Once IT and technology gets out of the way, and focuses on empowering productivity and driving the business, there’s no going back.

By Sam Dresser

The tools we use to get things done and connect with others have fundamentally changed. I’m hoping this already rings true to you, but take a moment to consider this question: Does this apply more to your personal or work life?

I’m willing to bet that your personal life has been more significantly affected by the growth of mobile, access to high-speed data connections, and the move to “cloud” than your work life. At home, we tend to use our phones and tablets more than our PCs, Facebook more than email, and text messaging more than phone calls.

So, why has the way we work lagged so far behind? People’s expectations are changing, and franchise businesses need to adapt or get left behind.

Role of IT

The ability to constantly adapt to the changing technology landscape also requires some fundamental changes to the expectations, structure, and make-up of your information technology department.

Traditionally IT has been about putting a computer on a desk. It has been about support and back-of-house management. While these core responsibilities continue to be important for most companies today, they should be more of an afterthought. We now have tools that perform IT operations more efficiently, effectively, and at a lower cost than ever before. Further, more employees are bringing their own devices into the workplace, adding another layer of complexity to the larger IT shift.

With the advent of email and file sharing, the IT department inherited a new set of responsibilities: server and network administration. Thankfully, companies such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others handle this work better than internal IT teams ever could. Using an IT infrastructure in the cloud eliminates the need for expensive hardware and server expertise, while enabling the IT team to be much more agile. Additionally, by leveraging automation and advanced workflows in the cloud, IT teams can move from the back office and into the front office to really drive business efficiency.

The new role of IT is that of an enabler of change, and a driver of productivity and innovation.

Growing Importance of Mobile

“Mobile is the new central ecosystem of tech,” according to Benedict Evans of the venture capitalist firm, Andreesen Horowitz. New central ecosystem? What about PCs? Putting aside the ongoing debate of what defines a traditional “PC,” according to Evans, the mobile ecosystem is on pace to surpass the PC industry by nearly 10 times.

In practice, this means that mobile should no longer be viewed as secondary experience and instead, the default. Moreover, consumers and franchisees alike are becoming accustomed to the “Facebook experience,” with the likes of Apple, Facebook, and Google redefining the digital experiences consumers expect.

Technology at School of Rock

At School of Rock, we recognized our own limitations. We’re trying to provide the best music education experience for our students, and the best franchising experience for our franchisees. We knew early on that we didn’t want to spend additional resources trying to be a world-class software development shop or technology company; instead, we have relied on partners to provide best-in-class software.

School of Rock built an IT infrastructure that is entirely in the cloud. First, we identified a cloud-based identity management and single sign-on provider (Okta) to ensure access to the right systems are given to the right people. This gave us the ability to react quickly and adapt rapidly to the needs of our growing business.

Over the years, we went through a several different platform changes with our point-of-sale and CRM systems. Most of these systems were custom developed for our use, which was expensive to design, build, and maintain. It was time to find a partner. That partner is Front Desk, which has allowed our IT department to become more agile than ever before in a variety of ways.

Evolving the Role of IT

We recognized the changing role of IT and we knew we weren’t there yet. It was our hope that Front Desk would afford us the ability to evolve the role of IT at School of Rock from the top down. Thankfully, that became the case.

When we were responsible for the ongoing maintenance and development of our custom software platforms, we couldn’t afford to just isolate or troubleshoot an issue and make changes to the software itself. From simple bugs to user error and wire framing, we were required to do it all to maintain our custom software. But we didn’t do it well, and we shouldn’t have to. Front Desk has in-place product managers, user interface gurus, developers, engineers, and more. That’s their business.

Now we can focus on driving and growing our own business with Front Desk as our primary business management platform. Should questions, issues, or opportunities to improve the product arise, we now have a partner to share that feedback with.

Embracing Mobile

How many of your franchisees access your technology platforms from a mobile device? How many external customers?

Front Desk was developed for mobile from Day One. This matters because the way a user experiences software on a mobile device is fundamentally different than a traditional PC. Today, users are typically told to use a product designed for a PC, just on a mobile device, which likely offers a poor user experience. For some platforms that are slightly more savvy, there’s a dedicated mobile site or app. Even in these instances, however, the experience is severely limited to a set of features or functionality, meaning you are required to use a traditional PC to complete certain tasks.

Front Desk is able to avoid most of these common problems by considering mobile first for every feature and functionality. Thus, you’re able to give corporate staff, franchisees, and customers the freedom of access and choice. The ability to access information from anywhere at any time on the device of their own choosing is liberating and powerful.

For your corporate staff, it means being able to access key insights, or to offer franchisee support, much more quickly.

For your franchisees, it means having more flexibility as to when, where, and how they can interact with tools to manage their business.

For customers, it means one less barrier between them and your brand.

Preparing for the New Norm

With all the benefits that come with evolving the role of your IT team, embracing cloud technology, and shifting your focus to making mobile a core experience, there is one important change to prepare for: Once IT and technology gets out of the way, and focuses on empowering productivity and driving the business, there’s no going back.

Employees will start to collaborate with each other more regularly, regardless of their location or device. The IT department will be more aware of your larger business goals, and will start offering ideas for how technology can help achieve them. Your franchisees will become savvier and seek more data and insights into how to successfully run their businesses. And your customers will begin to interact with your brand more frequently.

Your business will begin to change for the better forever, and there is no looking back. But then again, you’re also welcome to continue doing business as usual.

Sam Dresser is senior director of information strategy for School of Rock. Find him at fransocial.franchise.org