Jola Cloud Solutions' Blog

Sales teams around the world are asking the same question at the moment. As a supplier to the UK voice and data channel, we wanted to share our thoughts with our partners.

Firstly, it is not sensible to project ‘business as usual’, as the reality is that the environment for salespeople has changed dramatically. We are all working from home, meetings are now virtual and group video chats are now a regular thing. Business owners are worrying about customers not being able to pay their bills, and we are all trying to get our head around the new government initiatives. Salespeople need to be aware of the changed priorities and adapt their approach.

Focus on helping

What do your partners/customers need right now? Understand requirements and where possible implement measures to help. It is important that the channel work together right now, as SMEs and resellers going bust will affect us all.

Adapt your approach

If you can no longer arrange meetings with customers, consider alternatives, video conferencing, training webinars, opportunity webinars. Sharing success stories in our industry is very powerful, as it is driven by entrepreneurs, who are able to change with the market. Use LinkedIn, review your profile, do your online research into what companies do, their financials, sectors they serve and problems you can uniquely solve. Consider your approach, how you draft your connection request, and what you then go on to share.

If new prospects are delaying decisions because of uncertainty, consider focussing sales teams on cross-sell and up-sell to existing customers.

Many resellers are new to mobile and mobile data, where constant innovation has thrown up several areas of opportunity. Is this the time to look at your customer base and identify openings for unlimited data products, mobile broadband and 4G back-up?

Retain contact

If you usually visit a customer once a month at site, consider moving these meetings online. Do the same with your training events and convert them to webinars. Continue your pro-active calling campaigns, checking in with key clients and prospects.

Many partners have asked how they can continue their marketing strategy during a crisis. We have put together some thoughts.

Audience

The first thing to consider is your audience. How have your customers and your prospects been affected by the current crisis? Has their behaviour changed? Do you need to adjust your strategy and messaging? The last thing you want to be is unsympathetic or worse still, opportunistic. Now is a good time to consider your actions and how this may affect your brand today and after the crisis has ended.

Campaign Planning

Review your messages and the timing of their delivery. Is it still appropriate in the current climate? The key to good marketing is getting the right message to the right people at the right time. If your customers are working out how to implement new government guidelines or have been forced to close, now may not be the right time to get their attention. If you haven’t checked your copy, you may cause lasting damage to your brand name.

Reviewing Spend

In a deteriorating economic situation, non-essential spend is often put on hold. In some sectors however, additional investment is required to fund campaigns to promote new online services.

Communication

Now is the time to keep in touch with your customers to let them know how you can support them and the wider community. Companies who can adapt to the new environment and help to meet demand without being opportunistic, are most likely to thrive post crisis.

Unlimited voice and data SIM cards have been available from the mobile networks for a while. They are great for residential customers, who no longer need to worry about how much data they are consuming each month. Although companies do use them, Mobile Operators do not allow them to be used in routers and they are not ideal for the channel. Partners, in the main, prefer to buy wholesale, and package, control, bill and support services directly.

Jola supplies unlimited data packages, fit for purpose on 30-day contracts. They will work on 5G, where available. They are keenly priced and designed to work in routers and M2M devices in the UK, offering unlimited data for business users.

Demand for unlimited data SIMs is high, as is demand for 4G routers, however Jola is working to build stock to meet the current demand and support their partners. Jola resellers enjoy an uplift in revenue and margin, and end users no longer need to worry about data usage. They are perfect for remote working, and 4G back-up.

Mobile Manager

To allow resellers to manage large estates of unlimited data SIMs, Jola developed Mobile Manager. Mobile Manager handles SIM activations, ceases, suspensions, reports, alerts and bolt-ons. SIMs are managed in real-time.

With many employees now working from home, how do we adjust our strategy to keep the business running and support the country?

Communication

Keeping in touch, has never been more important. Collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams and Office UC have been great for conference calls and group projects.

Sending relevant messages to your employees and customers is good practice. It is reassuring for both employees and customers to know how you are reacting to support their changing needs.

Changing behaviours

External sales teams are used to spending a lot of time on the road visiting customers. Can they book video meetings instead? Can they run webinars to help on-board and train new customers? Can they help by ensuring partners have enough product, to meet demand?

Marketing teams can help by changing face-to-face events to webinars. We need to re-think our strategy, understand the changing needs of our customers and rise to the new challenges. We need to consider the supply chain and the installation of core services. What do our customers need during this time? Can we get this to them?

Pro-active support

Keeping open communications with employees and customers, we are able to react to challenges and help come up with solutions. For example, writing online guides to help customers resolve key issues with routers and software used for homeworking.

Some businesses have been forced to close during this period and may struggle to pay their suppliers in the short-term. Can we help by changing contract terms or by implementing payment plans? Industries such as healthcare need support to cope with new challenges faced in hospitals and care homes. Supermarkets need robust networks to ensure tills continue to operate and electronic payments do not fail. Can we as an industry help?

Resellers that need to run fixed IP addresses over mobile networks can now do so using a cost effective multinet eSIM from Jola.

eSIMs give MSPs and resellers ultimate choice and control, whilst solving the biggest mobile data problem facing their end users – how to automatically connect any device to any network, anywhere in the world.

GSMA-compliant fixed IP eSIMs offer un-steered roaming coverage across 450 networks and negate the need for static private IP or NAT. Network-agnostic fixed IP eSIMs are a cheaper alternative to most single-network static IP SIMs, whilst also providing an insurance policy against switching-cost lock-in.

Andrew Dickinson, Jola’s MD commented, “eSIM or eUICC technology is the key to unlocking the IoT and mobile data opportunity for the channel. Our fixed IP variant is the first of many product extensions, as we continue to invest in our eSIM MVNO. We believe every partner has at least one large IoT/M2M deal in their customer base and our mission is to help them find them – and win them.”

If you think an eSIM is just a virtual SIM in an iPhone, then think again. eSIMs  can come on a reel, ready for manufacturers, but mostly they are deployed by resellers and MSPs as a traditional, triple-cut plastic card.

Jola is the first company to become a global eSIM MVNO dedicated to the channel. We offer our partners a way to really differentiate their mobile data/IoT proposition. Jola partners are winning huge multi-site deals against incumbents and the mobile networks selling direct, with a network agnostic, multi-network, global roaming eSIM. 

Jola partners can win on price and still make a reasonable margin. This is because  we  buy direct from global data wholesalers, not local mobile networks. Using multinet eSIMs, end customers don’t need expensive site surveys and suppliers cannot use the high cost of switching, to lock them into uncompetitive commercial terms or legacy technologies.  

MSPs and specialists using 4G for connectivity on short-term contracts, or for back-up, often struggle to control data usage, so get regularly hit by overage bills. They manage large estates of data SIMs on different networks, often using manual order processes, with no visibility of data usage throughout the month.

Jola developed Mobile Manager to help partners manage data usage and avoid bill shock. Our unique portal gives partners complete control over ordering, alerting, ceasing, suspending and swapping SIMs. They can also add their own bolt-ons, create and manage their own data pools and set up and manage private APN networks. Jola’s white label portal communicates in real-time with multiple 4G networks. Partners can grant access to their end users to view data usage and manage SIMs. 

Mobile Manager was designed to help channel partners grow profitable revenue streams from 4G. Our partners win opportunities for DSL and Ethernet 4G back-up, fixed line replacement, and IoT and M2M projects. MSPs productise their own solutions using Jola’s wide range of single-network and multi-network SIMs, which include eSIMs.

Tariff Tool

Our Tariff Tool allows MSPs to select the countries and data allowance they need and obtain all the in-country 3G and 4G roaming network packages available, which also includes unlimited UK data SIMs and multi-network, global eSIMs.

IoT

There is a wide range of devices that need an internet connection and M2M/IoT SIMs fit the bill. Opportunities are flooding in via partners from multiple sectors such as retail, construction, logistics and the public sector, all with different requirements. Some need IP addresses, others need multi-network SIMs, but all need the ability to monitor and manage usage remotely. Jola developed products for the channel to address these markets.

How much do they influence your buyer behaviour?

It’s awards season again and marketing departments in the channel are busy writing awards entries, booking tables and planning outfits for the big night. Before jumping in, it is first worth considering what you are entering and why?

Awards evenings are expensive when you factor in table costs, drinks, accommodation and travel. Many marketing departments need to justify the costs with outcomes, such as the additional coverage from being shortlisted and the potential benefits from winning.

In competitive markets, wholesale service providers need to differentiate their offering. MSPs, IoTSPs and resellers are all looking for unique products that differentiate themselves, that are easy to sell and help them to grow their business. How much do awards influence this?

It is difficult to estimate. In my experience at Griffin and at Jola winning relevant awards has helped to raise the company profile, introduced the company to new potential partners and in some small way has helped to influence the decision of the resellers to partner with us. It’s not the logo on the website that has swung it, more the right products, at the right price, at the right time, managed by the right people and platforms. The right awards, just like the right case study, testimonial, introduction and recommendation at the right time can make all the difference.

Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and Internet of Things Service Providers (IoTSPs) are uncovering more and more opportunities for multi-network, roaming eSIMs in vertical markets, such as construction, yachting, motorsports, transport, logistics and manufacturing.

End-users need 4G data in roaming devices such as mobile broadband routers, monitoring and tracking devices.

Competition is fierce

To win against the networks, Service Providers are looking for unique products and services, the networks can’t offer, such as multi-network roaming SIMs that are un-steered and will roam to all four networks in the UK and to hundreds of networks globally.

They need to be able to compete on price, so are looking for a great deal, they can make good margin on, which also saves their end-user money.

End users do not want to be tied to a network provider indefinitely. The cost and hassle of swapping out SIM cards is too great. MSPs and IoTSPs offering the ability to switch networks at the end of a contract, without swapping out SIMs, can save the end-user money now and at the end of their contract.

eSIMs

eSIMs give Service Providers back their edge over the retail mobile networks. They offer a truly un-steered, multi-network connection ensuring the customer is always getting the best technical and commercial solution, whatever happens in the market. They offer an alternative to retail mobile network contract lock-ins, saving customers the pain of swapping out SIMs.

Telecoms resellers looking to grow their businesses often add complimentary products to their portfolio, especially those that are easy to sell, increase ARPU and help them to win new business. eSIMs fit the bill as they give resellers the opportunity to win against the MNOs for IoT data SIMs. Many already sell mobile data SIMs successfully to construction sites, retailers, gyms etc. IoT SIM deals are often larger, on longer terms, but can be difficult to win against MNOs.

eSIMs are multi-network and un-steered that can be re-programmed remotely over-the-air. With eSIM, resellers can beat MNOs on price and still make a reasonable margin. This is because eSIM MVNOs buy direct from global data wholesalers, not local MNOs. Using multinet eSIMs means end customers don’t need expensive site surveys and they can’t be locked into uncompetitive commercial terms by individual MNOs. eSIMs can come on a reel ready for manufacturers, or a standard triple-cut plastic SIM card.

eSIMs give resellers competitive edge over the MNOs and are easy to sell and support. Resellers are partnering with Jola for eSIMs they can manage in Mobile Manager. Mobile Manager is Jola’s online management portal for ordering and managing estates of mobile data SIMs. This white label portal communicates in real-time with multiple 4G networks and can be used by both resellers and their end users. Mobile Manager handles SIM activations, ceases, suspensions, reports, alerts and bolt-ons.