“I’m taking your data and it’s going to cost you.” That is what many franchisees hear when talking to their retail chain about accessing store data. That 10-word phrase is one of the major misunderstandings between franchisees and franchisors.

Todd Michaud writes in StorefrontBacktalk.com “that retailers tend to get so caught up in their global rollout plans and product strategy that they often forget to look at things from the store owner’s perspective.”

Todd also writes:  “The number one franchisee concern is: “What is going to be done with the data?” If asked outright, typically the franchisor leadership will respond with statements like: “We will use the data to analyze our sales mix and promotion activities so that we can be more effective at marketing and, as a result, spend your advertising fund contributions more wisely.” Or they might say: “We want to understand if some analytics support different store operational processes or supply-chain disciplines that could help reduce your costs.” On the surface these seem perfectly reasonable. Who wouldn’t want that, right?”

Franchisee Columnist Todd Michaud has spent the last 16 years trying to fight IT issues, with the last six years focused on franchisee IT issues—first running the retail technology department for Dunkin’ Brands (Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins) and now running IT for Focus Brands (Cinnabon, Carvel, Schlotzsky’s and Moe’s Southwestern Grill).

Read more at StorefrontBacktalk.com