Jola Cloud Solutions' Blog

1 – Not employing the right people

However, you decide to recruit, putting the time in to plan the type of person you need and their potential career path is worth it. The cost of hiring the wrong person and then needing to recruit again is not just one of time and money.

Hiring a team with a different skill set to yours is invaluable as it allows you to delegate tasks outside of your unique abilities, to keep you focussed on driving growth. Allowing your team to progress their career within your business and rewarding staff with bonuses also helps to retain focus on shared goals.

2 – Not effectively managing cash flow

Growing a business and managing a cash flow go hand in hand. Late payments and billing disputes can be an even bigger problem, when you factor in additional costs to fund growth. Banks may be able to help with overdrafts for working capital but you need to arrange this in advance. Direct debit can help with late payments. Detailed cash flow forecasts can help to highlight any issues before they affect your business.

MSPs

The term MSP (Managed IT Services Provider) has been around for years, typically it is an IT Support company that remotely manages a company’s IT infrastructure, with services such as managed IT.

Pay monthly services

Managed IT services tend to have a fixed monthly cost and are flexible to accommodate changes in requirements as companies grow. Traditionally MSPs partner with vendors such as Microsoft and other VADs (Value added Distributors) to ensure the latest IT solutions.

IT support desk

IT support desk is a popular managed IT service which allows customers to unlimited helpdesk support in business hours although specialist services are also available out of hours for sensitive applications. Pricing is often associated with the number of users of the service.

Monitoring

Monitoring is another common service which gives SMEs peace of mind that their hardware is being kept up to date with the latest upgrades and alerts are raised should services go down.

Low upfront costs

Hosting business applications, such as telephony, in the cloud typically has low upfront costs, as solutions are sold on a per seat per month basis. There may be a small set-up fee, however it is possible to upgrade to a feature-rich phone system, with the latest IP handsets, for around £14pcm.

Availability of fast, reliable internet connectivity

If your phone system is hosted in the cloud, it goes without saying that a stable, high-bandwidth connection is critical. The roll out of faster, more reliable fibre broadband has made the decision easier for those who can access it today. In areas where faster fibre broadband is not yet available, BT Openreach has introduced a waiter’s scheme, where suppliers can place an order and when the number of waiting orders reaches a threshold, the cabinet is prioritised for an upgrade.

Need for scalability

The cloud route is excellent for allowing you to downsize or upsize your desk phone needs in short order with minimal effort. Going in-house for your phone system can require purchasing licenses outright and in some cases, investing in greater hardware. Not to mention, if you don't have your own IT staff, you need the skills to configure additional users. This is usually self-administered via a portal with cloud-hosted solutions.

If you supply business communications or support to SMEs, you may have seen a rise in interest for Ethernet leased lines recently, as some prices have reduced by up to 23%.

There has never been a better time to get your customers connected. Supplying a quality internet connection to your customers keeps the competition at bay and opens up a world of upsell opportunities including hosted Exchange, cloud back-up, hosted desktop and hosted telephony.

What is the best way to compare ethernet leased lines?

Jola has an Ethernet leased line quoting tool which allows users to enter a customer postcode and receive a quotation for the best priced connectivity options, from all the main network providers. Pricing is available for dealers working on a 50/50 margin share basis and for resellers who bill end users and set their own margins.

Should you uncover a requirement whilst visiting customers you can log into the leased line quoting tool on your mobile and produce a quote for them there and then in minutes.

Introduction

Local breweries are springing up all over the country. Often family-run and led by experienced brewers determined to make their hobby profitable. Local breweries like many other growing SMEs often have online shops so typically require a faster, more reliable broadband connection.

BT estimate that around 80% of businesses now have access to FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet - fibre broadband) which is helping to facilitate the introduction of new cloud-hosted applications such as hosted telephony.

1 – To facilitate a move to hosted telephony 

Growth is one driver causing breweries to consider purchasing a cloud phone system. Extensions can be purchased on a monthly basis with the ability to add or reduce connections as required. They can keep their existing phone numbers and with no physical system on site the set-up is quick and easy.

2 – To access an array of new phone features

The most compelling feature of hosted telephony solutions for local breweries is that, perhaps with only a couple of extensions, they have all the features of a much larger and highly developed business phone system. Many features are included as standard, such as shared call appearance, voicemail and disaster recovery. A range of inexpensive add-ons like unmetered standard UK landline and mobile, call recording and auto attendant can also be rented monthly.

Internet bandwidth is getting cheaper and faster and as a result, revenues from business cloud products are growing quicker than ever before.

Most voice resellers and IT support companies that were not already selling connectivity, cloud voice and mobile SIMs are now actively looking into it, either to protect their customer bases or to add valuable recurring revenues and margins.

Unless you intend to build your own network and switches you will probably need to select a supply partner. This subject has been well covered in previous blogs so we need make no further comment here.

This article is about how you engage with your chosen supplier(s).

Dealer or reseller?

The most common question we get as we recruit new partners is if they should become a dealer or a reseller. This is not as straightforward to answer as it may seem. In general terms a reseller has the contract with the end customer and they bill and support them directly. A dealer often sells the solution to their customer but the billing and support will be done by the supplier who will often then pay the dealer a commission. The decision to go dealer or reseller can differ between products and contract terms so the first thing to say is make sure you pick a supplier that offers both schemes with options to transition between them. Here are a few more things to consider;

1 Experience

As a team we have over 70 years’ experience in the IP business. Even if you are an accomplished reseller it is useful to have someone on your side that really understands communications and the cloud. We can answer detailed questions and help build and quote custom solutions.

2 One quoting tool for all the major networks

We have access to all the major network operators. Simply enter your customer’s postcode and address and within minutes receive a spreadsheet with the best prices for Fibre, EFM and EoFTTC leased lines from all available network operators.

When deciding to add voice and data solutions to your portfolio, you may read a lot of websites highlighting the benefits of key product offerings and explaining the potential benefits of partnering. 

Most of the benefits suggested by suppliers as reasons to partner with them have turned into ‘givens’ overtime i.e. suppliers that don’t have them, won’t generally make your shortlist. Givens include quality of products, portals, 24/7 support, predictable and accurate commission payments and trust.

Outside of these, resellers and dealers need to know three things;

1 - Is it easy to sell, quote and order?

For a product to be easy to sell, it requires demand, unique features, reliability and a good price. If it is a great product with an over-complicated or clunky quoting and ordering portal, you will be less likely to recommend the services and place orders. If the supplier also makes your own selling process easier with collateral, contracts, proposals, sales support and advice, this may give you and your sales teams more confidence with their products.

A 2016 survey conducted by Deloitte highlighted new opportunities as many SMEs take advantage of faster, more secure connectivity, smart technologies and the rise in mobile data.

Telecommunications companies will be looking for opportunities to increase revenue through their core businesses such as network connectivity and the sale of network equipment and devices. They will also be planning to introduce new related products and services.

New opportunities

Public sector

New opportunities for growth may be found in the public sector, as local authorities try to save money by introducing hosted telephony for their own offices and smart technologies for things like parking, lighting and security.

Small businesses account for 99.3% of all private sector business in the UK. There has been sustained growth in the business population over the last few years contributing to 47% of all private sector turnover, totalling £1.8 trillion.

Many growing businesses have common traits, one of which seems to be a focus on key performance indicators. KPIs not only monitor progress but can also highlight any issues which need to be addressed. Here are the top five things every small business should measure:

1 Cash flow

Operating cash flow is probably the most important short-term measurement in your business. It is the most common reason that even the most profitable small businesses run into difficulties. Essentially it is the money you have left in the bank each month and is calculated by subtracting your operating expenses from your gross margin, adding in timing issues (like when you get paid vs when you have to pay your bills) and removing non-cash items like depreciation. Negative cash flow often occurs when you have to pay your bills before some customers have paid you. SMEs that want to sell to larger corporations often get bullied on payment terms and this is worth knowing before going after this business. Banks are usually very open to providing overdrafts for working capital but only if this is pre-arranged. Also try and get all your customers on Direct Debit to mitigate the effect of the late payers. Produce a quarterly cash-flow forecast every month.