Invest in technology to bolster your brand.
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If I hear another person tell me I need to innovate to survive in the ‘new normal’, pivoting, post-COVID, or any other vomit-inducing term for this current economic black hole, I am going to scream. Sound familiar?
For most, knowing that change is needed is not news. The challenge is how.
The hardest step to answer that question is to look at your franchise brand and accept the cold, hard truth: it isn’t unique.
Yes, you read that right. I might as well have just told you your child is ugly, but sadly it is what franchisors need to hear. Trust me, I am one.
To illustrate my point, let’s take a fast-food brand:
+ A hungry customer arrives
+ They choose something from a menu
+ They receive the food
+ They leave
It doesn’t matter whether you have golden arches above your door, were founded by a Colonel from Kentucky, or you sell foot-long sandwiches; the process is basically the same.
Look at it another way: we all use either Mac or PC, and our smartphones are virtually exclusively either Apple or Android. Most companies use one of a handful of accounting platforms because successful businesses don’t reinvent the wheel when they don’t have to.
“Look at your franchise brand and accept the cold, hard truth: it isn’t unique”
When considering technology in franchising, this is one of the key challenges a franchisor must overcome. By accepting that what you do isn’t actually unique means you can free yourself from the concept that you need some expensive bespoke platform cut just for you like a Saville Row suit.
There are, of course, certain companies that do but it is an expensive, complex path fraught with risks. Chief amongst those is the speed of innovation in technology; no sooner is something commissioned, it is out of date. It may have security flaws and become a never-ending money drain.
When Swimtime, one of the U.K.’s largest learn to swim providers, was purchased from the founders in 2016, the system in place was holding it back. At that time, what was available on the market was not fit for purpose so the leadership team with previous experience at Blue-chip firms such as IBM, London Life, and Grant Thornton built their own, utilizing their decades of experience.
This brought the kind of cutting-edge automation to the brand that is often associated with corporate giants. The strategy worked, resulting in no less than six major award nominations.
Some key features the team achieved:
+ Allowing clients to book online in 60 seconds, 24/7
+ Taking MSF at source
+ Full visibility of the entire network
Fast forward to 2020 and this ground-breaking franchisor technology, FranScape, is now available in the market for brands big and small.
With clients in children’s activity, education, and pet care already signed up, FranScape delivers some of the latest capabilities for just £35 per franchisee per month (with no fees for onboarding or support), allowing networks big and small to take advantage off the shelf right now. Knowing they have a technology partner that will continue to evolve.
So, to answer the question of ‘how’: contact my team. At the very least, we can give you some inspiration on what is possible no matter what route you chose.
AT A GLANCE
Established: 2020 (in use since 2018)
Contact: hello@franscape.io
THE AUTHOR
Theo Millward, co-founder and CEO of FranScape, and managing director of Swimtime.
