Jola Cloud Solutions' Blog

Demand for Machine to Machine (M2M) SIMs is growing. Channel partners are building a pipeline of big deals in key vertical markets, generating high-margin recurring revenue.

Transport

The driving experience is being revolutionised. Apps and services are giving drivers everything from in-vehicle Wi-Fi and incredible entertainment, all the way through to faster, more insightful diagnostics and maintenance.

Utilities

Businesses are managing their energy flows through smart energy grids and smart meters, allowing for more accurate bills. There is a focus on improving energy efficiency and resolving outages more effectively, with remote site monitoring.

Health

Smart devices offer important patient benefits, like connected ambulances. Ambulance crews have access to high-bandwidth internet capabilities, and tablets holding patient records. This means that information can be sent to hospitals in real-time.

Security

Commercial security is getting smarter. CCTV and alarms can be monitored securely and footage can be stored remotely.

There are around 200,000 charities in the UK, employing nearly a million people. This sector has been a conundrum for the IT channel because, whilst there are opportunities for professional service fees, ongoing revenue and margin are depressed by heavily discounted licenses and low commission rates.

For example, Microsoft’s E1 license is free up to 2000 users and E3 is only £4 a month. To add Phone System to either of these is only £2.40 but at £9.10 pcm (and no reseller commission), resellers and their customers have been put off by Microsoft’s Calling Plan (needed to make and receive calls outside the Teams environment).

Now resellers of Jola’s Direct Routing call plan for Teams can offer their non-profit customers the full suite of Office products, including Exchange, Teams, Phone System, and Unlimited UK calls at a competitive price.

Not only will the customer save on the rental of a traditional/hosted phone system, they will also no longer need telephone lines or ISDN.

Retailers want fast, reliable, cost-effective internet connectivity in stores for EPOS till systems, kiosks, advertising screens, WiFi etc. They often use 4G as a back-up to a fixed line primary circuit, to ensure business continuity.

MSPs want to win retail bids for European technology roll outs. 4G is often a small element of the bid, but can cause Project Managers headaches, when dealing with multiple in-country suppliers, manual ordering and no visibility of data usage. They want full control over every element of the roll out.

The opportunity

4G devices that roam in the EU, such as 4G WiFi routers in yachts, need to connect to the strongest 4G signal available. According to recent European Boating Industry statistics, there are over six million recreational craft in EU waters at any one time.

Devices that always need connectivity, such as monitoring devices inside containers, need SIMs which provide users with good connectivity, wherever they roam. There are over 20 million shipping containers worldwide.

PPG

Pay-Per-GB SIMs are un-steered, so have no preferred network, and connect to the strongest 4G signal available. These SIMs connect to multiple mobile networks in many EU countries. Resellers only pay the standard per GB price for additional roaming data, above the monthly allowance.

PPG SIMs offer resellers and their customers a much more flexible and predictable cost when roaming in the EU. Even if the primary and secondary network fail, a multi-network SIM will continue to operate seamlessly.

It’s challenging to set a price for roaming SIMs. Resellers need to know which countries the SIMs will roam to and how much monthly data they will need. Some countries are more expensive than others to roam in, for example UAE and Andorra. Sales people can’t always be sure how much data will be used in each country and how often SIMs will roam in more expensive countries. They run the risk of choosing a package that includes countries which SIMs will never roam in, pushing up the price.

To solve this problem Jola has launched an M2M Roaming Tariff Tool. It was designed for Jola partners to make it quicker and easier to find the right SIM tariff. Tariff Tool provides resellers with a range of options on a variety of data allowances across hundreds of countries and networks.

There are two types of partners that sign up with Jola for mobile broadband SIMs. The first already has an opportunity and needs a supplier to help fulfil the 4G element, the second is enthusiastic about growing a new recurring revenue stream.

Experienced Partners

Partners with existing opportunities often have strong relationships with their clients. Although they may not already offer mobile broadband, they are trusted advisors and capable of sourcing the elements they need to build and roll out solutions. These partners are looking for a solution to a data problem. They need a partner to quickly understand the problem, pose a cost-effective solution and help them to win their bid. This often involves pre-sales and product development, to create a tailored solution to displace an incumbent.

New Partners

New partners selling mobile for the first time want to understand the products, and pricing, but more importantly the opportunity. Partners with a large connectivity base, often start by offering 4G back-up solutions and temporary Ethernet solutions. Many can already see how the product would meet the needs of their audience and package it accordingly.

In retail and construction specialists are offering 4G internet connectivity, hosted telephony, IP-CCTV and IP-PTT radios on short-term contracts for events and site offices.

Successful partners produce case studies and reference sites to help to build a pipeline of similar opportunities.

M2M/IoT covers a broad spectrum: from low-usage data SIMs in monitoring devices, to high usage data SIMs in 4G routers.

For many resellers, low usage, low management IoT opportunities are problematic because they require specialist devices, support and management software. Higher usage mobile data opportunities can be more complex, however can also be very lucrative, easier to win and easier to support. These opportunities include solutions such as mobile broadband and Private 4G.

Mobile Broadband

Mobile broadband is an element of most tenders these days, either for remote workers, as a back-up, or as a primary solution where fixed line is unsuitable. Resellers submitting compelling bids ensure their suppliers offer; all the MNOs; online asset control; and a suite of products to enable them to build bespoke solutions.

Private 4G

For customers wanting additional security on 4G devices, fixed IP SIMs are available, but can be very expensive. Private APNs are available from the carriers but do not give the reseller control over their assets. Jola is the first channel mobile supplier to launch self-serve, Private APNs. The products address security concerns by avoiding the public internet and offering a secure, remote access platform that lets resellers seamlessly extend their existing IT security controls to their end users’ mobile workforce, wherever they are.

In areas where fixed line connectivity is not available or fast enough, 4G may be an option. It is often cheaper and faster to install than satellite or external wireless solutions and is available on short term contracts.

JolaMobile

Resellers focussed on vertical markets, such as retail and construction, are offering bespoke mobile broadband solutions for pop up retailers and construction sites. They package rugged 4G routers with bespoke JolaMobile data packages with up to 500GB monthly data allowance.

End-users benefit from plug-and-play solutions, often live and working on-site, within 24 hours. Jola partners benefit from healthy recurring revenues and the ability to monitor data usage and prevent bill shock before it happens by adding back-dateable bolt-ons, sharing data across sites or having buffer pools in place.

JolaNet 4G is Jola’s managed 4G router with an integrated data SIM on Vodafone, O2, EE, Three, Fixed IP or multi-network. The solution is managed by Mobile Manager, where partners have complete control to view real-time data usage, set-up alerts, apply SIM-swaps, add bolt-ons and bar SIMs. Using Mobile Manager, they can maximise margins and completely eliminate overage charges.

With JolaNet 4G, resellers send a pre-configured router to their customers, which works out-of-the-box, doesn’t need cabling or a land-line and can be monitored in real-time.

Mobile Manager is Jola’s unique mobile data management platform. It is multi-carrier and has the ability to eliminate bill shock for end users.

Mobile Manager is used by MSPs and resellers to order and manage mobile data SIMs. The 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 handles SIM activations, ceases, suspensions, reports, alerts and bolt-ons. It also allows you to create and manage data pools and Private APNs.

Why was Mobile Manager developed?

It was designed to help channel partners grow profitable revenue streams from SIM-only solutions. Our partners win opportunities for DSL and Ethernet 4G back-up, fixed line replacement, IoT and M2M projects as well as SIM base moves from large corporates. Resellers can brand and package their own 4G data solutions for multiple devices all over the world.

How does it manage overages?

Mobile Manager solves the problem of bill shock from data overages by allowing partners to track usage and add bolt-ons to help eliminate overage charges completely. This is the exact opposite of what the market typically does. Carriers earn super-profits from overage charges and the channel loses customers because of it. We are the first company in the channel to challenge this and put the resellers and their customers first.

Can it support multiple networks?

Yes. For applications where it is critical to have a strong 4G internet connection at all times, businesses are opting for un-steered multi-network roaming SIMs. These SIM cards have no preferred network, therefore always connect to the strongest 4G signal.

We offer a range of multi-network and roaming options. 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.

Pooled Data

Pooled data is the ability to have 4G data shared across more than one associated SIM card. Pooled data plans allow unused data from low users to be gifted to high users, to help negate overage charges.

What types of pools are available?

Fixed pools are available for resellers who know how much data they need for their customer. Their monthly data usage is predictable, and the customer wants to pay for an amount of data each month, which can be shared across multiple users.

Aggregated pools are available for resellers whose customer’s SIM estates are growing or shrinking. The pool increases or decreases every time a data SIM is added or removed.

Buffer pools are available to help negate overage charges at an account and network level. Resellers need to buy separate buffer pools for each carrier network; however, they can use the buffer to negate any overage charge from that carrier in their estate. It reduces the data overage cost significantly.

Jola

Jola is the leading supplier of mobile data SIMs to the channel. We are the ‘anti-bill shock’ company and introduced a white label management SIM portal called Mobile Manager, to help the channel control data usage and eliminate bill shock.

Our partners win more 4G data opportunities, by analysing customer data usage and proposing competitive and flexible solutions. Resellers can set up data pools themselves, assign or remove SIMs from pools, and protect customers from high data overage costs, using alerts and Buffer Pools.