Historically, franchisors and franchisees have had a, shall we say, unique relationship. While formally contractual and involving some level of operational performance “enforcement,” the relationship has also been guided by a collective desire aimed at a mutually beneficial outcome: to gather data and turn it into the information needed to improve unit economics and make better business decisions that benefit the franchisor AND franchisees.
Collecting and analyzing the right data can be a powerful business tool to realize unit and system growth. And that means we need to start integrating technology solutions that take data from different areas of the business – finance, operations, marketing, development – and bring it together in a way that you can easily track and analyze. Only then can we gain access to important business intelligence to make informed decisions based on unit-level metrics, such as revenue and royalty tracking, marketing efforts, operations standards, and staffing.
Imagine then...
- What if you could know in real-time if and when franchisees complete training?
- What if you could compare performance levels between groups of franchisees based on properties such as size, location, or time since opening?
- What if your franchisees could see how they rank geographically or compared to units with similar characteristics to benchmark their performance?
With the right franchise management software, you can do all of these things. If franchisors want to grow – which means not only adding units, but also maximizing the success of each existing unit – then the time is now to rethink how we are (or are not) using technology to gain actionable business insights. Franchises produce a lot of data, and all this data present great opportunities to gain unique insights if you can turn it into information you can use, all the way down to the unit level.
For instance, with the right data points, what if you could optimize operations, from category management and vendor management to loss prevention? What if you could improve human resources with effective workforce allocation? What if you could optimize marketing with improved understanding of customer behavior patterns?
Only by transforming how we are using technology can we truly improve engagement, performance, and unit growth. With that transformation, the” what if you could” scenarios become reality.
FranConnect Sky Insights is a business intelligence tool for your entire franchise system. No hassle. No spreadsheets. No more surprises. Learn how FranConnect Sky Insights can help you start making better business decisions today.
