Jola Cloud Solutions' Blog

When starting a new business venture, it is useful to consider your exit strategy, especially when building a business to sell. Many of our partners started their business with a view to sell it for a life-changing amount, in an agreed timeframe. By considering the types of business that are attractive to buyers, you are more likely to build a business that sells.

There are many qualities a potential buyer looks for in a business for sale such as;

• A good spread of longstanding customers. Businesses with one large customer that makes up most of the revenue are riskier investments.

• Loyal customers that order on a predictable and frequent cycle. Recurring revenue streams from a wide range of customers, on predictable contracts, with high margins are attractive.

• Good quality financial information, showing which customers and products are profitable. Market data demonstrating future opportunities can also help.

• A simple ownership structure is attractive. No one wants to deal with difficult shareholders with very different needs.

• A flexible property position such as short leases are attractive. Requirements to sell a freehold property along with the business can complicate deals and put off potential investors.

• A clean history of tax and regulatory compliance, if the seller wants to maximise entrepreneurs’ relief by selling shares.

Growing a business is hard. Finding your niche, winning new business and retaining customers isn’t easy. Trust between you and your customers takes time to build and is easily lost. The same applies to suppliers. There are many ways to build and maintain trust. It starts with your employees and extends to your customers. The 5Cs summarises good practice as follows;

Commitment

A committed business is loyal to the cause, the vision, and the customers they supply. They are companies who persevere despite setbacks. When account managers are committed, they can build the trust of their customers by staying present, engaged, and positive. Commitment is the number one thing a business can demonstrate to build trust.

Connection

A trustworthy business is well-connected to customers who rely on them. They don’t get bogged down in the day-to-day and forget the needs of their customers. Account managers are always contactable and visible, never distant or detached. They take time to get to know their customers in a meaningful way. This helps customers to see businesses as people who care about their requirements and who value the relationship.

Compassion

A trustworthy company takes time to understand the needs of their customers, their requirements and concerns and responds in a meaningful way, each and every time. If a service goes down businesses take positive action to update customers and let them know when services will be restored.

Consistency

By being consistent across your business your customers know what to expect from you, which helps to build trusted relationships. By trusting you, customers are much more likely to share their issues with you and allow you to help them solve them. Being calm, collected and professional under fire is important, as well as reacting in a consistent and timely manner.

Most companies draft a business plan outlining the course of a business over a lifespan and share it with investors or the bank. Fewer than you would think regularly revisit the document to assess growth against target.

A good strategy document, regularly reviewed, can help to document latest market information and outline current opportunities. A good plan reveals how investment would be used and the expected returns.

It is a great document to review annually to see where you are, where you want to be and how you plan to get there. Were key targets met and business priorities achieved?

By adopting a continuous and regular business planning cycle, which keeps the plan up to date you can maximise your chances of success.

If you regularly assess your performance against the plans and targets you have set, you are more likely to meet your objectives. It can also signpost where and why you're going astray.

The assessment will also help you in discussions with banks, investors and even potential buyers of your business. Regular review is a good vehicle for showing direction and commitment to employees, customers and suppliers.

I received an email from a reseller recently who said, “I have no interest in selling mobile. It’s competitive, it’s risky and I have been burnt before, however I would like to know about your no bill shock guarantee."

Sound familiar? There are many resellers that see the exponential rise in mobile data usage as a double-edged sword. Data SIMs are quick and easy to order and get live and a fantastic high-margin recurring revenue stream. However, historically the process has been manual and they have had little control and no in-life management tools. Jola has solved this problem with Mobile Manager and our partners are finding new opportunities for 4G.

Slow fixed line connectivity replacement

According to a recent report by Ofcom, 90% of all UK premises (almost 26 million) can access up to 24Mb/s fixed line broadband, however there are at least 190,000 premises that can’t get 2Mb/s and 2.2 million premises that can’t get 10Mb/s. Where the LTE signal is strong, 4G data is a great solution.

Temporary connectivity

Leased lines have traditionally long lead times, so what do you do for internet connectivity whilst you are waiting? 4G can provide a fast, reliable, temporary solution.

By attending a partner training day, you get the chance to visit your supplier, meet the team and learn more about current opportunities. They are a great place to network with other like-minded business owners focussed on growing their businesses and overcoming common challenges.

Jola Partner Days

Jola runs partner days every quarter at their head office in Stapleford, Nottinghamshire. Some partners fly in, others travel up the night before and stay in hotels to attend our events. They come to hear about new products and portals but more importantly, they come to see how we can help them grow their business.

The Content

Our training day is divided into two sections. In the morning we take delegates through our product set, highlighting current opportunities, explaining how our solutions win bids over alternatives. In our mobile section, we demonstrate Mobile Manager and the innovative way we manage data and eliminate bill shock. In the afternoon we focus on the JolaPhone management portal, sharing our tips and experience of solving common provisioning and support issues.  

Growing a business is challenging. You need an innovative solution, a profitable edge and the right people to bring it to market. A good marketing strategy will fuel growth by; engaging the target audience, generating qualified leads and helping sales to cross-sell and reduce churn.

How do you boost visibility and increase sales, whilst retaining your margins?

Taking time out from the business to think about the basic mechanics which will bring in the right leads, at the right cost at the right conversion rate is critical. Without an effective sales funnel, reaching growth targets will be challenging, finding the time and the money to plan for growth is equally challenging.

Spend money to make money?

The first strategy to mind is often advertising. Who are my prospects? What do they read? Where do they go? We will advertise there. Advertising can be very effective over period of time, supported by additional campaigns such as PR, DM etc. however can also be costly.

According to McKinsey, revenues from mobile data are set to increase dramatically in the next 7 years. Factors driving growth are the availability, speed and reliability of 4G, the trend of embedding data SIM cards into devices and the availability of cost-effective SIM-only packages. Resellers can now buy 200GB data SIMs for as little as £60 per month on a 12-month contract.

UK SMEs are turning to their trusted IT and telecommunications suppliers for help sourcing mobile data SIMs. Management and control of data is becoming increasingly critical to avoid bill shock across growing estates.

Jola is one of the channel’s fastest growing mobile data providers. The company is experienced in developing and managing portals for the channel and was the first to launch an innovative data management portal called Mobile Manager.

What is 5G?

5G is a next-generation wireless network, which will provide speeds up to ten times faster than 4G, with ultra-low latency. 5G is predicted to be commercially available by 2020, with many companies preparing to benefit from its capabilities. Some are predicting that 5G will become the backbone of digital society.

The channel

The channel will no doubt be at the forefront of adoption, putting pressure on suppliers to create white-label offerings, which are easy to package, sell and support with excellent management portals.

The opportunity

5G as a replacement for 4G, fixed line and satellite solutions and 5G powered IoT, presents a number of opportunities for the channel. It also raises some challenges. How can we monitor and manage such volumes of data, in a variety of formats from so many different sources? Can data be imported, processed and analysed in real-time?

The Government has made a commitment to help everyone in the UK access a basic broadband service. A subsidised broadband installation is now available if a location cannot access an affordable 2Mb/s solution.

Businesses first need to check they cannot access superfast broadband (speeds of more than 24Mb/s) on this website: www.gov.uk/gosuperfast. They then to check speeds at their location by visiting this website: www.dslchecker.bt.com.

If there are no plans to bring superfast broadband to the business location within the next 6 to 12 months and the current speed is confirmed as less than 2Mb/s, you are eligible for a grant from the Government to access an affordable broadband service. People looking for a cost-effective alternative to satellite often consider 4G and the scheme provides a contribution towards the equipment and installation of a 4G data connection.

For applications where it is critical to have a strong internet connection on the move, businesses choose multi-network roaming SIMs. These SIM cards have no preferred network, therefore always connect to the strongest 4G signal whether at home or abroad. They offer exceptional reliability and coverage but until recently have been difficult to manage and expensive to buy.

Is there such a thing as affordable, easy-to-manage multi-network roaming SIMs?

Yes, there are companies in the UK developing innovative products to address the individual needs of a wide range of industries across the public and private sector. Multi-network roaming SIMs are being used for anything from WiFi hotspots on trains and buses to recording and GPS tracking devices for haulage firms.