I am a Fractional IT Executive for small to mid-sized businesses. Usually businesses under 75M in revenue. After talking with some people at a networking event this week and having a coffee with a friend I know who is looking for a franchise, I decided to do some market research. I wanted to determine if the services I offered would be a fit for franchisees.
My friend showed me where to access franchise information on the State of Wisconsin website. After downloading and reading through 3 FDDs, I am pretty sure based on article 11, (assistance, advertising, computer systems and training) I could never own a franchise. As a person who has made a living in technology, it is scary how naive these computer systems declarations are.
First off, go buy some computers and get them networked up and keep them updated every 5 years is about the extent of the infrastructure advice a franchisee is given. Then a price range is given for how much those computers should cost. As I sit hear smelling the fresh baked cookies my wife is making downstairs, this way of describing the IT needed is like my wife saying flour, brown sugar, baking soda, chocolate chips, salt, vanilla and an oven will get you some chocolate chip cookies. Sorry but all three FDDs were woefully insufficient in calling out a computing environment for the franchises.
Next 2 of 3 of the franchises included requirements for a point of sale system. Not sure how the other one expected you to get paid but maybe that is why they wanted you to have QuickBooks. Since it was a school giving special training to preschoolers I would have thought point of sale was needed but I digress. In the case of the other 2 only one mentioned PCI compliance (credit card safety) and that one put the onus on the franchisee to be PCI compliant. However since the point of sale data was to be owned by the franchiser, I thought it woefully inadequate that the franchiser was not much more prescriptive in the PCI compliance realm. To me it was nearly as irresponsible as asking for the franchise fee in cash through the mail.
Lastly the social media requirements placed on franchisees will definitely prevent the franchise model from being accepted by millennial’s. I completely understand controlling brand and advertising, I understand I can’t create my own website and I will be provided one. However being told that I can’t use social media and no social media site is provided to me in this day and age is like telling me my business can’t have a phone. I understand no one goes to social media to research McDonald’s. The franchises I looked at were specialized preschool training, customized music training and a fancy cafe. All of those need social media. Either the franchiser needs to provide a social media page for all franchisees or they need to allow the franchisee to have their own.
Based on this small set of research I believe I can help franchisees better understand the IT requirements and costs they will have in owning a franchise. Please let me know if you agree.
About the author:
Greg Stellflue is a remarkable Information Technology leader with rich experience in multiple IT disciplines.
Email: greg.stellflue@level5iveconsulting.com
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