterprise-focused company first and foremost, but the enterprise is clearly an important strategic market for the operator as it looks to regain its footing in the US market and win back customers it lost when it shut down Nextel. Fitz says WPaaS is all about WiFi, but small cells are also part of its larger enterprise strategy, as is supporting the Internet of Things. (See AT&T Sees Brightest Future in the Enterprise and Sprint Starts Big Enterprise Push With WiFi.)

— Sarah Thomas, Circle me on Google+ Follow me on TwitterVisit my LinkedIn profile, Editorial Operations Director, Light Reading

About the Author(s)

Sarah Thomas

Director, Women in Comms

Sarah Thomas's love affair with communications began in 2003 when she bought her first cellphone, a pink RAZR, which she duly "bedazzled" with the help of superglue and her dad.

She joined the editorial staff at Light Reading in 2010 and has been covering mobile technologies ever since. Sarah got her start covering telecom in 2007 at Telephony, later Connected Planet, may it rest in peace. Her non-telecom work experience includes a brief foray into public relations at Fleishman-Hillard (her cussin' upset the clients) and a hodge-podge of internships, including spells at Ingram's (Kansas City's business magazine), American Spa magazine (where she was Chief Hot-Tub Correspondent), and the tweens' quiz bible, QuizFest, in NYC.

As Editorial Operations Director, a role she took on in January 2015, Sarah is responsible for the day-to-day management of the non-news content elements on Light Reading.

Sarah received her Bachelor's in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She lives in Chicago with her 3DTV, her iPad and a drawer full of smartphone cords.

Away from the world of telecom journalism, Sarah likes to dabble in monster truck racing, becoming part of Team Bigfoot in 2009.

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