Best cannabis ERPs to track your product from seed to sale

Cannabis continues to occupy an unusual position in the world.  While cannabis is legal in some states, it remains illegal in others.  In the USA, the federal government treats cannabis as a narcotic while individual states treat the product as completely legal for medical and recreational use.  Many individuals continue to view cannabis and users of the product through a moral lens regardless of the legal status.

Cannabis ERP system requirements

Varying legalities make some interesting constraints on the business that cannabis-oriented ERP must manage.  Financing can be difficult as banks that will loan money to another business avoid cannabis business because they see risks related to mingling drug-related money with money from other sources.  Many police departments routinely seize drug money with little oversight. There are limits on the cost of sales too due to the legal status of the business depending on the particular taxing authority.

Cannabis is a product for human consumption and must comply with regulations from federal and local pharmaceutical and food product rules.  These are critical compliance requirements for a business producing or selling cannabis products.

Many governments regulate the site of business operations such as distance from schools and parks.  A cannabis business often gets additional reporting requirements at local levels that might not burden another similar-size business in another industry.  Be certain to keep up to date with all compliance requirements and pay attention that your ERP, too, remains current.

Simply as a business, any cannabis ERP must provide tools for finance, accounting, production, distribution, manufacturing, retail and wholesale selling, customer and supplier management, and business intelligence as good as, or better than, an ERP intended for more general-purpose businesses.

Best ERPs for the cannabis industry

1. Strimo

Strimo is relatively new to the cannabis ERP scene.  They began in 2017 and their slogan “Seed-to-Sale is just the start” is a good take-off from another popular ERP’s slogan.  Strimo is based in Portland, Maine. Their systems are available in the cloud and can be up and running helping your business quickly.  Several common ERP components are included in Strimo. Production lets you take control over your entire process, cultivation, extraction, packaging, and track your batch manufacturing.  Accounting meets GAAP, SSAE16, ISAE accounting and audit standards, and helps manage your organization’s finances. Point of Sale gives you the power to segment and engage with customers naturally and with ease. You get total visibility into your sales and customers.  Compliance is designed to exceed standards. This module ensures your organization is compliant with laws and regulations.

2. Quantumleaf

Quantumleaf is another cannabis ERP I recently found.  This one, more perhaps than others is optimized for agriculture.  Quantumleaf is based on Acumatica, a popular general-purpose ERP used around the world.  They are based in Coral Springs, Florida and were founded by growers. They look on compliance as the bare minimum requirement for a business in the cannabis industry.  Poor compliance with the many regulations from every level of government is a key reason for the failure of a cannabis business. You can track and manage from seed to sale with Quantumleaf too.  Knowing your true cost per plant is good business sense and reflects the agricultural background found in Quantumleaf.

3. ERP Cannabis

ERP Cannabis is the third system I found recently.  They use quote marks around “ERP” in their web site so there might be some question if theirs is fully an ERP.  But under products they show grow operations, processing and maintenance, logistics and transportation, retail, medical tracking, mobility, back-office operations, and reporting and security.  These are components of a good ERP. Canna Software is the developer. Their focus is on the cannabis industry. They offer solutions for grow facilities, manufacturing, dispensaries, and other providers.

Cannabis ERP systems from the previous review

1. ROAR (Guardian Data Systems)

Guardian Data Systems is a US company based in Washington. They have been in business since 2008 and, at first, were primarily involved in financing cannabis businesses.

Guide: seven steps to selecting process manufacturing ERP

They had to diversify and acquired an ERP which they call ROAR. ROAR includes POS, point of sale, cultivation software, distribution, laboratory, delivery, processing, and ancillary sales - so has the bases covered no matter what part of the cannabis business you work in. ROAR is a cloud-based ERP, which helps keep up-front costs for customers low and can make the software quick to deploy.

2. Cannabusiness ERP (NexTec Group)

NexTec has 25 years experience in the ERP industry. They have worked with Sage since the inception of the software and they resell several other ERP systems with many successful clients. 

They have developed CannaBusiness ERP with help from food and agricultural experts. This ERP is tailored for the cannabis industry, and as such can help to manage complex legal requirements, including IRS section 280E that strictly limits cannabis tax deductions to those that are cost of goods sold.

3. Viridian Sciences

Viridian Sciences is based in Vancouver, Washington, just across the river from Portland, Oregon. Viridian offers software to enable cannabusiness to run efficiently with automated inventory tracking, seed-to-sale reporting, financial accounting, growth management, quality control, and many other essential tools to help you succeed. Viridian is an SAP reseller so users can be sure that they are getting a proven and established software model.

Best cannabis ERP systems

There are, at least, these six ERPs designed to support cannabis businesses. The best cannabis ERP system is only related to which one best meets your unique requirements. Develop your own list of requirements and examine possible ERP products ensuring yourself that your selection is your best ERP. Many of these ERPs have good blogs that will help you understand some of the unique requirements for your business in addition to more general business requirements.