Cannabis AI Enhances Compliance, Marketing, and Operations
Artificial Intelligence continues to make its presence well known within the business world, and one where it is highly evident is the cannabis industry, where it provides solutions ranging from inventory management to marketing, manufacturing, and ensuring regulatory compliance with video intelligence.
Introduction
Artificial intelligence continues to provide solutions that enhance business operations anywhere from the front-facing aspects of a company to the behind-the-scenes where most of the work takes place. While this has become evident in an increasing amount of daily businesses, the effects are being witnessed in industries that require even more sophisticated skill sets, such as the cannabis industry. New solutions have been developed to assist those operating dispensaries and cultivation and processing centers in enhancing regulatory compliance and the consumer experience.
Mary Jane Menu 
Mary Jane Menu is a female-owned tech company located in Tampa, Florida, built and operated by CEO Cathy McCorquodale, this is an AI company that can assist with ordering and inventory management solutions. The founding story stems back to a professional athlete attempting to design a smart delivery and wholesale platform for his company. During this time, Cathy learned about smart solutions, being a software industry veteran, and tuning into a podcast where the founder of Standard Insights and co-founder of Mary Jane Menu was discussing how AI can assist in growing cannabis companies. Leveraging this knowledge and using Standard Insights to power the platform, Mary Jane Menu incorporates AI to provide solutions for all integral portions of the cannabis industry, from cultivation and manufacturing to distributing and dispensing for wholesale, retail, and bulk orders, inventory management, pick up scheduling and coordination, even delivery tracking automation. Mary Jane Menu can additionally provide AI recommendations.
HighDay
Co-founded by CEO Carl Saling III and headquartered in Sheridan, Wyoming, directly between Mount Rushmore and Yellowstone National Park, is the marketing company HighDay, dedicated to plant-touching businesses involved with cannabis to help navigate the complexities in legally marketing brands and products with plant-touching companies, including those centered around hemp, psychedelics, and vapes. The primary solution that HighDay provides is a marketing tool that can be integrated with common apps that a company currently uses; this could range from Facebook, Google Suite, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, and Outlook. Not only does HighDay boast custom integration, but it is also fully compatible with Zapier, which is accessible to thousands of applications. Through AI, HighDay also provides a marketing solution that automates much of the groundwork involved in marketing, such as launching campaigns, text message marketing, and email campaigns that are all hosted within one platform. Catering to various markets, particularly a specialty for cannabis dispensaries, ensures that marketing is fully compliant while also offering direct client outreach for a personalized experience, including offering loyalty programs for return business.
Procepack
One of the most common starting positions for many in the cannabis industry is starting in a dispensary as a budtender, and while it is a rewarding position, some of the work can become quite tedious with meticulous attention to detail and fine motor skills that are required for crafting pre-rolls. Naturally, this is assuming that pre-rolls can be manufactured in a dispensary; in some localities, they must be formed at the cultivation or manufacturing site, albeit with the same physical requirements. Headquartered in Quebec, a packaging equipment manufacturing company by trade, Procepack is home to the PreRoll-ER, which CEO and President Harold Bouchard designed after being approached by a former colleague. Intrigued by a new market, Bouchard was able to design the PreRoll-ER with modularity and scalability in mind so that even those entering the market could have an efficient solution. The flagship model is known as the 200, while there is also a larger 400 option and a smaller 100. None of the models are space-consuming, with the current largest machine requiring a space of four by five feet. These machines work by gently tumbling cannabis into preroll cones after weighing the raw material, and the cannabis is never compacted in the preroll, even when sealed at the end. This automated solution has been so effective that a CBD joint manufacturer in France is capable of producing over one million CBD joints per month using the PreRoll-ER.
Spot AI
While high-quality materials are crucial to any successful cannabis business, the one item that ensures the livelihood of a business is staunch compliance. Any violations of regulatory compliance could result in a business folding. SpotAI has developed video intelligence to assist with ensuring regulatory compliance. Video intelligence is a tool that provides businesses with quality information to make informed decisions on how to improve or maintain their operations. In SpotAI’s model, it captures data, processes that data through AI, and then delivers insights. While SpotAI is not limited to the cannabis industry, the company works with a wide variety of vertically integrated businesses, it has several features that can be leveraged into any component of cannabis, cultivation, manufacturing, or dispensing with ease. This video intelligence provides real-time data that can provide instant alerts and notifications, from alerts on access to restricted areas, monitoring idle time for both employees, activity maps for customers, and can also assist in reducing loss and liability through its ability to recognize license plates and facial recognition. As with other technologies, SpotAI can be integrated into common systems; their only restriction is anything proprietary such as Ring, and should a company require them, the company is also willing to provide NDAA-compliant cameras, with white glove service when they install the system on site.
Conclusion
The integration of artificial intelligence and advanced technology is inevitable in most industries, but the most progressive are the ones to adopt it quickly, such as the ever-evolving cannabis industry. These companies are not just assisting in making business operations smoother; they are advancing efficiency, safety, compliance, and accessibility for consumers and businesses while providing opportunities for growth and scalability. Additionally, these systems are starting out with established experience where solutions are a continuous real-time evolution. The future of business will lie within embracing and evolving with these advancements, and we will see the promotion of the industry to unprecedented new heights.
