Jola Cloud Solutions' Blog

Jola has been doing white-label since 2005 and in our experience, resellers and MSPs want:

• Control. Their customers must see them as the supplier, not an intermediary. They need real-time, automated online tools to provision, manage, bill and support any white-label products.
• Choice. A wide range of options to meet the differing needs of their customers.
• Competitiveness. They need help in identifying opportunities and they must win the deal against the Networks at a reasonable margin.
• Differentiation. They need products and alternatives their customers cannot buy elsewhere.

Jola’s partners access all our white-label mobile data solutions through Mobile Manager. Here they can price and provision solutions themselves in real time. Partners can custom-build their own APN networks. Through Mobile Manager we offer thousands of networks worldwide and unique and differentiated solutions to suit every type of mobile data requirement. 

We are the only supplier to provide a tried-and-tested programme to identify, qualify and win mobile data opportunities within existing customer bases (Mobile-data Revenue Generator). We work with partners to identify opportunities we know we can win, generating profitable recurring revenue streams.

Jola took home two awards at the Comms National Awards last Thursday night at the Park Plaza Hotel in London. We won Best Partner Programme over £10m turnover and Best Partner Portal for Mobile Manager. We also won Highly Commended for Diversity Equality & Inclusion.

The judges shortlisted over 200 entries, a record number, from 101 suppliers and resellers including other well-known channel businesses such as BT Wholesale, Talk Talk Wholesale, Giacom and Gamma.

Adrian Sunderland, Jola's CEO, commented, “We are thrilled to win these awards and proud to sponsor the Mobile IoT Reseller categories. This is an incredible achievement, and I want to extend my thanks to our suppliers, partners, and amazing team for their continued support and dedication. It was a fantastic evening.”

Jola won Best White Label Solution and received a Highly Commended certificate for Wholesaler of the Year at the Comms Business Awards in London last week.

The judges shortlisted 94 entries from over 160 submitted from well-known channel businesses such as Giacom and Virgin Media Business Wholesale. To win such a prestigious white-label award demonstrates the strength of the Jola channel proposition.

Cherie Howlett Jola’s CMO, commented, “We are delighted to win two awards and to sponsor the Best ICT Solution. It is a fantastic achievement and I would like to thank our suppliers, partners and wonderful team for their continued support and dedication. Craig Charles was a great host and we had a brilliant evening celebrating.”

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?

At Jola, we always start with the desired outcome and work back and are good at defining and measuring KPIs, which drive our business and partner satisfaction. We can do this anywhere. Our partners want complete control over their own customer experience, preferring to manage products directly in real-time portals themselves, rather than picking up the phone to us.

During the pandemic, we changed the way we liaised with partners and have not really changed back. All face-to-face meetings were done on Teams and partners didn’t feel obliged to small-talk for 30 minutes just because their Jola account manager had driven an hour to see them. Teams meetings were shorter and more frequent, partner training was easier and more effective and, most importantly, Jola partners closed bigger deals, more quickly. 

We hope we have the balance right between self-serve portals and customer service. Portals are available so partners can order, make changes and support customers directly, although they can rely on us to help identify and win new opportunities. Information is readily available for partners to find in our knowledge base however, we answer the phone within 20 seconds if you need us. All our marketing is designed to reflect the needs of our prospects and follow-up processes are managed by responsive humans, who understand them.

Partners bidding to win mobile data opportunities for M2M and IoT solutions such as 4G SIMs in tablets in the public sector or MultiNet SIMs in smart water meters are being asked very specific questions about their portal. End-users want to know how real-time the data is and how automated the portal is. It is essential in the public sector, who are working to tight budgets who have been burnt before with high data overage charges, no visibility and no direct access to make changes to their estate.

Adrian Sunderland, CTO, commented, ‘I have noticed a trend when working with MSPs on IoT bids. End users do not want multiple supplier portals to deal with, they want the ability to order a wide range of technologies from multiple network operators in a single portal. They want direct access to activate SIMs, add bolt-ons and share data across accounts. They need access for their end user to be able to monitor usage in real-time. Suppliers who can offer real-time, automated portals are better placed to win the deals.’

In October 2021 Jola reached a new milestone with over £1 million of Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) in Jola’s major bid (over £5k MRR) partner pipeline. This equates to nearly £2m MRR for Jola partners. Jola reached over 1000 partners last year.

M2M and IoT is not as difficult to get into as you may think. There is a huge demand for mobile data for IT projects, which is predicted to increase dramatically over the next few years. Mobile data is easy to sell, support and bill, with a real-time automated portal and access to a wide range of unique and differentiated solutions. Partners who have developed their portfolio and become successful at selling mobile data have driven up their EBITDA multiple.

When Jola first started working on major mobile data bids with their partners, none of the tenders even mentioned self-service portals. Today nearly 30% include parent-child online management panels as a minimum requirement.

It’s no surprise to see this change primarily in second generation projects. End-user companies that have rolled out multi-site IoT/M2M deployments have found them impossible to manage manually. From capacity management to usage and fault diagnosis, everything is so much easier with real-time control.

When these projects come up for renewal the need for a comprehensive portal moves from Desired to Essential. With specialist third party bid consultants involved in helping companies write tenders, this is only going to increase.

Mobile Manager is Jola’s unique mobile data management platform. It is multi-carrier and has the ability to eliminate bill shock for end users.

Mobile Manager is used by MSPs and resellers to order and manage global mobile data estates in real-time. The white label portal communicates in real-time with multiple mobile networks. Partners can grant access to their end users to view data usage and manage SIMs. Mobile Manager handles SIM activations, ceases, suspensions, reports, alerts and bolt-ons. It also allows you to create and manage data pools and Private APNs.

Why was Mobile Manager developed?

It was designed to help channel partners grow profitable revenue streams from SIM-only solutions. Our partners win opportunities for DSL and Ethernet back-up, fixed line replacement, IoT and M2M projects as well as SIM base moves from large corporates. Resellers can brand and package their own mobile data data solutions for multiple devices all over the world.

How does it manage overages?

Mobile Manager solves the problem of bill shock from data overages by allowing partners to track usage and add bolt-ons to help eliminate overage charges completely. This is the exact opposite of what the market typically does. Carriers earn super-profits from overage charges and the channel loses customers because of it. We are the first company in the channel to challenge this and put the resellers and their customers first.

Can it support multiple networks?

Yes. For applications where it is critical to have a strong internet connection at all times, businesses are opting for un-steered multi-network roaming SIMs. These SIM cards have no preferred network.

We offer a range of multi-network and roaming options. Our Tariff Tool allows MSPs to select the countries and data allowance they need and obtain all the in-country 3G, 4G and 5G roaming network packages available.

MSPs and specialists using 4G for connectivity on short-term contracts, or for back-up, often struggle to control data usage, so get regularly hit by overage bills. They manage large estates of data SIMs on different networks, often using manual order processes, with no visibility of data usage throughout the month.

Jola developed Mobile Manager to help partners manage data usage in real-time and avoid bill shock. Our unique portal gives partners complete control over ordering, alerting, ceasing, suspending and swapping SIMs. They can also add their own bolt-ons, create and manage their own data pools and set up and manage private APN networks. Jola’s white label portal communicates in real-time with multiple 4G networks. Partners can brand the portal as their own and grant access to their end users to view data usage and manage SIMs.

Mobile Manager was designed to help channel partners grow profitable revenue streams from mobile data. MSPs productise their own solutions using Jola’s wide range of single-network and multi-network SIMs.

IoT

There is a wide range of devices that need an internet connection and M2M/IoT SIMs fit the bill. Opportunities are flooding in via partners from multiple sectors such as retail, construction, logistics and the public sector, all with different requirements. Some need IP addresses, others need multi-network SIMs, but all need the ability to monitor and manage usage remotely. Jola developed products for the channel to address these markets.

MSPs and specialists using 4G for connectivity on short-term contracts, or for back-up, often struggle to control data usage, so get regularly hit by overage bills. They manage large estates of data SIMs on different networks, often using manual order processes, with no visibility of data usage throughout the month.

Jola developed Mobile Manager to help partners manage data usage and avoid bill shock. Our unique portal gives partners complete control over ordering, alerting, ceasing, suspending and swapping SIMs. They can also add their own bolt-ons, create and manage their own data pools and set up and manage private APN networks. Jola’s white label portal communicates in real-time with multiple 4G networks. Partners can grant access to their end users to view data usage and manage SIMs. 

Mobile Manager was designed to help channel partners grow profitable revenue streams from 4G. Our partners win opportunities for DSL and Ethernet 4G back-up, fixed line replacement, and IoT and M2M projects. MSPs productise their own solutions using Jola’s wide range of single-network and multi-network SIMs, which include eSIMs.

Tariff Tool

Our Tariff Tool allows MSPs to select the countries and data allowance they need and obtain all the in-country 3G and 4G roaming network packages available, which also includes unlimited UK data SIMs and multi-network, global eSIMs.

IoT

There is a wide range of devices that need an internet connection and M2M/IoT SIMs fit the bill. Opportunities are flooding in via partners from multiple sectors such as retail, construction, logistics and the public sector, all with different requirements. Some need IP addresses, others need multi-network SIMs, but all need the ability to monitor and manage usage remotely. Jola developed products for the channel to address these markets.