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Operational Excellence - Optik IQ

FranConnect Launches Optik IQ™, an Intelligent Operational Excellence Platform, to Boost Compliance and Operational Effectiveness for Corporate-Owned Businesses

FranConnect Launches Optik IQ™, an Intelligent Operational Excellence Platform, to Boost Compliance and Operational Effectiveness for Corporate-Owned Businesses 

Herndon, VA – February 5, 2024 – FranConnect, a market-leading provider of sales, operations, and marketing solutions for franchise and multi-location businesses, has unveiled Optik IQ™, its Operational Excellence platform, transforming how corporate-owned businesses close the loop between identifying operational issues and implementing lasting solutions. The platform converts compliance insights into verified improvements, enabling businesses to transition from audit findings to measurable results in hours instead of weeks. 

“FranConnect understands the complexities of managing multi-location businesses—whether franchised or corporate-owned. These businesses face the same operational challenges, yet most compliance tools stop at simply identifying issues, leaving brands trapped in a cycle of recurring problems,” said Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect. “Our platform breaks this cycle by automating the entire resolution journey, reducing correction time by 60%, and virtually eliminating repeat compliance issues. Customers have seen a 25% improvement in compliance scores through this systematic approach.” 

 The platform introduces three breakthrough capabilities for closing the operational loop: 

  • Intelligent Issue Resolution: Instantly converts audit findings into assigned tasks with built-in verification steps, ensuring 100% follow-through on critical compliance issues. 
  • Adaptive Learning Engine: Automatically triggers role-specific training based on audit patterns, reducing repeat violations by 85% through targeted skill development. 
  • Predictive Performance Analytics: Identifies compliance trends across locations before they become systemic issues, with proven reduction in critical findings through early intervention. 

Traditional compliance processes create gaps between detection and correction,” said Jaffrey Ali, Chief Product Officer at FranConnect.By orchestrating every step from discovery to verification, we’re helping brands cut their compliance-to-correction cycle from weeks to days while ensuring sustainable improvements.” 

The solution addresses the growing challenge of maintaining consistent operations across hundreds or thousands of locations while adapting to evolving compliance requirements. This systematic approach ensures that insights drive immediate action and lasting change. 

 “In today’s operating environment, identifying issues isn’t enough – brands need to drive and verify improvement,” added Wong. “That’s why FranConnect consolidates multiple audit solutions into a single, centralized system, giving businesses a complete view of compliance and performance. Our platform transforms insights into verified action, giving corporate-owned businesses the tools to not just maintain standards, but systematically elevate them.” 

 For more information on FranConnect’s Operational Excellence Platform or to schedule a demo, visit www.franconnect.com. 

About FranConnect  

FranConnect is the leading enterprise software provider for franchise and multi-location businesses. For over 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the backbone for sales, operations, and marketing for over 1,500 brands and one million locations worldwide. Iconic brands such as SPARC/Authentic Brands (Forever 21), Tropical Smoothie CafĂŠ, Authority Brands, and Papa John’s rely on FranConnect to expand locations, streamline unit operations, enhance collaboration, and improve profitability. Backed by private equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global offices in Australia, India, Colombia, and Canada.

FranConnect Achieves Record-Breaking Bookings and Breakthrough Innovations in 2024

Leading the Way in Franchise and Multi-Location Solutions with Exceptional Achievements and Strategic Advancements 

Herndon, VA – January 29, 2025 – FranConnect, a market-leading provider of sales, operations, and marketing solutions to franchise and multi-location businesses, proudly announces key milestone achievements in 2024, including record-breaking bookings, innovative product launches, and key leadership advancements. FranConnect attributes its continued success to being closely attuned to its customers’ critical business needs, resulting in solutions that enhance performance, profitability, and operational excellence. 

FranConnect closed the year with the largest sales booking achievement in the company’s history, forming expanded partnerships with over 150 brands and welcoming 105 new customers. Last year, in particular, FranConnect welcomed three of the largest global franchise concepts, including Subway®, one of the world’s largest quick service restaurant brands, Sonesta International Hotels, the 8th largest hotel brand in the U.S. and Fantastic Sams, one of the largest salon chains. Trusted by nearly 1,500 brands and over 1.3 million locations worldwide, FranConnect continues to be the industry’s “gold standard” and only platform for driving success across franchises and multi-location businesses, from managing suppliers to supporting brand owners and frontline employees. 

“Partnering with brands like Sonesta, Subway, Fantastic Sams, and many others demonstrates the breadth and depth of our capabilities in franchising. Over the past year, we made a concerted effort to advance our products in the areas of operations, analytics, and AI to solve the hardest problems faced by franchise and multi-location businesses,” said Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect. “As the leading and pioneering technology provider supporting franchise and multi-location businesses, we are doubling down on innovation to cement our market leadership position further. Our multi-year product roadmap and M&A activities over this past year demonstrate our dedication to serving this market now and for many years to come.” 

This announcement follows FranConnect’s strategic acquisition of RizePoint, a leading provider of Quality Management Systems (QMS). This is FranConnect’s third acquisition over a four-year period, and it extended FranConnect’s impact beyond franchise brands to serve the broader ecosystem of multi-unit owners and suppliers.  

Over the past year, FranConnect has significantly invested in its products and solutions to help franchise and multi-location businesses tackle their biggest challenges—navigating ever-changing markets and competing constraints while delivering growth to shareholders and exceptional products to consumers. These product investments include: 

  • Launched FranConnect Analytics, empowering brands with real-time, actionable insights derived directly from their data within the FranConnect platform so they can determine where to invest resources that drive the greatest return. Analytics emerged as the company’s top-selling product in 2024. 
  • Embedded enterprise learning management and content creation capabilities to FranConnect’s best-in-class operational platform, further revolutionizing how businesses drive team engagement, brand consistency, and unit performance. As a result, FranConnect achieved record-breaking bookings for its Operator and Frontline Employee Engagement solution. 
  • Unveiled Frannie AI™, a suite of AI agents empowering businesses with generative AI bots that automate and simplify critical business processes within multi-location businesses. Agents include Analyzer, Builder, and Automator, with additional agents continuously in development. 
  • Rolled out over 80 product enhancements across the FranConnect platform to ensure solutions remain aligned with customers’ evolving requirements, swiftly incorporating feedback and keeping products at the forefront of innovation while delivering exceptional value. 

FranConnect’s commitment to delivering outstanding customer experiences and fostering continuous innovation led to key appointments and promotions to its leadership team. Lisa Maynard was named Chief Customer Officer (CCO) to oversee all facets of customer operations, focusing on consolidating and unifying the customer experience across all customers and markets. Vikram Raj was promoted to Senior Vice President of Products and Sales Engineering to shape FranConnect’s multi-year product and technology roadmap and ensure alignment across FranConnect’s solutions, customer needs, and market demands. 

“We are excited about the market opportunities ahead and are dedicated to continuously investing in our market, products, and people,” said Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect. “Our commitment to innovation will further propel growth and operational excellence for years to come.”

About FranConnect  

FranConnect is the leading enterprise software provider for franchise and multi-location businesses. For over 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the backbone for sales, operations, and marketing for over 1,500 brands and one million locations worldwide. Iconic brands such as SPARC/Authentic Brands (Forever 21), Tropical Smoothie CafĂŠ, Authority Brands, and Papa John’s rely on FranConnect to expand locations, streamline unit operations, enhance collaboration, and improve profitability. Backed by private equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global offices in Australia, India, Colombia, and Canada.

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FranConnect Unveils a Suite of AI Agents, Empowering Franchises and Multi-Location Businesses with Generative AI Bots that Automate Critical Business Outcomes

Herndon, VA – January 9, 2025 – FranConnect, a leading provider of sales, operations, and marketing solutions for franchise and multi-location businesses, announces the launch of Frannie AI™, a suite of AI-powered agents embedded within FranConnect’s platform. These agents leverage multiple generative large language models to provide contextually specific insights, content, and automation trained on FranConnect’s deep understanding of the multi-location businesses. 

Frannie AI™ acts as a smart, reliable partner for teams in sales, operations, finance, and training, including three types of agents— 

  • Analyzer surfaces personalized insights by user roles and recommends additional prompts for the user to explore what will drive more actionable insights across the business. 
  • Builder autonomously generates content, such as tailored emails, targeted campaigns and workflows, and more salient visit summaries to be shared and distributed cross-functionally; and, 
  • Automator identifies prescriptive actions that brands can take to optimize performance outcomes, such as suggesting the optimal engagement method to close a new franchisee, recommending locations to be visited, and custom coaching plans for owners, among many other actions.  

“Franchises and multi-location businesses manage hundreds of variables across development, operations, and complex ownership structures, that have consequential outcomes. Generative AI comes at a critical time for our customers who must navigate ever-changing markets and competing constraints while delivering growth to shareholders and exceptional products to consumers,” said Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect. “We have spent the better part of the last two years thinking through how we can leverage AI to help our customers fundamentally transform their businesses. Frannie AI™ simplifies the complexity of running a multi-location business by surfacing what truly matters—whether it’s pinpointing your next high-performing location or identifying unit-level challenges before they impact revenue and autonomously recommending actions that will improve business results.” 

“We are lucky to have some of the best minds in the industry focused on AI. Last year, we carved out a team of analysts, engineers, and AI specialists to focus on innovating with AI, both for our internal operations and for our end market. Frannie AI™ is one of the successful projects arising out of this initiative, and we are thrilled to announce its launch,” said Wong. 

“General purpose generative AI models by themselves cannot replicate what FranConnect delivers,” said Jaffrey Ali, CPO and Head of Innovation at FranConnect. “Frannie AI™ is architected on a proprietary franchise data model refined through years of deep domain training and based on the breadth of our reach in the market. This enables a level of system-wide intelligence that we are uniquely positioned to provide.” 

In the future, Frannie AI™ will have the capability to be a completely autonomous set of agents that can analyze, build, and execute key business actions to drive improved productivity and scale for multi-location businesses. 

Frannie AI™ is now available as a subscription for any FranConnect customer. To learn more about this exciting solution and how it can revolutionize your business, visit frannieai.com or contact your account manager.  

See Frannie AI in Action  

Experience Frannie AI™ firsthand at the International Franchise Association (IFA) Annual Convention in Las Vegas, February 10–13, 2025. Join FranConnect for a live demonstration and discover how Frannie AI™ is reshaping the future of franchise and multi-location management. 

About FranConnect   

FranConnect is the leading enterprise software provider for franchise and multi-location businesses. For over 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the backbone for sales, operations, and marketing for over 1,500 brands and one million locations worldwide. Iconic brands such as SPARC/Authentic Brands (Forever 21), Tropical Smoothie Café, Authority Brands, and Papa John’s rely on FranConnect to expand locations, streamline unit operations, enhance collaboration, and improve profitability. Backed by private equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global offices in Australia, India, Colombia, and Canada.

Gabby Wong elected to IFA Board image

Gabby Wong of FranConnect Elected to International Franchise Association Board of Directors

Gabby will help lead the world’s oldest and largest franchise association, bringing a wealth of experience in franchising and dedicated commitment to the betterment of the business model

WASHINGTON, Oct 24, 2024 – The International Franchise Association (IFA) today announced Gabby Wong of FranConnect was appointed to serve on its Board of Directors. Joining along with fifteen other new directors, Gabby will start her term at the 2025 IFA Annual Convention in February, representing the franchising sector’s oldest and largest global trade association. 

“IFA’s volunteer leadership is integral in driving the association and our mission forward at a pivotal time for franchising,” said Matt Haller, IFA President and CEO. “Gabby’s expertise and experience in franchising will help take the association to new levels so we can further support our members and the opportunities they create in local communities. These new directors bring unique contributions and perspectives, and we look forward to the leadership they will provide to the entire franchise community and the millions of people it serves in the years ahead.” 

 Gabby is a seasoned operator with nearly 30 years of experience in positioning private equity-backed software and SaaS businesses for high-growth. She has deep experience in all aspects of growing technology businesses, including M&A, corporate strategy, product innovation, customer success, marketing and sales. Gabby has held successive leadership roles within FranConnect, joining first in 2016 as EVP of Operations and took the helm as CEO in 2018. 

Over the last six years, under her leadership, FranConnect’s revenue has grown by 5X and continues to lead the market in providing best-in-class sales, operations, and marketing solutions for franchise and multi-location businesses. After completing three acquisitions in four years, FranConnect has over 300 employees globally across US, Canada, India, and Australia, and serves nearly 1500 brands and 1 million locations worldwide. Gabby has been named a finalist for EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award Mid-Atlantic in 2022 and 2023. Prior to FranConnect, Gabby held executive leadership positions with worldwide operating roles at Primavera Systems (now Oracle), Trusted Computer Solutions (now EverFox/ForcePoint), Vovici (now Verint Systems), and Clarabridge (now Qualtrics). 

“I am honored to join the IFA Board of Directors,” said Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect. “For over two decades, FranConnect has been committed to helping brands achieve operational excellence, growth and success. I am thrilled to work alongside such a distinguished group of franchise leaders as we continue to address the industry’s most significant opportunities and challenges.” 

 The 2025 IFA Board of Directors is comprised of franchisor, franchisee, and supplier members, with a diverse representation of industries and background, who provide critical guidance to the IFA on the association’s key initiatives.  

“Serving on the IFA Board is one of the greatest ways to contribute to the future of franchising,” said Steve Hockett, Chair of the IFA Board of Directors and CEO of Great Clips. “This is a remarkable group who have shown their dedication to the franchise business model and its incredible reach into nearly every community in the U.S. Their leadership will undoubtedly continue to drive the success of franchising worldwide for generations to come.”  

The full list of new 2025 directors is available here.  

The new directors will assume their positions in February 2025 and serve an initial three-year term. 

 About The International Franchise Association:  

 Celebrating over 60 years of excellence, education, and advocacy, the International Franchise Association (IFA) is the world’s oldest and largest organization representing franchising worldwide. IFA works through its government relations and public policy, media relations, and educational programs to protect, enhance and promote franchising and the approximately 806,270 franchise establishments that support nearly 8.7 million direct jobs, $858.5 billion of economic output for the U.S. economy, and almost 3 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). IFA members include franchise companies in over 300 different business format categories, individual franchisees, and supplier companies that support the industry. 

About FranConnect 

FranConnect is the leading enterprise software provider for franchise and multi-location businesses. For over 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the backbone for sales, operations, and marketing for over 1,500 brands and one million locations worldwide. Iconic brands such as SPARC/Authentic Brands (Forever 21), Tropical Smoothie CafĂŠ, Authority Brands, and Papa John’s rely on FranConnect to expand locations, streamline unit operations, enhance collaboration, and improve profitability. Backed by private equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global offices in Australia, India, Colombia, and Canada. For more information, visit www.franconnect.com.  

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FranConnect Appoints Lisa Maynard as Chief Customer Officer

Accomplished customer experience leader with track record of driving industry-best gross retention rates joins the company to fuel its next phase of growth 

HERNDON, Va., September 18, 2024 - FranConnect, the leading provider of sales, operations, and marketing solutions for franchise and multi-location businesses, announces the appointment of Lisa Maynard to its executive leadership team as Chief Customer Officer (CCO). Maynard will lead FranConnect’s global professional services, technology services, training, customer success and customer support teams. She will also oversee all facets of the customer experience strategy, focusing on enhancing the value delivered to customers and supporting innovation and growth.

“As FranConnect continues to expand its global market presence and customer base, delivering an exceptional customer experience remains a critical driver of our success,” said FranConnect CEO Gabby Wong. “Lisa is a distinguished industry leader with a profound understanding of the growth and operational challenges our customers face. With her leadership, I am confident that our services and customer success organization will not only drive significant value and growth for FranConnect but also strengthen our role as a trusted partner to our customers. I am thrilled to welcome Lisa to this pivotal role.”

Maynard is a highly esteemed veteran in the SaaS industry, boasting over 15 years of experience in building customer experience organizations spanning onboarding, implementation, training, customer satisfaction, and account management. Most recently, she led the Customer Success organization at Prove, a high-growth SaaS company, where she directed post-sale strategy and execution for over 350 Fortune 500 clients in Financial Services, FinTech, and eCommerce. Prior to this, Maynard served as the Chief Customer Officer at ID.me, a leading digital identity provider, where she managed post-sale strategy for more than 600 Fortune 500 clients across eCommerce, Healthcare, Federal, and SLED sectors. Previously, she spearheaded the Digital Transformation Program at Accenture, advising on and implementing technology solutions to address strategic, operational, and organizational challenges in Finance, Security, and HR. Lisa’s exceptional ability to build top-performing customer experience teams earned her recognition as one of the Top 25 Women Leaders in Cyber Security by The Software Report in 2022.

“I am thrilled to take on the role of Chief Customer Officer at FranConnect, an industry-leading company that has already achieved remarkable success,” said Maynard. “I am deeply committed to leveraging my passion for customer advocacy to further enhance FranConnect’s customer and engagement strategies and deliver exceptional value to our clients.”

Maynard joins FranConnect during a landmark year of market and product expansion. In 2024, FranConnect acquired RizePoint, a leading provider of Quality Management Systems. Additionally, FranConnect launched several innovative products, including Analytics, a redesigned Royalty Manager, and an Operator/Frontline Employee Training solution. These advancements further cement FranConnect’s position as the sole provider offering a unified view of the entire operations lifecycle for multi-location businesses, encompassing everything from supplier management and lead management to payment reconciliation and frontline employee training.

FranConnect has a focused market expansion plan and an ambitious product roadmap as it continues its push toward reaching over 2,000 brands and 1.5 million locations worldwide.

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FranConnect Launches New Operator and Frontline Employee Engagement Solution to Elevate Operational Excellence for Multi-location Businesses

HERNDON, VA: August 5, 2024 — FranConnect, a leading provider of sales, operations, and marketing solutions for franchise and multi-location businesses, announces the launch of its new Operator and Frontline Employee Engagement solution. This strategic initiative follows FranConnect’s acquisition of World Manager, a global provider of learning management and front-line employee engagement solutions. By seamlessly integrating World Manager’s complementary, enterprise learning management and content creation capabilities to FranConnect’s best-in-class operational platform, it revolutionizes how multi-location businesses drive team engagement, brand consistency, and unit performance.

This robust new solution empowers multi-location businesses to develop and deploy highly customized branded content to support operator and front-line employee training for improved onboarding and engagement, enabling brands to track engagement success at the unit level. Operation teams will be better equipped to deliver and monitor best practice training, access up-to-the-minute data, staff training results, performance appraisals, and satisfaction surveys with benchmark reporting.

Unlike traditional Learning Management Systems (LMS), FranConnect’s solution leverages core best practices already embedded in its platform to inform how brands need to deploy frontline and operator training. The result is highly engaged team members who not only adhere to the brand standards but also elevate customer experiences and unit performance.

Key features include:

  • Comprehensive Operational Support:
    • Personalized learning paths integrated with daily workflows
    • Mobile access for on-the-go learning and application
    • Real-time performance insights linked to relevant training modules
  • Enhanced Employee Engagement and Development:
    • Custom eLearning modules for various roles
    • Gamification elements to boost motivation
    • Mobile accessibility for flexible learning
    • Career development pathways for all staff levels

“We are addressing a huge barrier to growth for multi-location businesses, which is poor customer experiences stemming from ineffectively trained operators and frontline employees,” said Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect. “Most LMS work as standalone, siloed applications disconnected from performance data. Our core philosophy is that a strong learning and development function is an essential channel for driving operational success. Our learning and development capabilities are now fully embedded into FranConnect’s operational platform, and therefore employee development playbooks, learning pathways, and engagement best practices can be informed, created, and deployed based on operational goals and performance analytics from across the brand.”

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