Managing operations across multiple business locations is challenging, to say the least. There are numerous KPIs you’re tracking and operational costs to consider, all while making sure processes and performance are humming along.

To do all that at the highest level, it requires data and performance awareness in all areas of the business. However, the way owners and operators traditionally get that information is taxing on your already strapped time. Disconnected solutions and manual tracking mean you’re spending more time trying to analyze the data than you are acting on it.

Operational intelligence can remove the tedium of back-office work and bring efficiency across every aspect of the business. That translates to time saved and a new level of hands-off control. Hey, you may even be able to take a vacation!

Continue reading to learn about 5 Ways TruOI Streamlines Chain and Franchise Operations.

1. All your operations in one place

As a multi-location business owner, you need clear insight into operations across each location to control costs, boost performance, and drive long-term growth. The point solutions you have in place may be great, but the reports you get are point-in-time, so it’s already old by the time you start looking at them. Even worse, culling through spreadsheets and trying to connect the dots is a massive waste of time.

TruOI puts all your people, locations, systems, and data in one place.  The platform provides real-time performance data by pulling data from each system at each location into a data warehouse and combining it into one easy-to-use application to show complete operating performance across the entire business. Everything is tracked in one interface – labor, sales, wait times, inventory, and anything else needed – with the ability to drill down to each location. All automatically in real-time.

2. Control labor costs

As a multi-location business owner, managing labor costs is a priority, especially when there’s a lot of pressure on those costs. The problem of trying to manage labor costs across different applications — or even via spreadsheets — is time-consuming, tedious, and relies on old data.  If the problem has already occurred, there’s not much you can do about it.

TruOI gives you the ability to manage labor costs in real-time capturing data around scheduling, wages, clocking, and more. Plus, it detects when potential issues occur and alerts leaders to act in real-time so problems can be addresses as they happen – not after. Here’s how TruOI works in a situation where a business is experiencing cost overruns due to timecard issues.

Let’s say you have 50 franchise locations, and just two employees at each location clock in 15 minutes late per week. Their overclocking adds up to 100 hours of labor cost overages in a month. Those costs add up at a wage rate of $15 per hour. With TruOI, the platform automatically detects potential overclocking situations in real-time and alerts the employees that they forgot to clock out.  At the same time, the location manager is notified and sent a  link to a training article or video about how to minimize timecard issues and keep labor costs under control.

3. Protect inventory

You can’t run a multi-location operation without inventory. And keeping inventory levels just right so you aren’t either overspending, wasting, or running out of supply is a job unto itself. That job is only made worse by ongoing supply chain issues, making it even more important to protect your inventory.

Yet, sometimes some scenarios feel out of your control as an owner or operator. For example, one costly scenario is when food is not stored at the right temperature level due to equipment malfunction or an accidental process failure by staff. TruOI helps you proactively monitor equipment function.

For example, TruOI pulls temperature data from the sensors on network-connected walk-in coolers at all locations into one common data warehouse so leaders and managers can monitor it in real-time. Additionally, the system is set up to alert location managers (and anyone else) if the temps fall out of range – too high or too low – so the issue can be addressed right away, and you can avoid costly inventory loss.

4. Drive higher sales

Part of your job as a multi-location business owner is to drive greater performance across each of your locations. With greater sales, you have more opportunities to reinvest in the business and staff or even open additional locations. One way to encourage a boost is by incentivizing staff through competition. Traditional ways of running a promotion require a lot of back and forth between owners and managers around sales numbers which leads to delayed updates to staff that can hamper that motivational element.

With TruOI, everyone from owners to team members gets an automatic, real-time view into the competition.

Here’s an example. Your 15-location sports bar is doing a pre-Superbowl competition with a reward for the store with the highest sales. TruOI pulls sales data from across all store location’s POS systems to track how sales are going in real-time. Then, a wall display scorecard monitor at each location shows how each team is performing against the others. That quick, real-time visual can drive healthy competition and give sales performance a boost.

5. Streamline training

There’s a lot that goes into getting a new store up and running. When the day comes that your doors open, you’re aiming for minimal hiccups (of course, zero would be optimal). One of the best ways to do that is by making sure every team member is trained and ready. But trying to coordinate in-person or video training and tracking where each employee stands with completing them can be a headache.

With TruOI, staff at a new location all receive a new hire checklist sent directly to their phones with links to required operations and safety training. A smart form records the progress of each employee and notifies the general manager of completions or past-due items. The same works for any new hire at any location, making it easy to get team members up to speed quickly and without heavy lifting each time.

Learn more about saving time and efficiently managing multi-location operations with TruOI. Request a demo today!