NEWS · AI AND FRANCHISING
A franchisor view published 6 October: automate the reporting, keep the coaching human
Writing on Franchising.com on 6 October 2026, a performance coach at Right at Home argues that franchisors should automate reporting, scheduling and lead follow-up, while keeping coaching, data interpretation and care judgement with people.
The argument
In an article published on Franchising.com on 6 October 2026, Joe Smithberg, a business performance coach with the home care franchise Right at Home, sets out where AI belongs in a franchise system and where it does not.
On the automate side he lists reporting, scheduling, meeting summaries, lead follow-up, data analysis and workflow management, with particular emphasis on compiling operational reports that currently require pulling data from several systems. The article notes that Right at Home recently launched a dashboard called RightFocus, which combines operational data from multiple systems into one view and lets owners benchmark key performance indicators against comparable offices in the system.
On the keep-human side he lists coaching and relationship conversations, the interpretation of data and the resulting decisions, and judgement in care delivery. The framing is that automating routine work should produce better conversations, not fewer.
On procurement discipline
The article is high-level on risk and does not describe specific data or compliance exposures. Its recommendations are process-level: test how a new tool integrates with existing systems, confirm it meets security and compliance standards, and confirm it solves a real operational problem. It says the franchisor evaluates technology against operational standards, privacy expectations and customer experience before recommending it to franchisees, because these tools touch caregivers, clients and families.
It also recommends explaining clearly how AI is used, especially for voice AI and automated customer communications, so that employees, franchisees and customers know where human interaction remains.
The only quantitative items in the article are its own engagement counters. No percentages or dollar figures are cited.
Why the benchmarking detail matters
The dashboard description contains the part a franchisor can copy without buying anything. Benchmarking a unit against comparable units inside the same system is the cheapest analytical asset a franchisor owns, because the data already exists in the royalty reporting. Most systems hold it and never give it back to the operator in a usable form.
An operator who can see where their unit sits against similar units has a reason to accept coaching. An operator shown only their own numbers has to take the coach on trust.
This article summarises a published opinion piece. It reflects the views of its author, not verified results, and is not investment advice.
Sources
Written with AI research assistance and published with the sources it was built from. Not investment, legal or financial advice.
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