Martin Industries

Franchises overcomes compliance and information access challenges with CNG solution

Franchise Industry Challenged by Compliance Paperwork When Erin Turner, Contracts and Administration Manager / Paralegal at Martin Franchises Inc., sought a paperless electronic document management solution for the company, she knew what she was doing. Erin had experienced the cost and time savings brought about by digital document management at a previous employer and was convinced Martin’s thriving business could also benefit by going paperless.

Martinizing® Dry Cleaning is an all-American success story. In business since 1949, Martinizing Dry Cleaning is one of the oldest and the most recognized brands in the dry cleaning industry with 600 stores operated by 175 franchisees throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Germany, Japan, Indonesia and U.S. Territories. In common with all franchise operations, Martin must manage a huge amount of documentation in order to get a new store up and running.

The paper generated every time a new Martinizing® dry cleaning location opened is enormous. Erin regularly dealt with mountains of paper documents including stacks of legal paperwork and real estate documents. Erin also maintains the frequent revisions of a 185-page franchise offering circular (required by the Federal Trade Commission) and human resources data. The private nature of much of this information plus the retention and compliance requirements of new franchise openings presented Martin Franchises with a real challenge. A misplaced folder or document was more than an inconvenience to Martin; it was a huge potential legal and business liability.

Making Way For Ease of Access

Martin Franchises identified handling its compliance and reporting issues as their top priority in selecting a paperless electronic document management solution. However, Erin noted that most electronic document software lacks the flexibility the company needed. Some solutions were focused only on accounting applications while others were too
costly for a small-to-medium sized business to seriously consider. An electronic document management system tailor-made for the SMB was needed.

Erin and Stephen Crank, Vice President of Martin, presented the key attributes of the Cabinet NG Shared Access Filing Environment (CNG-SAFE) solution –a secure and effective way to manage information in compliance with legal and other regulations – to Martin Franchises President, Anthony Strike. With the go-ahead granted, CNG-SAFE was quickly installed at the company’s headquarters in Ohio.

"The key business benefits of Cabinet NG to Martin Franchises continue to be: 1) Security
2) Availability and 3) Time Savings."
Erin Turner, Martin Franchises, Inc. Contracts and Administration Manager / Paralegal

Differentiated, yet simple access to information was key to Martin’s choice of Cabinet NG. The franchisor was sold on CNG-SAFE's ability to enforce different levels of security based on the individual user, and the filing cabinets, folders and documents being accessed. This solved Martin's privacy and retention issues by allowing employees to only access files for which they were authorized. The user-friendly, intuitive cabinet and folder organization of electronic files also allowed the concept of digital documentation to be clearly understood and learned by the fourteen Martin employees who regularly use the Cabinet NG system.

CNG-SAFE eliminated 75% of Martin’s filing cabinets and ushered in a whole new world of document accessibility for all of the company’s operations. Now, employees on the road or in satellite offices could instantly and easily access those files and documents needed for new dry cleaning locations, a real time saver for revision heavy processes like real estate transactions and required legal updates. Erin's time is no longer wasted on directing, locating, faxing, copying or filing paper for franchises opening up worldwide. "The instant access made possible by Cabinet NG is great. I can now file paperwork associated with one of our franchises – without having to find Erin or risk losing a document in the process", said a Martin employee.

Automated Electronic Document Management Brings New Business Efficiencies

Cabinet NG is used across multiple departments within Martin’s corporate headquarters to support all franchise operations. A human resources cabinet, for instance, was quickly added following the success of the electronic legal documentation cabinet first installed at the franchisor. As a result of going paperless with Cabinet NG, Martin Franchises reduced the cost associated with physical paper and gained office space, time, and document security.

"The sheer amount of paperwork (UFOC's, Franchise Agreements, Non-disclosure Agreements, Area Development Agreements, etc.) is voluminous. CNG-SAFE has been a real life saver for us."
Stephen Crank, Martin Franchises Inc.,
Vice President.

Martin is also applying CNG-SAFE to the company’s unique workflow requirements in the site selection process. CNG-SAFE houses all the documentation associated with new franchise site selection and approval, as well as the defined area around the location (protected from new Martin locations). Incorporating Cabinet NG software accelerated and automated the sharing of documents and enabled remote and multiple party access to needed information.

With the company’s compliance needs securely addressed by Cabinet NG electronic document management, Martin is looking to implement additional workflow configurations to help improve business efficiencies in other areas.