Technology For Dummies: Keep It Simple To Encourage Franchisee Adoption - Forbes

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The more complicated your technology, the simpler it needs to be. That’s a helpful rule that I’ve dictated to my IT department and one that I would argue all business owners aim for if their business model depends on other people using their technology. After all, most of us didn’t graduate as computer engineers. Most of us can operate our computer just fine, but we don’t write computer code. We don’t build websites. We don’t create smartphone apps. My hat’s off to those who can do all that magic. But when you have a business that runs on technology, your employees and customers better be able to use it. I’ll take my own advice and will make my argument, simply, with three suggestions.

Your technology should fit user personalities.

If your customer base is full of gamers, you have room to offer more complex technology than normal -- they’ll probably love it. If you’re marketing to early adopters, again, you can get away with more intense technology -- and rely on the early adopters to teach the rest of the world how to use your product or service. But if you’re working with the masses, you need to aim for that consumer who can turn on a computer but doesn’t know how it works.

In my case, the technology utilized by my company must be embraced by business owners and their clients who are also business owners. And while you might think that would give me a pass to allow my technology to be complicated because business owners are intelligent folk, well, hardly. I’ve found that when I’m talking to interested franchise owners, it’s not a hard sell once I explain what our business does. But if I had to add “And the technology we use is really complicated; it’ll take you a few weeks or months to master it,” we would face some serious challenges trying to sell our model to prospective owners. After all, we’re all busy. Your business’ technology needs to solve problems, not make problems.

We’ve made every effort to ensure our technology is as simple as can be. We’ve adopted GPS-centric technology, 2D barcodes on coupons as well as other other innovations. We also give our sponsors the option to further extend the impact of the program by sending out a second mailing. In other words, the technology allows clients to have a deeper relationship with their customers. But, again, none of this would work if our franchisees felt as if they had to go back to school to utilize this technology, and their sponsors would flee if it wasn’t simple and effective to use.

Your technology should fit your company’s personality.

It’s all about welcoming people to a community and helping them feel a part of their new home. If our technology made the people who need to use it -- the franchise owners and their clients -- feel frustrated because they couldn’t figure out the technology, then people wouldn’t use our technology. And Our Town America as a company would cease to exist.

And, sure, you could argue that all business technology should make customers feel welcome, but I just mean that it’s vital for a company like ours -- we literally welcome people to communities. If you run a bank, your technology needs to make people feel secure and safe. That is, your CTO or IT department should make sure there are ample firewalls and plenty of hoops the customers need to do, to access their money. It can’t be too hard for a customer to get to their own financial information, but it needs to be a little hard; they need to see that you’re taking steps to protect their financial information. Otherwise, forget it. Your customers will go back to putting money under a mattress. If your company is fashionable and trendy, well, your technology should reflect that. Maybe, for instance, you’ll want to offer customers access to their own information utilizing the latest in AI technology, or by utilizing facial recognition technology, in which the customer has to look at a computer screen before being able to get the information they want.

Your technology needs to be as invisible as possible.

This may be pretty obvious, but the less your employees and customers have to think about your technology, beyond, “Wow, this is cool and super helpful,” the more your employees and customers can focus on making your business a success. If your technology doesn’t work well, neither does your business. If that’s the case, you need to have a talk with your IT team and ask what you can do on your end, such as invest in more technology, so that they can create a seamless experience for your customers. And, of course, if you don’t have an IT team or some third party technology consultant, then it’s probably time to invest in one. Yes, it stinks that the answer with tech is almost always to throw more money at the problem. But the return on your investment is almost always going to pay off in the long run.

Customers don’t just expect a business to have up-to-date, smart, useful and easy-to-use technology; they demand it. In fact, they will hold it against you if using your website or apps or whatever tech tools you have are challenging to use. So, find comfort in the ability to borrow the mindset from those popular Dummies books and make your technology something that even a dummy can use. This isn’t just good business -- it’s smart and effective.

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