Behind the Scenes: How Quality Managers Shape the Mobile Experience with Device Intelligence

03/28/25 • 30 min

How are leading companies transforming quality management from a cost center into a strategic advantage?

Join Apkudo’s Allyson Mitchell (VP of Sustainability) as she welcomes Manoj Sabhnani, Chief Operating Officer at Apkudo. With over 25 years in the wireless industry, Manoj illuminates the critical role quality managers play in determining a device's fate between its first and second life. With experience spanning carriers, OEMs, and infrastructure development, he explains how quality management directly impacts customer satisfaction, return rates, and ultimately, profitability. Manoj emphasizes that while quality departments are often viewed as cost centers, their work translates to measurable ROI through reduced returns and logistics costs.

Discover how quality managers navigate complex challenges including disconnected data systems, manual processes, and cross-stakeholder collaboration. Manoj details how Apkudo's Device Intelligence platform has revolutionized quality management through real-time dashboards, predictive analytics, and seamless collaboration features that save quality managers up to 20% of their time. The conversation highlights the sustainability implications of quality improvements and how reducing "bounce rates" for refurbished devices delivers millions in savings while decreasing environmental impact. This episode offers valuable insights for professionals across the connected device ecosystem seeking to optimize operations and lead in sustainable device management.

In this episode:

(00:00) Introduction and Background: Manoj Sabhnani brings over 25 years of wireless industry experience to Apkudo, working across carriers, OEMs, and infrastructure to understand quality management challenges from multiple perspectives.
(05:03) Key Quality Processes and Challenges: Critical processes quality managers oversee including first article inspection, early warning processes, and device triage, while managing disconnected systems and manual data collection.
(10:15) Daily Operations and Collaboration: Manoj details a typical day for quality managers, highlighting their work with multiple stakeholders, data management responsibilities, and the need to take timely action on quality insights.
(15:35) Quality ROI and Business Impact: How quality teams demonstrate ROI through reduced returns, decreased logistics costs, and improved sustainability metrics, translating into millions in annual savings.
(24:01) Technology Solutions and Future Innovations: Apkudo’s Device Intelligence platform integrates disparate systems with real-time dashboards and cross-stakeholder collaboration, plus upcoming innovations in predictive analytics and sustainability metrics.
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Resources:

Manoj Sabhnani LinkedIn Apkudo LinkedIn
Apkudo
Apkudo Podcast

How are leading companies transforming quality management from a cost center into a strategic advantage?

In this episode:

(00:00) Introduction and Background: Manoj Sabhnani brings over 25 years of wireless industry experience to Apkudo, working across carriers, OEMs, and infrastructure to understand quality management challenges from multiple perspectives.
(05:03) Key Quality Processes and Challenges: Critical processes quality managers oversee including first article inspection, early warning processes, and device triage, while managing disconnected systems and manual data collection.
(10:15) Daily Operations and Collaboration: Manoj details a typical day for quality managers, highlighting their work with multiple stakeholders, data management responsibilities, and the need to take timely action on quality insights.
(15:35) Quality ROI and Business Impact: How quality teams demonstrate ROI through reduced returns, decreased logistics costs, and improved sustainability metrics, translating into millions in annual savings.
(24:01) Technology Solutions and Future Innovations: Apkudo’s Device Intelligence platform integrates disparate systems with real-time dashboards and cross-stakeholder collaboration, plus upcoming innovations in predictive analytics and sustainability metrics.
Send us your comments, ideas for future shows, and feedback. Subscribe to catch future episodes, and share this episode with someone who might be interested!

Resources:

Manoj Sabhnani LinkedIn Apkudo LinkedIn
Apkudo
Apkudo Podcast

Previous Episode

Simplifying Device Recovery: How a Fortune 100 Company Boosted Sustainability and Compliance

What simple technology integration nudges employees to return their old devices without disrupting their workflow, and how could it save your company thousands in lost assets?

Join Apkudo’s Allyson Mitchell (VP of Sustainability) as she chats with Mariel Wilding (Sr. Customer Experience Manager) about how a Fortune 100 company enhanced its sustainability initiatives with Apkudo’s Reco software. Learn how they automated employee mobile device recovery and gained access to detailed device circularity insights for the first time. With seamless integration into Omnissa’s Workspace ONE® unified endpoint management platform, they also saw a boost in employee compliance. Discover how this customer simplified a once-complex process into a scalable, repeatable program for sustainable success.
How does Apkudo's innovative UEM tagging system transform recovery rates? Mariel reveals that customizable restrictions encourage device returns without impeding productivity. She explains how the customer evolved from having scattered forgotten devices to implementing real-time fleet visibility. You’ll hear how collaborative problem-solving created features like IT drop-off tracking that now benefit all Apkudo customers. For mobility teams in hybrid environments, this case study shows how proper lifecycle management recovers assets, supports sustainability goals, and generates financial returns through secondary markets.
In this episode:

(00:00) Introduction and Background: Mariel Wilding shares her experience in customer-facing roles at a manageability services startup before joining Apkudo to support enterprise customers with asset recovery.
(01:40) Fortune 100 Customer Profile: Mariel details the customer's 35,000 employees with 19,000 globally deployed iOS and Android devices, their security challenges with outdated devices, and how Apkudo's integration with Workspace ONE addressed their automation and visibility needs.
(05:30) Product Innovation Implementation: Explores how the customer's automation requirements led to development of UEM tagging features and IT drop-off tracking capabilities, creating customizable solutions that nudge employees to return devices and improve recovery compliance.
(10:30) Sustainability Impact and Expansion: Discusses how Apkudo transformed the customer from merely recycling devices to reselling and tracking sustainability metrics, with plans to expand the program beyond US mobile devices to laptops in Canada and UK operations.
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Resources:
Mariel Wilding LinkedIn Apkudo LinkedIn
Apkudo
Apkudo Podcast

Next Episode

Reshaping the Connected Device Economy

"There's a huge opportunity to reclaim scarce resources through urban mining of what's inside these phones, tablets, laptops. We have to move away from the linear consumption model - take, make, waste - that we've had for 250 years." - Tony Altmann, Head of Circular Innovation at Apkudo

Join Apkudo’s Allyson Mitchell (VP of Sustainability) as she speaks with Tony Altmann, Head of Circular Innovation at Apkudo, about transforming the connected device industry through circular economy principles. Tony explains how Apkudo's platform helps customers across the supply chain—from OEMs and carriers to device processors and enterprises—recapture value while reducing environmental impact. With 82 million metric tons of e-waste projected by 2030 and five billion unused phones sitting in drawers worldwide, the conversation highlights the urgent need for improved recovery systems and the $8 billion in gold alone that could be reclaimed through proper urban mining.

Tony shares insights from Apkudo's 2024 Impact Report, revealing how the company processed 16 million devices last year—preventing 6,100 tons of e-waste, avoiding 1.1 million tons of CO2 emissions, and reclaiming approximately $23 million worth of gold. The discussion explores how sustainability challenges including data availability, trust, and communication are being addressed through Apkudo's analytics platform. For businesses across climate, energy, and technology sectors, the episode offers valuable perspectives on how companies can align environmental goals with financial performance while creating competitive advantage through circular innovation.

In this episode:

(00:00) Introduction and Background: Tony Altmann shares his financial expertise in renewable energy, explaining how sustainability must make business sense for CFOs to drive real change.
(04:30) E-Waste Challenges and Opportunities: Discussion of urban mining potential, recovering $8B in gold from unused devices, and the geopolitical importance of reclaiming rare earth minerals.
(06:13) Industry Ecosystem Solutions: How carriers, OEMs, processors, and enterprises can collaborate to extend device lifecycles and improve circularity across the value chain.
(13:18) Overcoming Sustainability Barriers: Tony outlines three key challenges—data availability, trust in metrics, and effective communication—that companies must address for progress.
(26:49) Impact Results and Future Direction: Apkudo's 2024 report highlights processing 16M devices, preventing 6,100 tons of e-waste, and avoiding 1.1M tons of CO2 emissions.
Send us your comments, ideas for future shows, and feedback. Subscribe to catch future episodes, and share this episode with someone who might be interested!

Resources:
Tony Altmann LinkedIn Apkudo LinkedIn
Apkudo
Apkudo Podcast