{{title}}
{{byline}}
{{byline}}
Michael Koch, HubKonnect co-founder and CEO, used his FGMC keynote to challenge franchise leaders to look beyond the hype and focus on the foundation that makes AI valuable in the first place: data.
“AI is just a model that drives the decision processes in the way that you want. It’s truly about the data,” he said.
Koch built his presentation around what he calls hyperlocal intelligence, the idea that the most valuable business insights come from under-standing what is happening around each location. Instead of relying on broad trends, brands should focus on local customer behavior, de-mographics, traffic patterns, weather, and other local concerns.
Before organizations can take advantage of AI, Koch argued, they need to get their data house in order. Too often, marketing, POS, customer, operations, and supply chain data live in separate systems that don’t communicate with one another.
His solution is a centralized intelligence layer that collects information from across the organization and standardizes it into a common format. Once those systems can communicate with each other, brands can identify patterns and share insights across locations.
“You need to be able to process that and learn to a point where it can move to a predictive state,” Koch said.
To keep up today’s pace of business, he said organizations must break down internal silos, improve collaboration, and align around a common data strategy.
As AI tools become easier to use, business knowledge, adaptability, and decision-making skills may become more valuable than technical expertise alone. “IT departments are going to change,” Koch said. “The structures of organizations are going to change.”
The brands that move fastest to connect their systems and learn from their data will gain an advantage that compounds over time. “The companies that win the next three years are going to win the next decade,” he said, “because intelligence compounds.”
Even the most sophisticated technology has little value if operators don’t use it. Koch said tools must be simple, intuitive, and tied directly to out-comes franchisees care about. When operators can see how specific actions affect sales, transactions, and profitability, adoption follows. “What I know, after having 20 years with franchisees, is performance data is like catnip,” he said.
For Koch, AI is simply a tool. The work lies in building the data infrastructure, organizational alignment, and operational discipline needed to make smarter decisions. Franchise systems that connect their data and understand their local markets will be better positioned to respond faster, operate more effectively, and create a lasting competitive advantage.