Choosing your business eSIM: 8 features to consider for corporate travel

Let's address the elephant in the room: Managing mobile connectivity for teams traveling abroad is a complex, time-consuming, and expensive headache. 

Traditional international roaming plans often lead to bill shock, unreliable connections, and a mountain of expense reports. The alternative is switching to a business eSIM solution. 

But which business eSIM solution is the best choice?

This guide will cut straight to what matters. We'll walk you through eight features to look for in a business eSIM solution to help you keep your team seamlessly connected, achieve significant cost savings, and dramatically reduce administrative burden.

1. Global destination coverage & package flexibility

When your team travels around the globe, comprehensive coverage isn't a luxury; it's a necessity. 

You need a solution that supports your workforce wherever travel takes them, not just in major hubs. That means going beyond basic data plans to ones that offer true flexibility for diverse travel needs. Look for options that help you avoid overpaying for unused data or racking up extra costs across regions when a single regional eSIM can do the job. 

eSIM coverage and package options to look out for

Here are features that will impact your team's productivity and travel connectivity costs:

• Global coverage: Check how many destinations your business eSIM solution covers. Ensure your team is supported, whether they're in a major city or a remote project site.
• Variable data amounts: Can you choose between different data packages? Variety in data packages saves money by preventing overpayment for unused data and, on the flip side, ensures employees who require more data can stay connected throughout their business trips. Plans should cater to different consumption needs, from light users needing a few GB for emails to heavy users streaming presentations.
• Flexible durations: Does the solution offer data packages for three days, a week, a month, or even up to a year? Options should cater for a variety of trip lengths.
• Regional and global packages: Are regional and global packages available? For employees who travel around a certain region, like Europe, for trade shows, a single regional package saves time from purchasing multiple eSIMs. Instead, they get seamless connectivity throughout the area. Or, maybe your employees travel across the globe, in that case, a global package might be a better approach.
• Voice and text options: Does this solution offer only data, or does it include voice and text options for employees who need to use phone calls? Voice and text options ensure employees can reach your customers via their preferred channel, preventing lost opportunities.

How Airalo for Business can help

Airalo for Business is powered by Airalo, the world's leading eSIM provider. It offers coverage in over 200 destinations and more than 900 eSIM packages — a connectivity solution for every traveler. Airalo for Business also offers global eSIMs for employees traveling continuously to different regions around the world and over eight regional packages.

2. Centralized billing & flexible payment plans

For companies managing frequent global travel, centralized billing and flexible payment plans save time and significantly improve spending visibility.

Centralized billing streamlines financial operations and enhances cost control. Companies should receive one consolidated invoice detailing all their purchases instead of managing numerous individual expenses across various carriers, payment methods, and currencies. With a single invoice, your team only needs to handle one payment monthly for the entire organization. Consolidated invoices eliminate the time-consuming and error-prone process of tracking individual employee roaming plans, monitoring usage, and processing countless expense reports.

Flexible payment plans also help cater to different business financial needs, whether you prefer to purchase credits beforehand and top up as needed or pay monthly based on usage.

💡Why is this important? The right payment and billing features will directly impact financial reporting, the time spent on reimbursements, and your overall cost monitoring.

Payment and billing features to look out for

Here are the features that will impact financial reporting, time spent on reimbursements, and overall cost monitoring:

• Consolidated monthly invoicing: All eSIM purchases are bundled into a single, easy-to-review invoice. In order to centralize all eSIM management and reporting, invoices should be accessible within the eSIM platform.
• Flexible payment structures:
  • Prepaid credits: Pay for a certain amount of credits up front, with each purchase chipping away at the total amount. Prepayment is ideal for strict budget allocations or smaller teams.
  • Credit limit/postpaid: Establish a spending limit and then pay the consolidated invoice at the end of the month. Postpayment is great for larger enterprises needing more operational flexibility.
    

How Airalo for Business can help

Airalo for Business offers centralized billing, consolidating all your team's eSIM purchases and usage into one clear, comprehensive monthly invoice. This feature transforms chaotic expense management into a streamlined process.

You can choose the payment plan that best fits your business model: a prepaid credit system for tighter control or a flexible credit limit where you settle the invoice at the end of the month. This adaptability caters to diverse financial structures, ensuring optimal budget management.

Bonus: Airalo for Business offers a feature to set spending limits per employee, branch,  or company level. Limits can be reset weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly to help your organization proactively manage connectivity costs.

3. Easy team & company structure management

Efficiently managing your global workforce's connectivity requires a platform that mirrors your organization's structure and simplifies administrative tasks. After all, different departments have different travel patterns and needs. Within your business eSIM solution, you should be able to purchase, assign, and distribute eSIMs, all while managing all your team members from a centralized place.

💡 Why is this important? The right team and company structure management features will help with company operations, ensure efficient budget allocation, and provide clear oversight of your team's connectivity needs.

Team management and organization features to look out for

Here are the features that will impact team management and company structure:

• Centralized user management: Look for business eSIM solutions that offer SSO and SCIM provisioning. These features will help you automatically add and manage team permissions and roles, saving time and enhancing security measures.
• Bulk management capabilities: A key feature for enterprises that must manage many eSIMs simultaneously, such as assigning eSIMs and setting purchase limits in bulk, or automatically through SIM provisioning.
• Organizational branching/department structure: Create and manage distinct branches or business units within the platform to allow for comprehensive management. Department structures allow for more granular budget allocation, streamlined reporting, and the pre-purchase or assignment of eSIMs for specific teams or frequent routes.

How Airalo for Business can help

Airalo for Business offers easy and organized team management and branch structures. It allows companies to mimic their actual multi-layered organizational structure by setting up different branches or departments within the platform. 

For a large corporation, a travel administrator can manage connectivity specifically for the "EMEA Sales" branch. In turn, department insight allows teams to allocate budget more efficiently, pre-purchase eSIMs for frequent routes, and assign them directly to that team. These features simplify management, provide clear oversight, and streamline operations across diverse global units.

4. Budget and purchase control

True cost optimization goes beyond lower prices; it involves visibility and control over spending. A good business eSIM solution empowers you to proactively manage travel connectivity costs, ensuring you stay within budget and avoid unexpected expenses.

💡 Why is this important? Effective budget and purchase controls are essential for financial predictability, preventing bill shock, and ensuring resources are allocated efficiently across your organization.

Budget and cost control features to look out for

Here are the features that will impact budget management:

• Custom spending limits: Proactively manage costs by setting specific budgets for individual employees or at a company-wide level. Spending limits allow for precise financial planning and help prevent overspending.
• Visibility and monitoring: Look for dashboards that provide clear, real-time insights. You should easily be able to monitor who is spending the most on eSIMs, which departments have high usage, and where budget allocations might need adjustment. Analytics should also provide insight into eSIM purchase patterns and overall company usage patterns, helping you understand trends and make informed decisions.
• Self-purchase feature with controls:Enable employees to self-purchase eSIMs (e.g., by choosing 'Bill to [Your Organization]'), eliminating approval delays while maintaining centralized oversight.. And, look for business eSIM solutions that still offer budget limits even for those employees who can self-purchase, ensuring flexibility without losing control.

How Airalo for Business can help

Airalo for Business provides comprehensive budget and cost control features. Companies can proactively manage their travel connectivity expenses by setting precise spending limits at various levels – whether it's for the entire company, specific branches, or even individual employees. This granular control allows for proactive cost management. 

The platform offers clear visibility and robust analytics, allowing you to monitor who spends the most on eSIMs, analyze usage patterns and purchase trends, optimize your plans, and ensure financial planning accuracy.

As the business eSIM solution integrates with the Airlao app, employees with "self-purchase" enabled can also be monitored and administered a purchase limit that can be reset monthly, quarterly, or yearly.

5. Advanced security features for both you and your team

When embracing new technology, security is always top of mind. For businesses, safeguarding employee data – both personal and corporate – is critical. A secure eSIM solution offers businesses peace of mind by implementing robust safeguards to protect sensitive information, thereby preserving your company's reputation, legal standing, and ability to mitigate risk.

💡 Why is this important? Adhering to strict privacy and security laws (like GDPR) is non-negotiable. It's a fundamental demonstration of trust to your employees and clients and a critical component of your business's overall risk mitigation strategy.

Security features to look out for:

Here are the features that will strengthen and ensure data security and safety:

• SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and PCI DSS: The solution should demonstrate adherence to industry-recognized security standards. Certifications like SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and PCI DSS provide assurance of robust data protection practices and a commitment to best-in-class security.
• Single Sign-On (SSO) integration: SSO allows employees to use their existing company credentials to access the eSIM platform, significantly reducing password management headaches and potential security vulnerabilities.
• Automated User Provisioning (SCIM): SCIM automates creating, updating, and deactivating user accounts based on your company's identity provider, improving security by promptly removing access for departing employees and maintaining accurate user access.

How Airalo for Business can help

Airalo for Business prioritizes advanced security features with robust compliance and integration. It adheres to high data and payment security standards through SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and PCI DSS compliance. Our best industry practices and certificates of compliance assure businesses that their sensitive data and privacy are thoroughly protected. 

Airalo for Business also offers SSO integration to strengthen access security by allowing employees to use their existing company credentials (e.g., Okta, Azure AD) for the Airalo platform, reducing password fatigue and enhancing overall security.

6. Ease of use, adaptability, & scalability

A sophisticated solution shouldn't be complicated to use. Ease of use is critical for driving adoption by your team. Beyond that, the solution must be flexible enough to adapt to changing travel patterns and scalable to grow with your business.

💡 Why is this important? An intuitive, flexible, and scalable eSIM solution ensures high team adoption, minimizes IT support overhead, and seamlessly supports your business's growth and evolving needs without requiring frequent overhauls.

Team adoption and scalability features to look out for 

Here are the features that will impact team adoption and business growth: 

• Intuitive user interface: The platform should be easy for both administrators and individual employees to navigate, ensuring a smooth experience from day one.
• Employee self-service options: Features like self-purchasing eSIMs (billed to the organization) can empower employees and bypass the need for constant administrative approvals.
• Scalability: Manage connectivity effortlessly, whether you have a few traveling employees or grow to thousands across a global enterprise. 
• Adaptability: Easily adjust to unforeseen travel changes, project shifts, or evolving data needs without paying extra for subscriptions.

How Airalo for Business can help

Airalo for Business is explicitly designed for ease of use, adaptability, and scalability. Its seamless Airalo app integration, loved by over 20 million users, puts connectivity management directly at your team's fingertips. 

The platform supports SSO for streamlined and secure access, drastically simplifying employee onboarding and reducing IT overhead. Furthermore, SCIM integration automates user provisioning and de-provisioning, ensuring access rights are always current and secure. 

For unparalleled flexibility, you can offer a self-purchase eSIM feature for employees, allowing them to acquire necessary plans directly while still billing the organization, ensuring both convenience and control. This robust design ensures the solution grows and adapts effortlessly with your business.

7. Comprehensive analytics & reporting

Beyond just managing costs, understanding your data consumption patterns is crucial for strategic financial planning and operational optimization. A robust analytics suite provides the insights needed to make informed decisions.

💡 Why is this important? Comprehensive analytics provide the data-driven insights needed for accurate financial forecasting, identifying areas for cost savings, and optimizing connectivity plans to match actual usage across your organization. The clear visibility provided by analytics leads to efficient resource allocation and better budget control.

Analytics features to look out for

The following features will impact your business eSIM visibility and insights from analytics:

• Real-time insights: Instant visibility into data consumption across the organization allows for proactive management.
• Usage breakdown: Gain actionable insights by identifying heavy users, high-spending departments, and peak usage times. 
• Sustainability metrics: Look for insights or metrics that highlight the environmental benefits of using eSIMs, such as reducing carbon footprint. Sustainability metrics help with corporate sustainability initiative reporting.

How Airalo for Business can help

Airalo for Business offers an analytics dashboard that provides real-time insights into data consumption. You can easily identify heavy users, pinpoint which departments purchase the most eSIMs, and understand your overall purchase trends. This comprehensive reporting helps with accurate financial planning, allowing you to optimize plans based on actual usage and make informed decisions to ensure your connectivity budget is used effectively.

Bonus: Airalo for Business also provides metrics around carbon footprint reduction. Sustainability metrics allow companies to highlight their positive impact on the planet in their yearly reports or when communicating with environmentally conscious consumers.

8. Dedicated customer & partner support

For a global workforce, 24/7 multilingual support minimizes frustration and ensures uninterrupted connectivity, regardless of time zone or language. On the business side, dedicated partner support provides peace of mind for any questions that might arise in the first months of using a business eSIM solution.

💡 Why is this important? Reliable support ensures your employees are always connected and productive, minimizing costly downtime. It also removes the need for employees to ask your team for support. Instead, they can ask their business eSIM provider directly. It also empowers your administrative team to manage the solution effectively, making the most of the business eSIM solution. 

Customer and partner support features to look out for

The following features will make customer support valuable and useful:

• 24/7 multilingual employee support: Your traveling team can get assistance anytime, anywhere, in their preferred language.
• Dedicated partner support: Make sure that your administrative team (HR, IT, Travel Admin) has dedicated help with onboarding, platform management, and strategic guidance. 
• Multiple support channels: Look for different methods to get support, including; email, live chat, and a comprehensive FAQs/knowledge base that caters to different preferences and urgency levels.

How Airalo for Business can help

Airalo for Business understands the critical role of support. It offers 24/7 customer support in 53 languages, ensuring your global workforce can always find help, no matter their location or preferred language, significantly reducing frustration and maintaining productivity. 

Beyond end-user support, Airalo for Business also provides dedicated partner support to assist your administrative team with seamless onboarding, platform optimization, and ongoing strategic guidance, ensuring you maximize the value of your business eSIM solution.

Airalo for Business also offers comprehensive guides for your administrative team and employees, making it straightforward to integrate into your internal travel policy. Furthermore, we provide monthly updates on new platform features and newly available or discounted eSIM packages.