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This article is from the Fall 2007 issue of Hospitality Upgrade magazine.To view more articles covering technology for the hospitality industry please visit the Hospitality Upgrade Web site or to request a free publication please call (678) 802-5307 or e-mail. | |
| By Jennifer Minogue The hospitality industry embraces a steady stream of new technology for many reasons � to streamline operations, drive costs down, increase revenue and improve the customer experience. There seems to be no end in sight for new technology. Franchised corporations (franchisors) face a unique challenge: the timely adoption of new technology by their franchisees. Their nonfranchised competitors can move very quickly to introduce new technology across the enterprise. But franchisees, independent and entrepreneurial in nature, are often hesitant to embrace new technology. They often don�t understand the cost of expensive technology with a relatively short life and hard to measure ROI.Typically though, franchisors rely on their technology vendors to drive adoption. However, these vendors are often caught in a no-win situation because the franchisor has negotiated a very aggressive price based on the volume of their corporate stores. The franchisor often communicates that price to franchisees as a benefit � hey, look at the low price we were able to negotiate. Unfortunately, the pricing has no margin to support a vendor-funded, franchisee-focused technology sales and marketing program. Therefore, franchisees don�t receive the personal attention and specific information they need to make a good business decision. When the franchisor notices the weak adoption rate, one of the few tactics remaining is to mandate the technology, which can have undesirable side effects. There is another factor that also widens the technology gap. Many times when a franchisor rolls out new technology, there are numerous vendors involved because of the multiple technologies needed such as hardware, software and data communications. The issue is compounded if the franchisor has selected multiple vendor options for each technology category. Soon franchisees are fielding calls and e-mails from all these vendors. Factor in that each vendor is giving the hard sell, franchisees often feel like they�re going in circles. Franchisors can take a more consultative role with franchisees to guide them through the adoption process, and can require their technology vendors to include a goal and a plan to achieve franchisee adoption as a part of the vendor selection process, included within negotiated pricing. Another option is to utilize a third-party organization that handles franchisee technology adoption. An outside party can play the role of an unbiased consultant, helping franchisees weigh the different choices by streamlining communications from many technology vendors, into a single voice to the franchisee. Third-party organizations are often better equipped to help franchisors bridge the technology gap. They already have the process, tools and infrastructure to manage the adoption process for what is a marketing and sales challenge. For example, third parties use customer relationship management (CRM) technology to manage franchisee information and interactions, to forecast adoption and provide detailed/timely metrics about adoption results. Third parties develop integrated, multichannel communication programs, combining multiple vehicles to get technology roll-out information into the hands and minds of franchisees. They generate interest and increased urgency to deploy new technologies by building trusted advisor relationships with franchisees. Mostly, they supplement overwhelmed franchise operations and IT departments with sufficient time and focus to make technology rollouts successful and efficient � time and focus to drive increased adoption at a lower cost. Hospitality franchisors select new technologies to achieve specific and measurable business benefits � both across the corporation and within each individual property. Carefully managing the technology gap ensures that new technology rollouts remain a win-win for both the franchisor and their franchisees. Jen Minogue is vice president of marketing and strategic services at Frantz Group. She may be reached at [email protected] or (262) 204-6039. � Hospitality Upgrade, 2007. No reproduction or transmission without written permission. | ||
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Contact:
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Managing Editor Hospitality Upgrade magazine and the Hospitality Upgrade.com website http://www.hospitalityupgrade.com/ [email protected] |
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