Tutor Doctor are celebrating after taking home the prestigious ‘Award for Innovation’ at this year’s HSBC bfa Franchise Awards.

The Innovation Award recognises franchisors who demonstrate an ongoing commitment to and investment in research and development. Purpose-built from the ground-up, Tutor Doctor presented their new online tutoring platform, ‘Bramble’, which has catapulted franchisees ahead of the competition and opened up a new revenue stream. The platform offers an enhanced customer experience.

Frank Milner, President and CEO, said he was thrilled and proud to receive the award: “We constantly strive to be the very best that we can be. This award is a celebration of our amazing team and their determination to bring yet another advantage to everyone who works with, and is part of, the Tutor Doctor brand. We’re incredibly proud to have been recognised as market-leaders and are delighted that our franchisees, students and tutors are reaping the benefits of our new online learning platform. We’ve taken at-home, personalised tutoring to a new level, the world over.”

Bramble merges the audio and visual elements from best-in-class software like FaceTime and Skype with a highly interactive whiteboard that allows real-time, on-screen editing for total immersion and connectivity between tutor and student. Participants see and hear each other’s actions as they happen which is proven to enhance cognitive learning, problem solving and retention/recollection of knowledge. Unique ‘record and playback’ functions allows sessions to be utilised like never before as revision resources and reporting tools.

As well as enabling franchisees to target a wider customer base, the system more than doubles tutor efficiency because rather than always having to travel from client to client, there’s now the option to mix-and-match online and offline sessions. “Whereas previously, tutors could teach one session an evening, they can now teach two or three,” explained Frank.

The brand is already recognised as the leading person-to-person in-the-home provider of supplementary education in the UK. By implementing this world-leading technology, franchisees can now also offer online one-to-one tutoring which gives customers ultimate choice and flexibility.

Rob Kerrison was one of several franchisees who joined Tutor Doctor at the awards ceremony. Rob, who runs his Tutor Doctor franchise in Cambridge, says he is utilising Bramble to great effect: “I use the system tactically to retain tutors and clients, as well as to target a brand new audience. The system has huge advantages and is a big value-add for us. It also opens up more opportunity to get the right tutor for the right student, not just the best tutor who can get to the home – this is vital for customer experience and results! From a purely business perspective, the 1-click joining and back office is second-to-none and the introduction of online tutoring means I can recruit a higher calibre of tutor because I can offer them more work for a fuller, busier week.”

Pip Wilkins, CEO of the bfa said: “It’s so important for franchisors to invest in research and development, to maximise efficiencies or attract a larger market. Tutor Doctor has really shown their commitment and just how effective this can be. I’m delighted to be able to congratulate them on winning the Innovation Award.”

The bfa HSBC Franchisor of the Year awards are a celebration of excellence in franchising, highlighting success in all its various forms. The 2018 winners were announced at a black-tie gala event on June 28 at Birmingham’s ICC. Over 400 professionals, including franchisors and franchisees from across the UK, came together to celebrate and honour their peers.