Just as optimists and pessimists see the contents of a glass differently, so can franchise owners view their businesses through two opposing mindsets. Yes, bad things can happen. However, owners can take a positive, proactive approach to problems by addressing pain points and putting the proper procedures in place to avoid setbacks. Those who see the glass as half-full usually are the ones who have chosen the second approach. Here are just a few ways technology can help.
Streamline Procedures
By using a central operations management solution, location owners can focus on the bigger picture. If the solution is in the cloud, it’s far easier and more convenient for an owner to find all his or her relevant documentation – contract renewals, lease renewals, insurance renewals, sales information, recent trend reports and more – when it’s needed. That creates a much more organized and efficient method to send deliverables back to corporate. Location owners can capitalize on this technology and concentrate on managing their businesses instead of being distracted by more trivial day-to-day tasks.
Accountability and Visibility
Franchise technology also offers visibility into processes. For example, when owners submit a help ticket to a corporate support team, gone are the days of sitting and waiting for a response (or even wondering if someone has opened the request). They can now follow its resolution in a detailed step-by-step breakdown, including when the ticket was received, opened, edited and completed by the support team.
Systems such as these allow for open communication within an organization. Relationship management is often more positive and effective, especially between the franchisor and the franchisee. Being able to reach out to people both upwards and downwards in a company, or from franchisee to franchisee, is a major plus. Finally, such a solution can help franchisees onboard in a seamless manner.
Integration
Technology should allow for smooth integration with point-of-sale [POS] systems and more. Franchisees should not have to manually enter or report KPIs and sales data, because an intelligent platform will complete those processes automatically, eliminating any in-between steps.
Here’s the bottom line: as a franchise and/or location owner, you should have full visibility into what is going on in your brand, whether in an individual store or with the releases and changes passed along by corporate. Technology can address procedural, communication and integration issues for you, and, most of the time, far before they grow into actual problems.
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For more information on choosing a central franchise operations solution, check out our white paper.
