What To Look For In a Cannabis Technology Consultant

A cannabis consultant is someone who will play a crucial role in your business, especially if you’re lacking experience or knowledge in certain areas. They allow you to understand the industry better and advise on a technology roadmap to help expand your business. As SaaS tools no longer serve its purpose, custom built solutions are introduced to improve data management and integrations. And remain compliant in today’s rapidly growing legal cannabis industry.

How to find the one.

Just like a relationship they should share your vision to achieve the end goal. They will be experienced, knowledgeable about the industry and the processes needed to keep the business running smoothly. Cannabis is unlike any other industry, and what you don’t know can be disastrous for you and your business.

So before you decide on the one, it’s always good to do your homework – just like you would before jumping into a new relationship.

Ensure your consultant is dynamic.

As the cannabis industry is renowned for unexpectedly changing rules and regulations. It is vital for the consultant to be reactive and flexible enough to quickly shift strategy if and when it arises (and it happens frequently)!  Although this is only possible when you find a consultant with experience in the industry – knowing what might change is as important as knowing what has changed.

One common dispensary compliance mistake is failing to adhere to purchase limits. From state to state, product to product, purchase limits can vary and change. For example ‘looping’, this is where customers purchase the maximum amount in one sale then return later to purchase the same amount again. With the right tech in place, this can be avoided. And can save you a ton of money in fines for failing to comply.

Understanding of the full cannabis supply chain is essential. From the cultivation regulations through to reporting inventory. Tracking the full seed to sale journey is one of the major concerns within the legalized cannabis industry. With the right consultant they can help put the cannabis technology ecosystem in place that makes the tracking process easy and automated. As cannabis companies often rely heavily on Google sheets to track things, human error can lead to costly issues. However if your consultant is up to speed with regulations, they’ll ensure you have the correct operating procedures in place to avoid violations.

Providing a vision for your business’ future.

Ensuring a consultant understands your IT landscape and data journey is important. IT transformation is an iterative process and you need a partner who can build and work towards a long term tech roadmap. In this instance implementing the correct cannabis software to interpret the vital data, will enhance the customer journey, business’ processes, ability to drive sales and help grow your capabilities over time.

What else should I consider…

A good consultant should have a range of technical experience from past projects and success stories specific to the cannabis industry. The cannabis industry is unique and it is essential for the experience to be within the industry. You want to see where the consultant has been actively involved in providing results from scaling to problem solving, to know what they can achieve for your organization (like how we helped Airfield Supply revolutionize their retail experience).

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Communication is key.

Like a healthy relationship you want your new consultant to treat you like a partner, not just like the next paycheck. They will work with you collaboratively as opposed to just working for you. To further strengthen this partnership and thus the business as a whole, a transparent and open way of communicating is key.

The best consultants have a customer service mentality that provides continual support and puts your business first.

Time to swipe right.

With all this in mind, you need to choose the right cannabis technology consultant to help ensure you have the quality systems and infrastructure to meet your business needs at any scale. They’ll help refine, meet and exceed your goals to help your business flourish.

However, a cannabis consultant that isn’t proactive with regulations will result in violations, lost time, money and we all know that’s not good for business.

You want to be thorough in your research, so don’t rush the decision process. Your main priority is to hire the most competent team who shares your vision for the business.