Tariq Farid, founder and CEO of Edible Arrangements, announced that he is launching a new technology company, Naranga, offering software solutions designed to help franchise companies and small businesses take advantage of emerging technologies to integrate their sales, operations, and marketing activities.

Earlier this year, Farid acquired franchise solutions provider eMaximation, rebranded the company under the name Naranga, and immediately began improving existing systems as well as expanding the suite of products and services.

“Naranga’s products will allow franchise chains to take control of their brand with simple, flexible tools that drive sales, improve operational efficiency, and allow them to easily connect with their franchisees,” Farid says. “In addition to previous products available through eMax, we have added new solutions that can be customized to meet the specific requirements of a franchise chain and eliminate the need to use multiple resources to meet all the technology needs.”

The expanded package includes solutions for the following areas:

·      eCommerce—A platform flexible enough to accommodate companies of any size. Clients range from smaller, growing businesses to franchises generating more than $300 million a year in online sales.

·      Franchise Sales—Daily sales and marketing activities are automated to capture, qualify, and convert more leads, letting the sales team focus on moving prospects through the buying process more efficiently.

·      Franchisee Management—Accessible from anywhere, this technology allows for the monitoring and managing of multiple locations including store finances, tracking vendors, creating a marketplace for franchisees to purchase inventory, management of legal documents, searchable online operations manuals, and tools to communicate with franchisees while on the go.

·      Training—The customizable training system integrates written, visual, and video components via a secure, mobile app for an easy-to-use, interactive training program that ensures consistency in products and service.

·      Quality Assurance—custom surveys, reporting features, analytics, and mobile capabilities make it easy to monitor and maintain quality and consistency across multiple locations.

Specific features can be tailored to each company’s unique business processes, and all applications are developed with a mobile-first approach, due to the increasing use of mobile devices over traditional management tools.

“To meet the needs of today’s highly mobile professional, it is critical to design for mobile tools such as smart phones and tablets first, then apply those applications to more traditional formats,” Farid says. “This allows us to produce innovative experiences that unlock new ways for franchisors to interact with their customers and their franchisees.”