How Information Can Reduce Risk for Cannabis MSOs
By: Philip Petrini
As with any organization in a major industry, the main resources that measure success are the same: material, human, financial, and INFORMATION. In the cannabis industry, the same holds true. information is crucial for reducing risks for cannabis MSOs. However, if you ask a cannabis company operating in the United States, cultivation information tends to be unorganized.
Risks of Lack of Hard Data
Decisions regarding the direction of your company should be based on information and hard data. When accurate data and information are easily available, organizations can make educated decisions and reduce risks. Unfortunately, with a lack of accurate data, many will end up making decisions based on “gut instinct” or past experiences. That’s where the risk comes in. And no amount of notepads, whiteboards, Excel spreadsheets, or Google documents can measure how successful your company is financially and otherwise.
Getting the Right Information
Cannabis cultivation operations of all sizes struggle against getting the correct information. They all share a common thread: antiquated tracking, organizing, and deciphering of all the collected data and information. As a result, unfavorable decisions can be made. With technology literally at our fingertips, it seems frivolous to operate these businesses without hard data driving operational decisions.
However, data and information are just the tips of the iceberg. If an MSO is operating with accurate data and information, they’re already ahead of the game in reducing their risks.
Hard Data Centralized
Rarely are a cannabis cultivation’s projected yields based on any hard, historical data. If the projection isn’t based on data previously gathered from a cycle in the same room or strain, you’re taking a gamble. With millions or, in some cases, billions of dollars on the line, leaving something to chance is reckless. If a given crop doesn’t meet the projection, how can you identify the root cause? Without a centralized system to gather and report all variables in a grow cycle (i.e. mother/strain of the plants, environments, crop inputs, human interaction with the plants, pests, etc.), there’s no real way to identify that root cause. That’s why information is so important in reducing risks for cannabis MSOs.
Educated Decisions Reduce Risks
MSOs can reduce risks by making educated decisions based on accurate information. Frequently, projections or decisions are made with a level of bias, especially when made without actual hard data. Numbers don’t lie, and they take the bias out of the decision-making process. In addition, self-preservation or grossly over-projecting can cause catastrophic consequences throughout an organization. But software that consolidates a cultivation’s data and reports it back to management can eliminate these issues.
All the Data Makes All the Difference
It’s one thing for a software system to track and report where you are as an organization. It’s an entirely different ball game when that system can show everything from where you’ve been to where you could be and everything in between. If a platform could take all historical and current data, then tell a company what strain/phenotype to plant, where to plant it, and even what to feed the plants and who should touch them… that’s INFORMATION! And that’s information that can reduce risks for cannabis MSOs. That’s exactly what FolioGrow can do for you.
Philip Petrini
