Featured Vendors (July - August) - 2023

Cannabis tech startups are sprouting up around the United States, Canada, and other areas around the globe. In a competitive industry, companies will benefit from staying on top of the latest IT trends. With cannabis being legalized in an ever-increasing number of markets across the country and around the world, sales are likely to be higher than ever, but the fledgling cannabis sector is more prone to rapid trend changes than others. Comprehensive and uniform regulation is lacking, methods of consumption are evolving and investments are difficult to predict.

Today, technology companies are taking advantage of the nascent green rush to develop gadgets and platforms aimed at making the growth, compliance, sales and all other aspects of the marijuana industry easier. From cannabis-specific apps and software to hardware and business-consumer platforms, cannabis tech is booming. CBD and marijuana dispensaries can benefit from digital signage as it will help companies grow with innovative solutions. By embracing this trend, companies can craft immersive environments to enhance customer experience and brand image. Digital signage can be used by dispensaries to play informational videos as well as create interactive kiosks and instructions about how best to use the product. It can also help by creating a more straightforward payment process.

Using automation technologies can streamline the most tedious, timeconsuming tasks in a grow operation, eliminating costly mistakes and reducing a considerable amount of labor along the way. Whether syncing watering and light cycles with automated timers or keeping track of inventory and weights, growth stages and any movement the plants have done within a cannabis grow through an automated data entry system, automation has the ability to improve performance in cultivation, harvesting, processing, manufacturing, packaging, compliance and distribution.

Economies of scale will be more important than ever in 2022. More acreage will be planted by large and sophisticated growers, which will not only drive down prices but also squeeze out smaller producers who are already struggling to remain profitable under onerous regulations and high tax burdens. While each state and local market has its own unique mix of opportunities and challenges, 2022 will not be easy for most cannabis operators. Even relatively stable and disciplined companies will be challenged as they position themselves for some version of federal–and soon thereafter international–legalization.