MJ Ally
Tracking cannabis from seed to sale
THE CHALLENGE
After the November elections in 2016, 20% of U.S. citizens woke up in a state where marijuana was now legal. New businesses boomed to meet the burgeoning market, and everyone operating in a plant-touching sector of the industry was required to conduct mandatory compliance reporting daily. MJ Ally was looking to develop a platform for cannabis cultivators to track crops from seed-to-sale, reducing the mandatory compliance burden, so cultivators can focus on growing crops.
THE SOLUTION
An interactive prototype with more than 30 screens was developed, depicting all stages of the cultivator’s journey. A series of intuitive setup screens guide them through initially setting up their facility, while dynamic dashboards show activity across their whole operation. Individual grow rooms can be monitored remotely, with temperature settings, notifications, and task-lists designed to optimize efficiency and workflow.
An industry ready to scale
The overwhelming message from agencies and experts studying the cannabis industry is: expect significant growth. With the increase in medical and retail marijuana programs nationwide, some estimates put the total value of the industry above $21 billion by 2020. A recent study claims that job growth in the cannabis industry will outpace that of manufacturing by 2020, and that legal marijuana sales will overtake the soda industry by 2030.
Traditionally, whenever anyone mentioned the words 'cannabis' and 'entrepreneur' together in one sentence, it meant one thing: drug dealer. That’s changing very quickly - and technology will play a huge role in the industry’s future legitimacy.
Advanced tracking for mandatory compliance
As all aspects of this industry grow, so do the needs of the businesses within it. There are approximately 159,000 businesses operating in the legal recreational and medical marijuana programs in the U.S. today, including caregivers, cultivators and dispensaries, and their regulatory requirements are significant. Every bud, tincture, and edible must be tracked for a business to remain compliant. The right software tool could significantly impact the way the cannabis professional of the future runs an efficient and cutting-edge business. MJ Ally’s solution, designed to work with manual, barcode or RFID technologies, takes the compliance burden away from the cultivator. Instead, it provides a fully integrated system that begins with facility set up and extends through plant management, processing, inventory tracking, and reporting.
Integrated hardware, remote monitoring and management
There are many platforms that are designed to support retail sales and regulatory compliance, but only a few that tackle the unique challenges of the cannabis cultivator, and even fewer that do it well. We began by interviewing cultivators in their grow houses to understand their needs and motivations. This deep but rapid discovery provided us with rich insights and ideas that were evolved into a rapid prototype that included the following innovations:
- Sophisticated management tools to view grow status, including an in-room camera for off-site plant-checks;
- Hardware integrations to allow cultivators to create and maintain ideal grow environments remotely;
- Forecasting tools to predict yield and profit;
- Automated compliance designed to work with manual, barcode or RFID technologies;
- Inventory management and integration with wholesalers and dispensaries for seamless order fulfillment.
This approach to software design has shown me a whole new way of thinking…I’m excited to use this with my other ventures.
The built-in “Strain Exchange” uses real-time data to display pricing information for each strain, utilizing powerful algorithms to forecast future profits based on harvest weight and date.
A startup poised to cultivate profits
Interviews and industry analysis uncovered the important insight that, as cannabis becomes more ubiquitous, the price will likely continue to fall - in Maine we've seen a 50% decline in prices in the last two years alone. So how does a cultivator remain profitable? By tracking key metrics, cultivators can access and analyze their business data allowing them to gain important business insights, maximize efficiency and make well-informed decisions. The newly designed platform supports this, ensuring that cultivators can repeat their successes, maximize their margins and mitigate mistakes or costly failures.
Services
- Product Strategy
- UX/UI Design
- User Research
- Prototyping & User Testing
Industry
- Ag Tech, Cannabis
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