The portal itself can take on your own brand completely - Visitors to the site will be greeted with the familiar branding of your company right from the moment they land on the log-in page and throughout the complete ordering process. iprint manager® is the technology that drives the online ordering and stock management facility but to anybody looking at your portal, the portal is your own, promotes your own brand and is wholly owned by and hosted by you. iprint manager® works in the background driving the online portal.

The biggest headache for Franchisors is often to ensure that franchisees continue to uphold the integrity of the brand - promoting it in a professional and consistent way. To ensure this, many Franchisors/brand owners centralise marketing at their head office and distribute marketing material to the various offices, branches or franchisees around the UK (or the globe!). This can be time-consuming, can involve human error and presents problems regarding fulfilment and delivery of the many differing orders.

The alternative is to allow franchisees to organise their own material but this comes with the danger that any print or marketing will not be consistent with the branding. Colours will often differ depending on the opinion of a print provider as to how your colour scheme should look. Different fonts and pictures can be used, incorrect materials and print techniques can be employed and very quickly the branding becomes diluted and ineffective. It's not only the franchisee that is likely to suffer the consequences of this but over time, the business and brand as a whole will suffer the consequences as the public become confused with the different permeatations of your once strong brand.

Benefits to franchise operations include;

• A centralised online ordering facility accessible by whoever you chosse to authorise 24/7.
• All your artwork is stored in one secure location - no rogue versions of artwork floating around.
• Pre-agreed elements of the artwork can be amended by users online in realtime but the software keeps the branding consistent. Colours and typefaces as well as certain styles cannot be changed.
• Users can see the effect of the changes in real-time, no need to wait for an agency to make a proof and send it to them. They view a proof online before completing the ordering process.
• All items can be accessed easily from the online 'catalogue' within 3 clicks so the system is extremely easy to use.
• Stock levels (for stock items) are automatically recorded and email alerts can be sent to head-office when stock levels fall below a certain level.
• Users can have as little or much control as Head-office wishes from just simple text changes right through to changes in pictures or style, if you, the manager of the site are happy to allow that. The great thing is you're in control - only elements of the artwork that you're happy to have changed can be changed!
• If you wish, you can ask to have all proofs sent to you via email for approval before the franchisee can complete the order process. The system automatically emails you a copy and places the job on hold until you click the approval button in your email.
• Franchisees and you can log-in at any time to check on the status of orders.
• Franchisees can organise their own mailing campaigns simply and easily online. They just select the direct mail piece they wish to use, make any changes to the offer and upload their excel document with names and addresses. It's as simple as that - iprint manager® does the rest.
• Payments can be taken at the point of order via credit/debit card or 30 day invoice (sts). Alternatively, you can give the franchisees a budget and they can spend up to their budget. iprint manager® will invoice Head-Office instead.
  
  The benefits of iprint manager® are endless - why not book in for a demo today where one of trained staff can demonstrate it's benefits first-hand. We can come to you or you can arrange for an online demonstration at a time convenient to you.