Perhaps you are considering expanding your business and moving to a franchise model. Becoming a franchisor has many roles and responsibilities to ensure that your franchises operate smoothly. You need to have the ability to give advice and support to your franchisees, as well as being responsible for maintaining brand reputation, development and financial systems of your franchisees.
It is important, as a franchisor that you implement a system that can easily be adopted by current and new franchisees. A system that allows the head office to monitor all franchisees, while being totally secure. While Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are usually associated with stand-alone businesses, they can be effective in franchise operations.
Using an ERP system to manage your franchises
By implementing an ERP system, you will be able to set up transparent processes between the head office and franchise owners. As a franchisor, you need access to data and analytics from your franchises, but there’s a fine line between being supportive and being intrusive. It is important your franchisees feel that they are managing their own business, while not being micromanaged by head office.
Using a cloud-based ERP provides peace of mind on both ends of the franchise partnership. Franchisees have access to the cloud ERP, but sensitive data is not shared between outlets or service providers, only between individual franchisees and the head office. Franchisors can decide what information is shared to franchisees, as well as what data is reported back to head office. User rights can be customised to suit your staff hierarchy for extra security.
When choosing an ERP to manage your franchises, you need a system that can deliver real-time key financial information like revenue, cash flow, expenses for each franchise and profit and loss. By using a cloud ERP, you can monitor information such as individual franchise performance, as well as comparison reporting.
No matter how many franchises you oversee, a cloud ERP can handle big data and large networks. This is of great importance, as you’re able to analyse the data from across franchises to help forecast sales and optimise inventory levels.
Another bonus of using a cloud ERP is that retail software such as Point Of Sale (POS), employee rosters and time sheets can be integrated into your ERP software. This saves time when it comes to reporting and it gives you an overview into staffing.
How can Acacia help?
Managing franchises doesn’t have to be a difficult or frustrating process. At Acacia, we are an MYOB Advanced Platinum Partner and an industry leader in helping businesses overcome issues, rebound and become more profitable. We help optimise, automate and improve the traceability of your business. Acacia has the knowledge and experience across a range of businesses to provide the most cost-effective solution for your business.
Whether your franchising company is in hospitality, retail, trade or a service provider and you are interested in talking through the advantages of moving to a cloud-based ERP, contact us to find out more.
