Friday, August 5, 2016

Current software products specifically for the Cannabis industry

With the rapidly expanding list of players in the Cannabis industry, any attempt to compile an exhaustive list of cannabis software is futile. Even if such a list could be created, it would soon be outdated. 

Still, keeping a catalog of software I encounter may prove interesting. Instead of doing a Web search and relisting the results, I'm only including companies and products I've encountered through conversations or first hand experience. So while this may be of limited value to others, these are the Cannabis related software products that have found me:

Metrc

While it's not the first product I learned about, it seems to hold the most promise as an entry into Marijuana businesses. This is the system the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) has selected as Oregon's cannabis tracking system (CTS). It's also what the state of Colorado uses.

Because this is the "official" tracking system in Oregon, I've already started investing in learning to leverage this software. I'm currently a certified third party vendor (TPV) and have begun exploring their API.

MjFreeway

This is the first Marijuana-centric company I encountered. A good friend in Colorado with contacts in the Cannabis industry there, introduced me to this company. At the time, had their product been written in something other that PP, I might have contacted them to see if there were any remote opportunities.

Because MjFreeway is a tracking system, integrating it with other tracking systems seems an obvious opportunity. I have yet to investigate whether it has an API.

Leafly

This same friend that introduced me to MjFreeway also introduced me to Leafly.com. I'm particularly interested in solving business problems, so my interest here would be limited to updating a dispensaries menu from a tracking system or pulling in stats to include in a larger report.

Biotrack

Biotrack was presented to me as the only tracking system used by growers. This is despite having been introduced to MjFreeway prior to this. So, while my source was less knowledgable than he purported to be, Biotrack is clearly widely used. I've heard mixed messages about whether Biotrack already has integrations with Metrc, and have yet to do any of my own research.

Flohub

I was introduced to Flohub recently by a local grower. This seems to be a tracking system targeting both growers and dispensaries. Interestingly, the grower mentioned he has a friend who is working on integrating Flohub and Metrc (despite the Flohub site claiming they have integration built-in).

IndicaOnline

I learned about IndicaOnline from an exasperated hostess at a dispensary. She was trying to enter in new visitors on a particularly busy day. Since I happened to be at the tail end of the rush, I asked her whether her frustration was directed towards the workload or at the software. She indicated it was more at the workload, but wished there was a way to simply scan id cards, instead of having to type the information. I was then able to ask her a bit more about the software, which was IndicaOnline.