Potential franchisees looking for a suitable business should benefit from a new franchise selector tool.

Franchise Gator - a subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation - aims to make the process of researching a franchise business opportunity easier and allows users to select up to five franchises based on industry, geographic location and investment level.

It can provide users with a full overview of each franchise, including details on financing assistance, training and support.

"We wanted to make the franchise selection process easier for our visitors who are interested in starting a new business," said Brent Turner, vice president of Franchise Gator.

"We understand their time is precious so we designed the easy-to-use selector tool to provide them the necessary information in the most efficient manner."