Jola Cloud Solutions' Blog

Jola recently took part in a live, streamed hosted telephony debate with two other suppliers.

The debate raised some interesting points.

Connectivity

Companies of all sizes are moving to hosted solutions, as they are more cost-effective. Concerns about reliability of internet connections has largely gone away, due to the availability of fast, reliable circuits such as FTTC and EFM.

If the government gets behind it, 5G could quickly start to take over from direct internet connections like ADSL2+, fibre broadband and Ethernet. 4G is already being used in areas of poor connectivity and there are portals available to monitor usage and reduce bill shock. 5G is a way off, but does present an opportunity for the channel and a threat to fixed-line carriers.

Choosing suppliers

There was some debate around how many current hosted voice suppliers there are in the market, however the point was made that there is a huge choice of suppliers and solutions to choose from. When you compare solutions, there are big differences, even between vendors using the same underlying technology e.g. Broadsoft. Resellers require different levels of support and companies that can infill requirements on demand, such as white label billing, support, installations and portals have an advantage.

Planning

Arguably the most important stage. Consider your objectives. Why are you exhibiting? What do you hope to achieve? How much do you have to spend? What is your expected return on investment? How does this break down into leads, conversions and predicted future revenues?

Take the time to read the exhibitors manual to understand what you can and can’t do, what’s included in your package and the early bird deadlines. It’s a good idea to start planning early.

Plan your stand for maximum impact. Are your competitors exhibiting? Have you considered your USPs and how you may compare? What do you want to promote? How are you planning to catch the attention of visitors? The answers to these questions will help you shape your key messaging.

Brand your stand to stand out for all the right reasons. Plan meeting areas and think about how visitor data will be collected. Are you bringing your own equipment or do you need to hire any? Do you have any storage on the stand and is it lockable?

Once you have designed your stand and ordered equipment and materials, book hotels.

Office UC is an application which allows you to make voice and video calls over the JolaPhone network via a softphone which is available to download on a PC, phone or tablet.  It comes as standard as part of Jola Premium Broadsoft hosted telephony bundles.

What is UC Team?

UC Team is an option which also includes conference calls and the ability to share your desktop for collaborative working.

How do I make and receive calls?

Calls are made and received via the application, as if you were sat at your desk using your handset. You have the option to call from the app, call from your IP phone or video call. You can easily access your voicemail from the dial pad too. You can mute callers and adjust the volume of the call, transfer calls, put callers on hold and show or hide video.

How do I manage calls?

Answer or decline calls by clicking the green or red buttons. If contacts are already in the directory you can see who is calling before you answer without having to recognise the number. Call waiting allows you to put one call on hold and answer another call. Calls can be transferred blind or attended if you need to brief a colleague before transferring a call. Call Move can be used where users have Shared Call Appearance or Call Director where active calls on a desk phone can be transferred seamlessly to a smartphone via the Call Pull button.

1 – What marketing support is available?

Our marketing support is tailored to meet the specific needs of each partner. Some partners are happy to download content from the portal for their website, flyers, adverts, e-casts and newsletters. Other partners ask for help tailoring the content to meet the needs of their audience. Partners with specific objectives request more detailed advice. With these partners, we arrange conference calls to understand business objectives and discuss marketing plans.  We follow up with ideas and work with partners to generate and close first opportunities.

2 – Can you provide feedback on materials in production?

Yes, the Jola marketing department will review materials and send feedback to help customise content as required. We approve the use of all Jola branding and are happy to provide advice on partner branded materials, such as proposals and campaigns.

As the deadline for GDPR approaches, what do we need to know and what action should we be taking?

What is GDPR?

General Data Protection Regulations that come into force in the UK on 25^th May 2018. Currently, the UK relies on the Data Protection Act 1998, but this will be superseded by the new legislation. It introduces tougher fines for non-compliance and breaches and gives people more say over what companies can do with their data.

Who does GDPR apply to?

‘Controllers’ and ‘processors’. The controller says how and why personal data is processed and the processor acts on the controller’s behalf. Essentially any UK business that controls or processes personal data. Controllers must ensure personal data is processed lawfully, transparently and for a specific purpose. Once that purpose is fulfilled and the data is no longer required, it should be deleted.

How do I get consent under the GDPR?

Consent must be an active, affirmative action by the data subject, rather than the passive acceptance under some current models that allow for pre-ticked boxes or opt-outs.

Controllers must keep a record of how and when an individual gave consent and that individual may withdraw their consent whenever they want. If your current model for obtaining consent doesn't meet these new rules, you will have to bring it up to scratch or stop collecting data under that model when the GDPR applies in 2018.

Video is playing a bigger part in digital marketing strategies, so how can it be used effectively without breaking the bank?

Video doesn’t have to be expensive

There is software available you can rent, to create your own content from templates and there are companies who will help you to create short branded videos from their own content libraries, with voice over for as little as £100.

Equally marketers are filming and editing content on their iPhones, capturing key messages and creating step by step guides, which are being uploaded to YouTube channels and shared via social media.

What does video add to the mix?

Video is a great way to put a face to the company and reflect your brand values. If your brand is built on trust, expertise and personal service, video clips demonstrating problem solving can be highly effective.

Videos are great ways of attracting attention and drawing crowds especially at trade events. Facebook Live clips promoting product launches and offers can generate new leads.

What do you measure as a business? What measures are important to you?

Most businesses will track revenue, profit, margin and cash in the bank and some go further and measure Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), linked to overall business objectives. These companies tend to measure company-wide, departmental and individual KPIs such as ticket response times, call answer times as well as order lead times. Each KPI paints a picture and together they provide a dashboard to quickly identify areas of success and often more importantly areas to be improved.

For example, in marketing, there is a lot to measure, monthly unique web visitors, Twitter followers, retweets, LinkedIn connections, likes and shares etc. which give us an indication of who has seen our content and how they responded. However, without more detailed analysis of how the engagement relates to leads, conversions, ARPU and ROI, we can’t really draw conclusions.

The same can be said for response rates. Tickets and calls may be answered quickly, but without linking this information to cost, customers, cases and suppliers we don’t see the full picture and may not be able to identify key underlying issues holding back the business. Conversely, companies that try and measure everything end up with a very busy dashboard making it hard for departments to understand their priorities.

Demand

According to a recent report by Zion Research, hosted voice services are set to grow rapidly over the next few years, reaching £112 billion globally by 2021. Demand from the SME market is growing and they are turning to trusted IT and telephony suppliers for help.

Technology

The cost of dedicated, private circuits for connecting businesses securely to the Internet has reduced dramatically. SMEs no longer have to rely on broadband with best-efforts fix times, fast fibre broadband is widely available and secure, reliable circuits with dedicated bandwidth are available for less than £200 a month in some areas.

Hosted telephony solutions are feature-rich with auto attendant, busy lamp fields, Office UC, Skype for Business plug-ins, Go Integrator, shared call appearance hunt groups, hot-desking and music on hold as standard at the fraction of the cost of managing legacy systems.

Cost savings

Budgets are tight for many businesses so when phone systems come out of contract the ability to pay per seat per month for a hosted solution that includes calls and does not require hardware costs upfront or ongoing maintenance costs is very attractive, especially when supported by their existing supplier.

According to a recent report by Megabuyte.com, BT, Talk Talk and Virgin Media are being outperformed by much smaller channel suppliers who are reporting healthy growth, with profits and share prices on the up.

Some of the larger providers were affected by accounting errrors and overseas pressures and the channel saw high levels of growth from hosted voice and mobile. Of course channel suppliers still buy from carrier wholesale divisions, but continue to win business from their direct sales teams by collaborating with their partners.

What are they doing differently?

Growing with partners

Channel-focussed suppliers are becoming smarter in helping their partners find and close business, growing average revenue per customer and building new margin streams. Resellers do not see them as a threat and so are relaxed about letting them help directly with customers and with lead generation campaigns.

Multi-carrier portals

Channel suppliers have built relationships with all the major networks and suppliers giving partners more choice for their customers. Partners can quote and order internet connectivity with hosted voice seats, handsets and extras as well as mobile SIMs within a single platform. Hosted voice and mobile services have their own management portals, so resellers can provision and make changes giving them the control they need to support their clients. SMEs are not restricted to just one carrier and benefit from the personalised service they are getting from their trusted supplier - supported by their channel supplier.

Competitive offerings

Channel suppliers have crafted competitive bundles, packaging market-leading hardware and software, designed to suit every pocket with clearly defined USPs. They have added service wraps such as training, white label pre-sales support, white label technical support, billing and collateral to enhance partner offerings.

Demand for mobile solutions is escalating and more and more partners are asking about JolaMobile. We put together a blog answering your top 5 questions.

What types of JolaMobile SIM cards are there?

In terms of SIM-size, we offer all the usual SIMs including nano, micro and standard. We offer a range of voice and data SIMs or data-only SIMs as well as multi-network roaming SIMs that pick up the best network available and are designed to be used outside the UK.

Can I have static IPs?

They are coming soon. We are currently trialling static IP SIMs on Vodafone with other networks to follow.

What are managed SIM cards, APIs and CDRs?

API stands for Application Programming Interface and is a set of commands, functions, protocols and objects that programmers can use to create software or interact with an external system. It is a short cut so developers don’t have to start writing code from scratch integrating external systems.

CDRs are Call Detail Records, also known as Call Data Records, which are used to rate and bill calls.