How Global Enterprises Really Manage Connectivity

How to manage enterprise eSIMs

Over the last decade, software-based SIM profiles (or eSIMs) have developed from a niche industrial tool to the world’s preferred SIM format. The practical, economical, and environmental benefits eSIMs have over SIM cards have led to their rapid adoption around the globe.

For companies and organizations, the ability to mass-deploy mobile internet to team members worldwide has revolutionized global business, enabling expansion into new markets and enhancing collaboration between international partners.

While the benefits of eSIMs are now widely known, the actual manner in which companies use them can still be opaque.

Establishing and managing an enterprise-wide connectivity strategy is a collaborative effort between IT administrators, compliance departments, individual team members, and external mobile providers. A successful one depends on the ability to incorporate new tools, employee preferences, and technologies into existing mobile policies. Here, we detail exactly how the world’s largest organizations use eSIMs in managing mobile connectivity.

The enterprise eSIM lifecycle

Once an organization decides to implement an eSIM connectivity plan, how do they put it into action? The first step is to supply the eSIM profiles to the correct devices – a process known as remote SIM provisioning, or RSP.

RSP is one of the defining advantages of eSIM technology. In essence, it allows IT administrators to instantly distribute eSIMs to users and devices around the world in an instant. It may be hard to recall now, but supplying users with mobile connectivity at short notice used to be a major administrative task on par with booking a last-minute flight or hotel room. The correct SIM card would have to be ordered, delivered, and installed by the user, with separate ones required in the event of multi-country trips.

Mass deployments of thousands of eSIM profiles can now be accomplished in seconds, regardless of the recipients’ locations. What previously required weeks of logistical effort now takes seconds.

1GLOBAL RSP

Activating an eSIM on a device can be accomplished through multiple methods – the user can scan a QR code to download their allocated eSIM, or download it directly by clicking a link on their device.

The simplest, safest, and most effective way is to remotely “push” the eSIM to the desired mobile device, with no end-user effort required. Not only is this the quickest method, but it’s also the safest: by pushing an eSIM, companies can be sure the profile is transferred to exactly the right device.

Personal preferences and ways of working will differ between and within teams. If the goal of enterprise connectivity is to empower employees to work at their discretion, then catering to individual predilections must be possible. The larger the company, the more varied these options will be. Different device needs, as well as regional and cultural communication practices, will all impact the overall mobile connectivity strategy. The ideal connectivity service should provide a range of flexible plans that can be used with multiple different device types and operate fluidly across international borders.

A successful enterprise mobile plan improves employee satisfaction, in turn increasing productivity and efficiency. While policies like bring-your-own-device (BYOD) simplify life for employees, they can expose companies to a greater risk of data breach if not deployed with a secure enterprise connectivity service.

The dual-SIM model: two profiles, one device

In an era where personal and business communications are becoming increasingly intertwined, eSIMs offer some clarity. By using a dual eSIM for business travel, users can instantly switch from their personal to a secured business SIM without needing to carry two separate phones or physically swap out a SIM card. Using a secondary eSIM for roaming sharply reduces the cost of business travel, ultimately promoting growth and expansion.

The cost-saving advantages of dual SIM technology have cemented its place as a standard requirement for international business travellers.

Before the invention of the eSIM, traveling teams were faced with three options:

1. Purchase a local SIM card for every country they’d be traveling to, and switch between these as needed.

2. Use their regular domestic SIM while travelling and incur hefty roaming fees.

3. Avoid using mobile data while travelling and rely instead on unreliable and unsecured public Wi-Fi.

Each option presented its own set of security, efficiency, or financial obstacles. An eSIM policy neatly avoids all three issues, leading to enthusiastic adoption among enterprise clients.

Organizations can keep their teams connected while doing away with the CAPEX required to purchase, maintain, and dispose of dedicated business devices, while team members can enjoy the simplicity of using their preferred mobile for work. This bring-your-own-device (BYOD) model is increasingly common among enterprise mobile users, though questions remain about how it can be best implemented.

For financial institutions that are bound to stringent recording and bookkeeping requirements, the overlap of personal and business communications on the same device poses a unique challenge.

Even in industries with laxer compliance obligations, dual-SIM and BYOD policies still raise questions. The ominously-named “shadow archive” is a prime example – the term refers to the personal, cloud-based storage systems like iCloud that automatically record and save sensitive business data to an unsecured personal cloud. When devices are unable to distinguish between workplace and personal communications, all are stored in the same location.

With the rising usage of instant messaging services in work contexts, the shadow archive poses a significant privacy risk. Even for non-finance brands, this practice can breach regulatory measures like the EU’s GDPR policy, exposing customers to potential data breaches and risking financial penalties and reputational damage.

Why, then, would a firm risk using a BYOD policy in the first place? Recent innovations with Apple and their Account Driven Device enrolment, as well as Work Profile on Android, are the ideal setup for keeping private data private, and work data secure and managed. In combination with eSIM provisioning and MDM eSIM integration, and with the right connectivity supplier and MDM provider, employees can continue to use their own devices and dual SIM setups, without exposing themselves, their company, or clients to security breaches.

For team members, the ability to work on their preferred devices can benefit job satisfaction and productivity – an effect that's particularly marked among younger employees.

For companies, it’s a quick way to boost employee satisfaction and reduce CAPEX on mobile hardware that quickly depreciates. Analysis shows that a BYOD device policy can be both effective and secure when connected to a dedicated cellular network provider, rather than consumer-grade mobile plans or Wi-Fi.

Device as a service (DaaS)

Another option is to adopt an all-in-one hardware and software solution, where connectivity plans, eSIMs, and the physical devices themselves are leased from a telecommunications provider. This is Device-as-a-Service, or DaaS. By leasing devices instead of buying, companies have immediate access to an all-in-one telecoms solution, without having to invest in initial purchases or maintenance.

The eSIM governance layer

From assigning profiles and monitoring usage to enforcing policies on spend, security, and access, modern enterprises work hard to maintain visibility and compliance at every step of their eSIM usage. This layer of eSIM governance and control is integral to the future of telecoms – without it, any efficiency and cost advantages eSIMs offer would be dwarfed by the potential risks.

The virtual nature of eSIMs allows organizations to view and map every aspect of their usage in a single eSIM orchestration platform. These software applications allow IT departments to deploy, manage, and recall eSIMs for thousands of users from a single hub. Not only does it simplify deployment and bolster security, but it also allows enterprises to proactively collate and analyze real-time data from all eSIMs to make informed business decisions.

A centralized control center allows oversight of everything from individual user activity to company-wide trends, and simplifies security updates.

Enterprise eSIM management

It can be useful to think of eSIMs as long-term digital assets that can be continually recalled, reassigned, and reconfigured to adapt to new users, global regions, and business requirements.

As hardware manufacturers continue to push for the mass adoption of eSIM among consumers, new smartphones are becoming increasingly eSIM-friendly (or, in the case of the latest iPhone, eSIM-exclusive).

New features like Apple’s eSIM Quick Transfer illustrate how integrated the technology is with the current generation of mobile hardware. Introduced in 2025, eSIM Quick Transfer allows users to instantly switch their eSIM data from one iPhone to another. This allows users in an organization to continually update their hardware as needed, while retaining all software configurations, security protocols, and data from their old device.

Disposal is another issue IT departments must consider when implementing mobile policies. While eSIMs eliminate the security risk posed by lost or stolen physical SIM cards, devices themselves must also be sustainably and securely destroyed at the end of their lifecycle. In organizations that use Device-as-a-Service, secure data wipes and reuse, recycling, or disposal policies are an integral part of the service.

By switching to eSIM-based devices, organizations gain the flexibility to swiftly onboard new staff, bring freelancers and contractors on to a secure communications network, and leverage short-term business opportunities without negotiating new mobile contracts. Their cost-saving power is twofold: both in the immediate negation of roaming fees and in the time and effort they save on day-to-day operations.

The future of enterprise eSIM management

Today, modern organizations expect to be able to supply employees with secure, reliable, and cost-effective mobile internet wherever they choose to work. The dawn of 5G networks allows teams to conduct more demanding tasks on the go, while the cost of transferring IT devices to 5G-ready alternatives has dropped steeply in recent years.

This widespread 5G availability will also cause AI and automation to play a greater role in mobile connectivity – the bandwidth required to perform complex automations and real-time AI operations is now available to mobile users via eSIM. As AI-driven autonomous networks promise simpler, faster access to mobile internet, companies must be prepared to scale up their wireless connectivity usage.

Putting these solutions into practice requires a future-facing connectivity partner. 1GLOBAL operates a suite of proprietary APIs that integrate directly with existing MDM backends, providing the tools needed to automate processes and build a more efficient mobile connectivity strategy. These flexible solutions can be continually adapted to a company’s growing mobile data requirements.

The aforementioned connectivity management hub simplifies these operations further by providing a unified overview of all eSIM operations, company-wide, regardless of user numbers or countries of operation.

The human factor

The central theme of enterprise connectivity is that it’s about serving the needs of individuals – and individuals are always unpredictable. People can leave or join new roles at irregular rates and times, need to travel to new countries at short notice, or change their minds about their preferred mobile devices or communication channels.

Navigating these operational realities is a key advantage of eSIMs. Instant, worldwide distribution and recall is a secure solution that saves countless hours of annual administrative and logistical effort. Crucially, eSIMs can be used to create a scalable mobile policy. Worldwide mobile data usage is currently at the foot of a near-exponential slope, with the ongoing rollout of 5G and the planned release of 6G set to usher in spiking demand in wireless internet.

Simultaneously, how we communicate, particularly in business, is rapidly evolving. A successful enterprise connectivity strategy can recognize and adapt to these changes, rather than resist them. Businesses that adopt flexible mobile strategies have an immediate competitive edge in the contemporary market and pave the way for long-term success.

1GLOBAL Enterprise Connectivity services are eSIM-based mobile plans that allow organizations to connect multiple users across 190+ countries, on a single roaming agreement. These plans are built for the future: flexible billing options, instant scalability, and API-based integration allow companies to grow their connectivity in line with their ambitions and embrace new opportunities as they emerge.

Learn more about the 1GLOBAL range of enterprise connectivity plans by talking to our team today.