Scaling IT support across thousands of independently owned franchise locations is one of the most operationally complex problems in retail. The UPS Store solved it by rejecting the conventional multi-vendor approach and building a unified lifecycle program purpose-built for how franchisees actually operate.
Over a 25-year partnership with Netfor, The UPS Store has architected a program that now supports every location in their network with consistent speed, predictable pricing, and measurable results.
The outcomes The UPS Store delivers to its franchisees:
• 5,500+ franchise locations supported under one program
• 92% of support calls answered within 60 seconds
• ~90% first-call resolution (compared to the ~70% industry average)
• Net Promoter Score of 37 (the highest ever recorded for this network)
• ~$500,000 in annual operational savings
• 13,000+ monthly support interactions handled
The Challenge: Scale Without Compromise
The UPS Store operates one of the largest retail franchise networks in the world, with more than 5,500 independently owned locations and roughly 25,000 employees. Every location is run by an entrepreneur who has invested their own capital into their business, and every location depends on technology that's directly tied to daily revenue, transaction speed, and customer experience.
As The UPS Store expanded its POS infrastructure across the network, the coordination required — deployment, installation, ongoing support, and hardware lifecycle management — demanded a unified, purpose-built approach. Fragmented support would mean inconsistent experiences for franchisees, and The UPS Store wasn't willing to accept that tradeoff.
Most franchise networks at this scale are managing a tangle of disconnected vendors — one for field services, another for help desk, another for fulfillment. The result is slower resolution times, inconsistent franchisee experiences, and no single accountability line when something goes wrong. The UPS Store recognized that tradeoff early and chose a different path.
They set a higher bar: a support model that treats every franchise owner as the independent business owner they are, delivers predictable pricing across every geography, and resolves issues fast enough that technology never gets in the way of serving customers.
The Decision: One Partner, One Lifecycle
The UPS Store chose to consolidate its IT support lifecycle under a single trusted partner rather than manage a patchwork of specialty vendors. That partner was Netfor. Over 25 years, the relationship has grown from field services into fulfillment, help desk, and full lifecycle management.
The UPS Store wasn't buying a fix. They were building a lifecycle model — one designed to grow with the network, adapt to new technology, and deliver the same quality of support whether a franchisee is calling from a store in New York City or San Diego.
The Model The UPS Store Built
Working with Netfor as the operational backbone, The UPS Store built a five-part program:
Centralized fulfillment and deployment. Devices are configured, staged, and shipped from a central fulfillment hub so new stores are fully equipped before they open their doors.
Coordinated nationwide installation. Field service technicians travel directly to store locations and collaborate with remote support teams to guarantee standardized deployments across all 5,500 stores.
Always-on service desk support. Every franchise location has access to 24/7/365 service desk support with structured intake and routing, so calls reach the right expert the first time.
Continuous support and optimization. A built-in feedback loop collects input from franchise owners across the network and sends key insights straight back to corporate.
Complete lifecycle management. Hardware is replaced, repaired, redeployed, or retired on a managed schedule. Inventory is continuously replenished to prevent shortages before they become problems.
The Principles That Made It Work
Most IT support models break down at scale. The UPS Store's held up across thousands of locations, dozens of geographies, and thousands of different owners because leadership insisted on three principles from the start:
Every location treated as a distinct business. Each franchise is supported as its own operation, not a ticket number. Where possible, the same technician returns to the same store, building familiarity and trust over time.
Flat-rate national pricing. A franchisee in Hawaii pays the same as one in South Dakota. No geographic pricing surprises. No budget uncertainty. No penalty for opening a store in a hard-to-reach market.
One partner, one accountability line. Help desk, field services, hardware fulfillment, and remote support all run through Netfor, eliminating the finger-pointing that typically plagues multi-vendor environments.
The Results
Operational performance
The program now answers 92% of support calls within 60 seconds and resolves ~90% of issues on the first call — roughly 20 percentage points above the industry average. For franchisees, that translates directly into less downtime and more time serving customers.
Franchisee satisfaction
The UPS Store's support program now carries a Net Promoter Score of 37 — the highest the network has ever recorded. Franchise owners describe the experience in their own words:
“Kevin was phenomenal. Patient and stayed with us until the entire situation was resolved. Could not have been more satisfied.”
“Jack spent two days with our store to get to the bottom of the issue. Professional, patient, and knowledgeable. I’d work with Jack every single time if I could.”
Financial impact
Streamlined deployments and an optimized help desk generate approximately $500,000 in annual operational savings with cumulative savings projected at $2.5 million over five years.
A 25-Year Partnership
The UPS Store didn't build this program overnight. It's the product of a partnership that has evolved over 25 years, expanding from field services into fulfillment, help desk, and full lifecycle management as the network has grown.
“Managing a network of 5,500+ locations demands consistency, speed, and reliability. Netfor’s support across fulfillment, in-store technology, and IT services has strengthened our operational efficiency and uptime, ensuring our locations remain productive and our customers well served.”
— Sean O’Neal, Vice President of Retail Operations, The UPS Store
What Other Multi-Location Brands Can Learn
Multi-location franchise brands face a version of the challenge The UPS Store solved. Revenue is tied directly to system uptime. A broken card reader or network outage during peak hours isn't an inconvenience; it's lost revenue and a damaged customer experience.
The UPS Store's answer: stop treating IT support as a series of disconnected vendor contracts. Build a single, lifecycle-driven program with a partner accountable for the entire experience from the hardware arriving at the store to the call that gets answered in 60 seconds.
Ready to build a unified IT support model for your franchise or multi-location network?
Netfor has been the operational partner behind programs like this for over 30 years. Talk with our franchise team today.