The most successful businesses invest a lot of time and money in achieving brand consistency, whether it be in their marketing or sales message, or in how their employees actually represent and embody the company’s values.

Geographically disperse organizations have more of a challenge maintaining brand consistency because although the offices all share the same brand, it is generally managed centrally from a head office. Franchise businesses and retail chains suffer this exact problem by their very nature with many outlets spread out across a city, a country or internationally, often with each one owned by a different person.

Coming back to brand management, you can imagine that the chance of a franchise brand becoming diluted or distorted along the way is actually quite high because of the number of people involved and the geographic distance. Yet the promise behind the franchise business is to provide customers with a consistent experience no matter which store they may enter. Therefore, brand consistency is paramount.

Lately we’re noticing an increase in interest from franchise businesses in our product. It turns out that Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) products are proving to be just the solution that Franchisers have been looking for whether it be a CRM, accounting package or online training system. Basically any system that centralizes data and facilitates fast communication helps franchisers to manage the many franchisees and their staff.

On further discussions we’re finding that their interest in SaaS products is for the following reasons which all make a lot of sense:

• Ease of account set up and maintenance
• Low cost – pay for what you use each month
• Scalable system
• Connectivity between all levels
• Accessible from any Internet connection
• Zero infrastructure

Look out for more franchises making the switch to SaaS products as they drive brand consistency and improve team collaboration.