Franchising Is Set to Boom in 2022. Here’s Where Lease Management Software Fits Into the Picture.
Last Updated on February 9, 2023 by Morgan Beard
To franchisors’ delights, 2021 turned out to be a stellar year for them to onboard new franchisees. According to the International Franchise Association, around 26,000 individual franchise locations were predicted to open last year. This growth made up for the franchise dip in 2020 and bodes well for future growth opportunities in 2022. One Forbes article also agrees with this rosy outlook for franchise development, predicting attractive sales growth for many franchisees.
Of course, those with multiunit franchises who want to increase their chances to thrive will want to outfit their operations with the best possible tech stack — including robust lease management software. But why the need for property and lease management software among other franchise development tools? Put simply, the process of analyzing, signing, storing, renewing, and retrieving commercial real estate lease agreements can become complicated very quickly. The right least management software organizes all the chaos and ensures nothing is left to chance.
Similarly, it’s hardly a secret that paying for real estate comes second only to payroll as franchises’ most significant annual expense. Therefore, franchisees owe it to themselves to leverage tech solutions that give them a bird’s-eye view of their real estate portfolio’s risks, strengths, and obligations. That way, they can make intelligent decisions when it comes to finding an optimized location, evaluating their current space needs, and anticipating growth.
At Occupier, we built our proprietary lease management software to streamline the franchise development process and tie up all the “loose ends.” Some of the advantages to using Occupier’s software include the following:
1. Helps identify the strongest franchise sites.
Location, location, location. It’s an old adage, but it couldn’t ring more true in the franchise space. With COVID-19 in mind, many franchisees want to set up shop in suburban communities at locations with drive-thru capabilities or near a ghost kitchen establishment. Occupier allows teams to assess spaces that meet those and other needs strategically.
Franchisees’ real estate teams can pinpoint prime locations using our site selection tool. They can also map out advantages or disadvantages to choosing each spot as well as create side-by-side comparisons based on factors such as cost per square foot, lease terms, and tenant improvement allowances. What better way to foster more substantial negotiations with landlords than through the power of relevant, accurate data?
2. Encourages stakeholder collaboration.
Occupier maintains its edge as the only property lease management software that brings together internal and external stakeholders throughout the lease life cycle. This might include site selection experts, tenant representation brokers, design and build consultants, architects, and attorneys. As team members move through their deals, they can engage effortlessly through the Occupier portal. Everyone’s on the same page and understands assigned tasks and due dates because they’re hosted on one centralized cloud solution. The benefits to this approach are enormous — including speed to opening, optimized revenue generation, and better lease terms with landlords.
3. Collects metrics for fast, error-free data analytics.
Numerous data points live within every real estate portfolio, and part of Occupier’s strength lies in its ability to house all that data.
In fact, the Occupier analytics dashboard collects all the real estate data a franchise operation needs in an easily digestible way. Users can quickly look up everything from lease expirations and critical dates to clause deadlines and multiple types of expenses on the dashboard. Being visually organized is the key to digesting and understanding the impact of a lease at a glance — not to mention making strategic decisions toward future business goals.
There’s no doubt about it: Franchising is becoming a speedy way for entrepreneurially minded business professionals to become bosses. By turning to platforms such as Occupier to help with their commercial lease management, they can spend less time on real estate and more time making sales.
Are you a franchisee interested in removing roadblocks to a more simplified franchise development process? Take Occupier for a test drive today.
