The Next Frontier - January 2026
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 was on a call in early October with the CTO of a 400-unit franchisor as we were preparing for one of the six AI sessions at Springboard 2025. The conversation wasn’t theoretical. This was someone already deep in the work, actively identifying where friction existed inside the system and using technology to remove it.
What stood out immediately was how fluent he was in spotting practical AI use cases. Not flashy ideas - real ones. The kind that eliminate bottlenecks, reduce reliance on manual processes, and scale support without adding headcount. He wasn’t asking whether AI could work in franchising, he was asking how fast it could be deployed.
During the call, I floated an idea for an application his operators could use: an AI-powered training tool that simulates customer calls for sales reps employed by franchisees.
Imagine this scenario. A sales rep calls into a bot that behaves like a real customer. The rep handles objections, walks through the sales process, and closes, or doesn’t. At the end of the call, the system scores their performance, highlights missed opportunities, and offers targeted coaching based on how the conversation unfolded.
No manager required. No scheduling bottlenecks. Just consistent, repeatable training at scale.
By the time I saw him in person at Springboard, the idea had already moved from concept to reality. In less than a week, his team built the widget and trained it on thousands of hours of historical customer calls. Even more impressive, he didn’t just demo it, he deployed it. Operators were already using the tool to coach sales reps and frontline employees across the system.
That speed is the real story here.
This is what franchise systems with internal AI capability can do right now. And in 2026, these are the teams that will start pulling away from everyone else, not because they have better ideas, but because they can execute them faster.
By 2027 and 2028, as hardware, automation, and robotics begin to scale inside franchise environments, the gap will only widen.
You get the picture.
But between now and then, the dividing line is simple: experimentation. If your franchise system isn’t actively testing low-code and no-code AI tools today, you’re already falling behind. The brands that commit to building this muscle will outperform those that don’t, regardless of industry, category, or size.
Schedule a call with us here to get the AI playbook that will take your brand to the next level.
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