How to Get Your Franchise Tech Stack Ready for Recovery

05/11/2020

Franchise operations have been forced to quickly adapt to a new remote world. Other than essential frontline workers, everyone is now expected to work from home–or else not at all. To keep franchise businesses running, technology stacks have been put to the test, with mass adoption of enterprise cloud and SaaS applications and new collaboration tools. But this new way of work isn’t just temporary.

As new efficiencies are uncovered, many of these changes will be here to stay. In a recent article for Newsweek, Kate Lister, president of consulting firm Global Workplace Analytics said, “This may be the tipping point for remote work. I don’t think the office is going away, but more people will be spending at least part of the week at home.”

To prepare your franchise for a post-coronavirus world, now is the time to revamp your franchise tech stack. Not only will you need to continue supporting remote employees during a potentially long and very gradual return to ‘business as usual,’ but you will need to compete with franchises who have found new efficiencies and reemerged stronger than ever. Will that be you? Make sure you have the right franchise technology stack in place to help franchisees thrive during and after the time of coronavirus.

Your Franchise Tech Stack Should Include:

Cloud-Based Tools:

• Allow franchisees and employees to work from anywhere at any time through secure access to company files and enterprise tools in the cloud.

• Virtual Collaboration:
  • Keep everyone on the same page with access to an online knowledge base that includes the latest contact information, documentation, questions and answers. For field service franchises, this should also include a virtual calendar with the latest schedule and job details.
• Route Optimization:
  • To minimize commuting and time out in the field, automatic route optimization can reduce the distance and number of trips your team needs to travel to complete jobs.
• Virtual Job Tracking
  • Stay on top of operations by virtually tracking job flow from estimates though to invoices, payments and royalties.
• Customer Engagement
  • Keep your customers engaged with automated text notifications and email reminders. Use notifications to inform customers you’re on route and follow up after completed jobs with customer satisfaction surveys and post-job engagements.
• Integrations:
  • With information pouring in from a growing number of endpoints, managing this data and maintaining version control is more important than ever. Reduce manual data entry and potential errors by integrating your tools. For example, your franchise operations tool (like FranchiZOR from Waterstreet) should integrate directly with your accounting tool (like QuickBooks).
• Real-time Reporting:
  • Keeps tabs on how your franchise is performing from afar with real-time reporting on sales, jobs completed, customer payments and royalties due. This real-time understanding is critical for measuring the ongoing health of your business.

 

Waterstreet Can Help You Optimize Your Franchise Tech Stack

Make changes now to help your franchise emerge from this trying time stronger than ever. Waterstreet will help you create safe, remote processes and find new efficiencies, starting with your franchise tech stack. To learn more, request a demo.