Anybody who’s suddenly tried to switch from one platform to another knows how difficult this is. Imagine you were going to put down your smartphone and start using a model made by a competing brand. There’s a good possibility that you’d spend the first day trying to figure out where everything is on it.
That’s a great illustration of why you need to be sure that all of your franchise locations use the same technology. You don’t want to have to go through an uncomfortable changeover period. Most importantly, doing so can actually help protect your assets in many cases. Here are three reasons why franchises with multiple locations need the same technology.
1. Improve Your Security Profile
Companies that invest heavily in a single technology portfolio may actually be able to protect themselves against certain types of digital maladies. This is in spite of the fact that using a technological monoculture usually makes these sorts of issues worse. Quite a few firms are relatively lax when it comes to installing updates, but they’ll be more likely to do so if they make sure to update all of their equipment at the same time.
Those who use two or three different platforms are going to run into situations where they simply forget to do this. That makes them vulnerable to browser hijacks and fraudulent software. Those who know their chosen platforms extremely well are much less likely to fall into these traps, and therefore they’ll be better protected when there’s another major outbreak. That’s especially good news for smaller organizations that don’t have their own dedicated information technology departments.
2. To Avoid Confusion
Business representatives who want to purchase a franchise location will need to make sure that all of their employees know how to work with the technology they’re given. Once they’re trained to do so, however, it becomes relatively difficult to switch over to some other system. Using a single platform makes it easy to transfer personnel between various locations since everyone will be able to tackle problems at any site if they’re all laid out the same way.
Even something as simple as a misplaced keyboard shortcut can make a technological transition difficult, so it pays to dedicate some time to ensuring that every single franchise location uses the exact same pieces of technology.
3. Increase Replacement Part Availability
Several different processor architectures are currently in use, and many people don’t pay attention to which ones they’ve decided to employ in their places of business. If something were to happen to any of their machines, they’d have to order a single replacement part for whatever it was that failed. By making sure that all locations use the same gear, IT department staffers can buy a great deal of parts all at once from a wholesale organization. They’ll be free to ship them to whatever locations need them at the exact time they’re needed.
Standardizing technology is a difficult prospect, but there’s no reason why franchise operators won’t want to do it. Over time, using the same equipment can certainly pay for itself.