How the Franchise industry & technology together are helping a city become a smart city
Today, India is one of the largest and fastest-growing markets in the world. The main reason for the same is a huge population with diverse cultural beliefs and values, which have made the environment favorable for franchising. Despite the GDP and economic slowdown, the franchising model continues to witness growth in both urban and rural regions. The franchise industry is the best and the perfect solution for entrepreneurs who wish to invest in an established brand while enjoying the freedom of being an entrepreneur by a franchise model.
A franchise model is more popular in non-metro or small cities, where the entrepreneurs aim to get brands to their hometown & make their small city a smart city with all the latest technology and amenities. Here, the question that hits the mind is what is a smart city or rather what makes a city smart?
In simple words, it refers to best services coupled with the latest technology in a city makes it smart. According to industry experts, a smart city is a municipality that uses information and communication technologies (ICT) to increase operational efficiency, share information with the public and improve both the quality of government services and citizen welfare.
With the term smart city, people generally assume that the place would have all the latest amenities including the top brands coupled with the latest technologies. This is the reason as to why more and more brands are making a move towards the franchise system and adopting new technologies which are further hence helping them to build up and capture the new market. The franchise model is working very well today despite of the slowdown in the real estate sector because of its nature of work and the facilities it provides.
A franchise system protects the company from the risk of opening at new locations and helps them operate in accordance with the local cultural values and beliefs. Franchise industry with the help of technology changes a city to smart city by giving profit potentials with huge growth in entrepreneurship and jobs. As a result potential entrepreneur’s local and small businessmen today are more and more interested and are coming upfront in the form of franchise.
Both brands and entrepreneurs are of a view that the small cities are of potential to become smart cities because reshaping them is easy. Brands focus in non-metro cities is not only creating new opportunities and avenues for the brands but will the help of technology these brands are creating new avenues for the city and making them smart cities. Brands are opening their outlets in the small cities with the help of local vendors and the small entrepreneurs are adding to the employment and changing the face of the city.
Opening of malls, various food outlets and recreational places have been possible because of the technology. With the help of latest technology, it is easy for the team sitting in the main office to track the working of all their franchise and rectify the errors and solve the problem within a small span of time.
A smart city has all amenities which are required today, right from a digital system of learning in school to a 3D movie theatre and a big shopping mall with all the brands to all sorts of tasty food joints. Managing all these places would have been impossible without the use of technology. The main aim of these brands is not only to make good profits but also to attract consumers and retain them which would not be possible without the use of the latest technologies. In order to expand themselves and reach out to new consumers, brands have stepped into the industry of franchise, because it not only helps them keep their brand value but also with the help of brand name they are able to get new consumers.
Smart cities have a building infrastructure with a unique fit environment which is unique to the population, climate, traffic patterns and more. The challenges are often so unique that solutions to address them don't exist and thus requires someone who knows the city intimately to build it. A city looking to achieve ‘smart’ status should seek out its local tech and entrepreneurship community (most cities have at least one) first, before pouring hours into researching tech that only checks a handful of boxes. Entrepreneurs should make themselves available to the city leaders to engage in discussions about the city needs.
Data is foundational to the smart city model and the ability to collect and report on trends is vital to a smart city's ongoing success. Thus, data analysis is just as important as the tech collecting it. Yet, the amount of data facing cities is intimidating.
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