Technology In Franchising
Bob Kerr
CIO Curves International Inc.
Leveraging the Internet
Leveraging the Internet
•
Communication …
•
Communication …
•
Communication …
Leveraging the Internet
• Who needs to communicate?
Corporate to Corporate
Future Franchisee to Corporate
Corporate to Franchisee
Franchise to Customer
Customer to Corporate
Your Network
Technology Internationalization
Technology Internationalization
•
•
•
•
Open
Architecture
•
Data
•
Document
control
•
Translation
•
Workforce
Scalability
Reusability
Component
Open Architecture
• Not closed
• Not proprietary
• Add-ons are welcome
• Best of Breed
• Sometimes Free
• Global Partnering/Relationships
Scalability
•
•
•
•
•
Graceful Growth
Exponential Growth
Spikes
Add components
Throughput – Transactions
– Applications
– Hardware
Reusability
• Build it once:
– Requirements
– Code
– Test cases
– Manuals
– Templates
– Design decisions
Componentize
• Standard processors
– Tax Calculations
– Currency conversions
– Location Identifiers:
• Zip codes
• Provence codes
• Postal codes
– Plug and Play
Data
• Consider relationships early:
– 1-1
– 1-many
– Many-1
– Many-many
– Umbrella ownership
• Strict Field Formatting
• Allow for International variables
Document Management
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Franchise Agreements
Operations Manuals
Forms
Simultaneous Update
Independent Update
Version Control
Serve to Web
Translation
Translation
•
•
•
•
•
Localize, Localize ,Localize
No direct Translation
Slang
Colloquialisms
Look and Feel by Country
“Big Door”
“Huge Hole”
“Grand Opening”
Supplies
Supplies
• Paper clips
• Clips
• Markers
• Stapler
• Pencils
Workforce
• Regional Offices
• Field Staff
– Sales
– Franchisee Support
– Localized Training
• These are your Translators
• This is your help desk
Internationalization – Tech Recap
•
If your systems are open to others, other systems are open to you. No
need to reinvent the wheel.
•
Design your systems and applications for growth and expansion
•
Don’t pay over and over for Technology
•
Develop or purchase components that serve multiple purposes
•
Guard the integrity of your data
•
Take control of your paper
•
Who needs to do your translations?
•
Utilize a global and cross-functional workforce.
Technology is Information
Technology Tools
Who Needs to Connect?
Disparate Technology
Linking the Tools
What do we need to share?
Centralized Data
• Real time/Near Real Time
• Pull technology vs. Push Technology
• Measurable Metrics:
– Royalties
– Sales
– Attendance
– Revenue shares
Standardization is
the name of the game
• Get everyone using the same tools:
– Economies of scale
– Simplify support
– Simplify maintenance
– Shorten response times
– Be agile
Technology Tools Recap
• Communication devices at your fingertips
• Who is communicating?
• What do they need? DATA
• Set yourself up to “PULL”
• Streamline delivery mechanisms
Bringing it together
• Build your network as big as you can
imagine it
• Build everything with growth in mind
– Build it once
– Remember for whom you are building
• It’s all about the data