Jola Cloud Solutions' Blog

When advertising for new recruits, we use local apprenticeship specialists and target university students. We also advertise locally using a refer-a-friend scheme. LinkedIn and the website are a given, but we have more success targeting people we know, or local people looking for a chance to learn something new.

A lot of experienced candidates expect remote working and often ask how many days they need to be in the office. However, we have also found that many new recruits want to be in the office with experienced mentors to help them develop and succeed in their roles. We have found running our business with a mix of remote working and in-office hot desking very successful. It is important to monitor and measure the right key performance indicators so that employees know what they need to achieve. With this in place, ‘where’ the work is completed becomes less important.

We are at the forefront of technology, with a work-from-anywhere ethos and connected Robustels in our backpacks. We embrace new technologies and help our channel partners to benefit from technology sunsetting and switch-offs.

I am not sure all companies are prioritising diversity and inclusion in their recruitment strategies but we do. We have reviewed our end-to-end process to eliminate unconscious bias and remove barriers.

Promoting company culture can attract like-minded individuals who share the same goals. A competitive package, attractive bonus schemes and the chance to grow and develop with a company are equally attractive.

Jola has over 1400 partners and runs a channel-only business. All of our growth comes from partners winning deals using our unique and differentiated solutions. Trust is a key element of our relationships with partners. MSPs need to trust that we have reliable, easy-to-manage solutions they can sell and support making healthy margins. Partners need full control of their own solutions, so having real-time fully automated portals allowing full direct control over live orders is essential. 

At Jola, we have taken our relationships to the next level. Partners trust us to identify and qualify opportunities from within their customer bases. They invite us to speak to end users to understand challenges and discuss solutions fully. We have a lot of vertical market experience which is useful for end-users who feel immediately at ease when they understand how we have solved similar problems in their industries.

Good supplier partners are open honest, trustworthy, always contactable and professional. They value every customer and always deliver what they say they will when they say they will. They go the extra mile to meet customer expectations and have case studies, testimonials, awards and NPS scores to back this up.

One of our partners was approached by a major supermarket to provide digital signage within their stores. The supermarket required a bespoke build with a completely managed solution. The digital advertising boards were for 300 stores across the UK and required 24/7 connectivity.

Due to the scale of the opportunity, our partner had to source reliable connectivity that could be rapidly deployed across the country. As well as working to a tight deadline, it was also necessary to find a solution that offered control and management of the connectivity across the different sites.

The Jola solution offered a complete connectivity package, including routers, SIMs and access to Mobile Manager®, an online management portal for ordering and managing estates of SIMs. Jola proposed 4G aggregated SIMs for un-steered, multi-network roaming connectivity with all four UK mobile networks. The SIMs are all managed within Mobile Manager®, which handles SIM and eSIM activations, ceases, suspensions, reports and bolt-ons. 

Jola recommended Intelligent 4G Routers. The routers are suitable for mobile broadband and large-scale IoT rollouts. Devices are pre-configured with the Jola App, allowing auto-configuration. As a result, there was no need for manual configuration on-site; the routers were delivered to stores, ready to install, saving valuable time and set-up costs.

To bolster security, Jola preconfigured a security measure into the devices, to prevent a third party from accessing the routers.

Retail customers are using 4G and 5G for temporary sites, for backup and in locations where fixed-line connectivity is impractical, such as for digital signage in retail stores where running cables is difficult. Multi-network SIMs are useful for multiple, geographically dispersed sites as they negate the need for costly site surveys and provide nearly 100% uptime. One supplier is easier to manage and visibility and control over all SIM assets in a single real-time mobile manager portal is essential.

Fast food restaurants are increasingly adopting self-service kiosks for in-store ordering and delivery. These kiosks require routers and data SIMs and intelligent 4G/5G routers eliminate the need for gateways and simplify setup.  These routers offer multinetwork roaming data connectivity and arrive preconfigured for easy installation.

Retailers will need to replace single PSTN lines in lifts, payment terminals and alarm lines. Often mobile broadband solutions are faster, cheaper and more practical than fixed-line connectivity solutions. Selecting the right SIM package is key and managing the data costs is essential.

Jola helps partners uncover prospects with immediate requirements for mobile data SIMs. We help develop unique solutions to existing issues, they can't buy from anyone else at a competitive price for them and margin for partners. We are channel-only so by helping resellers fill their pipeline we are filling our own and can help pitch and close big deals. We are on hand to support MSPs and their customers throughout the buying process and post-sale and can help partners use this winning proposition to target and win similar deals.

Supported by BT Wholesale and Robustel, the BT Tower was packed with Jola partners and prospects on 27^th September. Over seventy channel partners and prospects gathered to hear about the latest hardware and network innovations and how these are creating high-recurring margin opportunities for resellers and MSPs. With legacy mobile and PSTN networks being decommissioned, there is no better time for the channel to sell mobile data.

Jola was shortlisted for five awards at the Comms National Awards last Thursday night at the Park Plaza Hotel in Westminster. We won Best Partner Programme over £10m turnover and Best Partner Portal for Mobile Manager®. We also came second with Highly Commended awards for Best Wholesale Service Provider above £10m, Best Supplier Innovation award and the Diversity award.

The judges shortlisted 160 entries from over 100 suppliers and resellers including other well-known channel businesses such as BT Wholesale, Talk Talk Wholesale, Giacom and Gamma. To dominate such a prestigious field demonstrates the strength of the Jola channel proposition.

Adrian Sunderland, Jola CEO, commented, "We were delighted to do so well at the CNAs and to sponsor the Mobile IoT reseller categories. It is an amazing achievement and I would like to thank our suppliers, partners and wonderful team for their continued support and dedication. It was a fantastic evening. Vernon Kay was brilliant as was Fat Tony. A great night was had by all.”

Last Thursday night, the Jola team celebrated exceeding their first-year earn-out target benefiting all Jola employees. Every Jola employee has helped the company to achieve phenomenal growth over the last twelve months and everyone was rewarded with a life-changing bonus. The Exec team treated their other halves to private dining in the London Edition in Soho.

Since Wireless Logic bought Jola last July they have whole-heartedly got behind Jola as their channel arm, collaborating to launch new products such as Conexa Voice and allowing Jola to do what they do best, supporting channel partners.

“What we have achieved at Jola is quite incredible. We enjoy working together and collaborating with partners to win deals with unique solutions they can’t buy from anyone else. We are at the forefront of technology when it comes to products, processes and portals. We have grown our own team, who have developed with us. I would like to thank all of our staff, partners and suppliers for the support they have shown us over the last 12 months. We have another big target to achieve and look forward to celebrating again in FY24!” Adrian Sunderland, CEO.

We help find and close new opportunities

During the COVID lockdown, offices closed, and engineers were banned from installing and maintaining fixed lines and phone systems. Resellers turned to mobile data as very often the only product they could sell, Jola’s partner acquisition accelerated such that in one month alone we signed 34 new partners. The lack of opportunity in those partners’ bases was not an issue – it was finding and closing it. Those resellers that committed themselves totally to Jola gave us their customer lists to evaluate and through that partnership, we developed a unique Partner Programme and called it the MRG™. It combines both sales and marketing and works like this:

Between us we look for their best customers in the most attractive sectors i.e. those where other Jola partners have had success; where competition is weak and margins are high.

1. We evaluate the suitability of their salesforce, collateral, how they present financially, and their capabilities around billing and support.
2. Once we have selected our targets we train their best salespeople on the products and propositions appropriate for the opportunities we have identified.

Over the last 12 months, we have improved and simplified the Mobile-data Revenue Generator™(MRG™) and over 300 of our 1300 partners have gone through it. Thanks in no small part to the MRG™ we have been named by Megabuyte as the fastest-growing Telecom services company two years in a row. 

Innovative products

Our strategy is to give channel partners control of their customers’ experience and deliver well-priced, innovative products, you can’t buy from anyone else to improve their quote-to-order hit rate.

Self-serve fully automated portals

We were the first to market with a real-time automated portal to manage data SIMs We invented the concept of ‘no bill shock’, removing the fear of data overage charges, and helped over one thousand traditional resellers to pivot into mobile data. We have similar portals to manage hosted telephony, SIP and Direct Routing. We have automated quoting tools for roaming SIMs and Ethernet.

Onboarding

We run a variety of set onboarding processes depending on partner type. Some prefer more in-depth training for product, procurement and sales staff, others prefer a lighter touch and a focus on portal training. Every month we run webinars highlighting key opportunities, unique solutions and updates on the portal. Over 200 partners attended a recent webinar on PSTN replacement.

If you are looking for a reliable, wholesale partner for mobile data, consider Jola.

Most resellers and MSPs in the UK either sell or have sold mobile but comparatively, few have productised mobile data. In terms of margin and opportunity, the two couldn’t be more different, but resellers set up to bill CDRs and support traditional mobile have a head start when it comes to mobile data.

For many PSTN replacement projects, mobile data is the only viable solution. If resellers don’t establish a partnership with a mobile data aggregator soon their customers may come under attack from competitors with a full switch-off portfolio.

Jola’s strategy is simply to encourage the channel to get into mobile data by supplying differentiated products, keenly priced, delivered and managed via a world-class self-service portal. The only barrier is mindset and we overcome this through case studies, use cases, and our unique process that helps our partners find, convert and deliver large global projects.

The Mobile-Data Revenue Generator defines the way we work with the channel to qualify opportunities, capabilities and skills. We help our partners to focus on large opportunities and ultimately win large, high-margin long-term contracts.

Jola will help partners to uncover prospects with immediate requirements for mobile data SIMs. We will help develop unique solutions to existing issues, they can't buy from anyone else at a competitive price for them and margin for partners. We are channel-only so by helping resellers fill their pipeline we are filling our own and can help pitch and close big deals. We are on hand to support MSPs and their customers throughout the buying process and post-sale and can help partners use this winning proposition to target and win similar deals.

Channel partners are increasing their reach internationally and demand for numbers over multiple geographies, requiring separate SIP trunks for each country is increasing. This setup often leads to increased costs and complexity for both resellers and end-users. Jola has developed Regional Zoned SIP Channels to eliminate this problem with a fixed fee to protect monthly recurring margins.

Regional Zoned SIP Channels allow resellers to purchase two-way numbers with no per-minute inbound costs. Resellers simply buy the number of channels needed to cover multiple countries. Each zone represents a group of countries and means resellers can buy an aggregated channel for a zone in SIP Manager. Zones are stacked, so Zone 2 includes the countries of Zone 1.

Adrian Sunderland, Jola’s CTO says, “Resellers servicing multi-national businesses often need numbers to cover multiple geographies, such as well-known retailers, manufacturers and gas and oil companies. Our new proposition is available in SIP Manager, so resellers have complete control over their channels as well as their margins.”

Deloitte says diversity takes various forms in a boardroom and can be broadly categorised into skills, expertise and experience. Having the optimal mix is paramount.

At Jola, we believe diverse boardrooms are often more successful because of the way they utilise the wide range of skills and experience at their disposal and the corporate culture they have cultivated. Diversity is part of our values and positively affects how we do business. It starts with an ingrained respect for others and a desire to work together to achieve a common goal. This influences how we innovate, our marketing style and the way we help partners to find and win lucrative deals.

Hiring people from diverse backgrounds can help to foster creativity and offer a range of perspectives and ideas. Employees are more likely to feel empowered to innovate in an environment where inclusivity is a priority.

Our focus at Jola is to find the best people, who share our values and train and support them so that they grow with us. Small things like changing our hours, flexible working, work experience programmes, graduate schemes, and apprenticeship programmes have all been successful for us. We coach people on how we communicate with each other, and we don’t tolerate discrimination of any kind. We are problem solvers, so if we find the right person and they face a challenge, we work with them to overcome it.

We don’t shout about it but we do have experienced channel professionals running our business who are generous with their time and have mentored, trained and inspired many of us in the channel. Watching and learning from others is the key in my view, which you can get from great people you work with, but also from networking both inside and outside of the channel. If we keep learning and inspiring and training others to come with us in our careers, removing barriers in our way, there is nothing stopping us.