Jola Cloud Solutions' Blog

Cherie Howlett

Cherie has over 15 years’ experience in IT marketing and was promoted to Head of Marketing for MDNX post purchase of Griffin. She was Marketing Manager for 5 years and Head of Marketing for Griffin for 2 years setting up a marketing department and strategy for connectivity, data networks and cloud-hosted solutions. During her time at Griffin, the company won 7 Channel ISP of the year awards, 5 Sunday Times Tech Track 100 awards, 2 Deloitte Fast 500 EMEA awards, 1 Deloitte Fast 50 award and 1 Channel Expo award. Cherie built brand awareness in the channel from 0% to 95% using an integrated strategy consisting of online, print, electronic and face to face marketing. Cherie had previously spent 2 years in a Marketing Manager’s role at Pipemedia before it sold to Business Serve in 2006. At Pipemedia she built a VoIP brand called PipeCall using a combination of PR, direct marketing and an online ordering and provisioning portal with plug and play hardware and electronic point of sale units. Cherie’s early career was in International Marketing working for software house AceCad Software and IBM in the European sales division.

Recent Posts

Jola ‘s NPS score rises 7 to 63

Posted by Cherie Howlett on 24-May-2023 19:32:45

In a recent partner satisfaction survey, Jola scored a Net Promoter Score of 63, which categorises the company as ‘great’, with 43% of Jola partners giving them 10/10 and 93% scoring them 7 or higher. In the comments section, Jola partners praised Jola products, pricing, portals and people.

Andrew Dickinson, Jola CEO, commented, ‘I am delighted with our NPS. We now have over 1300 resellers and MSPs choosing Jola as their mobile data and intelligent connectivity partner. Our relentless product development continues with a long list of new products designed to help partners differentiate their offerings and win bigger deals. We have a fully redundant highly scalable IP edge network with DDoS protection from Cloudflare, and we continue to grow and invest in people, products, platforms and processes. We have a fantastic team here at Jola who are dedicated to supporting our growing partner base and it was great to see so many of them named in the survey by partners.”

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Topics: Jola Cloud Solutions Ltd

Mobile Data Opportunities in Construction

Posted by Cherie Howlett on 10-May-2023 14:18:56

Mobile data opportunities in construction are plentiful, as companies look to improve their waste management, reduce their construction costs and improve employee safety.

All construction sites need temporary telephony and WiFi for site offices. Jola partners operating in construction are also providing mobile data solutions for tracking and monitoring equipment and for security solutions such as IP CCTV cameras and alarm systems to help construction sites improve security and reduce costs.

Tool Handling

On a construction site, an array of tools are used by trained operatives to complete jobs at each stage of the project. Cranes, for example, need to be fitted with data loggers to record key operational parameters so lifting operations can be reviewed and monitored.

Equipment Monitoring

Asset-tracking devices can now be glued to almost any construction tool. Bluetooth technology combined with an app on a smartphone allows for a near-real-time tracking of location. It also records where the device was last seen should it go missing. 

Worker Safety

Push-to-talk radios, monitoring and recording devices all help improve communications and support safe systems of work.

Site Monitoring

Construction sites are often targeted by criminals so tracking assets and investing in CCTV is a must for sites however long they are operational.

Challenges

One of the biggest challenges construction companies face is managing their IT requirements in multiple sites on short-term contracts. Channel partners can help by offering short-term contracts and devices on a DaaS model with no upfront costs. SIMs can be carefully monitored in Mobile Manager and pooled data allows usage to be shared. Companies like Jola are helping partners operating in vertical markets such as construction and manufacturing, to understand the needs of their end-users and provide case studies of similar solutions used with excellent pricing to help win the deals.

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Topics: mobile data

Mobile data needs in the service industry

Posted by Cherie Howlett on 03-May-2023 10:29:11

Mobile data is helping businesses innovate within the service and maintenance industry. Jola partners offer solutions using smart devices and multi-network roaming SIMs to help them service vehicle fleets. It is much more accurate and efficient than engineers completing manual paperwork and office staff retyping this information into relevant systems. Private APNs are used to ensure secure data transfer.


Jola resellers help property owners and developers to monitor carbon levels. They have created solutions to monitor energy consumption across many different devices within the home. Their devices need 4G to report usage information and for general maintenance of the equipment.

We support resellers working on predictive maintenance within commercial ovens. The devices monitor the health of the ovens, predicting in advance, when the ovens will need to be serviced.

Jola MSPs offer managed solutions on a pay-per-month basis. SIMs are being used in smart sensors to measure air quality, as well as in smart fire and burglar alarms. Smart routers that are pre-configured and arrive plug-and-play help reduce installation costs and multi-network SIMs negate the need for engineer visits.

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Topics: mobile data, M2M

Mobile data and IoT opportunities in the Channel

Posted by Cherie Howlett on 26-Apr-2023 18:08:47

With technologies being switched off (PSTN, ISDN, 3G) and the current economic climate, demand for cost-effective, managed mobile data solutions from the Channel, has never been so high.

Hotels and care homes are replacing single phone lines with managed 4G solutions and other single PSTN applications like lifts, alarm lines and door entry systems are following suit. There is a need for secure pre-configured 4G routers for digital signage, temporary WiFi for construction sites and fixed IP SIMs for CCTV cameras. Multi-Net SIMs are required for ANPR cameras, wearables and tracking devices. 3G SIMs in thousands of devices from fixed line backup to street signs need to be replaced.

The list goes on, and the opportunity for the channel is massive. The challenge is finding the opportunities each partner can win and to do this Jola has come up with a unique process called The Mobile-Data Revenue Generator™.

Jola is helping channel partners uncover prospects with immediate requirements for mobile data SIMs. We help develop unique solutions that partners can't buy from anyone else, at a competitive price and healthy margin. We are channel-only so partners can trust us to help them pitch and close deals. We are on hand to support partners and their customers throughout the buying process and we can help create winning propositions, producing large, high-margin long-term contracts.

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Topics: IoT, M2M

Jola turns 9

Posted by Cherie Howlett on 20-Apr-2023 18:06:21

Jola celebrates its 9th birthday in April 2023, after its best-ever financial performance and in a year when it became the channel arm of Wireless Logic.

Jola has increased its partner base to over 1300 and continued its relentless product development, with a string of new products designed to help Jola partners differentiate their offerings and win major deals from the mobile networks direct. The Mobile Data Revenue Generator™ has been successful in helping partners to identify and win new business, increasing Average Revenue per Customer and reducing churn.

The channel has always thrived on technological change and compelling events like the 2025 PSTN switch-off is significant. To help partners capitalise on this, Jola developed a PSTN Replacement Toolkit which offers partners everything they need to replace PSTN lines with 4G/5G solutions. Combined with their Device as a Service proposition Jola partners do not need to pay any upfront costs and benefit from hardware replacement and upgrade options.

Andrew Dickinson, CEO of Jola commented, “In 2022 we closed the books on our eighth full year and were acquired by Wireless Logic. We continue to grow and invest in people, products, platforms and processes. We have a talented team here at Jola who are dedicated to supporting our growing partner base. It is great to see so many Jola partners building profitable revenue streams from our unique mobile data solutions.”

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Topics: Business

All mobile data management portals are not the same

Posted by Cherie Howlett on 22-Mar-2023 11:46:57

With demand for 4G and 5G data at an all-time high, resellers and MSPs need a way to manage global SIM estates in one portal. Jola’s Mobile Manager® gives resellers full control in real-time. Resellers using the portal are able to monitor data usage and add bolt-ons to avoid monthly data overage charges. Mobile Manager® allows partners to order and manage voice and data SIMs, data-only SIMs, mobile broadband SIMs, M2M and IoT data SIMs and pre-configured hardware.

Mobile data revenues are growing rapidly, with high demand for smart devices, such as digital signage, CCTV and tracking and monitoring. Jola has partners deploying pre-configured, intelligent 4G/5G connectivity for projects globally, negating the need for site surveys and manual configuration. Mobile Manager® allows our partners to monitor and manage each SIM in one easy portal. One of our partners showed us a tender they were working on recently and one of the questions was,

“Do you have your own real-time SIM management portal or are you providing third-party access to the Networks’ portals?”

The project was for thousands of SIMs in physical security devices. 2.5 years into a 36-month term, the incumbent had not been invited to tender. For redundancy, every device had two SIMs, one unlimited and one multi-network. The end user had found having to log on to two completely different websites exasperating. They had different features, and different CDR formats and not all the processes were automated, creating delays, especially out of hours. If that’s the experience of the end user, imagine the frustration of MSPs who want to sell all the networks to multiple end users.

Most suppliers will say they have a self-service portal but if they don’t have their own they are putting their partners at a significant disadvantage. How many of these portals are fully automated? Is data available in real time? Can intelligent devices be ordered and managed on the portal? How many people use the portal on a daily basis? How fast is it?

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Topics: Mobile Manager;

Mobile data and IoT opportunities in The Channel

Posted by Cherie Howlett on 22-Mar-2023 11:24:30

With technologies being switched off (PSTN, ISDN, 3G) and the current economic climate, demand for cost-effective, managed mobile data solutions from the Channel, has never been so high.

Hotels and care homes are replacing single phone lines with managed 4G solutions and other single PSTN applications like lifts, alarm lines and door entry systems are following suit. There is a need for secure pre-configured 4G routers for digital signage, temporary WiFi for construction sites and fixed IP SIMs for CCTV cameras. Multi-Net SIMs are required for ANPR cameras, wearables and tracking devices. 3G SIMs in thousands of devices from fixed line backup to street signs need to be replaced.

The list goes on, and the opportunity for the channel is massive. The challenge is finding the opportunities each partner can win and to do this Jola has come up with a unique process called The Mobile Data Revenue Generator™.

Jola is helping channel partners uncover prospects with immediate requirements for mobile data SIMs. We help develop unique solutions that partners can't buy from anyone else, at a competitive price and healthy margin. We are channel-only so partners can trust us to help them pitch and close deals. We are on hand to support partners and their customers throughout the buying process and we can help create winning propositions, producing large, high-margin long-term contracts.

Read More

Topics: IoT, M2M, PSTN Replacement

The Cost of Living Crisis and the impact on the channel

Posted by Cherie Howlett on 01-Mar-2023 14:58:15

The cost-of-living crisis is having an impact. Employees are worried about putting on their heating when working from home, and the rising costs of fuel travelling to the office. Many businesses are worried about how they will carry on with much higher energy bills. 

However, in a crisis, there is also opportunity. The opportunity for employers to react to challenges faced by employees by offering cycle-to-work schemes and cost-of-living bonuses. 

Demand for products such as mobile data is increasing as companies look to implement technology as a way of cutting costs. For example, councils are implementing smart street lighting and smart bin collections. 

Demand for smart meters is high, which creates mobile data opportunities for trusted channel partners to provide and manage. As companies look to cut costs, smart device-as-a-service solutions become more attractive with no upfront hardware costs and the ability to upgrade or switch devices as required. 

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Topics: 4G

Apprenticeships

Posted by Cherie Howlett on 15-Feb-2023 11:01:09

Jola has run a successful apprenticeship scheme for many years, allowing us to educate our new recruits on the needs of Jola partners and our unique products. Our team enjoy introducing new people to the channel, with a passion for customer service and developing their skills and experience.

At Jola, we look to match new roles to available courses in each department. We work with a specialist agency that helps us to recruit the right candidates for our roles and supports our apprentices to complete their training courses. The blend of obtaining educational qualifications at the same time as learning on the job works well for us.

Jola has worked with three different apprenticeship training providers over the years. Each one has offered end-to-end support from recruitment, and training through to successful course completion.  Courses are made accessible using a mix of online and face-to-face tutoring as well as on-the-job training and projects.

The courses provide an understanding of important concepts, which our apprentices use and incorporate into our business. The apprenticeship schemes help the whole company to evolve in a positive way.

Jola has been fortunate to retain most apprentices beyond their programme. A successful Technical Support apprentice went on to be employed by Jola as a Network Engineer, further developing their skills.

One of our school leavers successfully qualified at level 4 of the scheme. They are now the go-to person for all our current apprentices, assisting with project work.

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Topics: Jola Cloud Solutions Ltd

Jola launches CloudNumber App

Posted by Cherie Howlett on 08-Feb-2023 10:43:10

Telephone lines as we know them will not exist in a few years’ time and millions of end users will need to decide what to do with their existing phone numbers. Jola has come up with a free white-label application that resellers can use with their customers to forward calls from landlines to mobiles or to add landline numbers to mobile data SIMs.

Jola operates both a mobile data network and a SIP network and has developed an innovative application that partners can re-brand. CloudNumber is available to download free from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. Instead of having to use an analogue phone or Analogue Telephone Adapter (ATA), CloudNumber allows users to connect to Jola’s PSTN replacement services via their mobile phone. Experts in number porting, Jola can facilitate the porting of both landline and mobile numbers. Jola partners have the choice of ordering new numbers or easily porting customers’ landline numbers, who can carry on making and receiving calls, without the need for any additional hardware.

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Topics: PSTN Replacement

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