The global legal sale of cannabis is expected to reach $33.6 billion by 2025, with software capabilities like cannabis ERP making this growth possible. A cannabis ERP is an investment in making the entire seed-to-sale process compliant, traceable, accurate, and manageable.

But sometimes, implementing your cannabis ERP can be a financial disaster.

Cannabis companies can reduce the project’s costs and still have a successful ERP implementation. You need a proficient project manager to change, integrate, and update your business ERP system across all your business operations and units.

This expert should also transfer your data and customize the entire ERP system to fit your unique business needs. The company-wide adoption of the cannabis ERP system also requires training, adding training resources to your overall implementation costs.

Figure Out Your Business Needs First, Then Plan

Before purchasing and implementing a cannabis ERP solution, you must predetermine your business needs. Here’s why:

• Your business operations are unique in specific ways compared to other businesses. Therefore, settling for a one-size-fits-all cannabis ERP will get you spending more on functionalities or features you don’t need.
• Implementing an ERP system has complex moving parts: you need an ERP project manager, a data transfer and change management strategy, an IT infrastructure with hardware devices, subscription or license counts, integration and add-on features, and custom options. Paying for each element adds to the overall cost.

Know what you need and create a project roadmap for implementing your cannabis ERP. Then, look for different vendors based on their capability to meet your business needs and compare their price offerings.

Creating competition between the vendors gets you competitive prices and some negotiation power. Negotiating can significantly save you millions of dollars annually, depending on the size of your cannabis business.

Beware Of Customization Costs

It is essential to get an ERP system you can customize, an ERP that can adapt to the changing needs of your business as you grow. However, excessive customization adds to your overall costs, which in most cases is unnecessary.

Some ERP vendors divide the entire implementation period into different predetermined stages of customization. Each of these stages is assigned unique resources to ensure deliverables, which, in turn, increases your overall implementation cost.

Additionally, integrating your workflow processes with the new ERP system requires custom coding and work that requires maintenance and upgrades periodically in the long term. Excessive customization makes these upgrades challenging and costly.

Only subscribe to what you need, leave room for additional features, and challenge your vendors to justify the resources required to meet implementation deliverables. This ensures you only pay for the features you need.

Don’t Waste Resources

Before implementing your ERP solution, determine your resources to complete project tasks. Take advantage of the expertise of the ERP consultant by making them part of the entire implementation process, including employee training and support. As a result, you ensure you get the best from start to end.

Look To The Future

How many users will you need? You might be tempted to save costs by only implementing and paying for some user counts.

Adding user counts later can potentially increase the cost of implementation as an add-on service. Implementing the complete user count from the onset allows you to negotiate for the broader user package.

A little foresight can help determine the impact of your cannabis ERP implementation by comparing the long-term return on investment versus the initial cost of ERP implementation. And with this information, you can make decisions that seem costly at face value but are very cost-cutting long term.

Conclusion

A well-implemented cannabis ERP software will reduce your operational costs and improve your efficiency, collaboration, visibility, reporting, and planning. But an ERP implementation can get deep into your pockets, especially if you go in blindly and with preparation.

To enjoy the benefits of your new cannabis ERP system without risking your business, determine your business needs, use your resources appropriately, and get an expert to guide you from start to finish. Remember to assess your return on investment before committing to a vendor. But most of all, practice these tips to get the most value out of your implementation process.

FAQs

Are ERP solutions cost-saving for cannabis businesses?

Yes. The overall function of an ERP system is to integrate business processes and eliminate decentralization of software solutions. This, in turn, reduced business costs through automated processes, reduced human error, and reduced costs of training, updating, and paying for software licenses.

How can the cannabis ERP implementation cost be reduced?

Getting an ERP solution that fits the business needs is key to reducing most implementation costs.

Can the ERP implementation fail?

Yes. But with the help of an expert and the right resources, failure is reduced significantly.