Inventory Management Software and the Cannabis Industry
Inventory Management Software and the Cannabis Industry
Cannabis Industry in America
The legality of the cannabis industry is of no small debate in this country. Seventeen states, the District of Columbia, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam have legalized recreational cannabis, another 16 have decriminalized its use, and 33 states have some form of medical use. There are plans for federal legalization under the Biden administration, and even late last year, the United Nations, which are famously anti-cannabis, reclassified cannabis. Hence, it no longer shares the highest classification of narcotic drugs. Across the country, legalization efforts are underway by grassroots organizations and local organizers.
Where there is no debate of cannabis's potential is big business. According to CNBC, "the U.S. market opportunity is valued at around $40 billion to $50 billion and expected to grow to $80 billion by 2030 assuming national availability." That's more than double the entire global music industry's value.
Accounting for the Cannabis Industry
Because of the federal status of the cannabis industry, we see multi-million dollar companies conduct transactions almost entirely with cash. Why is that? Because significant credit card companies are unwilling to work with American cannabis companies to process credit and debit cards most of the time. Except for a few more minor direct-to-bank account transaction apps, almost all expenses and company transactions are made with cash; even payroll and federal taxes are paid out entirely in cash.
Limited Specialized Technology
Among the legal problems for the cannabis industry, there is a lack of business tools available for the cannabis business owner. States are still struggling to enact compliance measures. Other software such as ERP, CRM, warehouse, and inventory management tailored to the cannabis industry do not exist the way they do for other businesses. This lack of technology has caused many business owners to pull up their bootstraps and do things a little more old-fashioned. Despite a few cannabis software suites to help cultivators organize their growth, there is no all-in-one solution for cannabis companies.
How Kechie ERP Can Help
When it comes to selecting the right ERP for a cannabis business, there are a few essential features to consider:
- Type and level of responsiveness with customer service
- The amount of configurable and customizable features
- Ease-of-use
- Real-time visibility in all transactions
- Traceability and accountability
- Fully Integrated Cloud-based solution
Fully Integrated Design
All individual modules such as inventory and warehouse management communicate with each other in real-time thanks to our proprietary, fully integrated cloud-based software.
For example, let's say that your head cultivator needs to purchase new seeds, check each greenhouse's inventory levels, and create sales order reports for the last six months. In Kechie, the cultivator can generate purchase orders with your seed vendors, which will allocate money from the designated account. To check the inventory levels, the cultivator won't have to contact anyone but check the Inventory module to get authentic inventory levels in one place. Finally, when generating the sales orders, the cultivator will have several options for creating the reports, by strain, sales type, location, and many more; by pulling data from all available modules to create original and customized reports. These are just three simple examples of the kind of complex business processes made easy with Kechie ERP.
Kechie ERP by My Office Apps also features a Finance module that hits all of those essential boxes, along with other modules. The accounting module features accounts receivable and accounts payable, automated modules designed to reduce human errors significantly. Combined with cash management and general ledger features, allow business owners to pay bills, create purchase and sales orders quickly, and take control of their finances. The accounting module allows business owners to organize their financial statements and track every step of their procurement and sales cycles. Kechie ERP is designed to offer the tools needed to monitor every transaction, with advanced reporting tools that are easily configurable, ensuring accountability for business owners' something lacking in the cannabis industry. The fully integrated system is perfect for cannabis businesses.
Contact Us for More Information
My Office Apps is a different kind of SaaS provider. We partner with cannabis businesses to improve their existing processes, not the other way around. Our software is configurable to your needs, we can customize integrations, and we are constantly working to improve with new features and modules. We offer 30-years of software experience and nearly a decade of cannabis industry experience at your disposal to make your business stand out by operating better by performing beyond your expectations.
Contact us by visiting www.myofficeapps.com to see more of what Kechie ERP has to offer the cannabis industry. Schedule a demo today by emailing us or by calling (714) 486-1487.
Accounting Software Is Not an ERP and Why You Should Care
Accounting Software Is Not an ERP and Why You Should Care
There are many business software packages available that were initially designed as simple on-premise accounting software packages. While this may have been adequate for a business starting, as the business grows, they find deficiencies that may be causing unneeded extra work and are restraining their growth. For comparison, we will examine QuickBooks, the most popular accounting software, but all accounting software packages will have similar challenges.
A Brief History of QuickBooks
QuickBooks was initially designed over 20 years ago for small to medium business accounting and bookkeeping and not as a full-fledged ERP system. Although it has expanded features since it was developed initially, it does not easily support many essential business functions. These include manufacturing, bills of materials, purchasing, and critical inventory functions such as bar code scanning, eCommerce, lot tracking, multiple warehouses, and purchasing. A common complaint about QuickBooks is that it has limitations on the file sizes it supports and the number of users who can use the software simultaneously. This can be a big problem if a company has many SKUs to track or many employees who need to access the system.
A cloud version was later introduced called QuickBooks Online, but it is not designed to be an ERP replacement. Users have complained that QuickBooks Online supports fewer features than QuickBooks Pro, the on-premises version. Although its accounting functions do have good reports, many of the other parts' reporting capability is relatively weak. Also, companies with large databases report slow load times and occasional system crashes, and system downtime issues.
QuickBooks Issues
QuickBooks does provide the capability to supplement the functionality of their software through the addition of third-party apps that can be obtained through their App Store. However, adding these apps takes extra time and effort for a busy business manager. Integrating the app with the rest of the system may be less than perfect and require outside support resources for implementation and ongoing maintenance.
Another issue is QuickBooks customer support. QuickBooks provides telephone support, but it has been characterized as general and impersonal. This level of support may be acceptable for bookkeeping issues. Still, when a time-critical issue comes up in your business, it is crucial to get fast, accurate answers as soon as possible. If you don't, you may end up losing a customer or make a mistake that could cost your company a lot of money.
The Kechie Difference
Kechie ERP from My Office Apps, on the other hand, has been developed within the past few years from the ground up to be a modern, integrated ERP system that takes into account the business environment and technologies of the 2020s. These days, one of the essential software features is to be based in the cloud using a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. This frees up support resources within an organization since it no longer needs to worry about computer system maintenance, processing software updates, or backing up data. The SaaS model is much more efficient and lower in cost for most companies. Kechie was designed from the start to provide these advantages.
Customers are also looking for a more integrated software system that seamlessly combines functionality from many operating departments. Kechie was designed by people who have significant experience working inside manufacturing companies and understand what functionality is needed in today's business environment. It includes the ability to effortlessly handle important business activities beyond finance tasks, including manufacturing, bills of materials, purchasing, RMA, and essential inventory functions such as bar code scanning, eCommerce, lot tracking, multiple warehouses, and purchasing.
Another critical advantage of Kechie ERP is the personalized support that customers receive. The My Office Apps team is committed to providing the highest quality customer support for Kechie ERP. We see our role as a company that sells software and a business process improvement company that will work closely with you and your team to help you improve your business processes by leveraging the Kechie integrated ERP system.
See What We Can Do For You
Our goal is to provide the best solutions for small and medium-sized businesses using the latest techniques to contribute to our customer's success. If you consider acquiring business management software to help you run your business, make sure that you don't choose something that you will likely outgrow or wasn't initially designed for today's modern business environment. Please take a look at Kechie ERP from My Office Apps and experience the value of getting a more capable system that will have the flexibility to grow with you when you are ready.
You can visit www.myofficeapps.com, or better yet, call us at (949) 486-1947 and ask us to schedule a demo to show how we can help solve the business issues you face both today and tomorrow.