"GNC was very pleased to be one of the first companies to implement a franchise system Intranet to communicate with its franchise operators. Using IFX's technology, GNC's Intranet has improved the timing of our communication, allowed us greater flexibility in executing marketing and promotion plans, and made it easier to get marketing and product information to 30 different countries. Ordinary email and overnight courier services simply do not compare to the advantages IFX's system has allowed us to enjoy."

GNC Pittsburgh, PA

"When the COO of our company asked me to get involved in the launch of our Intranet system, I was a little concerned about working with a company so far away, and in another country. I was also concerned about utilizing a third party versus doing it ourselves. Now in our third year with IFX it is very clear that we made the right decision.

IFX is as simple as it gets. We had 40% of franchisees online in the first 30 days of operation, and that grew to 100% within a year. Many of those franchisees had little or no computer or internet experience but they all managed to adopt it after very little training. The online system is also used to connect us with our corporate owned stores and this has proven to be a significant tool in the management of those stores.

Dan Martin and his team provided service levels that made us believe we were his only client/certainly his most important client. He had us up and running within a time frame I never would have believed possible. One of the biggest advantages was not having to concern ourselves with the infrastructure; it allowed us to concentrate on developing the business rather than the business tools."

Denninghouse , Inc. Toronto, Canada

"IFX provided us with an efficient, low cost, low maintenance Intranet system that has enabled us to better
serve our 3,000+ International network of Baskin-Robbins and Dunkin' Donuts stores in 40 countries. Licensee
acceptance and usage has been great. The system has enabled ADQSR International to focus on delivering the
message, not the Intranet technology."

ADQSR International Brand Services Glendale, CA

"We spent months searching for an Intranet provider that had a basic understanding of franchising. It seemed like an impossible task until I met Dan Martin and IFX Online. The rest was easy."

AIM Mail Centers Irvine, CA

"Franchisees love getting price lists, dropped items and other supplier info immediately. They are using the system more than ever. It is one of the best received things we have done for them... a real home run!"

Carpet Network, Inc. Mt. Laurel, NJ

"Just as we provide our Franchisees with an operating system for success in the moving business, IFX provides us with a proven successful Intranet system at a fraction of the cost of developing and maintaining our own site. While we are just launching our Intranet site system-wide, we can already see the tremendous benefits and savings. As we approach our annual meeting, the Intranet and its uses for our system is the topic of interest."

TWO MEN AND A TRUCK INTERNATIONAL Okemos, MI

“IFX introduced us to the private Intranet concept several years ago. Since that time, they've been with us every step of the way as a true business partner, working through several upgrades and enhancements without missing a beat. With regard to communication, our Intranet is the single most effective thing we've ever done for our franchisees.”

Medicap Pharmacies, Inc. Des Moines, IA

"I first evaluated the IFX program in 1997. I saw immediately the power it could bring to support and communication with franchise owners. That is extremely valuable, but frankly, it is not the reason I believe so strongly in the IFX Extranet. The real reason is that I know that even if our technical staff duplicated IFX's existing capability, they could never keep up with innovations and support that IFX provides, along with their IFX Client User Forums for idea exchange. That is an intangible value I consider equal to the entire cost of the system."

HomeServe America Bethesda, MD

"As IT Manager for MGW Group, Inc., Home Office and Franchisor for 220 plus Cookies by Design® and Cookie Bouquet® shoppes, it was my assignment to establish an Intranet. It had to be user friendly, easily accessed by 'Dialup (ugh)' modems, and most importantly, 'affordable'. We went to Dan Martin first because of his knowledge and experience with Franchising. One of the most important criteria for our vendors is that they understand Franchising, which Dan does because of his experience both as a Franchisor and Franchisee. And this has certainly been borne out by the excellent comments received from our franchise family members in response to Dan's address at our annual Cookie Convention®.

Dan and the great techies at IFX have done an excellent job in helping us meet our objectives. Our franchise family members are not interested in becoming computer experts, and will not tolerate a steep learning curve. Since introducing the Cookie Connection® - our Intranet hosted by IFX - they have had virtually no problems accessing and using the site.

I first demo'd the Cookie Connection® on a 28K modem to our PAC (President's Advisory Council) using a laptop, 'free' dialup ISP, and a 100 foot phone line strung haphazardly across a meeting room to simulate a 'worse case' scenario. It worked beautifully, and I was applauded at the end of my presentation. And what's really great is that in the few times we have had problems, I simply email IFX, and they help us out! I can't imagine the tremendous effort and cost that would be required if we had to establish and maintain an Intranet on our own in-house server."

MGW Group, Inc. Plano, TX

“The most prevalent problem in all franchise systems is communication. Since joining IFX, that problem is a thing of the past. What used to cost $$$ and take hours, is now accomplished in just minutes, and every franchisee is able to benefit from the information immediately.”

Wing Zone Atlanta, GA

"The Intranet that IFX designed for our company is nothing short of fantastic. Over 90% of our franchisees are using the Intranet on a regular basis to communicate with us and we have received nothing but overwhelmingly positive comments from our franchisees about the Intranet. Thanks IFX!!!!"

McAlister's Corporation Ridgeland, MS

"Back in the Internet stone-age, our local Internet Service Provider built us a password-protected franchisee Intranet system. Although the Internet is always available 24 hours a day, getting information posted to our old Intranet system took days. In many cases, it was quicker and less expensive to broadcast fax or photocopy and enclose this information in the "weekly franchisee" mail instead of posting it on our Intranet.

IFX provided our franchise system with a turnkey private Online Support System that offers instant communication with other franchise owners and the WIN Home Office staff, 24 hours a day. We are now able to post time-sensitive items for our franchisees and everyone in the system can securely communicate via the Intranet's Webmail system.

Our franchisees took to the group discussion forums like fish to water sharing their success stories, wisdom and encouragement. And in our library, important resources, such as marketing, sales, business support products and years of compiled technical information are now easily accessible anytime by all anyone in our franchise system.

Our IFX Intranet transformed how we communicate and support our whole franchise system."

World Inspection Network International Seattle, WA

"The HandyNet has provided Handyman Connection with an efficient system for communicating with our franchisees, and allows our franchisees to better communicate with each other. It has helped us build a 'community' with our franchisees by allowing them to frequently tap into the experience and learning from others.

HandyNet has allowed us to put materials and programs where and when they're needed. We've discontinued mailings on a regular basis, eliminating the floating paper problem we were causing our franchises and decreasing the turnaround time on information and requests."

The Handyman Connection Cincinnati, OH

"We decreased our communication costs by almost 40 percent with the introduction of Ham-net. Because we no longer have to mail color copies of advertising pieces to each store, we save on postage and copy costs. With Ham-net, we can post a clear image of the advertisement to all our franchisees for them to preview and place orders. And because our Intranet provides private discussion forums, everybody saves on long distance calls.

With Ham-net, franchisees can post any questions at any time to their field marketing manager and count on a response within 24 hours. Ham-net also provides group discussion strings for all franchisees to share information. We post memos, sales ranking reports and vendor specials each month, and keep our operations manual, marketing manual, and other important resources for our franchisees and staff in the library. Before Ham-net, if we needed to make a slight change to a manual, we had to send a corrected page to each franchisee. Now, we can make the change on the Intranet and notify everybody simultaneously."

Paradise Foods, Inc. / Heavenly Ham Norcross, GA

IFX International, Inc.
12230 El Camino Real, Ste. 220
San Diego, CA 92130
E-mail: info@ifxonline.com
Phone: 858.724.1024
Fax: 858.724.1043