ERP stands for enterprise resource management. It’s an all-encompassing way to describe the software solutions that make virtually every single company functional. ERPs were the first-ever solution out of the plethora of software options we have today, originally coming to market in the 1960s. It’s since been updated into the software system we know now.
Before the update of ERPs, there wasn’t a lot of collaboration across different company departments. The manufacturing team couldn’t access the sales department’s data, for example, and it led to a lot of preventable vulnerabilities. Because cannabis businesses are so complex and require different departments to communicate, a flexible ERP is crucial in this space.
Cannabis businesses need cannabis-literate software
Flourish Software is an ERP. We are a cannabis-specific ERP, you can read more about more of what that means in this blog post. In a nutshell, many cannabis-specific ERPs like Flourish are modular, so interchangeable, and custom-fit for your needs. The cannabis industry has so many different spaces to get involved with, so the ability to move and change pieces of the puzzle is a crucial component for smooth day-to-day operations in cannabis.
Are you a hemp-only cultivator, for example? Do you have one, two, three, or forty-seven vertically integrated licenses across various states? Do you have a cultivation and manufacturing license? Retail only? Are you a micro business in the cannabis industry?
The point is, almost no two cannabis businesses are alike, so your ERP needs to be customizable. Throw in the different regulations from state to state, and you see why flexibility is a top priority in cannatech.
Cannabis ERPs support your business through all phases of the supply chain
Cannabis ERPs, in general, provide the following functions:
- Compliance maintenance
- Tracking sales
- Managing inventory
- Tracking various materials
- Services for distribution
How canna-specific software can increase sales
Flourish Software’s Director of Flow, Hardik Tuteja, says cannabis ERPs are designed for cannabis users from the feedback they provide. They are easier for cannabis businesses to adopt, offer familiar terminology, and it’s less clunky.
“Cannabis-specific ERPs are designed from the ground up, keeping compliance in mind, whereas traditional ERPs try to retrofit compliance requirements,” said Tuteja. “The cannabis industry is growing, so software is growing with it. Cannabis ERPs are new and growing with the industry, so as the industry changes its regulations, it’s easier to implement that change in a cannabis-specific ERP over a traditional system,” he said.
This means ERPs are the vehicle for transactions and other operations to take place. Like we mentioned above, cannabis businesses themselves are modular. Flourish Software offers one type of software solution for the cannabis space, while LeafLink for example, offers another type of software. LeafLink is a sales platform, so it handles everything related to ordering products, in-store transactions, and reporting sales and customer relationships.
Flourish and LeafLink’s recent integration minimizes clashing software platforms
Oftentimes, cannabis businesses will have multiple software solutions for different points of business, such as Flourish and LeafLink. It’s not uncommon to find both platforms in one place, hence the need for our recent integration with LeafLink. It’s important for ERPs and sales platforms to seamlessly co-exist to ensure the best customer experience.
“Flourish and Leaflink integrates on inventory and sales,” said Tuteja. “For inventory, Flourish serves as the point of truth for item creation and quantities, providing real-time METRC inventory to LeafLink. For sales, LeafLink acts as the sales-creation platform and any sales order created flows into Flourish, where they are fulfilled and the METRC part is handled. Simply put, in one sentence: Flourish and Leaflink’s integration streamlines the sales and fulfillment process,” he added.
Think about it this way, if there are two different unintegrated systems: you’ll always have two sets of inventory. This is confusing and aside from complicating things with your staff as they juggle two software platforms, it can cause you to over or undersell products.
“Integrating your ERPs and sales platforms creates a single point of truth for inventory across the company, no matter how many licenses you hold,” Tuteja said. In addition to a streamlined inventory, Flourish’s integration with LeafLink has “increased order fulfillment rate as both time and errors are reduced due to minimizing double-data entry, more-satisfied customers as orders are always accurate, and sales reps are happier because they have real-time visibility for their orders,” said Tuteja. This, in turn, solidifies relationships and attracts new ones because your customers and clients can trust you’re always accurate.
What Flourish’s integration with LeafLink means for you
You can read more about our recent collaboration with LeafLink here because there’s a lot to know, but the two systems will:
- Keep inventory synced in real-time between Flourish and LeafLink
- Customer data syncs automatically between both systems
- Orders from LeafLink come to Flourish, Flourish sends order status updates back to LeafLink
- The items are kept in sync between both platforms