7 Features Your Franchise Management Software Needs to Have
10/01/2018
If you’re currently vetting franchise management software, you’re probably overwhelmed by all the features on the market. How do you sort through all the ‘nice-to-haves’ to compare and contrast what really matters? To help zero in on what’s important, we’ve identified the top 7 features every franchise should have in their franchise management software. Start building your “must-have” list with these top features in mind:
- Secure Intranet for Brand Management:
A secure intranet provides a central repository for all your brand management documentation. You need this feature to maintain version control of your brand documents and ensure all franchisees are working from within the latest parameters—even as you update them. The alternative? Manually tracking who has what, emailing documents back and forth, and remembering what and how you’ve updated branding parameters.
- Interactive Help Desk for Franchise Support and Collaboration:
A collaborative help desk feature reduces the back and forth of franchisee support. Look for a help desk with: permission-based discussion forums, a knowledge base and searchable support tickets. When you share the support function with your franchisee community, everyone can benefit from individual learning experiences.
- Automatic Royalty Invoicing for Royalty Management:
Beyond saving time, automatic invoicing helps accurately track when royalties are due and monitors when you get paid. This feature has real ROI. Don’t even consider a franchise management software that doesn’t help you automatically collect royalties. After all, this is probably one of the major pain points driving you to evaluate franchise management software in the first place. Check this box or it will cost you!
- Accounting Integration for Seamless Franchise Accounting
An accounting integration saves time and reduces the risk of manual error by automatically porting your financial data from your franchise management software to the Chart of Accounts in your accounting software. (And yes, you want your financial information in a separate platform, like QuickBooks, specifically designed to handle intricate financial rules in a format your accountant is familiar with.) Check that your accounting software integrates with the franchise management software you’re evaluating—and, if not, ask if a custom integration is possible.
- Call Center Interface for Franchise Development and Customer Service
Whether your team is making outbound sales calls or answering customer service calls, you need a call center interface to help prioritize scheduling and maintain a record of communication. The call center interface should link into your secure internet so that you can share notes about your franchisees and customers with your whole team and keep up-to-date contact info in one place. You can’t afford to lose this valuable customer information and history, hence why this feature is on our must-have list.
- Mobile Schedule Access for Field Service Support
Your field service team is on the go, so your franchise management software should be too. More specifically, the tools your team needs in the field should be optimized in a mobile format. Think about what your field service technicians need to do when they’re out and about: check the schedule, review the route, access customer info…maybe even collect customer signatures and payment electronically. The list goes on but one thing’s for sure: you need connectivity that a pen and paper can’t provide.
- Route Optimization for Efficient Field Service
Route optimization technology automatically creates the most efficient field service routes for your teams. It also allows you to make real-time scheduling updates as customer calls and jobs come in throughout the day. This feature should integrate with mapping to help minimize drive time and accurately predict arrival times as well. Don’t leave your schedule to chance!
This franchise management software key feature list should help bring some clarity to your franchise management software search. Use it as a starting point to build your vendor evaluation criteria. For a more in-depth comparison, consider weighting the importance of each feature to your business and rating how well each vendor delivers them.
Check all these features off your list
To see each of these features—and more—in Waterstreet’s Franchise Management Software, request a demo today.
Hands down, one of the best software companies we have worked with. Waterstreet’s Field Service Management software provides The Maids with the core tools and technology to better manage our franchise system.
