Many JTL customers interact with each other on a daily basis in our constantly growing community. This includes numerous dedicated channels, such as the JTL forum or our social media channels, as well as discussion groups that are independent of us. The focus is always on exchanging knowledge and providing each other with support. Mohamed Ali Oukassi’s JTL Software User Community on Facebook has emerged as a pioneer among the independent channels, which we will take a closer look at today.
JTL's own channels
Before we turn our attention to the group, however, here is a brief overview of our own information outlets:
We use many of them to provide information on fundamental and current topics from our company. The newsletters are generally used for comprehensive communication with our customers and to provide information on important releases or security-related issues. The forum, on the other hand, offers our own contact point for discussions and exciting support among customers. Those who follow us on Facebook, on the other hand, will be aware of short-term announcements or promotions such as the current “Show me your packing table” competition. If you want to find out more about the software with which many of you earn your daily bread, follow these channels anyway.
The JTL User Community
In recent years, however, another important platform has formed independently of us as a company. Mohamed Ali Oukassi, himself a JTL service partner with eBakery, has set up a Facebook group that brings JTL customers together there to provide each other with support and stimulate new ideas.
First of all, it is important to understand that the Facebook group is not an official JTL group. While we create our own content for the above-mentioned channels, all contributions to the group are made by the members themselves. The content is not coordinated with us, but is based on the interests expressed there. Unlike other Facebook eCommerce groups, however, the focus in the JTL User Community is clearly on JTL products and related extensions.
Anyone who asks Ali why this group exists will receive a clear answer: his aim is to offer JTL customers a contact point on Facebook for help from users for users. The approach stems from his work as a service partner for JTL. He is very familiar with many of the common questions from JTL customers. But participants also discuss topics relating to plugins, integrations and so on. Of course, there are also limits to contributions, as advertising is out of place for Ali in the group, and promoting one’s own services for advertising purposes is considered undesirable.
Own content
What has made the group particularly exciting for us in recent times:
Ali creates new content about our products and partners on his own initiative, which should also be exciting for many of our customers who don’t know the group. In an interview with Kreativkonzentrat, he not only introduces the JTL technology partner itself and how it works, but also how its solutions generate added value for users.
A discussion with Johannes Seidel from JERA GmbH answers many questions about the interfaces, taxes and the future of 2DATEV products. Interesting for everyone who docks to the financial accounting software with JTL-Wawi.
You can find more vlogs by Ali for the group here:
If you want to know more about the JTL-Packing Bench+ and JTL-WMS, you can find another video about this in the group recently. And more is in the works. The following formats are also currently being considered:
- Content requests from the community
- Technology partners present known eCommerce problems and how they can be solved using their products
- The SP Talks, in which service partners discuss currently relevant online retail topics
- Success stories with JTL customers and service partners for those who want to know how others have made it in the industry
- Coverage of events such as JTL regulars’ tables or trade fairs
However, the focus is always on the fact that the content comes from the community for the community. Personal participation is therefore required. If you would like to submit a topic, you can contact Ali by email. However, to ensure that the group remains productive, there are also guidelines that all members must follow.
Conclusion
There are now plenty of opportunities to get practical, promising approaches and help with JTL products. In addition to our own channels mentioned above, we can only recommend the JTL Software User Community to our customers. The only crux: You must have an active Facebook account to use it.
In fact, we are delighted with how many of our customers and partners are engaging with our product cosmos. However, it is important to us to keep the Facebook group as a channel that is independent of us – but this does not rule out the possibility of one or other of our employees providing advice and support from time to time.
A small note on our own behalf: As part of the GDPR, we are no longer allowed to send any further information from JTL to our customers who were previously registered for the newsletter. This also includes news about new releases or important security updates. Would you like to continue receiving information of this kind? Then you can log in here for the individual newsletter channels:
