Don’t Accept Obsolescence: The Secret to ‘Evergreen’ Franchise Management Services

At FranchiseSoft HQ, “obsolescence” is a dirty word.

Today’s post explains how FranchiseSoft gives users their money’s worth and more, and never fall victim to “planned obsolescence” practices again!

Beware of “Planned Obsolescence” in Franchise Management Services

“Planned obsolescence” refers to an economic policy of designing a product with an artificially limited lifespan, so that it will become obsolete after a predetermined amount of time.

The rationale behind this policy is to increase long-term sales volume by cutting the time between repeat purchases (Bidgoli, 2010). Simply put, “planned obsolescence” boosts sales volume by forcing people to purchase upgrades or replacements more often, because their product stops working sooner.

It’s a pretty shady business practice – not to mention extremely wasteful – but it still happens all the time.

In fact, Apple products were just recently accused of planned obsolescence. Back in December, Apple spokespeople admitted that older iPhone models were deliberately being slowed down through software updates, though they blamed it on deteriorating battery performance.

“Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands… as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components,” an Apple representative stated in an apology back in December.

But that’s not what users found when they ran and published in-depth tests of their own. Further, consumers have been suspicious of the way that iPhone updates are timed to coincide with the release of newer models, which suggests the “slowing” effect could be an attempt to push users towards upgrades.

Under French law, it is a crime to intentionally shorten the lifespan of a product, so a legal complaint was filed by France’s economy ministry’s consumer protection agency. France is now the third country to have investigated Apple after Israel and the US, but the only one in which planned obsolescence is actually illegal.

If successful, the French prosecution could secure an injunction requiring up to 5% of Apple’s annual turnover, though it wouldn’t do much good for the millions of users around the world who have been trapped in the technological race for years.

If Apple is doing it, there are undoubtedly some franchise management services out there running the same underhanded plays. Users beware, particularly if new products and updates rollout around the same time.

FranchiseSoft’s ‘Evergreen’ Franchise Management Services

Obviously, planned obsolescence is a customer’s worst nightmare, and it’s a bad look for brands. But what can really be done to prevent unplanned obsolescence?

Are “evergreen” franchise management services even realistic?

We think so.

First of all, like a fine wine, FranchiseSoft gets better over time. Our solution has great out-of-the-box value, but it gets better the more you use it. Inputting data about your franchisees, leads, and brand opens up more opportunities to create content, automate tasks and training, and generate high-impact reports.

More importantly, though, FranchiseSoft is constantly evolving so that “repeat purchases” aren’t required. We regularly roll out new features and upgrades, many of which are based directly on user feedback and requests submitted through our internal ticketing system. FranchiseSoft is also totally scalable, so it can work for single-unit owners and big-ticket franchisors alike.

Learn More About our Franchise Management Services

Visit https://www.franchisesoft.com to book a free consultation with a member of our team and learn all there is to know about our franchise management services.

References

Bidgoli, Hossein (2010). The Handbook of Technology Management, Supply Chain Management, Marketing and Advertising, and Global Management. Wiley. p. 296.