AI Innovation for Franchise Success: Best Option Restoration's Game-Changing Upgrade

Every business must adapt to stay afloat through turbulent times. And while everyone sees Big Tech giants constantly evolving, many don't necessarily associate disaster remediation companies with the latest technological innovations. With Best Option Restoration, Nick-Anthony Zamucen is setting a new standard.

Zamucen founded Best Option Restoration (BOR), a company specializing in wind, fire, water, and mold damage restoration, in 2016. Since then, it's expanded across the country. There are currently more than 65 locations as far east as Boston and as far west as Las Vegas.

Despite economic uncertainty, business is as strong as ever, and franchisees continue to open new locations. "I mean, we're about as recession-proof as you get, and we're not going to get taken out by AI," says Zamucen.

Not only is BOR not threatened by AI, but it's also found a way to use the emerging technology to its advantage.

Maintaining continuity in any franchise business can be a challenge. However, with its new AI-powered job management software, Best Option Restoration is helping new and experienced franchise owners streamline their operations and improve the customer experience.

One of the system's most useful features is the automation of the insurance claims process. In most cases, BOR will work directly with a customer's homeowners insurance or commercial insurance. While this helps alleviate stress for customers, it creates a good bit of administrative work for each franchise.

By automating most of the claims process, the new job management system gives franchise owners and their employees more time to focus on delivering the experience their customers deserve.

One of AI's greatest strengths is its incredible capacity for analytics. The new job management system allows each franchise owner to constantly monitor analytics for virtually every aspect of the business. Continuous monitoring can reveal weak points, and predictive analytics can assist with inventory management and other day-to-day realities of running a BOR franchise.

Best Option Restoration is far from the only company implementing AI-driven solutions. However, in keeping with BOR's culture of mutual support, it's one of the few that has implemented game-changing technologies like this at no cost to franchise owners.

Since the company's inception, Zamucen has focused on one-on-one mentorship, training, and support for franchisees. This sort of quality-over-quantity approach to franchising isn't something you always see, but in Best Option Restoration's case, the results speak for themselves.

"When you take something away from somebody, they tend to want it more. So I tend to turn down a lot of franchisee candidates just because they're not culturally the right fit," says Zamucen of his selection process. "And that kind of gets out, so people tend to want you more. So I get a lot of interest in the company, which makes it good for me because I'm very selective. I'm really cherry-picking just the best."

Would-be franchisees must go through a rigorous selection process. However, once a new franchisee has been selected, they can expect consistent attention and support from Zamucen himself. While this approach has led to great success for Best Option Restoration as a whole, it's not the norm in the franchising world.

"With a lot of other companies, our competitors out there, if you have a heartbeat and cash, they'll take you," he says. "And if you make it, you make it. If you don't, you don't. With me, they're not just a number."

That isn't just talk. After selection, Zamucen trains new franchisees himself. From there, he helps them get established and ensures that each location gets off to a strong start. It's not a cookie-cutter process — in his decades of growing franchise businesses, Zamucen has found that the best way to achieve reliable growth is to determine what each individual franchisee needs.

"They're from all different backgrounds. They're all different," he says of his current group of franchisees in training. "The commonality between them is that they like to help people. And so I take that stance of helping first and making sure that I meet them where they are instead of where I feel like they should be. Then we go from there."

Running any business is no easy feat, but owning and managing a franchise is a unique balancing act. Franchise owners must adhere to brand standards while making the location-specific decisions their business needs to thrive.

Fortunately, between Best Option Restoration's supportive culture and the new addition of state-of-the-art management technology, Nick-Anthony Zamucen's franchisees are well on their way to steady growth and long-term success.