FranConnect News

(HERNDON, Virginia) February 27, 2024— FranConnect, a market leading provider of sales, operations, and marketing solutions to franchises and multi-location businesses announced today it has acquired RizePoint, a leading provider of quality management systems (QMS) serving global restaurant, retail, and hospitality brands. This is FranConnect’s third acquisition over a four-year period and marks another significant milestone for FranConnect in extending its reach beyond franchise brands to serve the operational needs of the broader ecosystem of multi-unit owners, locations, front-line employees, and suppliers.

The addition of RizePoint to the FranConnect platform brings deep quality management capabilities to FranConnect’s already comprehensive franchise management platform. Designed to help organizations effectively manage compliance, maintain quality standards, and streamline operations, RizePoint is known for its industry leading mobile auditing and inspection platform, used for location audits, health and safety checks, and supplier management. Three of the top five global restaurant brands use RizePoint, along with Ecolab, Wendy’s, Focus Brands, Dine Brands, L Brands, and Sodexo. More than 2 million audits are conducted annually using RizePoint, with over one million users across 120 countries and translated in over 39 languages.

“The challenge of running a multi-location business gets increasingly complex with expansion and growth, regardless of whether franchised or owned. Brands need to ensure that operators are complying with brand standards, but also adhering to health and safety initiatives and following daily tasks and checklists. As well, the growing challenges to our global supply chain means that auditing suppliers is equally important to compliance against those standards,” said Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect. “Along with FranConnect’s market leading operational platform, our combined solution will enable us to monitor the performance of a brand, end-to-end, from the brand to the operator, location, front-line employees and even the supplier community.”

Backed by Baltimore-based Access Holdings, RizePoint is headquartered out of Salt Lake City, Utah, with employees across North America and the UK. Rizepoint’s offices and employee base will now be a part of FranConnect’s global footprint. With RizePoint’s customers, FranConnect’s reach will now span over one million locations worldwide.

“The acquisition of RizePoint by FranConnect will greatly benefit our customers and the industry. By uniting forces, we are in a unique position to offer a more robust and comprehensive suite of solutions that will further empower our customers to effectively manage compliance, elevate quality standards, and drive operational excellence. This acquisition will accelerate our ability to innovate, develop, and deploy meaningful advancements to our products and solutions,” said Kari Hensien, CEO of RizePoint.

“We are thrilled to welcome RizePoint customers and employees into the FranConnect community,” said Wong. “Kari and her team bring deep expertise in QMS that our customers want and need from FranConnect. Further, with this acquisition, we continue to demonstrate that we intend to look across the broader market to provide the best tools and solutions to solve the unique challenges facing multi-location businesses.”

Canaccord Genuity LLC acted as exclusive financial advisor to RizePoint for this transaction.

About FranConnect
FranConnect is the leading enterprise software provider for franchise and multi-location businesses. For over 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 1500 brands and one million locations worldwide. These brands rely on FranConnect to expand locations, streamline unit operations, enhance collaboration across the network of locations, and improve profitability. FranConnect’s customers are some of the most iconic and recognized brands in the industry, including SPARC/Authentic Brands (Forever 21), Tropical Smoothie Café, Authority Brands, and Papa John’s. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global offices in Australia, India, Colombia, and Canada. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

HERNDON, VA., January 11, 2024 – FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise and multi-location management solutions for driving success in sales, operations, and marketing, announces the launch of FranConnect Analytics to provide brands with powerful, on-demand, and timely insights pulled from all areas of the business. Additionally, FranConnect has revamped its Royalty Manager application to address finance teams’ biggest pain points.

The franchise and multi-location model is distributed where accountability is dispersed geographically and through complex ownership structures and relationships. These brands are more dependent than ever on data intelligence to determine where to invest resources that drive the greatest return. But the combination of disparate systems and complex organizations creates siloed views and gaps in the story.

FranConnect Analytics overcomes these issues through pre-built dashboards sourced directly from a single source of truth: its platform. FranConnect Analytics empowers businesses to invest in the areas of greatest return, benchmark internally from sites to regions to brands, identify the strongest performers, and replicate best practices. Operations, Finance and Marketing teams have access to fresh data and insights instantly to drive results across the locations. 

The launch of FranConnect's next-generation Royalty Manager is set to significantly enhance the efficiency of financial operations for franchise brands by automating sales reporting and ensuring accuracy in franchise fee calculations, while facilitating the centralization of financial data. Additionally, it offers franchisees transparency into the invoicing and financial aspects of their franchise agreements, fostering stronger relationships. With the addition of the Invoice-to-Pay capability, brands can standardize billing, offer diversified payment options and expedite payment collection, thereby effectively reducing the days sales outstanding.

“Royalty Manager’s redesign and new FranConnect Analytics product capabilities make it easier than ever for teams to draw insights from the platform, creating a unified view into their entire operations lifecycle from lead creation to payment reconciliation “, said Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect. “FranConnect improves connectivity of information across the distributed value chain and provides brands with the capability to consolidate that information, improve planning capabilities, and drive standardized operational processes to improve overall system performance.”

For more information on FranConnect's newest products or to schedule a demo of the platform, visit www.franconnect.com. 

About FranConnect

FranConnect is the leading enterprise software provider for franchise and multi-location businesses. For over 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 1500 brands and 350,000 units worldwide. These brands rely on FranConnect to expand locations, streamline unit operations, enhance collaboration across the network of locations, and improve profitability. FranConnect’s customers are some of the most iconic and recognized brands in the industry, including SPARC/Authentic Brands (Forever 21), Tropical Smoothie Café, Authority Brands, and Papa John’s. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global offices in Australia, India, Colombia, and Canada. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

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HERNDON, Va., September 27, 2023 - FranConnect, the leading provider of sales, operations, and marketing technology to franchises and multi-location businesses, announces the appointment of Austen Asadorian to its executive leadership team as Chief Revenue Officer. Asadorian will oversee FranConnect’s global go-to-market and revenue organization, including new customer acquisition, customer expansion, new market development, pre-sales consulting, and revenue operations, bolstering FranConnect's continued year-over-year growth.

“Austen’s expertise scaling global sales organizations and significant experience working with hospitality and restaurant technology will take FranConnect to the next phase of growth,” said Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect. “He is an accomplished industry leader who deeply understands the growth and operational challenges of our customers. Under his leadership, I am confident that our sales and revenue organization will continue to drive significant growth for FranConnect and serve as a trusted partner to our customers.”

Asadorian is an accomplished sales and operations leader with over 15 years of experience working in the hospitality, restaurant, and retail sectors with some of the largest multi-unit operators in world. He previously served as the Senior Vice President of Sales at SevenRooms, the leading global provider of reservations and guest experience software. At SevenRooms, Asadorian was responsible for North American sales, Global Key Accounts, and Partnerships, where he achieved triple-digit growth under his leadership. Prior to joining SevenRooms, Austen held senior management positions at Peloton and Hillstone Restaurant Group. 

"I am thrilled to take on the role of Chief Revenue Officer at FranConnect, an industry-leading company that has already achieved remarkable success," said Asadorian. "I am deeply committed to utilizing my extensive background in sales, leadership, and operations to accelerate FranConnect's growth and elevate its standing as the foremost provider of franchise and multi-location management software in the industry."

Asadorian joins FranConnect during a monumental market and product growth year. In 2023, FranConnect expanded into the Australia/New Zealand (A/NZ) and Asia Pacific (APAC) markets. FranConnect also launched a set of new B2B payments products in partnership with Flywire (Nasdaq: FLYW) to support franchise CFOs in accelerating fee collection and better governing revenue streams. FranConnect has a focused market expansion plan and an ambitious product roadmap as it continues its push toward reaching over 2,000 brands and half a million locations worldwide.

For more information on FranConnect's or to schedule a demo, visit www.franconnect.com.

About FranConnect

FranConnect is the leading enterprise software provider for franchise and multi-location businesses. For over 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 1500 brands and 350,000 units worldwide. These brands rely on FranConnect to expand locations, streamline unit operations, enhance collaboration across the network of locations, and improve profitability. FranConnect’s customers are some of the most iconic and recognized brands in the industry, including SPARC/Authentic Brands (Forever 21), Tropical Smoothie Café, Authority Brands, and Papa Johns. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global offices in Australia, India, Colombia, and Canada. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

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HERNDON, Va., July 27, 2023 - FranConnect, the leading franchise, and multi-location management software provider, is excited to announce its launch of the Sign-to-Pay solution in partnership with Flywire (Nasdaq: FLYW), a global payments enablement and software company. FranConnect users can now access Sign-to-Pay directly within the FranConnect platform for key payment flows – bringing best-in-class payment processing to more than 1,500 brands. The Sign-to-Pay solution helps businesses save time and money by automating the collection of initial franchise payments. By streamlining this process, franchisors can dramatically speed up unit opening and start generating revenue more quickly.

For many franchise brands, collecting Initial Franchise Fees (IFF’s) and other upfront investments from new franchisees is a manual, error-prone, and inefficient process. The Sign-to-Pay solution allows franchise brands to collect the Initial Franchise Fee (IFF) and any other upfront investments automatically, online, as soon as a franchise agreement is executed. The payment is facilitated via a seamless integration with Flywire into the FranConnect platform that allows new franchisees to submit their payments via a variety of payment methods and currencies.

"Our customers have told us for years that the speed-to-open problem for new franchise units is a serious pain point, which impacts the bottom line for them and their new franchisees. The Sign-to-Pay solution transforms how franchisors execute the critical last mile of the franchise agreement by reducing the time it takes to collect that initial franchise fee”, said Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect. "Through this integration, franchisors can significantly reduce collection time from as long as 2 months to as short as 1 hour – in turn expediting revenue recognition and improving cash flow.”

The integration works by providing a “Pay Now” link on the FranConnect platform immediately after a new franchisee signs the franchise agreement. Following this link will redirect them to a dedicated Flywire payment page where submit their payment securely. Additional benefits for franchisors may include lower international processes fees, faster cash conversions, shorter collections cycle, and a reduction in days sales outstanding.

“Sign-to-Pay represents the first joint solution developed from our partnership with Flywire, and we are excited to see it brought to life,” said Ian Walsh, COO of FranConnect. “It is a great example of the power of our Technology partnership program. That program was designed to bring new value to our customers by introducing complementary 3^rd party solutions that extend the value of FranConnect to franchise and multi-unit businesses everywhere.”  

The Sign-to-Pay integration with Flywire is one of the key strategies for FranConnect to support franchise CFOs in increasing profitability and reducing days to first dollar.

Resources

To learn more about the Flywire and FranConnect partnership visit: FranConnect and Flywire

About FranConnect

FranConnect is the leading franchise management and multi-location management software provider. For over 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 1500 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses as well as half of the franchise brands listed in the “Smartest Growing Brands” list rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global offices in Australia, India, Colombia, and Canada. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

About Flywire

Flywire (Nasdaq: FLYW) is a global payments enablement and software company. Flywire combines its proprietary global payments network, next-gen payments platform and vertical-specific software to deliver the most important and complex payments for clients and their customers.

Flywire leverages its vertical-specific software and payments technology to deeply embed within the existing A/R workflows for its clients across the education, healthcare and travel vertical markets, as well as in key B2B industries. Flywire also integrates with leading ERP systems, so organizations can optimize the payment experience for their customers while eliminating operational challenges.

Flywire supports 3,300 + clients with diverse payment methods in more than 140 currencies across 240 countries and territories around the world. Flywire is headquartered in Boston, MA, USA with global offices.

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McLEAN, Va. – (June 6, 2023) – The  Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC), the trade association representing the region’s technology community, announced the winners for its 2023 Greater Washington Technology CFO Awards at an awards ceremony last night. This is the 27th year for this annual awards program, which is dedicated to celebrating leading finance professionals and officers across the greater Washington region.  

“This year’s CFO Award winners represent the leading minds in finance and technology,” said Jennifer Taylor, president and CEO of NVTC. “We’re honored to recognize their hard work and celebrate the individual achievements that have led Northern Virginia to become one of the leading technology hubs in the nation.”

“Our region’s technology sector has experienced a massive boom in recent years, becoming the area of choice for everything from early-stage startups to established market leaders,” said Shiv Varma, partner, KPMG and chair of this year’s CFO Awards program. “The CFO Awards mark an important milestone every year as we gather together to celebrate the innovative finance professionals that have made that growth possible.”

In addition to the traditional Public Company, Private Company, and Emerging Growth CFOs of the Year, the CFO Awards judges selected a winner from the finalists for a new category that was created. The Transaction of the Year award celebrates a CFO that stood out for their role in completing a significant business transaction during the year, and this year’s winner is Jeff Cook, of Octo, who was recognized for his role in Octo’s recent acquisition by IBM.

Finally, NVTC also recognized the Michael G. Devine Hall of Fame Award honoree, Rick Nadeau, and the 2023 Class of Rising Stars at last night’s awards ceremony. An independent panel of former CFO Awards winners selected this year’s winners in five award categories.  

The 2023 NVTC Technology CFO Awards winners are:

Emerging Growth CFO of the Year:
Andrew Volkmann, FranConnect  

Private Company CFOs of the Year:
Joe Harar, EdgeConneX
Silvana Hernandez, Pavion

Public Company CFO of the Year:
Susan Lynch, V2X, Inc.

Transaction of the Year:

Jeff Cook, Octo

2023 Class of Rising Stars:
Zach Blaine, Expel
Paul Donnell, FiscalNote
Emily Lane, Arcfield
Tim Mulieri, GTT Communications, Inc.
Matthew Robarge, Cision
Samantha Ross, Unanet
Amanda Williams, IonQ  

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Contact

 Tarin Horan

Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC)

thoran@nvtc.org

703.946.0319

About the Northern Virginia Technology Council

NVTC is the trade association representing the Northern Virginia technology community. As one of the nation’s largest technology councils, NVTC serves companies from all sectors of the industry, from small businesses and startups to Fortune 100 technology companies, government contractors, as well as service providers, academic institutions, and nonprofit organizations. More than 460 members look to the organization as a resource for networking and educational opportunities, peer-to-peer communities, policy advocacy, industry promotion, fostering of strategic relationships, and branding of the region as a major global technology center. Learn more at www.nvtc.org.  

SYDNEY, May 24, 2023 -- FranConnect, the leading franchise and multi-location management software provider, is excited to announce its expansion into the A/NZ and APAC markets. This marks an important milestone for FranConnect as it continues to grow its global footprint on the heels of its strategic acquisition of World Manager. Under the consolidated company, FranConnect offers the most comprehensive franchise and multi-location management solutions to franchisors and multi-location businesses in the market globally.

A key part of this expansion is the appointment of Paul Sharpe to its Executive Management Team as the new General Manager, A/NZ. Paul will be responsible for all go-to-market activities for FranConnect in A/NZ including strategy, sales, customer success, and the continued growth of all FranConnect product lines in the region.

Under Paul’s guidance, FranConnect is well-positioned to support the dynamic franchise and multi-location ecosystem in Australia and across APAC. The company's innovative technology and robust platform empower franchisors and other business owners to streamline their operations, enhance collaboration, and drive growth while providing franchisees and store managers with the tools they need to efficiently manage their businesses.

"Australia has a significant franchise and multi-location sector with tremendous potential for growth," said Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect. "Along with our World Manager acquisition, we are thrilled to bring FranConnect's cutting-edge franchise and multi-location management solutions to Australian franchisors and businesses, enabling them to optimise their operations, increase profitability, and achieve sustainable success.

“We can’t think of a better person to achieve this than Paul, and we welcome him into the FranConnect global team. Paul is a seasoned professional who brings a well-rounded and dynamic background to the team. He is a creative sales and business leader with demonstrated capabilities in transforming and building high-performance teams.”

Prior to FranConnect, Paul held senior leadership roles at Nexon, IBM, Samsung, and NTT, with extensive experience leading sales, product, and marketing teams; general business operations; transformations; and has managed acquisition integrations at scale.

Starting life as a franchise-focused software solution, FranConnect has expanded its services to include all multi-location businesses such as retail chains, restaurant & hospitality chains, automotive service centres, beauty & hair salons, healthcare clinics, and more.

FranConnect's software suite includes modules for onboarding and training, operations & compliance management, lead generation & marketing, performance analytics, and more. This allows businesses to streamline their operations, improve communication, and gain valuable insights to make informed decisions.

FranConnect has already secured many customers in Australia including Nike, Billabong, Domino’s, Nando’s, Gloria Jean’s Coffees, Hungry Jacks, and Ben & Jerry’s. Globally, FranConnect supports huge brands including A&W Restaurants, Snap Fitness, 9Round, Viet Thai and commands over 30% of the franchise businesses in North America.

Under Paul, FranConnect is expanding its Sydney-based team who have extensive local knowledge of the Australian franchise industry. This team will provide personalised support and guidance to its growing customer base and ensure a smooth transition onto the FranConnect platform, maximising the value they receive from the software.

"I’m thrilled to be joining the A/NZ team,” added Paul Sharpe, FranConnect’s General Manager, A/NZ. “FranConnect understands the unique challenges faced by franchisors and multi-location businesses in Australia. Our goal is to empower businesses with the right tools and resources to navigate those challenges successfully. We are excited to become part of the Australian franchise ecosystem and help companies achieve their growth objectives."

About FranConnect

FranConnect is the leading franchise management and multi-location management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 1500 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses as well as half of the franchise brands listed in the “Smartest Growing Brands” list rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global offices in Australia, India, Colombia, and Canada. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

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(HERNDON, Virginia) April 28, 2023 – Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) today announced that Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year^® 2023 Mid-Atlantic Award finalist. Now in its 37th year, Entrepreneur Of The Year is one of the preeminent competitive business awards for transformative entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies who are building a more equitable, sustainable, and prosperous world for all.

Gabby Wong was selected by an independent panel of judges. Entrepreneurs were evaluated based on their demonstration of building long-term value through entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and impact, among other core contributions and attributes.

“Great companies are a function of outstanding people who seek to make an impact, products that matter, and growth-minded customers who continuously evolve.” said Gabby Wong. “At FranConnect, we are fortunate to serve a market that embodies the entrepreneurial spirit of this award. On behalf of the entire FranConnect Team and as a tribute to the franchising entrepreneurs we serve, I am honored to be considered a finalist.”

Regional award winners will be announced on Thursday, June 22, during a special celebration. The winners will then be considered by the National judges for the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards, which will be presented in November at the annual Strategic Growth Forum^®, one of the nation’s most prestigious gatherings of high-growth, market-leading companies. The Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner will then move on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Award in June 2024.  

The Entrepreneur Of The Year program has recognized more than 11,000 entrepreneurs throughout the US since its inception in 1986, and it has grown to recognize business leaders across 145 cities in over 60 countries around the world.

Sponsors

Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards include presenting sponsors PNC Bank, N.A.; SAP America; and the Kauffman Foundation. In Mid-Atlantic, sponsors also include Cresa Global, Inc., Cooley LLP, DLA Piper LLP, ADP, and Kelly Benefits.

About FranConnect

FranConnect is the leading franchise management and multi-location management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 1500 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses as well as half of the franchise brands listed in the “Smartest Growing Brands” list rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global offices in Australia, India, Colombia, and Canada. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

About Entrepreneur Of The Year^®

Entrepreneur Of The Year^® is the world’s most prestigious business awards program for unstoppable entrepreneurs. These visionary leaders deliver innovation, growth and prosperity that transform our world. The program engages entrepreneurs with insights and experiences that foster growth. It connects them with their peers to strengthen entrepreneurship around the world. Entrepreneur Of The Year is the first and only truly global awards program of its kind. It celebrates entrepreneurs through regional and national awards programs in more than 145 cities in over 60 countries. National Overall Award winners go on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ title. Visit ey.com/us/eoy.

(HERNDON, Virginia) April 20, 2023 - FranConnect, the global leader of franchise and multi-location management solutions for driving success in sales, operations, and marketing, is proud to announce its Chief Financial Officer, Andy Volkmann, has been recognized as a finalist for the 27^th annual Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) Emerging Growth CFO of the Year Award.  This prestigious award recognizes top finance leaders for their extraordinary achievements and excellence in advancing the economic development of the region’s technology community. 

The panel of independent judges include former CFO award winners, who selected Volkmann for exceeding the traditional expectations of a CFO.  Selection criteria include company transformation, new technology implementation and innovation, and community service contributions.

 “Congratulations Andy Volkmann for being named a finalist for Emerging Growth CFO of the Year. His financial stewardship and commitment to building innovative, financially-secure businesses contributes to making our region one of the largest and most influential tech hubs in the nation,” said Jennifer Taylor, President, and CEO of NVTC. 

Volkmann has been recognized for his outstanding achievements in overseeing the financial operations of FranConnect since joining the company in 2020. Through his strategic financial planning and vision, Andy has been instrumental in helping guide the company through continuous stages of growth and completing two acquisitions in 2022 – FranchiseBlast and World Manager.

“I am honored to be named a finalist for this prestigious award.”, said Andy Volkmann. “This recognition reflects the hard work and dedication of the entire FranConnect team, as well as the dynamic and forward-thinking culture of our company. To be the CFO of a company that is constantly driving innovation, speed and scale for brands in the franchise and multi-location industry has been truly remarkable.”

Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, June 5, 2023, at The Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner in McLean, Virginia.

“Our region continues to be a hotbed of innovation that supports technology companies throughout the growth curve continuum — including early and mid-stage technology companies to mature market leaders,” said Shiv Varma, KPMG partner, and chair of this year’s CFO Awards program. “CFOs and finance executives play a pivotal role in making our technology ecosystem as successful and vibrant as it is today.”

About the Northern Virginia Technology Council

NVTC is the trade association representing the Northern Virginia technology community. As one of the nation’s largest technology councils, NVTC serves companies from all sectors of the industry, from small businesses and start-ups to Fortune 100 technology companies, government contractors, as well as service providers, academic institutions, and nonprofit organizations. More than 450 members look to the organization as a resource for networking and educational opportunities, peer-to-peer communities, policy advocacy, industry promotion, fostering of strategic relationships, and branding of the region as a major global technology center. Learn more at www.nvtc.org.

About FranConnect

FranConnect is the leading franchise management and multi-location management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 1500 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses as well as half of the franchise brands listed in the “Smartest Growing Brands” list rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global offices in Australia, India, Colombia, and Canada. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

Partnership aligns with Flywire’s strategy to pursue strategic partnerships as a key growth lever in B2B

Boston, MA, USA - February 22, 2023:  - Today,  Flywire Corporation (Flywire) (Nasdaq: FLYW) a global payments enablement and software company, is announcing a partnership with  FranConnect, the market leader in franchise management technology, to streamline the payment experience for franchisors looking to grow their businesses both domestically and internationally. FranConnect is expected to extend Flywire’s B2B payments platform through its marketplace to enable franchisors to easily collect royalties and fees from franchisees in different currencies around the world.

The partnership between Flywire and FranConnect is designed to provide franchisors more efficiency and access to analytics that enable them to accelerate the payment collection process. Flywire integrates directly into the FranConnect software, helping franchisors to automatically power every transaction, ranging from the initial payments required to sign a franchise agreement, all the way through to managing the ongoing royalty and fee payments from franchisees. Because franchisors can leverage Flywire all from within the familiar FranConnect platform, they can benefit from the ability to easily track and access payments, and to quickly and efficiently settle and reconcile payments.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Flywire and integrate their B2B payments platform into our marketplace,” said Gabby Wong, CEO, FranConnect. “Our brands leverage the FranConnect platform for everything from unit sales and territory development, to brand consistency, performance management, and royalty management but a critical missing piece is providing a seamless payment experience, for everything from set-up fees to managing ongoing royalty fees. Flywire enables us to meet that need, and our users will look to their payments capabilities to help them open-up new growth areas both domestically and abroad.”

The economic impact of the franchise industry is significant. The most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau suggests that 10.5% of all businesses are franchises, contributing $790 billion to the U.S. economy and creating more than 8 million jobs. Franchising is also one of the most common growth strategies for businesses in the U.S. as it enables them to expand into new regions without significant overhead. And increasingly, U.S. franchisors are looking to expand their business internationally to pursue revenue opportunities. The latest data from FRANdata expects franchises’ gross domestic product contribution to the overall economy to be 3% in 2022, with a growth higher than the pre-pandemic level, totaling a $501 billion economic contribution. 

Despite this growth potential, it can be difficult for franchisors to scale internationally. They face common headwinds, such as regulatory and statutory requirements in different countries. Additionally, the process of issuing invoices and collecting payments from multiple countries, in different payment types and often in different currencies is highly complex, and traditionally fraught with inefficiencies. In a recent Flywire survey, 88% of surveyed finance professionals said the complexities of collecting cross-border payments impacts their ability to grow internationally. Specifically, 95% say if they could deal with exchange rates in an easier way, they could accelerate their global expansion efforts. 

The integration between Flywire and FranConnect enables franchisors to overcome these common hurdles by providing a streamlined payment experience that can be tailored to their franchisees around the world. Powered by Flywire’s global payments network that supports more than 140 currencies in more than 240 global countries and territories, the payment experience through Flywire enables franchisees to pay in their local currency, and in their preferred payment method. Direct integration with FranConnect, as well as with other systems of record like NetSuite and other enterprise resource planning software, helps franchisors to easily collect royalties and fees on time and with full transparency into the payment statuses. Additional benefits for franchisors may include lower international processes fees, faster cash conversions, shorter collections cycle, and a reduction in days sales outstanding.

“We’re thrilled to partner with FranConnect as the first payments provider to help streamline both international and domestic payments for their network of franchisors,” said Greg Leven, SVP of B2B, Flywire. “With our powerful integration, the 1,500 franchise brands who use FranConnect to manage their operations can also rely on Flywire to power their critical transactions, all within a familiar interface.”

“My experience with global remittances before Flywire was characterized by payments being a number of days late, being hit with hidden fees, and managing a difficult reconciliation process,” said Jim Perkins, EVP International Development and Support, Dickey's Barbeque Pit. “Working with and incorporating Flywire as the payment option has been a productivity improvement for my partners, as well as a clear path to timely and financial clarity for all involved.”

Resources

• Flywire and FranConnect will be attending the 2023 IFA Annual Convention February 25th - March 1st, 2023 in Las Vegas. For a demo of their integrated solution, visit Booth #801. For more information visit: https://www.franconnect.com/ifa/
• To learn more about Flywire’s partnership with FranConnect, visit https://www.flywire.com/industries/b2b/franconnect
• To learn more about Flywire’s B2B payment solutions for the franchise industry, visit: Flywire B2B

About Flywire

Flywire is a global payments enablement and software company. We combine our proprietary global payments network, next-gen payments platform and vertical-specific software to deliver the most important and complex payments for our clients and their customers. Flywire leverages its vertical-specific software and payments technology to deeply embed within the existing A/R workflows for its clients across the education, healthcare and travel vertical markets, as well as in key B2B industries. Flywire also integrates with leading ERP systems, such as NetSuite, so organizations can optimize the payment experience for their customers while eliminating operational challenges. Flywire supports more than 3,000 clients with diverse payment methods in more than 140 currencies across 240 countries and territories around the world. Flywire is headquartered in Boston, MA, USA with global offices. For more information, visit  www.flywire.com. Follow Flywire on  Twitter,  LinkedIn and Facebook.

About FranConnect

FranConnect is the leading  franchise management software provider. For nearly 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 1500 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global offices in Australia, India, Colombia and Canada. For more information on FranConnect, visit  www.franconnect.com.

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(HERNDON, Virginia) February 8, 2023 - FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise and multi-location management solutions for driving success in sales, operations, and marketing, proudly announces key milestone achievements in 2022 that have propelled its growth, customer experience, and innovation trajectory. FranConnect expanded partnerships with over 100 brands and welcomed over 120 new franchise brands and multi-location businesses to its customer base, including Pet Valu, KOA, and Mathnasium. With more than 1,500 brands and 350,000 units worldwide relying on its solutions, FranConnect maintains its position as the “gold standard” and only platform helping multi-unit and franchise organizations achieve their business goals across all areas of their operations from supporting the brand to the owners and frontline employees.

“I want to thank our customers – who continue to partner with us year after year. Our industry-leading NPS shows how we continue to deliver for those brands – supporting their growth and transformation to enable better scale within their businesses,” said Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect. “I am proud of our 2022 results, which demonstrate that our differentiated approach to supporting specific franchise and multi-location processes like unit sales, field operations, royalty collection, and frontline employee training is unmatched in the market. As the market leader year after year, we continue to prove that FranConnect can deliver with the speed, scale, and innovation that brands expect in today’s dynamic market.”

This announcement comes on the heels of continued innovation in FranConnect’s core technology and offerings in the franchise market, including the acquisition of World Manager – a global provider of enterprise learning management and front-line employee engagement solutions to multi-unit businesses. Operations teams are now empowered todevelop and deploy highly customized branded content to support front-line employee training for improved onboarding and engagement and enable brands to monitor engagement success at the unit-level. This acquisition expanded FranConnect’s customer portfolio to include some of the largest multi-location brands, including Forever 21, Billabong, Domino’s, Long John Silver’s, Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux, Nando’s, Gloria Jean’s Coffees, and Ben & Jerry’s and further extend operations in Australia and Colombia.

As part of FranConnect’s strategy to continuously enhance the value of its platform, the company delivered a number of new products and solutions, including:

• Advanced Royalty Manager capabilities to support the complex royalty and fee calculations of international franchise systems.
• New capabilities for Performance Management of active units, including Franchise Scorecards that aggregate operational and performance information across disparate data sources into benchmark KPIs and a new Projects capability to track growth initiatives rolling out across the franchise system.
• Enhanced support for Multi-Unit Territory Development and Transfers and Terminations for enterprise brands.
• New Consulting Programs to assist brands in tackling key growth challenges including how to speed up onboarding, increase franchisee performance and improve brand consistency.

To capitalize on growth opportunities, FranConnect expanded its employee headcount by 20% in 2022 and made significant hires including:

• Michael Osovski named Vice President of Partnerships to expand FranConnect’s strategic partnership program.
• Larissa Levine named Vice President of Revenue Operations to scale go to market business processes.
• Molly Aiken named Vice President of Enterprise Sales to support the growing need of enterprise brands.
• Trevor Anthony named Chief of Staff to lead strategic planning and growth initiatives.
  

For more information on FranConnect’s newest products or to schedule a demo of the platform, visit www.franconnect.com.  

About FranConnect

FranConnect is the leading franchise management and multi-location management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 1500 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times' Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses as well as half of the franchise brands listed in the “Smartest Growing Brands” list rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global offices in Australia, India, Colombia, and Canada.

For more information on FranConnect's products and to schedule a demo, click here. 

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(HERNDON, Virginia) August 30, 2022— FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise management solutions for driving success in franchise sales, operations, and marketing, announced today it has acquired World Manager, a global provider of learning management and front-line employee engagement solutions to multi-location businesses. This acquisition marks a significant milestone for FranConnect in creating the industry’s only platform that helps franchise brands and multi-location businesses manage growth and operational success, end-to-end, from the brand to ownership groups and front-line employees. With this acquisition, FranConnect’s customer base is approaching close to 1500 brands and multi-location businesses worldwide and reaches over 350,000 locations and franchise units.

The addition of World Manager to the FranConnect platform brings complementary, enterprise learning management and content creation capabilities to FranConnect’s best-in-class franchise management solution. World Manager provides a way for multi-location businesses to develop and deploy highly customized branded content to support front-line employee training for improved onboarding and engagement and enables brands to monitor engagement success at the unit-level. Operations teams are empowered to deliver and monitor best practice training, access up-to-the-minute data, staff training results, performance appraisals and satisfaction surveys with benchmark reporting. World Manager’s customers include some of the largest multi-location retail, restaurant, and hospitality brands, including Forever 21, Nike, Billabong, Domino’s, Long John Silver’s, Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux, Nando’s, Gloria Jean’s Coffees, and Ben & Jerry’s.

“We are thrilled to welcome the World Manager’s world-class family of brands and employees to the FranConnect community,” said Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect. “World Manager’s learning management and engagement platform adds a highly strategic capability to FranConnect’s operations solutions, extending our reach from managing the relationship between the brand and franchisee to supporting the needs of multi-location ownership groups and their employees. We can now provide end-to-end visibility of drivers of growth and performance across all types of multi-locations businesses.”

 Founded in 2005 with offices in Australia, Canada, Colombia, and United States, World Manager’s solutions are used by over 500 brands and multi-location businesses across 60 countries. Their customers span the technology, restaurant, retail, finance, and service sectors and include over 50 employees worldwide. All employees and offices will now be a part of FranConnect’s global footprint.

“I founded World Manager 17 years ago with the idea that businesses of all sizes should have the best tools and software available when enabling and engaging with front-line employees. Early in my career, as a corporate trainer in the restaurant industry, I saw firsthand the impact of successful training on the engagement of front-line employees and growth of the business. It has been an honor to work alongside World Manager’s global leadership team to create one of the best employee training and communications platforms for multi-location businesses in the world. The power of this acquisition will enable our combined entities to provide the most robust tools to the market and drive more rapid scale and growth for our customers,” said Gary Valkenburg, Founder and CEO of World Manager.

To learn more about FranConnect's solutions, schedule a discovery meeting here.

About FranConnect

FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 1500 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global offices in Australia, India, Colombia and Canada. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

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HERNDON, Va., May 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise management solutions for driving success in franchise sales, operations, and marketing, today announced the appointment of Lorena Garcia to its executive leadership team as the Senior Vice President of Marketing. Garcia will be responsible for the entire end-to-end marketing function at FranConnect, including driving growth through innovative and scalable practices in account-based marketing, lead generation, market analysis, customer segmentation, digital marketing, and brand stewardship. 

Garcia is an accomplished SaaS industry veteran with over 20 years of experience in developing strategic plans and innovative multi-channel marketing programs that build market presence, expand brand recognition, increase customer retention, and drive direct and channel revenue growth for enterprise SaaS companies. Most recently, Lorena served as VP of Marketing of Level Access, a leading digital accessibility solutions provider, where she drove the company's demand generation, customer lifecycle marketing, and sales enablement initiatives. Previously, Lorena led go-to-market teams and demand generation at technology companies including Hobsons, Vonage and iCore Networks. Lorena's exceptional track record of success building ROI-focused marketing programs has led her to be recognized as a Star CMO by DCA Live in 2020 and 2021.

"The franchising and multi-unit business communities consistently recognize FranConnect as a highly respected technology leader that's instrumental to their business," said Garcia. "FranConnect delivers the only comprehensive franchise management solution, and they have proven success, world-class clients, and a foundation for continued growth. I couldn't be more thrilled to join the team and help build on the company's incredible momentum."

Garcia joins FranConnect after a tremendous growth year. In 2021, FranConnect welcomed over 125 franchise brands and multi-location businesses to its client roster, celebrating its highest-ever bookings year and expanded partnerships with more than 100 brands to triple its annual sales from 2020. FranConnect proudly counts approximately 900 franchise brands and over 300,000 units worldwide among its client base and is quickly becoming the "gold standard" for technology in the franchise industry. FranConnect has a focused market expansion plan and an ambitious technology, solutions, and experience management roadmap as it continues its push toward reaching over 1,000 customers and a half million locations worldwide.

To learn more about FranConnect and its franchise management software solutions, please visit www.franconnect.com.

About FranConnect

FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for approximately 900 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global operations in India and Canada. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

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HERNDON, Va., May 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) today announced that Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect, was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2022 Mid-Atlantic Award finalist. Entrepreneur Of The Year is one of the preeminent competitive business awards for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies who think big to succeed.

Gabby Wong was selected by a panel of independent judges according to the following criteria – entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and impact – among other core contributions and attributes.

“On behalf of the entire FranConnect organization, I am honored to be selected as a finalist for this prestigious award,” said Gabby Wong. “This recognition is a result of our unwavering commitment to provide the most innovative growth solutions for our franchise customers and in support of the broader franchise community. Franchising is one of the cornerstones of American entrepreneurship and a significant growth engine for our economy. Our solutions enable brands to sell and expand new franchisees faster than competitors, improve unit-level operations and processes, grow revenue streams, and ultimately drive rapid expansion into the marketplace. Supporting the success of entrepreneurs is our singular mission.”

“It’s a privilege to be considered alongside such an accomplished and innovative group of entrepreneurs in our thriving Mid-Atlantic community,” continued Wong.

Regional award winners will be announced on June 29, 2022. The winners will then be considered by the National judges for the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards, which will be presented in November at the annual Strategic Growth Forum^®, one of the nation’s most prestigious gatherings of high-growth, market-leading companies. The Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner will then move on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Award in June 2023.

For over 35 years, EY US has celebrated the unstoppable entrepreneurs who are building a more equitable, sustainable, and prosperous world for all. The Entrepreneur Of The Year program has recognized more than 10,000 US executives since its inception in 1986. Entrepreneur Of The Year Award winners have exclusive, ongoing access to the experience, insight and wisdom of fellow alumni and other members of the entrepreneurial community in over 60 countries — all supported by vast EY resources.

About FranConnect

FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for approximately 900 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global operations in India and Canada. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

About Entrepreneur Of The Year®

Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world’s most prestigious business awards program for unstoppable entrepreneurs. These visionary leaders deliver innovation, growth, and prosperity that transform our world. The program engages entrepreneurs with insights and experiences that foster growth. It connects them with their peers to strengthen entrepreneurship around the world. Entrepreneur Of The Year is the first and only truly global awards program of its kind.

It celebrates entrepreneurs through regional and national awards programs in more than 145 cities in over 60 countries. National overall winners go on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ title. ey.com/us/eoy

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HERNDON, Va., April 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise management solutions for driving success in franchise sales, operations, and marketing,announced today that it has added a powerful new tool to the company's already strong brand consistency capabilities: franchise scorecards. The franchise scorecards, part of FranConnect's Operations platform, equip franchise business consultants with impactful technology to help franchisees drive unit-level economics — replacing tedious and time-consuming manual processes.

"Our new franchise scorecards have the power to transform how franchise business consultants approach improving performance at the unit level," said Jaffrey Ali, Chief Product Officer. "Through FranConnect's technology, they can now aggregate data from field visits, surveys, self-assessments, POS systems, loyalty programs, and more to produce actional insights that further help automate the process of ensuring individual units are successful. We've taken best practices from franchising and standardized the visualization to allow for franchise business consultants to easily compare KPIs to quickly identify the biggest opportunities."

Using the franchise scorecards as a guide, franchise business consultants can then leverage other tools within FranConnect's Operations platforms to educate the franchisee on necessary improvements, direct them to training content, or assign a playbook with a set of tasks to address the highlighted concern.

"Incorporating FranConnect's franchise scorecards had an immediate positive impact on our brand," said Tony Caballero, CFE, Senior Vice President of Operations at Walk-On's Sports Bistreaux. "This capability allowed the team to compare the business in a new light by pulling together data from previously disparate systems and boiling it down into a concise view of performance based on our KPIs. The feedback from our field teams and franchisees has been overwhelmingly positive as they see it as a valuable resource. If used as it is intended any business can benefit from this platform."

Franchise scorecards are the first of several operations-focused products FranConnect will introduce this year. FranConnect has made significant investments in operations over the last few years, including the acquisition of FranchiseBlast in 2021, and will continue to dedicate significant resources to bringing new products to market.

For more information on FranConnect's new franchise scorecards or to schedule a demo of the Operations platform, visit www.franconnect.com.

About FranConnect
FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for approximately 900 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global operations in India and Canada. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

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HERNDON, Va., Feb. 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise management solutions for driving success in franchise sales, operations, and marketing, announced today that Chris Shelley has been promoted to Chief Revenue Officer. This newest addition to FranConnect's C-suite comes as the company announced record sales growth for 2021.Shelley joined FranConnect's executive team in January 2021 as Senior Vice President of Enterprise Sales and has since tripled the size of the company's sales organization focused on Enterprise brands. Under his leadership, FranConnect welcomed multiple well-known brands to its client roster while expanding relationships with existing customers. The growth in FranConnect's Enterprise business served as the backbone for its highest-ever bookings year in 2021.

"The franchising business model continues to outperform the market. With rapid market consolidation and growth, our customers are increasingly turning to technology to support the enterprise transformation process and better scale their businesses," said Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect. "Chris's background in building successful go-to-market organizations focused on the needs of scaling, enterprise brands is a great match for the growth needs of our market."

Over the course of 2020 and 2021, FranConnect undertook an ambitious product road map, investing in expanded solutions in field operations, multi-unit operator support, royalty collection, and performance analytics, which have cemented FranConnect as the system of record for multiple stakeholders across the franchise business. "Taking these critical, new investments to market means that we likewise need to scale our sales organization to handle multiple customer stakeholders, expanded users, and an increasingly global marketplace," said Wong.

In this newly created position, Shelley will oversee all aspects of global sales, account management and revenue operations.

"With increasing investments from private equity firms and other outside parties, the needs of the Enterprise franchise market have become increasingly sophisticated. FranConnect has the growth strategy and the products in place to align with this evolving landscape," said Shelley. "I am thrilled to embark on this new role to usher FranConnect into its next stage of growth in 2022."

About FranConnect
FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for approximately 900 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global operations in India and Canada. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

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HERNDON, Va., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise management solutions for driving success in franchise sales, operations, and marketing, announced record sales growth in 2021. FranConnect welcomed over 125 franchise brands and multi-location businesses to its client roster, celebrating its highest-ever bookings year and expanded partnerships with more than 100 brands to triple its annual sales from 2020. FranConnect proudly counts approximately 900 franchise brands and over 300,000 units worldwide among its client base and is quickly becoming the “gold standard” for technology in the franchise industry.

“Over the last two years, we made an unwavering commitment to solve the hardest problems faced by the franchise industry and to support our customers during considerable market volatility,” said Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect. “We fundamentally believe that the operational challenges faced by franchise brands are unique and require franchise-specific enterprise technology to achieve scaled growth. Brands not only require applications that support specific processes like franchise sales, field operations, and royalty collection, but also need a clearer view of the performance of the franchise system as a whole and standardized methods for engaging with owners.”

FranConnect reported that increased adoption of its Operations solution, launched in 2020, drove over one-third of the company’s sales growth in 2021, largely due to customers seeking technology that automates support of unit-level operational needs. The growing challenges of labor shortages, continuously-evolving regulatory and health requirements, and greater pressure for unit-level profitability means that Brands are looking for solutions that help drive better results. As a result, FranConnect expects continued growth in market adoption of its Operations solution in 2022.

“Working with FranConnect has been a real blessing. It’s given us data at our fingertips and it's allowed us to take the data to manage the business.” said Chris Dull, CEO of Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, a fast casual franchise concept with more than 400 locations across 34 states. “Coming into Freddy’s organization, we had dozens of spreadsheets and other data assets around the company that all operated in silos. And we were able to take all of that data and aggregate it into the FranConnect system, which created one source of truth.”

For the coming year, FranConnect has a focused market expansion plan and an ambitious technology, solutions, and experience management roadmap as it continues its push toward reaching over 1,000 customers and a half million locations worldwide. After growing its employee base by 20% last year, FranConnect is continuing to hire across all functions as part of the company’s growth plans. FranConnect was recently named one of the 2022 “Best Places to Work in Virginia” by Virginia Business. In the coming weeks, FranConnect will open an office in the United Kingdom, its first office in Europe, to better serve the EMEA market and will continue to grow its strategic partnership program, including the Consulting Alliance Partnership Program launched in April 2021.

“We continue to heavily invest in our multi-year growth strategy across all areas of our business, including our product, people, and customer experience and will look to expand our partnership capabilities to provide broader reach,” said Wong. “The success of our customers and the broader franchise market over the last two years demonstrates the strength of the franchise business model and its ability to continue to drive economic growth and recovery. We look forward to continuing to be a premier vendor and partner in this market.”

About FranConnect
FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for approximately 900 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global follow-the-sun operations. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

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HERNDON, Va., Dec. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise management solutions for driving success in franchise sales, operations, and marketing, announced today it has expanded its C-suite, promoting current marketing leader Ian Walsh to the newly established position of Chief Operating Officer. Walsh is charged with overseeing the company's cohesive approach to all forward-facing customer operations, from customer enablement and adoption to retention and market development.

Walsh joined FranConnect in 2020 as Senior Vice President of marketing and over the past two years has built a high-performing, professional marketing function to drive customer acquisition growth. Earlier this year he also assumed responsibility for the customer success team, integrating marketing best practices and scale into customer engagement. As COO, he will oversee professional services, customer success, strategy & commercialization and a newly developed function dedicated to partnering with other services and technology companies to jointly serve customers and the franchising market.

"2021 has been a year of tremendous growth for FranConnect, and the time is right to expand our leadership team as we prepare for 2022," said Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect.  "In order to drive even greater impact and value for our customers throughout their journey with us, we must operate with cohesion and consistency across all areas. Ian has shown an impressive ability to work with the talented leaders throughout our organization, putting strategy into action and delivering results."   

While FranConnect's success this past year included building new and expanded relationships with more than 100 franchise brands and multi-location businesses, the company also delivered on several new investments in technology. These included the integration of new Field Operations capabilities from its acquisition of FranchiseBlast, streamlined unit opening processes, and expanded use of Artificial Intelligence for increased franchise development effectiveness.

"The incredible momentum we have experienced over this past year has created a perfect opportunity to evolve our structure as we look to 2022 and beyond," said Walsh. "Our teams are going to be working together like never before as we refine how we bring new products to market and support our clients in every step of their own growth plans."

About FranConnect
FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 800 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global follow-the-sun operations. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

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HERNDON, Va., Nov. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise management solutions for driving success in franchise sales, operations, and marketing, today announced the expansion of its partnership with BrandONE, a premier franchise development consultancy in America, to further ignite growth for franchisors through the companies' deep expertise in franchisee recruitment and technology.

FranConnect and BrandONE are both widely recognized as innovative, industry-leading franchise suppliers with extensive experience developing customized solutions to help franchisors achieve their growth goals, including driving best-in-class franchisee recruitment, assisting customers with recruiting the highest caliber franchise partners to sustainably grow their brands.

For over five years, BrandONE has designed thoughtful strategic approaches to lead generation to attract franchisors' ideal candidates. FranConnect's powerful technology is an integral part of BrandONE's education process to tell a franchisor's story, ensuring that prospects understand everything about the business to make an informed decision while, in turn, recruiting the best franchisees for each brand. In addition to nurturing candidates, FranConnect's software expertly qualifies and prioritizes prospects while providing detailed data that allows BrandONE and its clients to track progress toward their franchise development goals. Earlier this year, FranConnect also introduced a fully automated e-signature capability for franchise disclosure documents (FDD), artificial intelligence to boost sales effectiveness, dashboards to improve unit onboarding, and other enhancements.

"At FranConnect, we are continuously seeking ways to bring more value to the over 800 customers we serve worldwide, from improving unit profitability and driving franchisee engagement to streamlining operational data and selling more units," said Keith Gerson, president of franchise operations for FranConnect. "BrandONE is a world-class leader in franchise development and aligns with our belief that the best partners simplify a brand's growth journey by operating as an extension of an organization. We're excited to formalize our partnership, which will make them a part of our partner marketplace, and provide additional exposure to our customer base, who can benefit from their expertise."

"BrandONE understands how crucial it is to recruit franchisees rather than simply sell to prospects. Matching the right high-quality candidates to the right brands leads to smart growth and our approach has led to long-term success for the brands we represent," said Peter Barkman, partner and chief growth officer of BrandONE. "Since its inception, BrandONE has exclusively used the FranConnect platform as our system of record for our customers because of its power to deliver in multiple areas of the recruitment process. Together, BrandONE and FranConnect will continue to drive successful, sustainable growth."

For more information about FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com. For more information about BrandONE, visit www.brandonefd.com.

About FranConnect
FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 800 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global follow-the-sun operations. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

About BrandONE
BrandONE is the premier franchise development consultancy in America. BrandONE partners with franchisors to sustainably grow enterprise value. Founded by industry leaders Kurt Landwehr, Michael Mudd, Dave Schaeffers, Jason Barclay and Peter Barkman, the BrandONE team has over 200+ years collective experience in growing the Nation's top brands. BrandONE is known for their diverse experience across business verticals as well as their experience in all operational divisions within various well known franchise organizations. For more information about BrandONE, visit www.brandonefd.com.

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. and HERNDON, Va. — Franchise industry powerhouses FranConnect and FranNet have announced a new partnership that will allow them to harness the power of their respective specialties in an effort to empower brands and their future partners. 

FranNet, North America’s most respected leader in matching individuals with franchise ownership opportunities, brings its proprietary profiling tool and local franchise experts to the partnership, while FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise management solutions for driving success in franchise sales, operations and marketing, offers a full array of solutions for operators.

“This collaboration is a win/win for both FranConnect and FranNet,” said Keith Gerson, CFE, President of Franchise Operations at FranConnect. “But the biggest winners are our partner brands, who will benefit from our respective expertise in the franchise arena, including proven-franchise leadership and best in class tools and methodologies.”

The partnership between the brands — which features full integration between the two companies’ software platforms – allows them to offer their services as a one-stop, single package that takes brands from franchisee recruitment to franchise management. 

FranNet’s Entrepreneur Profile uses a series of psychometric assessments to equip franchisors with insights about their candidates, enabling companies to make informed decisions about current and prospective franchisees. 

FranConnect’s software helps franchisors and multi-unit businesses simplify their growth journey. Used by brands of all sizes, FranConnect’s powerful cloud platform can help you sell and open more units, increase unit revenue and profitability, streamline operations, and improve franchisee engagement.

“With a mutual goal of eliminating uncertainty by selecting the right franchise partners in the first place, then fine-tuning their operations and processes, the groundbreaking partnership is an exciting solution for brands looking to grow,” said Jania Bailey, CEO of FranNet.

“According to FranConnect’s 2021 mid-year Franchise Sales Index, FranNet has the highest lead-to-deal conversion rate among major franchise referral networks. We believe that this ​​illustrates how we help make FranConnect customers more successful and that, together, we can provide franchise brands with everything they need to build effective and successful franchise partnerships.”

About FranNet

FranNet is North America’s most respected leader in matching individuals with franchise ownership opportunities. Founded in 1987, FranNet has more than 100 experienced consultants across the United States, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom. FranNet uses a proprietary profiling and consultative process to determine a business model unique to each client’s goals, skill sets and interests, and has matched thousands of prospective business owners to rewarding small business franchise opportunities. Based in Louisville, Kentucky, FranNet has been recognized by Inc. magazine as one of the fastest growing private companies in America for the last five years.

About FranConnect, Inc.

FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 800 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global follow-the-sun operations. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

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(HERNDON, Virginia) July 15, 2021 — FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise management solutions for driving success in franchise sales, operations, and marketing, today announced that in the first half of 2021 the company achieved its highest-ever revenue growth and rate of customer acquisitions. FranConnect added or expanded relationships with more than 100 franchise brands and multi-location businesses — spanning more than 35,000 franchise locations. Those new clients and expanded partnerships now include nearly half of Entrepreneur’s Top 50 and Top 100 Franchises.

“Throughout the challenges of the last year, we worked closely with our customers and the market to help us sharpen our view on the broader technology needs of the franchising ecosystem,” said Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect. “Over the course of the first half of 2021, we delivered on an ambitious technology roadmap that goes well beyond franchise development in order to solve the growing challenges faced by brand CFOs and COOs, as well as franchise owners. As the only enterprise-class software company solely focused on supporting franchise and multi-location businesses, we continue to dig deeper to unlock solutions to the hardest and newest business challenges facing this market. Our first-half performance is a reflection of this strategy, with significant planned product investments for 2021 and 2022.”

Technology Innovations

FranConnect continues to invest in technology to better serve franchisors and multi-unit businesses. In the first half of 2021, the company delivered several new enhancements that benefited the market and contributed to the company’s growth:

• Fully automated E-Signature capability for Franchise Disclosure Documents (FDD)
• New board-level dashboards and analytics provide a comprehensive overview of franchise development performance from lead sourcing to unit onboarding
• Expanded use of Artificial Intelligence tools to automate lead generation and boost sales effectiveness
• Improved unit onboarding based on more granular control of the opening process with workflow and task management.
• New broker management support to quantify and improve the effectiveness of franchise referral consultants
  
  

In addition to customer adoption of new product innovations, FranConnect’s accelerated momentum in 2021 stems from strategic partnerships the company rolled out in the first months of the year. In January, the company acquired FranchiseBlast, creating the industry’s only platform that helps franchise brands and multi-location businesses manage operational success, end-to-end, from the brand to the unit-level. In the second quarter of 2021, FranConnect established a Consulting Alliance Partnership Program with industry-leading consultants Franchise Performance Group, MSA Worldwide, iFranchise Group, and FranNet. These partnerships make customers more successful by pairing the domain expertise of leading franchise consultants with FranConnect technology. Additionally, FranConnect grew its team by nearly 20% overall, particularly in the areas of Customer Support, Engineering, and Product Management.

FranConnect’s impressive momentum is translating to success for its customers, as well. Paris Baguette, an international, French-inspired bakery with more than 4,000 locations worldwide, beat its own growth goals by closing an unprecedented volume of new deals in early 2021.

“We have been using FranConnect as we nurture leads, streamline overall operations and build roadmaps for our café openings,” said Mark Mele, chief development officer for Paris Baguette. “Our team had set aggressive sales and opening goals for 2021, and we were challenged with a database of leads weighed down with thousands of contacts that hadn’t been contacted in over four years. With the help of FranConnect’s outreach and lead nurture programs, we closed 25 deals in the first quarter alone and added 28 more in April. The support of FranConnect’s robust platform in all areas of our business has made the difference in our success.”

For more information about FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

About FranConnect

FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 800 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global follow-the-sun operations. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

# # #

(HERNDON, Virginia) May 27, 2021 — FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise management solutions for driving success in franchise sales, operations, and marketing, today released its first annual Franchise Operations Index Report, a comprehensive analysis of the ever-evolving role of franchise business consultants. In the 2021 report, FranConnect analyzed over 165,000 franchise business consultant interactions between Jan. 1, 2019 to Dec. 31, 2020 to help franchisors understand the impact of COVID-19 on franchise operations teams and benchmark their strategy and success against the broader industry.

The 2021 Franchise Operations Index Report represents data from more than 600 of FranConnect’s customers, from Micro-Emerging brands (10 locations or less) to Enterprise concepts (300+ locations), across multiple industries, including quick-service restaurants, retail, automotive, personal services, and commercial and residential services, among others.

Key findings in the 2021 Operations Index Report include:

• Franchisor-driven evaluations increased 9.4% in 2020 as brands shifted to more frequent, virtual interactions focused on ensuring franchisees were weathering the storm rather than the traditional compliance audit.
• The number of self-assessments more than tripled in 2020, as franchisors more heavily relied on them as the pandemic persisted.
• Unscored audits increased by 29% in 2020, which had been a growing trend even in pre-pandemic times.
• Evaluation strategies have clearly shifted, with a majority of brands now using a combination of scored audits, unscored audits, and self-assessments.
• The pandemic increased franchisee business consultants’ span of control by over 21%, with each coaching an average of 34 units in 2020. This was primarily due to downsizing and furloughs, as well as franchise business consultants’ ability to oversee more units because they were not spending time traveling.

“In the current environment, operating a franchise business is more important than ever — elevating the need for franchisors to have a sound strategy to drive performance that can withstand good times and bad,” said Jason Kealey, Vice President of Strategy at FranConnect. “FranConnect is deeply focused on supporting our customers’ operational needs. We not only want to provide solutions that help them see their own performance, but also be able to leverage our collective data to see how they are performing against the broader industry. Our Operations Index Report is the only strategic analysis of its kind and is positioned to become the gold standard for how our industry tracks and evaluates the activities of franchise business consultants.”

To download the full 2021 Operations Index Report and to watch FranConnect’s recorded webinar, visit https://www.franconnect.com/opsindex.

 About FranConnect

FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 800 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global follow-the-sun operations. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

# # #

(HERNDON, Virginia) May 19, 2021 — FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise management solutions for driving success in franchise sales, operations, and marketing, today announced that MSA Worldwide is among the first to join its newly launched Consulting Alliance Partnership Program. With this program, franchises in all stages of development have access to the expertise of top franchise management platform experts who can offer their guidance on implementing FranConnect’s technology in their business.

“FranConnect is committed to bringing the best technology and consulting expertise to the market, and MSA Worldwide has a long-standing reputation for being a leading trusted advisor to franchise brands,” said Keith Gerson, president of franchise operations for FranConnect. “The combination of our technology and their process expertise will continue to strengthen the user experience for our customers and guide them in getting the most out of our solutions.”

MSA Worldwide has spent the last 34 years developing leading edge strategies that help both emerging and established franchisors maximize their performance and efficiencies. From the design and development of franchise systems, sales support and training programs to expansion strategies and operational review, MSA leads clients through each step and helps them build upon their success.

“MSA Worldwide has worked hard to build our reputation as strategic and tactical advisors in franchising, and it is important to us to align with other suppliers we can trust to give our clients that same high standard of service,” said Andrew Seid, senior consultant for MSA Worldwide. “FranConnect has been a staple in this industry for a long time, providing effective solutions for franchisors who are ready to commit to their growth and success. At MSA, we know a client is serious about franchising when they are working with FranConnect, and it validates our work when they successfully connect our strategy and advice with the technology to support it. We look forward to working together for continued client success."

About FranConnect
FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 800 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global follow-the-sun operations. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

# # #

HERNDON, Va., April 27, 2021 -- FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise management solutions for driving success in franchise sales, operations, and marketing, today released its 2021 Franchise Sales Index Report. Now in its seventh year, FranConnect's Franchise Sales Index is the industry's most comprehensive analysis of the franchise development function, offering franchisors unparalleled insights into the state of franchise development and strategies for increasing effectiveness and efficiency in the franchise sales process.

This year's data represents the real-world franchise sales activities of over 600 of FranConnect's customers in 2020, from Micro-Emerging brands (10 locations or less) to Enterprise concepts (200+ locations), segmented by industry, including personal services, quick-service restaurants, commercial and residential services, retail food, and more.

Key findings in the 2021 Franchise Sales Index Report include:

• Lead generation was significantly down, with Enterprise brands seeing leads decline by 36%. By industry, Business Services saw the largest decline in leads (72%).
• Total deals closed declined 28.8% year-over-year, but two industries — Commercial and Residential Services and Retail Food — saw increases in the number of deals per brand.
• Trade Shows & Conferences were the only lead generation source that saw a slight increase over 2019, showing that the national shift from in-person events to virtual ones didn't diminish interest in franchising.
• Franchise referral consultants were the biggest source of deals, indicating their status as a trusted, objective source amid pandemic-driven uncertainty.
• The number of days from inquiry to close rose dramatically. On average across all industries, the sales cycle time more than doubled.

"While our data reveals that the franchise sales function overall took a big hit in 2020 because of the pandemic, franchise brands of all sizes continued their recruitment efforts and reported strong results despite the incredibly challenging environment," said Keith Gerson, president of franchise operations for FranConnect. "What's abundantly clear is that there has been pent-up demand, so as the country continues to recover, franchise sales teams should be preparing for a rebound. They should be ready for an influx of leads and focusing on speed-to-lead and booking appointments to ensure they don't lose great, qualified candidates."

To download the full 2021 Franchise Sales Index Report, visit www.franconnect.com/salesindex. FranConnect is also offering franchise brands a unique opportunity to request a custom report comparing their sales performance against anonymized data from more than 800+ franchise brands. To request this custom benchmark report, contact FranConnect at franconnect.com/SalesBenchmark.

About FranConnect
FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 800 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global follow-the-sun operations. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

# # #

(HERNDON, Virginia) April 20, 2021 — FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise management solutions for driving success in franchise sales, operations, and marketing, today announced that it has established a new Consulting Alliance Partnership Program to provide customers with broader, more cohesive opportunities for implementing the FranConnect technology in their business. Now franchises in all stages of development will be able to tap into the expertise of industry-leading consultants that have partnered with FranConnect to offer their guidance on implementing the technology in their business.

“As the franchising market continues to adopt technology more aggressively, we are committed to partnering with the best in the business to improve the user experience and help franchisors get the most out of these solutions,” said Keith Gerson, president of franchise operations for FranConnect. “The Consulting Alliance Partnership is bringing together top franchise management platform experts with customers who will benefit from their expertise in adopting and engaging with our technology. Our customers gain access to the best practices and domain expertise of our partners, and our partners have an opportunity to develop tighter, ongoing relationships with leading franchisors.”

One of the first industry experts to join FranConnect’s Consulting Alliance Partnership Program is Franchise Performance Group (FPG), a full-service outsourced franchise development solution. For almost 20 years, FPG has been working in the trenches with over 120 franchisors — including Marco’s Pizza, Sport Clips, Christian Brothers Automotive, and College Hunks Hauling Junk — to transform their franchisee recruitment by drastically improving their lead generation and franchise sales process, and providing expert outsourced franchisee recruitment services.

“Franchise Performance Group brings a high level of experience to the table in a typical year, helping our clients close 200-400 deals annually. This new consulting alliance allows FranConnect customers to tap into our deep expertise — particularly how to use FranConnect to drive results for franchise development,” said Joe Mathews, CEO of Franchise Performance Group. “FranConnect is known for listening to the needs of its customers and for responding with solutions that help solve their problems, and we’re proud to be one of FranConnect’s partners and a franchise sales domain area expert."

The Consulting Alliance Partnership is another example of how FranConnect continues to develop new products and solutions targeted to the unique needs of customers in different phases of growth. In 2020, the company made significant investments in new franchise operations capabilities, including pre-built playbooks for opening processes, franchisee scorecard and performance tracking, territory planning, and many other critical operational requirements.

About FranConnect

FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 800 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global follow-the-sun operations. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

# # #

FORT WORTH, Texas, February 23, 2021 – Xpressdocs®, a provider of brand management and marketing automation platforms, announced today that it has partnered with FranConnect®, the leading provider of franchise management solutions for driving success in franchise sales, operations, and marketing, to create an integrated solution to help franchise owners efficiently source branded materials and easily create and execute local marketing campaigns.

“Many of our franchise and multi-unit clients already find incredible value in using Xpressdocs in their day-to-day operations, so the tighter integration just made sense,” stated Jaffrey Ali, Chief Product Officer for FranConnect. “Our integration with Xpressdocs will help our clients more efficiently source the materials they need to operate and market their businesses locally.”

“In addition to providing FranConnect’s clients with direct access to Xpressdocs’ fulfillment center to assist with production, inventory management and distribution of branded materials, we’re excited to power a new automated direct mail option to support lead nurturing within the FranConnect platform,” said Darrin Rayner, Executive Vice President of Xpressdocs.

Neighborly®, the world’s largest franchisor of home service brands, currently partners with both FranConnect and Xpressdocs to support their growing portfolio of brands. Lori Johnson, Sr. Vice President of Brand Management for Neighborly commented that “FranConnect and Xpressdocs already provide great individual value to our brands, and we expect this partnership will help our owners operate more efficiently, while providing tools to maximize customer loyalty.”

To learn more, FranConnect customers can contact your customer success manager for more details.

About FranConnect
FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 800 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global follow-the-sun operations. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

About Xpressdocs
Xpressdocs is an innovative provider of brand management and direct marketing solutions. Xpressdocs’ solutions are highly configurable, enabling a distributed user base to efficiently source and customize a wide range of brand-compliant products and services. Xpressdocs proprietary software, US-based contact center and vertically integrated fulfillment capabilities, combine to deliver unmatched quality, consistency and speed to market, while helping our client organizations realize significant cost reductions through automation and reduced overhead. Xpressdocs is a proud partner to organizations that span the spectrum of growth phases, from start-ups to established Fortune 500 brands

# # #

(HERNDON, Virginia) Jan. 19, 2021 — FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise management solutions for driving success in franchise sales, operations, and marketing, announced today it has acquired FranchiseBlast. The acquisition marks a significant milestone for FranConnect in creating the industry’s only platform that helps franchise brands and multi-location businesses manage operational success, end-to-end, from the brand to the unit-level.

The addition of FranchiseBlast’s software to the FranConnect platform brings complementary, best-in-class capabilities to FranConnect’s operational management solution, particularly in field management, including site audits and self-assessments. FranchiseBlast’s field audits app streamlines the process of scheduling, performing, analyzing, and acting upon field audits to improve franchisee engagement, enhance unit-level economics, and ensure franchisee compliance while reducing field operations and infrastructure overhead. In between field audits, FranchiseBlast’s franchisee self-assessments help operators continuously improve, keeping a pulse on how they are performing while ensuring brand consistency and compliance.

“Over the last 14 years, FranchiseBlast has emerged as a respected provider of franchise management solutions, serving the specific needs of field operations teams. With FranchiseBlast’s capabilities in field audits, self-assessments, and reach into the unit-level, we saw an enormous opportunity to enhance FranConnect’s enterprise operations and performance management solution to deliver an unmatched platform for brands seeking to drive operational success across the franchise system,” said Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect. “FranConnect has a deep commitment to helping the franchise industry thrive and we are continuously focused on how we can better serve current and future customers. As the market drives to greater growth and recovery, brands will require targeted solutions that enable improved reach and visibility into the unit-level.”

Founded in 2007, FranchiseBlast has grown to represent more than 100 franchise brands and multi-location businesses across the restaurant, retail, and service sectors, including FOCUS Brands, Liberty Tax, Duck Donuts, Best Life Brands, Ballard Brands, Recipe Unlimited, Goldfish Swim School, ComForCare Home Care, and more.

“FranConnect has aggressively invested in its products and solutions over the last several years in order to create the only purpose-built enterprise platform for franchise brands and has set the pace for technology providers in the franchise technology marketplace,” said Jason Kealey, Eng., CFE, President of FranchiseBlast. “We’ve worked extremely hard to build solutions that help our customers achieve greater unit-level performance and are thrilled to join the FranConnect team to help provide a broader set of operational capabilities to the more than 800 brands it serves. Now that FranchiseBlast is part of FranConnect, our customers will have access to and integration with the full breadth of the FranConnect enterprise growth platform, including services and support from the largest and most-established software company in franchising.”

About FranConnect

FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 800 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global follow-the-sun operations. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

# # #

(HERNDON, Virginia) Jan. 13, 2021 — FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise management solutions for driving success in franchise sales, operations, and marketing, today announced a significant year of momentum across revenue, earnings, and customer acquisitions. FranConnect welcomed 100 new franchise brands and multi-location businesses to its platform, while also expanding its work with approximately 50 existing customers — collectively adding nearly 60,000 franchise units to the FranConnect platform. Overall, FranConnect supports over 800 franchise brands and over 200,000 franchise units. FranConnect’s new clients and expanded partnerships include national and international brands such as Sport Clips Haircuts, Hyatt, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Buzz Franchise Brands, Clean Juice Bar, and Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop. 

“Despite the economic impact COVID-19 has had on the market, franchising continues to be a strong business model that is critical part of economic growth, especially in capital-constrained environments. We saw an immediate need to help our customers navigate through the pandemic. Over the course of 2020, FranConnect’s products and solutions supported improved field operations and deeper franchisee engagement through the shutdowns, while leveraging our significant expertise in franchise development and growth to help our customers prepare for market recovery. We have a deep conviction in the franchise business model and its ability to fuel economic growth and recovery,” said Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect. “While 2020 was an unprecedented year full of uncertainty, we increased our investment in the business to ensure that we could continue to provide unparalleled support to our customers and be a part of the market recovery. We made significant steps forward in our products and people and transformed our go-to-market strategy to continue to provide unrivaled market leadership.” 

FranConnect’s success in 2020 can be credited to its significant investments in product capabilities, customer support and thought leadership, and an expanded sales leadership team. In 2020, FranConnect rolled out new business intelligence capabilities, implemented pre-built playbooks for opening processes, franchisee scorecard and performance tracking, and territory planning, launched a conversational AI solution to help franchisors convert more leads into sales opportunities, and overhauled the FDD management process with a proprietary e-signature workflow solution that is purpose-built for franchising. Additionally, in November, FranConnect opened a new Asia headquarters in the Noida region of New Delhi, India, to expand research and development for SaaS in the franchising sector.  

“Throughout Buzz Franchise Brands’ eight-year partnership with FranConnect, we’ve seen the platform continually evolve its robust capabilities in order to grow with us. FranConnect’s willingness to invest in its technology amid the COVID-19 pandemic in order to provide the franchise industry with actionable insights to help us grow was crucial to our success in 2020. FranConnect’s support has been unparalleled and we look forward to continuing to leverage its software solutions for many years to come,” said Kevin Wilson, Chairman & CEO, Buzz Franchise Brands. 

FranConnect also continued to invest in its executive team, creating new revenue leadership roles that align with its customers’ core markets and specific needs. FranConnect recently appointed Chris Shelley as Senior Vice President of Enterprise Markets. Prior to joining FranConnect, Shelley spent 12 years at CareerBuilder, most recently as Vice President of Sales & Success, Commercial & Consumer Services. At CareerBuilder, Chris was responsible for $100 Million in annual revenue across SaaS, Advertising and Data Analytics solutions across 5 business units spanning Middle Market through Fortune 100.  

FranConnect also promoted Tessa Husain as Vice President of SMB Markets. Husain has been with FranConnect for nearly three years, and most recently served as the Director of Sales for Emerging and Growth Sectors. During her tenure at FranConnect, Husain has been instrumental in shaping the go-to-market strategy for Emerging and Growth Markets. Specifically, she formulated and brought to market the Velocity Pack products which have been pivotal to the company’s growth and market penetration. “Having revenue leaders with focused responsibility in each of our distinct market segments will help us continue to drive forward new products and solutions that are targeted to the unique needs of our customers in different phases of growth. I am thrilled to add Chris and Tessa to our executive leadership team. Both are proven revenue leaders with a focus on customer success,” said Wong.  

About FranConnect 

FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 800 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global follow-the-sun operations. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

HERNDON, Va., Nov. 19, 2020 -- FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise management solutions for driving success in franchise sales, operations, and marketing, today announced it has opened a new office in New Delhi, India, dedicated to expanding the company's SaaS research and development in the franchising sector.

FranConnect's expanded and upgraded facility is located in the newly built Delhi One Center in the heart of Sector 16B in Noida, a booming hub for India's multi-billion-dollar technology scene. Since opening its first office in the country in 2000, FranConnect's India team has developed some of the company's most impactful software solutions that give franchise brands of all sizes the power to compete at a higher level — which has helped FranConnect become the industry leader it is today.

"This is a remarkable milestone for FranConnect as we look toward the future of technology in franchising. There is greater pressure than ever before for franchise companies around the world to foster engagement with franchisees and drive unit-level performance, and FranConnect has dedicated significant research and development resources to building best-in-class technologies that can help the franchise community solve these business challenges," said Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect.

The FranConnect Delhi/Noida office is home to 150 software engineers who will accelerate FranConnect's ability to provide current and future clients with software solutions that drive scaled growth, operational success, and improved unit-level performance systemwide via development, operations, and consumer-level marketing solutions.

"Our new office is evidence not only of the value FranConnect sees in expanding our presence in the Noida region, but also of our commitment to being a leading employer of high-caliber technical employees in one of India's leading technology centers," said Andrew Jackson, Chief Technology Officer at FranConnect. "We're excited about the cutting-edge software solutions this talented team will develop and look forward to continuing to grow in Noida."

The FranConnect Delhi/Noida office is located at Berger Delhi One, Floor 17, C-001/A2, Sector 16B, Guatam Buddha Nagar, Noida, UP, 201301, India.

About FranConnect
FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 800 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global follow-the-sun operations. 

Contact:
Alexya Williams
Fish Consulting
754-888-6302
awilliams@fish-consulting.com 

(HERNDON, Virginia) Oct. 8, 2020 — FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise management solutions for driving success in franchise sales, operations, and marketing, today announced a partnership with Lumin.ai, a technology platform that uses conversational artificial intelligence (AI) to convert more leads into sales opportunities. FranConnect’s customers can now leverage the integration of Lumin.ai to dramatically improve their franchise development efforts by automating and streamlining the early stages of their sales process — leading to a much higher conversion rate than traditional, manual sales tactics.

The Conversational AI solution works behind the scenes 24/7 to provide franchise sales teams with more efficient, immediate engagement of prospective franchisees. The SMS-based AI bot, based on the Lumin.AI Smart Scheduler, arranges introductory sales conversations and automatically populates calendars, seamlessly integrated with FranConnect’s core Sales CRM solution.

“After years of helping hundreds of franchise businesses improve their sales functions, we understand that ‘speed-to-lead’ is more important than ever. The Lumin.ai integration combines cutting-edge AI with user-friendly SMS communication to help FranConnect customers capture and engage leads more quickly while providing a better buyer experience in the process,” said Jaffrey Ali, Chief Product Officer. “And during a time when high-touch lead generation is not feasible, the frictionless sales process is an imperative.”

This newly-launched partnership has already garnered industry accolades as part of FranConnect’s initial launch. This past September, Floor Coverings International, a mobile floor-covering franchise, utilized FranConnect’s AI solution and was named the winner of the Franchise Update Media 2020 Innovation Awards in the Most Innovative Consumer Self-Service Tools category for its inventive use of technology to expand its system. Through this approach, Floor Coverings International reported a strong return on investment, including a 100% increase in its monthly leads from prospective franchisees and an improvement in its lead closure rate of over 40%.

“We know that ‘speed-to-lead’ makes a big difference in keeping franchisees engaged and FranConnect’s sales platform helped us leverage automation to ensure that all leads were engaged immediately,” said Tom Wood, CEO of Floor Coverings International. “FranConnect, together with Lumin.ai, has achieved the highest ROI of any platform in use by Floor Coverings International. We’re excited about what we’ll continue to achieve through this partnership.”

Founded in 2016 by Tom Ngo, a technology veteran with extensive experience creating and managing innovation at corporations ranging from Disney to early-stage startups, Lumin.ai was created to elevate AI conversational agents to the level of collaborators, in a field where most “bots” merely take commands, gather information, and answer questions.

“In the shifting landscape of customer expectations, it has become de rigueur to start relationships on the right foot by giving prospects control over when and how to communicate,” said Tom Ngo, CEO of Lumin.ai. “Through our partnership with FranConnect, we are providing franchise brands with technology that dramatically improves their ability to differentiate in a market where potential franchisees are increasingly awash with choice.”

FranConnect will host a live webinar with Lumin.ai to discuss the role of artificial intelligence in franchise development on Oct. 20 at 1 p.m. EDT. To learn more and register, please visit https://blog.franconnect.com/franconnect-webinar/role-of-ai-in-franchise-development.

About FranConnect
FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. For nearly 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 800 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global follow-the-sun operations. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

About Lumin.ai
Lumin.ai uses its proprietary conversational AI platform to engage leads in real time for companies in multiple industries such as franchise development, home improvement, new-home sales, and home financing. It drives top-line revenues by driving appointment volume as much as 300%, becoming an integral element of the sales process by automatically updating a company’s calendar, customer-relationship management (CRM) system, and sales personnel. Lumin.ai is located in Pasadena, California. Additional information may be found at www.lumin.ai.

Contact:
Alexya Williams
Fish Consulting
754-888-6302
awilliams@fish-consulting.com

Herndon, VA, August 19, 2020 – FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise management software, today announced the appointment of Andrew Volkmann as its Chief Financial Officer. A seasoned corporate finance executive, Volkmann brings more than 25 years of experience in emerging and mature companies in the software, robotics, and web retailing sectors, including with brands such as Hitachi, Tellme Networks, Inc., Netscape, and MinuteKEY.

“Over the last year, FranConnect has invested in building a strong leadership team capable of guiding the company through our next stage of growth. Andrew brings a wealth of diverse experience to FranConnect and we’re delighted to welcome him to the team,” said Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect. “His proven track record of scaling technology companies and extensive background in corporate finance will propel FranConnect forward, allowing for the company to continue to be the trailblazer for the future of franchise management software.”

Volkmann’s deep experience in the technology sector includes serving as CFO of MinuteKEY, which was named to the prestigious Inc. 5000, a ranking of the fastest-growing privately held companies in the U.S., several times during his tenure. Earlier in his career, Volkmann was a founding management team member and vice president of finance and administration at Tellme Networks, Inc., which in 2007 was acquired by Microsoft. Volkmann also held several roles in finance at Netscape Communications Corporation and served as the brand’s senior director of finance leading up to Netscape’s acquisition by AOL in 1999.  

“I have immense respect for everything FranConnect has achieved to become the leader in its space and with such potential for future growth, it’s an exciting time to join their exceptional team of franchise and technology experts,” said Volkmann. “I look forward to working alongside this talented leadership team to contribute to their vision of continuing to be the leader in innovative software solutions in the franchising space.”

About FranConnect

FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. For nearly 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 800 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global follow-the-sun operations. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

Herndon, VA, June 9, 2020 – FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise management software, today announced the release of its FranConnect Franchise Sales Index Report for 2020, the most complete and authoritative source of data, analytics and insights into the current state of Franchise sales. Now in its fifth year, the report reveals critical best practices relevant for franchise operators looking to confront the economic reality of the pandemic.

This year’s edition of the report benchmarks anonymized and aggregated data from 597 franchise brands representing the nine vertical markets consisting of Personal Services, Quick Service and Fast Casual Restaurants (QSR), Table/Full-Service Restaurants, Lodging, Retail Food, Retail Products & Services, Real Estate, Business Services, and Commercial & Residential Services.

“This year’s report confirms that there was already a notable decline in franchise sales leads before the pandemic, the result of a then full-employment economy. And now, with unemployment rates having skyrocketed, there is going to be a rush by those impacted as they seek new opportunities and a sense of control in these turbulent times,” said Keith Gerson, CFE, President of Franchise Operations at FranConnect. “What the pandemic has accomplished is to reveal the cracks that already existed in many franchise sales programs and systems.”

Some of the most important findings gleaned from the report serves as a guidepost to improved sales effectiveness:

• Total average lead volume per brand fell 12% year-over-year, likely due to the effects of 2019’s full-employment economy; but some sectors fared better than others;
• The overall deal closure rate (lead-to-deal ratio) decreased by 10% year-over-year, as Franchise Development teams struggled with stronger competition for a smaller overall pool of leads;
• Franchise Portals generated the most leads, while ranking fourth in terms of closed deals;
• Referrals and Brokers proved to be considerably more effective at helping to close deals, based on lead-to-sales conversion rates, relative to the prior year;
• 85% of the leads that resulted in deals were those that were contacted within the first four hours of their inquiry, demonstrating the power of “speed to the lead”;
• Lead follow-up processes are not implemented sufficiently in most organizations, as nearly three-quarters of all leads failed to receive meaningful responses.

The full 69-page Franchise Sales Index Report is available for free download here.

About FranConnect

FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. Its FranConnect platform engages stakeholders to grow, scale and optimize franchise systems through a connected and complete view of the business from sales to multi-unit and multi-brand performance. Over 800 brands — including 40 of the Entrepreneur’s Top 100 Global Franchises — in 18 countries count on FranConnect to run their franchise systems. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global follow-the-sun operations. For more information on FranConnect, visit: www.franconnect.com.

Herndon, VA, May 5, 2020 – FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise management software, today released updated data about the business impact on the franchising industry caused by the pandemic-induced downturn. The survey is an update to FranConnect’s original Business Impact survey conducted in late March, when shutdowns were just going into effect. The before-and-after comparisons give franchise businesses granular insight into how their peers have pivoted to survive, navigate and, in some cases, grow despite continued uncertainty.    

“Franchises have been among the hardest hit businesses by the COVID-19 pandemic. Widespread store closings and uncertainty are a fact of life for franchisees and brand executives across sectors,” said Robert Cresanti, CEO of the International Franchise Association. “These insights on franchise sales, executive perspectives, and ‘what’s next’ can guide businesses as they seek a path forward.”

The data revealed several positive indicators, especially related to Franchise Sales efforts, and expectations for franchisee churn. At the same time, many organizations now have longer, more realistic timeframes for location re-opening.

Among the key findings:

• Corporate Staff layoff projections are down dramatically, with 46% or organizations reporting unlikely to need further reductions, as compared to 21% a month earlier.
• Fewer than one-third of respondents now expect Franchisee churn in excess of 10%, down from nearly 50% of respondents one month ago.
• Many businesses that expected 2-month shutdowns now project 3-6 months, while at the same time, many organizations are accelerating their reopening.
• Some franchise leaders are optimistic about franchise sales recoveries, but a large portion of the group expect a more significant impact (50%+ drop in sales) now vs a month ago.

Survey Details: 233 respondents contributed to the collective dataset, concluded on April 30, 2020. Participants represented eight industries: Quick Service Restaurants, Business Services, Personal Services, Residential/Commercial Services, Real Estate, Full-Service Restaurants, Hotel/Lodging, and Retail Food Products & Services.

For a full breakdown of the survey results, click here.

About FranConnect

FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. Its FranConnect platform engages stakeholders to grow, scale and optimize franchise systems through a connected and complete view of the business from sales to multi-unit and multi-brand performance. Over 800 brands — including 40 of the Entrepreneur’s Top 100 Global Franchises — in 18 countries count on FranConnect to run their franchise systems. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global follow-the-sun operations. For more information on FranConnect, visit: www.franconnect.com.

FranConnect, the leading provider of franchise management solutions, has taken a big step forward in its plan to accelerate innovation with the hiring of Jaffrey Ali as Vice President of Product Strategy and Management.

“In the past few months, we embarked upon an extensive growth strategy discussion to further extend FranConnect’s role as the leading innovator in franchise technology. To fulfil this vision and extend our footprint, we are excited to welcome Jaffrey to our team” explained FranConnect President/ CEO (2019) Gabby Wong. “Jaffrey has an excellent background in both analytics and technology solutions and truly understands the product technology market from a strategy perspective. He’s a great addition to help us further drive FranConnect’s commitment to innovation.”

Ali, a seasoned product management and marketing executive, joins FranConnect with 20-years of product management experience with various technology companies building mission-critical software products for the consumer-packaged goods, risk management and emergency management industries. Ali has spent his career creating highly differentiated product offerings that have built startup environments into serious players in their industry, making him a sought-after expert in his field. Most recently, he served as Head of Product Management, Strategy and Marketing for Haystax Technology, a cybersecurity product company.

“I see FranConnect as an evolution of the work I’ve done building high-impact software that addresses the needs of certain verticals,” Ali said. “The franchise industry is compelling and home to so much entrepreneurship. FranConnect realized the industry was underserved and built its platform over the last decade around specific industry needs, becoming the most sophisticated and successful player in the space. There is a ton of opportunity to further legitimize the space and make franchise management systems like ours an integral and valuable part of franchise operations,” Ali said.

Ali’s background working with innovators and thought leaders in various industries to develop software solutions puts him in excellent position to lead product management and strategy for FranConnect. Ali plans to impact strategy by taking the company vision and creating a product roadmap for success, translating to concrete milestones for the product. The management aspect of his role will involve determining ways to build and invest in the product on an ongoing basis to gain customer traction and increase value for customers and, in turn, the company.

“The FranConnect product has so many uses and so much potential in the franchise industry,” Ali said. “The commitment the company has to itself and its product is inspiring. I’m excited about this role because FranConnect is at the right stage, in the right market and possesses the ability to make a huge impact. Franchise management requires new technologies and FranConnect has established itself as the go-to resource to deliver those. We are on the verge of the next phase of growth, ready to scale and become a nationally recognized innovator in the technology sector,” Ali said.

Wong added, “We’ve taken a close look at what the market really wants to see from FranConnect, and we have some exciting new products on the way in 2019. As we continue innovating beyond our projected roadmap, Jaffrey will play an essential role in helping us ensure that we have the best product management strategy in place as we take these new products to market in order to help both current and future clients receive the maximum benefit.”