Need for operation systems

Past articles have explored leadership, management, sales and finance systems needed to run your franchise business. We now turn to operations.

Your operation systems will set you apart from competition. These are the systems that define how you interact with your target market and customers, from the minute they hear about your product, set foot into your outlet to the after-sales support they receive. Within this spectrum are many aspects that need your attention, all dependent on your line of business.

A fast food restaurant, for example, has to think through how and where they set up their service counters in relation to the general architecture of the outlet. “Fast” dictates a set up where customers walk in, pick up food, pay, eat and check out in the shortest time. You therefore have to think whether the cashier sits at the start or end of the service line.

The food service line is supported by a food production line. You will need to set up the production line in a way that it enhances your “fast” concept. Food required, volumes of which you would know over time, must be available at the service line throughout.

That means appropriate cookery equipment, adequate quantities of raw materials in the store, cooking must match the demand of the service line while waiters, where needed, must clear the tables promptly to create room for the next customer. Your furniture and fittings must also support your “fast” concept. How you design them, how you lay out the tables, colors, in-store equipment such as TV screens, WiFi, telephone charging ports etc will all determine how fast you can turn customers over.

Regardless of your line of business, your vendors, sub-contractors and suppliers are key to your operations.

If unreliable, they will cause regular hitches on your production line, to the chagrin of your customers. The quality of operations will bear on overall costs of the business, hence the pricing policy.

Operation costs that are too high resulting from complex delivery systems will eventually run you out. Simplified sophistication is key to managing delivery costs and keeping prices within reach of your target market.

Continuous innovations in operation systems are prerequisite to business sustainability. While market conditions yesterday may have supported your current delivery systems, changes in future market trends will require a total overhaul of your operations.

A clear example here is the banking industry. In the past, banks competed on the number and size of branches mainly because, to reach the target market of the past, a bank needed physical presence in many localities. Today, millennials compose the larger target market for forward-looking banks.

Millennials hate banking halls. Using technology to reach them will separate winners from the rest-delivering a death warning to numerous fancy banking halls and private banking lounges currently used by most banks.

Use of technology to roll out mobile banking, e-banking and agency banking is rapidly increasing financial penetration across Africa, with some banks like Equity Bank going as far as acquiring a telco licence in Kenya (Equitel) through which they roll out their financial products.

Franchising is about scaling up through replication. Needless to say, as a business owner-manager, there is no way you will scale up if you are the cook, cashier and waiter all at the same time.

You will need to set up operation systems that deliver the same superior results in these roles, regardless of who is in control.

The writer is the Lead Franchise Consultant at Africa Franchising Accelerator Project. We work with country apex private sector bodies to increase the uptake of franchising by helping indigenous African brands to franchise. We turn around struggling indigenous franchise brands to franchise cross-border.

We settle international franchise brands into Africa to build a well-balanced franchise sector. We create a franchise-friendly business environment with African governments for quicker African integration.

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