This week Volano will officially launch our mobile, franchise site review app “Action Card.”  The intent of Action Card is to provide franchise companies a portable tool that they can use when visiting their respective locations for brand consistency and best practices.  Currently many franchises use paper checklists, excel or other relatively outdated tools to track franchise performance.  Action Card will save time, help quickly track action items that result from the visit and empower the regional representative making the visit to spend more time listening and developing a better business relationship with her owners and less time scribbling notes and auditing owners.

Beta-Testing

During October we will be actively looking for beta-testers for Action Card.  So far the response from IFA (International Franchise Association) members has been very strong.  By the end of October we should have at least 20 beta clients actively using Action Card and providing Volano feedback on the features.  Typically larger franchise organizations strive to maintain consistent brand standards at all of their locations, a challenge given the wide geography that makes up their footprint.  They often have regional sales reps or coaches who visit these locations and that is who will reap the benefits of Action Card the most.

“At the end of the day, this tool should be very behind the scenes,” said Volano VP of Sales Kelly Grace.  “In my experience with franchising, the way you hit revenue goals at your locations is by partnering up alongside these owners, not micro-managing or auditing them.  You need to diagnose where they’re struggling so you can help them in the right way.  Action Card does that.  Get the info you need, submit it electronically, everybody involved sees what items need to be reconciled and when…there’s no gray area.”

Action Card will go live in February at the Annual IFA Conference in New Orleans.  We are optimistic that subsequent iterations of the application will enhance the value of an otherwise dynamic SaaS application based off of the feedback we get from franchise users in diverse industries.  The ability to communicate real time and coordinate the efforts of the franchisee, the site reviewer and the senior management and compliance teams at the franchise level is extremely valuable.