You need to do everything in your power to help everyone be compliant to Concept, Brand and Customer expectations.
How do you secure that critical know-how reaches the right part of your organization, that your franchise manual gets read and that your marketing material has the same appearance across your franchise network?

Today, managing the flow of information and daily business support in a growing network of outlets is a serious task. Email, dropboxes and chat-apps is not the way to go. You need structure and clear rules to help your staff and managers to be compliant. A common cloud based hub is the way to go 2017.

Here are 10 signs to help you reveal that you need to address this issue.

1. No one finds the documents they're looking for

Regardless of size, your chain probably has a lot of files and documents, and if these are not handled properly it will cause frustration, both centrally and locally. We´ve all been there, clicking around on the shared file server without knowing where to look, which version to use, you don’t know the name of the file that you´re looking for, and sometimes you  wonder if the file even exists.

2. You're drowning in e-mails

You can compare e-mail with Egyptian locusts – to many, too frequent and no one really wants them around. They fly haphazardly around and usually end up in someone’s face. Email is actually counterproductive, efficiency calls for a dramatical reduction in the amount of irrelevant information and internal spam-emails.

3. You're not sure if your handbooks are updated and actually read

Handbooks and manuals are an absolutely fundamental part of every franchise concept. Can you easily update your franchise manual and share it with specific roles and functions in your organization? Can you apply an update on a daily basis if needed - and secure mandatory reading? If manuals are not in sync with your ever-changing business reality - you have a problem. 

4. Information based on hearsay and rumors

Hearsay can be harmful in several aspects of your business, it has a bad influence on the work ethic and productivity of your employees. We are not naive, an intranet will not put a stop to gossip or unwanted information, but it will help control and clarify what information is relevant and not. You must own and control sharing of the only trouth. 

5. You never find the right phone number when you need it

Finding the right contact information for colleagues, suppliers and other units within your franchise network, can sometimes be a tough task. Especially when you have a customer on the phone or waiting on the other side of the counter. An online searchable database makes shure you'll never again have to search through your e-mails or ask a colleague for that Excel file with the updated contact information.

6. Lack of consensus on your business goals

You would probably agree with me when I say that a common understanding of your business goals and visions is an absolute success factor. Do all your local staff know and understand where you’re heading and how their role contributes to business success? 

7. The support office answers the same questions over and over again

How much resources at your support office goes to answering the same type of questions over and over again? Are you re-inventing the wheel every week? How many calls and e-mails contains questions such as: Could you just e-mail me that file? How was it with the delivery delay on supplier x? etc. Imagine the difference it would make, organizationally and economically, if the burden on your support office was decreased by 30%. 

8. Your employees want a platform to share their ideas, but you don´t want Facebook

Today we’re used to social media which gives us tools to communicate and share information with others. Your employees have the same need while they’re at work, but in a business environment we wish for more structure. In other words, we need to better know what’s being discussed and who´s participating in the discussion. How many local Facebook groups exists in your franchise network and do you know what they’re discussing – and who they are sharing it with? We have the FB functionality - but with powerful tools for central Admin to control access, sharing and follow ups. 

9. Your customers don’t get a consistent customer experience

You work hard with building your brand and put a lot of effort into marketing and communication. Then, how come that your campaigns not always live up to your guidelines when the customer visit a store? One reason might be the lack of proper internal channels to share information and procedures, which serve to secure that all stores are in line. Your colleagues are ambitious and wants to do a good job, but the lack of proper guidelines and checklists make them solve tasks in “their way” and not in “your Brands’ way”.

10. Information shared within your franchise network looks different

If your headquarters contains various departments, there are probably several people sharing the responsibility for different information areas. Again, e-mail is a disaster! Too many people sends too much information to recipients for whom it’s irrelevant and the information is presented in different layouts. By providing common templates with the correct layout, you can secure a common profile throughout the chain.

Find out more, get the full article

Download the whole article "10 signs that your Franchise Network needs a common hub for in-chain communication" and get a deeper insight in how a franchise intranet can improve your business.

For the past 15 years Chainformation has worked with many of the fastest growing franchises in Scandinavia. They are all different but share the common need to secure that relevant, useful and critical information can be cascaded and controlled throughout their network.