Top 10 apps to make you a better franchise manager

TOP 10 APPS TO MAKE YOU A BETTER FRANCHISE MANAGER

TOP 10 APPS TO MAKE YOU A BETTER FRANCHISE MANAGER

Franchisors and franchise field managers wear a lot of hats. You’re a leader, you’re a coach, you’re a project manager, sometimes you’re a marriage guidance counsellor. More than ever in this fast-paced, connected world, the pressure’s on to be more personally productive while working collaboratively and juggling constant interruptions. The good news is that there’s an app for that – all of that. The not-so-good news is that these days there are so many apps to choose from. So I’ve picked out some of our favourites we thought you might like.
 

Business productivity: Helping you work faster, better, smarter, more collaboratively

It makes sense to business people like me that all your emails, contacts, calendar and tasks should be in one place and should all work together seamlessly across your PC and mobile devices so you can be productive wherever you are. It also makes sense that you should be able share all this across your team so everyone in it can work together better. But it turns out that I am the only person who thinks this way or if I’m not, the people who build productivity software and apps don’t think or work this way, which means that it is extraordinarily difficult to find productivity software and/or apps that help you achieve all of the above. Especially if you happen to use and like Microsoft Outlook and Android smartphones, as I do.
Microsoft becomes web enabled
Bill Gates must have had a mid-life crisis a few years ago because Microsoft decided to embrace the Internet, with the result that I can now sync Outlook emails, contacts, calendar and tasks between my laptop and my Android smartphone. Making me faster, better and hopefully smarter than ever before. Thanks, Bill.

App:                 Microsoft Outlook
What it is:       Email, contacts, calendar and task management in one place
Available on:  Android and iOS
Price:               Free for your smartphone, available on low monthly subscription
                          for your PC

If you're not a Microsoft fan, you're probably a Google-ite. Even though I Google's Chrome, Gmail, Calendar, Tasks and Drive a bit clunky, you've gotta love the fact that they all work seamlessly across desktop and mobile.

App:                  Google Everything
Available on:   Android and iOS
Price:                Free for your smartphone, available on low monthly subscription
                          for your PC


Digital workspace management: Keeping track of all your stuff

Evernote is the best way to keep track of everything

App:                 Evernote
What it is:       Like a scrapbook where you can keep almost anything
Available on:  Android and iOS
Price:               Free until you get addicted as I did and it becomes                                                     worthwhile to pay a small subscription for more storage space

I'm an ideas guy, always jotting down ideas, notes, doodles and lists. I used to do this in a diary or notebook, but then I got smart and went digital using OneNote, but Microsoft was too slow in embracing the online space. Another consultant put me on to Evernote which, like Google, isn't pretty to look at, but it does work across desktops and mobiles. You can also use it to save or bookmark webpages, digitise the text in images, and a bunch of other handy stuff that really does help to keep your business and your life in order.


Business social networking: Staying connected to colleagues and franchisees

Yammer for Business: A better way to manage teams

App:                 Yammer
What it is:        “Work-group chat on steroids”
Used by:          More than 200,000 businesses around the world
Available on:   iOS, Android, and Windows Phone
Price:               Free

App:                 Slack
What it is:       The app with the slogan “Be less busy”
Used by:          The NASA team that put robots on Mars, among its many users
Available on:   iOS, Android, and Windows Phone
Price:                Free

No matter what you think of Facebook and Twitter, more and more businesses – including franchises – are finding that social media has its place in the business environment too, especially in team communication and collaboration tools such as Yammer and Slack which enable teams to keeping in touch, share files and photos, track projects, solve problems and coach franchisees no matter where they – or you – are. More than social media, these tools will help your franchise develop a database of organisational knowledge.


Expense reporting: Making business and travel expenses not suck

Expense management and reporting

App:                Expensify
What it is:       Expense management and reporting
Available on:  iOS, Android, and Windows Phone
Price:               Free

Travelling is always a part of managing a franchise network, and there’s nothing worse than getting back to the office and having to find, collate and claim all your expense chits and receipts. Expensify changes all that by making it easy to scan and categorise your expenses on the fly and helping you prepare “expense reports that don’t suck”.

Financial management: Keeping your finger on your franchise’s pulse
Multi-level cloud-based Xero ideal for franchises

App:                 Xero
What it is:       Financial management and reporting
Available on:  iOS, Android, and Windows Phone
Price:               Standard monthly subscription depending on plan

Thanks to cloud-based apps such as Xero, gone are the days when franchisors would have to either make personal visits or wait for monthly reports in order to keep tabs on how their franchisees were doing financially. Apart from being a New Zealand-developed app, the nicest features of Xero are its ease of use, clean design, ease of access across different devices, cool reports and graphs, and ability to work with other apps such as Expensify and Vend POS.

Project management: Helping keep you, your team and your projects organised
Asana project management app

App:                 Asana
What it is:       Shared task and project management tool for teams
Available on:  iOS and Android
Price:               Free

I’ve used many systems over the years to simplify and streamline team and project management, but Asana is my latest fave, not only because it’s a fun way to work together and so sophisticated that it seems simple, but because it’s completely free for a team of up to 15 people, too.

Online booking: Streamlining job management and scheduling for service franchises
Vonigo is an online booking and scheduling platform

App:                 Vonigo
What it is:       Business management and online booking and scheduling           
                         platform
Available on:  iPad, Mac & PC
Price:              Subscription starting from US$75 per user per month

“Millions of jobs have been booked and managed with Vonigo,” say the makers of this business management and online booking platform. In a service business, time is money. Vonigo is designed to save time by combining CRM, internal & client-facing scheduling, work order management, estimating, dispatching, routing, GPS, invoicing, payments and reporting, all accessible over the internet from any desktop or mobile device.

Point of sale: A better way to manage retail sales
Vend point-of-sale software

App:                 Vend
What it is:       Retail POS software, inventory, ecommerce and customer loyalty 
                         management
Available on:  iPad, Mac & PC
Price:              Free 30-day trial pricing, annual or monthly subscription based 
                        on business size

A bold claim, but Vend is yet another New Zealand-based software company so it must be true. Being cloud-based, Vend is ideal for franchises because it’s scalable and provides real-time reporting for franchisees and franchisors. It even provides retailers with their own e-commerce platform.


Robin La Pere no ordinary business and franchise consultant

I'm Robin La Pere, no ordinary business expansion and franchise consultant. For a while now, technology has been a key driver of growth in the franchise industry as it has been in all industries – and its importance is growing exponentially.

I am one of the few franchise consultants I know who have a combination of franchise management, franchise ownership and franchise consulting experience. I understand the industry at every level and across a wide range of business types. I also have a strong interest in and knowledge of the technologies that are driving change in franchising and would welcome the opportunity to work with you to review your franchise's technology and make recommendations on the way forward.

Please don't hesitate to contact me for a free initial consultation. 




Related Articles


Subscribe to my newsletter


"Robin writes an e-letter which anyone interested in franchising should subscribe to - whether they agree with him or not!" 

Dr Ken Billot, Franchise PhD

Every two weeks, I write an email newsletter designed for those in franchising and those considering getting into franchising. Topics include those you see in the articles listed above and are intended to be stimulating, helpful and challenging. These articles have helped me gain more than 100,000 followers on Twitter and worldwide connections on LinkedIn, but you can read them first by subscribing to the newsletter. 

Subscribe by entering your email address here: 

Contact Us

The Business Model Canvas for the franchising industry
A major strength of franchising is that it’s based on tried and true business models. Trouble is, in this fast-changing business environment, what’s tried and true one year may be tired or irrelevant the next.

Not surprisingly, one out of three franchisors is concerned about the viability of their business model.

The 'Business Model Canvas' has emerged as a powerful tool for developing and updating business models.  Recognising that franchise businesses differ in several ways from other business types, I have come up with a new version of the Business Model Canvas designed specifically for franchises.

Send me your email and I'll email you my e-book The Business Model Canvas for Franchisors

First Business Model Canvas for Franchisors ebook

Franchisors and franchise field managers wear a lot of hats. You’re a leader, you’re a coach, you’re a project manager, sometimes you’re a marriage guidance counsellor. More than ever in this fast-paced, connected world, the pressure’s on to be more personally productive while working collaboratively and juggling constant interruptions. The good news is that there’s an app for that – all of that. The not-so-good news is that these days there are so many apps to choose from. So I’ve picked out some of our favourites we thought you might like.
 

Business productivity: Helping you work faster, better, smarter, more collaboratively

It makes sense to business people like me that all your emails, contacts, calendar and tasks should be in one place and should all work together seamlessly across your PC and mobile devices so you can be productive wherever you are. It also makes sense that you should be able share all this across your team so everyone in it can work together better. But it turns out that I am the only person who thinks this way or if I’m not, the people who build productivity software and apps don’t think or work this way, which means that it is extraordinarily difficult to find productivity software and/or apps that help you achieve all of the above. Especially if you happen to use and like Microsoft Outlook and Android smartphones, as I do.
Microsoft becomes web enabled
Bill Gates must have had a mid-life crisis a few years ago because Microsoft decided to embrace the Internet, with the result that I can now sync Outlook emails, contacts, calendar and tasks between my laptop and my Android smartphone. Making me faster, better and hopefully smarter than ever before. Thanks, Bill.

App:                 Microsoft Outlook
What it is:       Email, contacts, calendar and task management in one place
Available on:  Android and iOS
Price:               Free for your smartphone, available on low monthly subscription for your PC

If you're not a Microsoft fan, you're probably a Google-ite. Even though I Google's Chrome, Gmail, Calendar, Tasks and Drive a bit clunky, you've gotta love the fact that they all work seamlessly across desktop and mobile.

App:                  Google Everything
Available on:   Android and iOS
Price:                Free for your smartphone, available on low monthly subscription for your PC


Digital workspace management: Keeping track of all your stuff

Evernote is the best way to keep track of everything

App:                 Evernote
What it is:       Like a scrapbook where you can keep almost anything
Available on:  Android and iOS
Price:               Free until you get addicted as I did and it becomes worthwhile to pay a small subscription for more storage space

I'm an ideas guy, always jotting down ideas, notes, doodles and lists. I used to do this in a diary or notebook, but then I got smart and went digital using OneNote, but Microsoft was too slow in embracing the online space. Another consultant put me on to Evernote which, like Google, isn't pretty to look at, but it does work across desktops and mobiles. You can also use it to save or bookmark webpages, digitise the text in images, and a bunch of other handy stuff that really does help to keep your business and your life in order.


Business social networking: Staying connected to colleagues and franchisees

Yammer for Business: A better way to manage teams

App:                 Yammer
What it is:        “Work-group chat on steroids”
Used by:          More than 200,000 businesses around the world
Available on:   iOS, Android, and Windows Phone
Price:               Free

App:                 Slack
What it is:       The app with the slogan “Be less busy”
Used by:          The NASA team that put robots on Mars, among its many users
Available on:   iOS, Android, and Windows Phone
Price:                Free

No matter what you think of Facebook and Twitter, more and more businesses – including franchises – are finding that social media has its place in the business environment too, especially in team communication and collaboration tools such as Yammer and Slack which enable teams to keeping in touch, share files and photos, track projects, solve problems and coach franchisees no matter where they – or you – are. More than social media, these tools will help your franchise develop a database of organisational knowledge.


Expense reporting: Making business and travel expenses not suck

Expense management and reporting

App:                Expensify
What it is:       Expense management and reporting
Available on:  iOS, Android, and Windows Phone
Price:               Free

Travelling is always a part of managing a franchise network, and there’s nothing worse than getting back to the office and having to find, collate and claim all your expense chits and receipts. Expensify changes all that by making it easy to scan and categorise your expenses on the fly and helping you prepare “expense reports that don’t suck”.

Financial management: Keeping your finger on your franchise’s pulse
Multi-level cloud-based Xero ideal for franchises

App:                 Xero
What it is:       Financial management and reporting
Available on:  iOS, Android, and Windows Phone
Price:               Standard monthly subscription depending on plan

Thanks to cloud-based apps such as Xero, gone are the days when franchisors would have to either make personal visits or wait for monthly reports in order to keep tabs on how their franchisees were doing financially. Apart from being a New Zealand-developed app, the nicest features of Xero are its ease of use, clean design, ease of access across different devices, cool reports and graphs, and ability to work with other apps such as Expensify and Vend POS.

Project management: Helping keep you, your team and your projects organised
Asana project management app

App:                 Asana
What it is:       Shared task and project management tool for teams
Available on:  iOS and Android
Price:               Free

I’ve used many systems over the years to simplify and streamline team and project management, but Asana is my latest fave, not only because it’s a fun way to work together and so sophisticated that it seems simple, but because it’s completely free for a team of up to 15 people, too.

Online booking: Streamlining job management and scheduling for service franchises
Vonigo is an online booking and scheduling platform

App:                 Vonigo
What it is:       Business management and online booking and scheduling           
                         platform
Available on:  iPad, Mac & PC
Price:              Subscription starting from US$75 per user per month

“Millions of jobs have been booked and managed with Vonigo,” say the makers of this business management and online booking platform. In a service business, time is money. Vonigo is designed to save time by combining CRM, internal & client-facing scheduling, work order management, estimating, dispatching, routing, GPS, invoicing, payments and reporting, all accessible over the internet from any desktop or mobile device.

Point of sale: A better way to manage retail sales
Vend point-of-sale software

App:                 Vend
What it is:       Retail POS software, inventory, ecommerce and customer loyalty management
Available on:  iPad, Mac & PC
Price:              Free 30-day trial pricing, annual or monthly subscription based on business size

A bold claim, but Vend is yet another New Zealand-based software company so it must be true. Being cloud-based, Vend is ideal for franchises because it’s scalable and provides real-time reporting for franchisees and franchisors. It even provides retailers with their own e-commerce platform.


Robin La Pere no ordinary business and franchise consultant

I'm Robin La Pere, no ordinary business expansion and franchise consultant. For a while now, technology has been a key driver of growth in the franchise industry as it has been in all industries – and its importance is growing exponentially.

I am one of the few franchise consultants I know who have a combination of franchise management, franchise ownership and franchise consulting experience. I understand the industry at every level and across a wide range of business types. I also have a strong interest in and knowledge of the technologies that are driving change in franchising and would welcome the opportunity to work with you to review your franchise's technology and make recommendations on the way forward.

Please don't hesitate to contact me for a free initial consultation. 




Related Articles


Subscribe to my newsletter


"Robin writes an e-letter which anyone interested in franchising should subscribe to - whether they agree with him or not!" 

Dr Ken Billot, Franchise PhD

Every two weeks, I write an email newsletter designed for those in franchising and those considering getting into franchising. Topics include those you see in the articles listed above and are intended to be stimulating, helpful and challenging. These articles have helped me gain more than 100,000 followers on Twitter and worldwide connections on LinkedIn, but you can read them first by subscribing to the newsletter. 

Subscribe by entering your email address here: 

Contact Us

The Business Model Canvas for the franchising industry
A major strength of franchising is that it’s based on tried and true business models. Trouble is, in this fast-changing business environment, what’s tried and true one year may be tired or irrelevant the next.

Not surprisingly, one out of three franchisors is concerned about the viability of their business model.

The 'Business Model Canvas' has emerged as a powerful tool for developing and updating business models.  Recognising that franchise businesses differ in several ways from other business types, I have come up with a new version of the Business Model Canvas designed specifically for franchises.

Send me your email and I'll email you my e-book The Business Model Canvas for Franchisors

First Business Model Canvas for Franchisors ebook

Franchisors and franchise field managers wear a lot of hats. You’re a leader, you’re a coach, you’re a project manager, sometimes you’re a marriage guidance counsellor. More than ever in this fast-paced, connected world, the pressure’s on to be more personally productive while working collaboratively and juggling constant interruptions. The good news is that there’s an app for that – all of that. The not-so-good news is that these days there are so many apps to choose from. So I’ve picked out some of our favourites we thought you might like.
 

Business productivity: Helping you work faster, better, smarter, more collaboratively

It makes sense to business people like me that all your emails, contacts, calendar and tasks should be in one place and should all work together seamlessly across your PC and mobile devices so you can be productive wherever you are. It also makes sense that you should be able share all this across your team so everyone in it can work together better. But it turns out that I am the only person who thinks this way or if I’m not, the people who build productivity software and apps don’t think or work this way, which means that it is extraordinarily difficult to find productivity software and/or apps that help you achieve all of the above. Especially if you happen to use and like Microsoft Outlook and Android smartphones, as I do.
Microsoft becomes web enabled
Bill Gates must have had a mid-life crisis a few years ago because Microsoft decided to embrace the Internet, with the result that I can now sync Outlook emails, contacts, calendar and tasks between my laptop and my Android smartphone. Making me faster, better and hopefully smarter than ever before. Thanks, Bill.

App:                 Microsoft Outlook
What it is:       Email, contacts, calendar and task management in one place
Available on:  Android and iOS
Price:               Free for your smartphone, available on low monthly subscription
                          for your PC

If you're not a Microsoft fan, you're probably a Google-ite. Even though I Google's Chrome, Gmail, Calendar, Tasks and Drive a bit clunky, you've gotta love the fact that they all work seamlessly across desktop and mobile.

App:                  Google Everything
Available on:   Android and iOS
Price:                Free for your smartphone, available on low monthly subscription
                          for your PC


Digital workspace management: Keeping track of all your stuff

Evernote is the best way to keep track of everything

App:                 Evernote
What it is:       Like a scrapbook where you can keep almost anything
Available on:  Android and iOS
Price:               Free until you get addicted as I did and it becomes worthwhile to pay a
                         small subscription for more storage space

I'm an ideas guy, always jotting down ideas, notes, doodles and lists. I used to do this in a diary or notebook, but then I got smart and went digital using OneNote, but Microsoft was too slow in embracing the online space. Another consultant put me on to Evernote which, like Google, isn't pretty to look at, but it does work across desktops and mobiles. You can also use it to save or bookmark webpages, digitise the text in images, and a bunch of other handy stuff that really does help to keep your business and your life in order.


Business social networking: Staying connected to colleagues and franchisees

Yammer for Business: A better way to manage teams

App:                 Yammer
What it is:        “Work-group chat on steroids”
Used by:          More than 200,000 businesses around the world
Available on:   iOS, Android, and Windows Phone
Price:               Free

App:                 Slack
What it is:       The app with the slogan “Be less busy”
Used by:          The NASA team that put robots on Mars, among its many users
Available on:   iOS, Android, and Windows Phone
Price:                Free

No matter what you think of Facebook and Twitter, more and more businesses – including franchises – are finding that social media has its place in the business environment too, especially in team communication and collaboration tools such as Yammer and Slack which enable teams to keeping in touch, share files and photos, track projects, solve problems and coach franchisees no matter where they – or you – are. More than social media, these tools will help your franchise develop a database of organisational knowledge.


Expense reporting: Making business and travel expenses not suck

Expense management and reporting

App:                Expensify
What it is:       Expense management and reporting
Available on:  iOS, Android, and Windows Phone
Price:               Free

Travelling is always a part of managing a franchise network, and there’s nothing worse than getting back to the office and having to find, collate and claim all your expense chits and receipts. Expensify changes all that by making it easy to scan and categorise your expenses on the fly and helping you prepare “expense reports that don’t suck”.

Financial management: Keeping your finger on your franchise’s pulse
Multi-level cloud-based Xero ideal for franchises

App:                 Xero
What it is:       Financial management and reporting
Available on:  iOS, Android, and Windows Phone
Price:               Standard monthly subscription depending on plan

Thanks to cloud-based apps such as Xero, gone are the days when franchisors would have to either make personal visits or wait for monthly reports in order to keep tabs on how their franchisees were doing financially. Apart from being a New Zealand-developed app, the nicest features of Xero are its ease of use, clean design, ease of access across different devices, cool reports and graphs, and ability to work with other apps such as Expensify and Vend POS.

Project management: Helping keep you, your team and your projects organised
Asana project management app

App:                 Asana
What it is:       Shared task and project management tool for teams
Available on:  iOS and Android
Price:               Free

I’ve used many systems over the years to simplify and streamline team and project management, but Asana is my latest fave, not only because it’s a fun way to work together and so sophisticated that it seems simple, but because it’s completely free for a team of up to 15 people, too.

Online booking: Streamlining job management and scheduling for service franchises
Vonigo is an online booking and scheduling platform

App:                 Vonigo
What it is:       Business management and online booking and scheduling           
                         platform
Available on:  iPad, Mac & PC
Price:              Subscription starting from US$75 per user per month

“Millions of jobs have been booked and managed with Vonigo,” say the makers of this business management and online booking platform. In a service business, time is money. Vonigo is designed to save time by combining CRM, internal & client-facing scheduling, work order management, estimating, dispatching, routing, GPS, invoicing, payments and reporting, all accessible over the internet from any desktop or mobile device.

Point of sale: A better way to manage retail sales
Vend point-of-sale software

App:                 Vend
What it is:       Retail POS software, inventory, ecommerce and customer loyalty 
                         management
Available on:  iPad, Mac & PC
Price:              Free 30-day trial pricing, annual or monthly subscription based 
                        on business size

A bold claim, but Vend is yet another New Zealand-based software company so it must be true. Being cloud-based, Vend is ideal for franchises because it’s scalable and provides real-time reporting for franchisees and franchisors. It even provides retailers with their own e-commerce platform.


Robin La Pere no ordinary business and franchise consultant

I'm Robin La Pere, no ordinary business expansion and franchise consultant. For a while now, technology has been a key driver of growth in the franchise industry as it has been in all industries – and its importance is growing exponentially.

I am one of the few franchise consultants I know who have a combination of franchise management, franchise ownership and franchise consulting experience. I understand the industry at every level and across a wide range of business types. I also have a strong interest in and knowledge of the technologies that are driving change in franchising and would welcome the opportunity to work with you to review your franchise's technology and make recommendations on the way forward.

Please don't hesitate to contact me for a free initial consultation. 




Related Articles


Subscribe to my newsletter


"Robin writes an e-letter which anyone interested in franchising should subscribe to - whether they agree with him or not!" 

Dr Ken Billot, Franchise PhD

Every two weeks, I write an email newsletter designed for those in franchising and those considering getting into franchising. Topics include those you see in the articles listed above and are intended to be stimulating, helpful and challenging. These articles have helped me gain more than 100,000 followers on Twitter and worldwide connections on LinkedIn, but you can read them first by subscribing to the newsletter. 

Subscribe by entering your email address here: 

Contact Us

The Business Model Canvas for the franchising industry
A major strength of franchising is that it’s based on tried and true business models. Trouble is, in this fast-changing business environment, what’s tried and true one year may be tired or irrelevant the next.

Not surprisingly, one out of three franchisors is concerned about the viability of their business model.

The 'Business Model Canvas' has emerged as a powerful tool for developing and updating business models.  Recognising that franchise businesses differ in several ways from other business types, I have come up with a new version of the Business Model Canvas designed specifically for franchises.

Send me your email and I'll email you my e-book The Business Model Canvas for Franchisors

First Business Model Canvas for Franchisors ebook

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