Is access to first class IT the reason Swedish Franchising is exploding?
In April 2012 World Economic Forum today released a report where they rank the world’s leading IT countries. According to the report, Sweden ranks number one, far ahead of both Japan and the US. While Sweden may be known for IT companies such as Ericsson, Digital Illusions (Battlefield, Mirror’s Edge), and Spotify – Chainformation is a decade old company that has carved out a unique industry niche: software for franchise, retail and chain stores. Operating behind the scenes of successful franchises in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, and Holland, their software collects nearly 500,000 logins every month from 3,000 store locations. The company was founded in 2000 with headquarters in Malmö, Sweden. With a staff of approx. 15, they develop franchise software and digital franchise manuals for franchise concepts such as ICEBAR BY ICEHOTEL, O’LEARYS and WAYNE’S COFFEE.
Sweden - home to some of the world's best IT companies (City of Malmö pictured)
The growth in the franchise software niche responds to the explosive growth seen in the Swedish franchising industry. Between 2002 and 2010, sales generated by the Swedish Franchise community increased from 5.5 to 24 billion USD, an increase of 330%. Franchise networks agree that growing fast puts pressure on back office staff to wear many hats and trying to keep up with updating franchise manuals, providing marketing support and collect sales data. With role-based franchise software, each store location has access to a high-powered Intranet that enables cross collaboration, sales reporting and user-specific access to vendors, and marketing design templates. For the franchise owner, it provides a one-stop franchise software solution to take control of the brand, the day-to-day operations and communication. As one of the most developed IT nations in the world, Swedish franchise operations and chains continue are growing faster than other developed markets. Perhaps the access to first class IT and franchise specific software is one of the reasons? World’s greatest IT nations, the complete top ten list:
- Sweden
- Singapore
- Finland
- Denmark
- Switzerland
- Holland
- Norway
- USA
- Canada
- Great Britain
