If you own a business in the cannabis supply chain, then you know there are a number of tricky obstacles to overcome. But do you also know what marks a good cloud-based accounting solution and how you will determine whether your software provider has cannabis expertise and understand the nuances of such a complex industry?
While businesses in every vertical can benefit from accounting in the cloud, not all cloud accounting solutions are created equal and not every solution vendor knows cannabis.
You need a purpose-built system from a cannabis cloud accounting partner who knows your processes and the legislation that defines them. If you’re in the market for seed-to-sale accounting software, first determine your software requirements, then learn the differences among the available cannabis solutions.
Here’s an additional cannabis toolkit to help you find the best solution.
Once you’ve done all the internal fact-finding, let us know you’re ready to have a conversation. If you’re not ready to speak to a vendor yet, here are some reminders to help you find the best cannabis cloud partner for you.
Data Integrity
How will your data be secured and backed up with your new cloud provider? With on-premise cannabis solutions, this responsibility traditionally fell to internal IT department staff but with a cloud solution, your backup can be initiated or accessed anytime, from anywhere. Your financial data needs to be protected with enterprise-grade level security measures and encryption to make sure that it remains completely inaccessible to anybody who would steal it. Additionally, your cloud accounting software providers need to offer robust backup features to secure your data in the event that a server or drive catastrophically fails.
Accessibility
One of the major benefits of cloud-based accounting software is the ability to perform financial work processes on the go in real-time, so it’s important that any software solution you go with supports the devices that you’ll use in the course of business. Whether you use Macs, PCs, iOS devices, or Androids, ensure that the software is fully supported for whatever device you’ll use to access your data.
User Support
How does the company support its users? While it can be difficult to get a sense of this from the marketing materials you’ll have access to in your search for a new accounting solution, any reputable software company should be willing to give you references for some of their current customers so you can learn about the client experience of their services. Do your due diligence and reach out to some others who use the service you’re looking into to see how well they support your needs.
Scalability
If a business isn’t growing it’s dying, so you need to make sure that any cloud-based accounting solution you settle on features scalability measures that will keep up with and foster your business’s growth over time. Scalability considerations include processing and storage capacity, software updates and upgrades, and ease of use for the user. After all, unwieldy and slow processes are a direct impediment to scaling.
Integrations
Often overlooked by small businesses throwing together software solutions slipshod and on the fly, it is vital that your accounting solution integrates with other software solutions seamlessly. Many cloud accounting software providers feature partnerships with other business software providers, which can help plug your organization into a larger network of vendors to streamline a multitude of processes that might not even be on your mind yet. These integrations help reduce your overhead in the long run because of the amount of time they can save you on working hours, freeing your team up to do other things to boost the bottom line.
Data Ownership
Another detail that is often overlooked, not all cloud-based software actually maintains your ownership of your data. Make sure before you sign the vendor agreement that should you decide to part ways with the company hosting your cloud accounting software that all of your data will come immediately back to you.
