6 Reasons Why the Businesses in the Cannabis Industry Need an ERP System
Cannabis businesses are growing, both in number and size. Because of the complexity of the cannabis cultivation, manufacturing and distribution process, an ERP system is necessary for a cannabis business to succeed by keeping track of the many moving parts involved in running a successful vertical cannabis operation. In this article, MaxQ Technologies, Inc. outlines six key reasons for implementing an ERP system to benefit your cannabis business.
1. To Protect Your Investment
Companies face several risks when operating a vertical cannabis business. Cannabis companies face unique issues that pose a threat to an organization’s growth and long-term viability. For example, raising capital has always been a challenge for cannabis companies as the traditional funding sources (banks) are not available to cannabis companies. Other risks include theft, fraud, security and product tampering as well as meeting compliance regulations, which could prove costly in fines. A completely integrated Seed to Sale ERP system will help mitigate risk by providing visibility into every step of the process from the cultivation to the processing all the way through to distribution and give companies peace of mind that their assets are safe, and they are operating within compliance.
2. To Provide Efficient and Accurate Ordering Capability
In the cannabis industry, a company’s success is often measured by its ability to accurately supply its customers with exactly what they need, when they need it. An efficient and accurate way to do this is by implementing software to automate the process. A Seed to Sale ERP solution will enable your customers, your sales team and your management personnel to view order details, the status of orders and track their shipments in order to prevent costly errors or delays is vital to the fulfillment process.
3. To Minimize Risks Associated with Poor Inventory Control
What are the risks of poor inventory management? Lost sales from under-stocking, lost customers from under-stocking, tied up money from over-stocking, and excessive warehousing costs are just a few risks to the cannabis companies. With a Seed to Sale ERP system, tracking inventory from cultivation to distribution will minimize these risks. A real-time inventory management platform will support order splitting across multiple warehouses, allocations, issue replenishment orders plus the ability to manage complex pricing/discount policies. In addition, a seamless integrated system will provide management real-time visibility to data for informed decision-making about future inventory requirement levels. For example, cannabis processors can easily get access to production and packaging data to identify inventory requirements.
4. To Stay Compliant with Local Laws
As we know, cannabis is currently illegal under US federal law, however, individual states have enacted their own laws to allow the use, sale, and possession of cannabis. As a result, if you are a Cannabis MSO (multi sate operator) you must comply with many different policies and regulations regarding accessibility, criminalization, and sale for each individual state. An effective Cannabis ERP solution will enforce internal controls to ensure compliance by providing end-to-end product tracking as well as
integration to one of the industry standard compliance and regulation platforms used by governments, Metrc in the US and Health Canada in Canada.
5. To Gain a Competitive Edge
There are a number of ways cannabis companies can gain a competitive advantage, including but not limited to developing proprietary products, implementing efficient cultivation and extraction methods, and deploying advanced technologies such as a Seed tpo Sale ERP software solution. Implementing an industry specific cannabis solution can optimize business process support for all stages of an operation including planning, cultivating, harvesting, testing, curing, extraction, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, inventory management, and sales. Without this industry specific functionality, it is difficult to remain competitive.
6. To Optimize Operations
A successful cannabis business needs a strong operational foundation in order to run efficiently and return a profit. One thing that will ensure this is a robust Seed to sale Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that will manage financials, customer relationship management, cultivation and procession all from one integrated platform. With a powerful Seed to Sale ERP system, cannabis operations can work faster and more efficiently, increasing customer satisfaction and profits. In addition, this helps companies get ahead of compliance requirements and provides key insights that can help companies reduce operating costs.
Final Thoughts
At MaxQ Technologies, Inc., we believe the cannabis industry needs a system that can handle the complexities of its operations. Our Seed to Sale ERP system is specifically designed for this industry and will provide greater efficiencies and better control of your inventory. It has an intuitive, user-friendly interface to help you run your business easily. Contact us today or visit our website for more information on how our ERP systems can help your business.
