Seed-to-sale software is a type of specialized software designed to help businesses in the cannabis industry manage their operations from the moment a seed is planted to the sale of the final product. It is an all-in-one software solution that tracks the entire lifecycle of cannabis plants and products, from cultivation, harvesting, processing, and manufacturing to distribution and sales.
Seed-to-sale software exists to help cannabis businesses manage their operations in a highly regulated industry. The cannabis industry is subject to strict regulations and compliance requirements, and seed-to-sale software provides a comprehensive solution to help businesses ensure compliance with these regulations.
Many cannabis software platforms have been developed to aid the needs to cannabis business owners trying to automate workflows. The common names for these platforms are “Seed-to-Sale Software” and “Cannabis ERP Software” but there are still a lot of differences between them. Most software solutions are designed for one vertical in the cannabis industry; growers, dispensaries, manufacturers, etc. The best solution for your business is going to be the one that is designed with your operation and challenges in mind.
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Ease of use when organizing inventory locations and updating those locations is critical for tracking inventory.
Mobile data entry prevents data bottlenecks and empowers employees to enter consistent and reliable data at the point of action.
Tracking materials required for processing helps to establish a cost of goods to determine product profitability.
State mandated Metrc tags contain both barcodes and RFID chips; however, a 3rd party seed to sale system is needed to utilize the visual or electronic scanning of the tags.
Empower sales teams to presell inventory as well as plan resource needs for the organization using consistent data.
Managing employee workflows and calculating worker productivity is improved with a proper task management creation and automation system.
In addition to state mandated tags, there are additional usages for printing labels for tracking inventory.
Standard supply chain workflows apply too many aspects of the cannabis industry, but there remain unique workflows required by the state, and for processing products. The right seed to sale system will provide automations for SOPs.
Visibility into the operation’s financials is imperative for planning long-term sustainability. Utilize seed to sale reporting to facilitate decisions based on productivity and cost of goods.
Seamless integration with state compliance systems is essential for a good seed to sale system and helps keep operations in good standing with state regulations.
Keep track of all sales and payments from customers.
Share data between software solutions and maximize automations and advanced reporting tools.
The blend of features offered by seed-to-sale systems can range from a focus on financials to workflows, and benefits to a variety of users. When considering the features and how they may help your specific company, it's important to have a clear understanding of what benefits are best suited to your organization.
Reduce data entry needed and increase accuracy with software and hardware automations. The use of mobile devices, scanners, and computers eliminate the need for pen and paper, disparate spreadsheets, and data entry duplication.
Get a team up and running within days using intuitive software which ensures proper data is entered and workflows are followed.
Advanced business intelligence analytics helps drive important business decisions based on accurate data.
Easily calculate organizational profitability down to the line items such as profitability by strain and location.
As with many growing industries, ancillary software services emerge to help with automation improve the competitive advantages. However, being a highly regulated industry with rapid growth, cannabis companies have unique needs which many software services cannot address. When reviewing the hundreds
of seed-to-sale software providers, it's important to clarify your company’s specific needs and establish the selection criteria to make selecting the ideal system easier. Some of the most useful factors include:
Limiting data entry and increasing workflow efficiency are standard benefits of current software solutions. Modern software products have the ability to communicate with one another via standard APIs --the backbone of data integration. Seed-to-sale platforms shouldn’t have a robust API with the ability to integrate with other systems.
Some of the most common integrations for seed-to-sale systems are:
Accounting software
Scanners (RFID & Barcode)
Scales
Transportation
Analytics Tools
Government Systems (State, County, and City requirements)
The cost of a seed-to-sale system varies, from hundreds to thousands of dollars per month, usually depending on the unique needs of the company, the workflow requirements, the depth of features offered, and integrations of the software.
For smaller owner-operators, software companies may charge between $200 and $500 each month, depending on the size of the team, specific features you need, and which type of cannabis business you are in. Medium size operations can expect upwards of $500 per month, while even larger vertical operations can rise to the $1000s per month.
Many seed-to-sale systems have different features as well as different value propositions and associated costs. Here is a rubric to help evaluate decision criteria.
The future of cannabis technology
