NORWEGIAN CLOUD GIVES ELKJØP AN ADVANTAGE

Elkjøp and Jottacloud have collaborated since 2010. Both parties describe the partnership as an important part of the development of the two companies.

– Elkjøp started much of Jottacloud’s journey and has been incredibly important to the company, says partner manager Cecilie Røed Hansen at Jotta Group AS, which is behind the company.

We meet her and Elkjøp Norway’s head of services sales, Alexander Thorvaldsen, at the Campus Tech training fair at Gardermoen before the summer.

The collaboration is now a central part of Elkjøp’s services strategy in the Nordic region, says Thorvaldsen.

– We have grown together for 16 years and have been able to deliver the service quality we want, which Jottacloud actually fulfils, Thorvaldsen tells the trade magazine Elektronikkbransjen.

Part of the support agreement

Jottacloud is the cloud storage service provided by Jotta Group AS, and it is included in Elkjøp’s support agreements.

– Customers receive unlimited storage when they buy through our support agreement. We like to call it the roadside assistance agreement for your PC: antivirus, cloud storage, in-store support, remote assistance and access to e-learning.

According to Elkjøp, the most popular agreement includes six users with unlimited storage space.

– There is no better product on the market than what Elkjøp has in its support agreement. Six people with unlimited storage is exclusive to Elkjøp’s agreement, Hansen tells the trade magazine Elektronikkbransjen.

The three-year agreement costs NOK 3,995.

– The agreement covers much more than cloud storage, including antivirus, in-store support and remote assistance by telephone, says Thorvaldsen.

Stores data in Stavanger

Norwegian data storage has received greater attention in recent years, he believes.

– The fact that data is stored in Norway, in Stavanger, means a great deal to our customers. But most importantly, we have a quality product that customers actually benefit from, says Thorvaldsen.

Jottacloud says that the company both owns and operates its own infrastructure.

– Security is our entire strategy. We own everything we develop ourselves, and customers control their own data, says Hansen.

She says the company’s AI products are responsible, secure and protect privacy.

–     It is an AI-based photo search, where the models never learn from customers’ own content. Security comes first, says Hansen.

Retains quality

Another argument Elkjøp uses in sales is that content is stored without compression.

– When you store content in the cloud, images and files are not compressed as they are by others. They have been quick to introduce AI search and a simple way to clean up your mobile phone, where you delete locally but keep everything safely stored, says Thorvaldsen.

Jottacloud also believes that its broad support for different platforms is an advantage.

– We are platform-independent, with developers for Android, iOS, Mac and Windows. That is a major advantage for us and for Elkjøp, says Hansen.

She describes the competition as tough.

– You have to be constantly on the ball, have excellent developers and keep your knowledge up to date.

Joint Nordic venture

Elkjøp offers the service in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

– Does Elkjøp use Jottacloud itself?

– As a group, we are so integrated with Microsoft that we do not currently do so, Thorvaldsen replies.

– What does Jottacloud think about this?

– We understand that. Our business products are strongest for small and medium-sized businesses, says Hansen.

She also says that Jottacloud merged with Telenor's MinSky in 2025, and that work to bring the services together on one platform is still ongoing.

– This will particularly benefit our largest partner, Elkjøp, as we will have twice as many developers. Things will happen much faster, says Hansen.

Jottacloud believes the company is well positioned for further growth.

– We own and operate our servers, and have room for growth. Absolutely, says Hansen.

The name Jottacloud originates from the data volume yottabyte.

– Founder Roland Rabben played with the word and changed Y to J. A little play on words involving yottabyte and the Jåttå district of Stavanger, says Hansen.