The Next Frontier: Two AI Priorities Franchise Companies Should Be Focused On
The Next Frontier explores how emerging technology and AI are reshaping franchising in real time. Pulled from our monthly insider newsletter, Franchise Unfiltered, this section focuses on practical applications, not hype, showing how forward-thinking franchise systems are using tech to remove friction, scale operations, and build durable competitive advantage.
I am currently very focused on two topics as it relates to the intersection of AI and franchising.
1. Capture the Institutional Knowledge Your Team Creates Every Day
Franchise companies today have fragmented communication tools and cannot easily pull insights out of them without bumping into API limitations or crazy costs. Think Slack messages, iMessages, Zoom meetings, Asana task boards, Monday projects, and the like.
If you want a disproportionate advantage in 2026 and beyond, you need to capture the full context of what “your humans” are working on, conversing on, and let it build like a flywheel. When you can overlay this human collaboration information with your performance data, you get magical learnings.
We chose to invest time, energy, and money into this productivity and collaboration realm because it’s very clear this is the next gold mine.
Cozee is building the world's most cost effective way to do this for franchise organizations. We are now in public beta and are already saving 10+ brands representing over 1,000 locations a lot of money and fragmentation headache.
2. Connect the Tools You Already Use to an AI-Native Interface
The second topic is connecting the tools you already use to an AI-native interface, so you can add workflows and build things without changing your current stack.
Look at where your HQ team's week actually goes. Roughly half are repetitive questions because it’s hard to find what you are looking for across 10 tools and a mountain of emails. Another 30% is manual compliance work, including logging into systems, pushing data between systems, chasing reports, prompting Claude or ChatGPT, or teaching others how to do this same loop manually.
That leaves about 20% of the time for actual coaching or strategic items.
You Don’t Need an Eleventh Tool
Here are my two cents for this month:
You don’t need an eleventh tool to help you achieve whatever the topic of the quarter or year is. You need a layer on top of the ten tools you already have so that you can methodically gain back control of your tech bloat, context loss, and have a systematic plan to add new capabilities, inclusive of replacing what you need to when the time is right.
You also don’t need an enterprise Claude subscription for your whole team, letting token expenditures run wild while not connecting into the tools that actually run your business. You need to let your team members and franchisees ask questions and spawn agents that can work with the tools and knowledge base you have in place today, so that your team can spend time on the things that can actually move the needle.
Want More Tech & AI Insights?
This conversation is just one example of what we share in Franchise Unfiltered, our monthly newsletter for franchisors who want real perspective on what’s changing, what’s working, and what actually matters in franchising right now, including:
Unfiltered perspectives from certified franchise experts embedded in franchise systems every day
Sharp insights and fresh perspective you won’t find anywhere else
No fluff. No vendor spin. Just practical insights you won’t find in press releases or panel soundbites
If you’re building, advising, or supporting franchise brands and want a sharper lens on where the industry is headed, subscribe to get Franchise Unfiltered straight to your inbox.