Jola Cloud Solutions' Blog

Hoteling

Hoteling allows users to log in to a guest profile on a shared phone. Once users have logged in to their guest profile, the shared phone acts exactly like their own phone—all their network features, phone number(s), and dial plan capabilities are available on the shared phone. This is of use if you have a hot desk in your office used by many.

Shared call appearance

Shared Call Appearance (SCA) offers the user the opportunity to run several devices (e.g. mobile app, handset, softphone) on the same extension, usually with no additional charge. The user’s profile is cloned on each device so they behave identically. For example, when switched on all devices will ring at the same time and Busy Lamp Field (BLF) settings will be identical. Calls cannot be transferred between shared devices and devices cannot call each other.

‘Connectivity’ is an ugly word but the easiest term for the communications industry to describe the physical media we use to communicate with each other. So why not use terms like broadband, internet, Ethernet, leased line or ADSL and what about ISDN, GSM, GPRS and 4G? 

The need for more granular definitions depends on the audience. The SME generally doesn’t care if its Fibre Ethernet, EFM, EoFTTC, 4G, ADSL or white magic. They just want to send and receive information as quickly and as reliably as possible. On the other hand, the industry, and the channel in particular, is obsessed with learning and explaining the nuances between technologies even if their customer isn't interested. After all what’s the point of knowing all this stuff if you can’t use it to differentiate your proposition? Some suppliers even make up new names to describe their connectivity and further confuse their customers.

So the answer is that when you are talking to the channel you have to use generic terms like connectivity for fear of the pedants seeking you out and ridiculing your simplicity. “Internet access? What if my customer wants a P2P leased line or an MPLS network without breakout?” In communicating with end customers I think a different approach is needed. Find out what they can get before you contact them and certainly before you product-dump every technology and associated features. Ask them questions about what they think they need and uncover problems so that you can suggest things they didn’t know they needed.

Openreach recently reported that over 25 million homes and businesses can now access up to 80Mb/s Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) superfast broadband. 19 million premises were connected in the first roll out in 2014, at a cost of £2.5bn.

Ultrafast 330Mbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) is also said to be available to over 200,000+ UK premises and there are plans to roll out next generation hybrid fibre technology with download speeds of around 300Mb/s by 2020.

The opportunity

As a trusted supplier of services to UK SMEs you may be asked to advise on connectivity available as customers consider upgrading. Typical customers are start-ups looking to set up their first office, growing businesses moving to bigger premises and SMEs considering cloud-hosted applications such as hosted voice.

During our business careers we forge many partnerships, have you ever thought about why some are so much more successful than others?

Trust

This is non-negotiable. It also needs to be unreserved, unambiguous, and unequivocal. Trust is one of those things that is easy to advertise but a lot more difficult to demonstrate and retain over a long period of time. It is doing what you say you are going to do. It is coming to an agreement and honouring it. It is having contracts that are clear and concise and don’t hide any surprising clauses. It is about trusting someone with your end users, helping you demonstrate products and win new business.

Shared vision

Sharing a vision such as a passion for customer service is important. On a day to day basis it is about having someone to contact and support you, answer queries so you can get back to a customer in a timely fashion. Someone who takes calls after hours like you do, to go the extra mile for your customers. Someone who isn’t dictated to by strict processes and scripts who can help you customise a solution and expedite delivery to meet expectations where possible.

One of my better decisions in 1996 was to come home from the USA and after 10 happy years with C&W leave in favour of a port-a-cabin start-up on a chicken farm in Leicester. These days the cloud has enabled companies to start-up with little capital investment, renting enterprise-level applications on monthly contracts and allowing staff to work from anywhere. If you can live on your savings for a few months you may even be able to get going without having to sell any of your company to external investors. Reduced start-up costs could be one reason why there were a record 608,100 UK startups in 2015, up 4.5% on the previous year which was itself a record year.

If you are considering taking the plunge, breaking away from corporate life and having a go at working for yourself there will be many thoughts occupying your mind right now so let me add one more.

What kind of entrepreneur are you?

1. Lifestyle

This entrepreneur has turned something they love doing, into a business. They have no immediate plans to sell the business which exists primarily to fund their lifestyle. If they are doing well they will be approached by people who tell them they could be millionaires by expanding, getting new investors or preparing the business for sale. After several months of stress and expense it fizzles out and the lifestyle entrepreneur breathes a sigh of relief. I know many lifestyle entrepreneurs who have learned to be comfortable in their own shoes and resist encouragement to expand or recruit. If you are one, you probably know you are not attractive to professional investors because they need an exit to return a gain to their fund in a specific period. If you need money for growth or new equipment, then borrow it. Interest rates are low and most banks are happy to lend you money if you will give them a personal guarantee. There is also a government-backed scheme, offering loans of up to £25,000 at 6% interest.

Recent research from YouGov suggests that there is now a 50/50 split in mobile users on contract and SIM-only deals in stark contrast to the previous year where only 16% of contracts were SIM-only. Both types of deals have grown in the last five years however SIM-only deals have grown the most. Since 2010 the percentage of phone owners with contracts has decreased from 80% to 67%.

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.