Research studies show franchises enjoy more than a 90 per cent success rate. This statistic also indicates they secure the highest levels of accomplishment any type of business would aim for. However, as a franchise owner and more as a brand marketer, you may still run into unique challenges when it comes to developing and distributing your marketing materials. All franchisees have unique requirements and varying participation levels. That’s why it’s extremely helpful to have the best franchise management software sprucing up your marketing toolkit.
Here are seven questions you must ask yourself while trying to pick the right franchise management software for your establishment.
- Is the need to have a cloud-based franchise management software all important for my business prospects?
In recent times, in case you’re a franchisor, in particular, a cloud-based solution is the most effective choice.
Any cloud-based franchise management software indicates the following.
Improved disaster recovery plan is put in place – Regardless of the size, all businesses must opt for franchise management software that puts forward robust and prompt disaster recovery. Especially, it’s all the more crucial for franchise brands that have national as well as international presence. With the help of a built-in franchise intranet, you must be able to upload necessary franchise materials to a privately managed digital library and make sure round-the-clock protection of sensitive data is maintained.
Automated critical updates are set in motion – Since franchise management software servers are kept away from the office premise at remote locations, you must ensure all-inclusive automation of updates pertaining to security and several other maintenance duties. With cloud-based software by your side, the need to carry out updates manually on all devices becomes inessential.
Smooth collaboration is embraced – By means of the superiorly managed cloud-based workflow of franchise management software you must be able to gain access to, modify, and disseminate the same documents for the whole franchise family at all times and from all devices. This aspect is crucial for every franchise management software system so that information concerning products, services, and company culture remains thoroughly consistent.
Unmatched mobility is offered – Cloud-based franchise management software must allow you to work from anywhere with the help of internet-connected devices of all kinds. This implies you can supervise the inventory and supply chain, keep an eye on franchisees, develop and strengthen relationships with fresh leads, delineate novel marketing campaigns and put them into action. You must be able to do all these from any location so that productivity isn’t affected and work-life balance is improved.
- Can I integrate franchise management software with other prevalent software in my business framework?
For several franchise business owners, overarching software integration is a must. Whether you need to work extensively on QuickBooks or require something that operates with your retail POS programs, it becomes imperative that the franchise management software you select is compatible with other existing software solutions.
Although the design of franchise management software must be envisaged as an all-encompassing solution, you need to acknowledge the significance of seamless integration across many software platforms. This comes off as one particular area where the need to have cutting-edge franchise software experience is undeniable. Software designers must exactly be aware of the tools preferred by franchise owners and design the backend through synergy and lots of time-saving.
APIs supported by franchise management software facilitate data communication through different software solutions. These ensure neat data input along with an output of measurable, comprehensible, results. Franchise management software must do away with duplicate contacts from your database so that your marketing strategy is altered. The same holds for incorrectly entered data like wrong formatting or broken code.
Franchise management software must come up with clear, accurate, and measurable results. Moreover, it should smoothly fuse with your existing production practices and print providers. In case, you’re trying to find a print vendor, the managed service provider for franchise management software can help accomplish your marketing objectives. They’re equipped with the experience and technological know-how to expedite automation, personalization, and email campaigns facilitated with a best-in-class customer support service framework.
- Does my franchise management software have compatibility with many devices?
It’s a well-known fact that members of your entire franchise family use a wide-ranging array of devices as in smartphones and tablets to execute duties. It’s equally common that they use a meld of Android, Windows, Apple, and Google phones in addition to nonbranded devices inside a single franchise that in fact says very little about the huge diversity you experience. Franchise management software must work with the same efficiency when logged in from each of the aforementioned various mobile devices.
- How efficient is the reporting standard of my franchise management software?
The franchise management software you select must have powerful and comprehensive reporting capabilities. The need to generate and analyze reports about sales, franchisee performance, revenue, market growth, and customer abandonment rate is of central importance in the absence of which crucial business decisions become nothing but matters of probability.
Automated reports extracted from franchise management software must be intuitive. In addition, they must be customizable mainly because of the widespread deployment of franchise management solutions in various franchise-specific industries. You need to ensure sales pipeline reports are automatically produced and delivered to the team via email according to a pre-defined schedule. This kind of report puts focus on KPIs corresponding to diverse business components and presents data in a well-ordered, intelligible manner.
- Does the franchise management software I select, support the scalability feature?
With continued success and expansion in your franchise business, you’ll come across more and more data that need to be accessed and managed. It’s apparently good up until the point you realize the franchise software you use isn’t properly outfitted with the tools needed to handle an ever-increasing workload. The franchise management software you choose must be able to adapt and grow in sync with your business so that it allows you to effortlessly add new franchisee locations and users without any roadblocks. Furthermore, as your business expands the software should enable you to create different permission levels for different users depending on their authority.
Cloud-based, automation-driven franchise management software must be able to provide assistance to your scalability efforts. It must empower you to formulate the next marketing campaigns with the help of triggered events. With a continuous increase in the number of followers and customers franchise management software must help automate mainstream communication channels such as email, text messages, direct mail, and social media.
- Does my franchise management software promote absolute freedom as far as local marketing is concerned?
When franchisees have the ownership of brand-compliant marketing resources, they can perform marketing at their local independent level on a limited scale. They won’t be needing any more marketing materials for unleashing new ad campaigns or promotions. This will give a sense of autonomy to franchisees to embark on their success path.
Obviously, you wouldn’t want to end up with rogue franchisees that design their logos, marketing campaign layouts, and marketing strategies on their own without approval from the headquarter. Franchise management software must take this into account by ensuring all franchisee locations remain up-to-date with headquarter-governed allowances and brand-approved assets.
- Does my franchise management software promise shorter production times?
Given that you spend plenty of time to find out images, correspondences, attachments within your computer’s files and folders and email inbox, you’re actually engaging in a time-consuming ineffective chore to which you must find an alternative. The franchise management software you choose must have the ability to make this process simpler in just a few simple clicks. It must come up with a single, secure location where you can store your digital assets, marketing collateral, etc. in a convenient place which in turn can be easily searched as and when the need arises.
Plus, you must see to it your franchise management software expedites the production process. By and large, franchises devote lots of time to deal with the marketing needs of their franchisees. Consequently, that might slow down their workflow. Franchise management software must therefore ensure all brand-approved marketing resources are housed inside an easily accessible and user-friendly data reserve that helps make local marketers more empowered.
