Mandatory video surveillance steps up to the plate when securing your location, but how do you secure your current security program? Cloud drive? Physical hard drive? Both?

The answer to this question can be the difference between staying compliant and falling into the dangerous realm of non-compliance.

What about your physical documents? We’re talking about the entirety of your dispensary records: shipping manifests, request receipts, laboratory testing results, transfer of custody paperwork, certificates of analysis (COA). There’s more— live inventory, sales & purchase orders, METRC reports, permits, insurance paperwork, location diagrams, employee information—you get the point!

An easy way to protect your business is by making sure you have a backup drive (or two) that routinely stores all of this information in a secure location—how you choose that location, is up to you!

As your dispensary grows, so too should your backup drives. Make sure that each is large enough to hold the full capacity of your business documents. You should be aiming to expand your data storage “arsenal” as your business grows, being sure to retain the necessary documents for specified reporting schedules.

Security is just as much of a virtual objective as it is a physical one so double check that your computers aren’t at risk of being jeopardized in case of a security breach. Routinely changing the passwords to accounts and updating them after an employee has left your business can help keep everything organized and avoid unforeseeable issues.

Be weary of “putting all your eggs in one basket” and create a multi-layered approach to accessing documents. It’d be a shame to stop operations for any period of time due to the loss of data.

An increase in customers means an increase in the rate of processing information on sales and reporting to METRC as necessary. Electronic point-of-sale systems do their part in making inventory management and sales more efficient, but ride on the premise of being connected to the internet.

Wireless connectivity for point-of-sale systems are just one half of the equation though.

The second half has to do with video surveillance at your dispensary. Video surveillance must be accessed from a wi-fi source at all times, making it critically important that wi-fi connectivity is ensured. Permanent cameras installed in proper locations keep your dispensary safe and place compliance at the forefront of daily activities, although they do so in a passive way.

Maintaining a live connection to your point-of-sale and video surveillance systems works two-fold:

It keeps you compliant with the ability to ensure practice of proper reporting standards such as METRC reporting.

Connectivity to the internet is what nearly all business operations are rooted in. When’s the last time your dispensary was up and running without the internet? Think about it—your dispensary needs it!

This isn’t brought to your attention to scare you, but instead to illustrate small details that you can examine. Be proactive to growth rather than reactive to failing infrastructure by upgrading your internet services as your business scales.

It might be helpful to research the bandwidth of your internet as you add point-of-sale systems to your location or change the software you are currently using. Enterprise-level infrastructure aids in optimizing your business by being able to support technological features. The increased stacking of tech devices such as video cameras, wireless printers, and point-of-sale systems means that wifi experiences bottlenecks and slows down business.

Related: 5 Simple Compliance Violations Dispensaries Don’t Really Think About

Yes, you read that right.

Digital payment solutions are currently being introduced to the cannabis industry by way of alt thirty six, a platform that uses the DASH cryptocurrency as a form of solutions to the cash-only issue.

Now before you start heading down the “I’ve heard this/ that about cryptocurrency” route, let’s explain this in the simplest way possible:

DASH is a cryptocurrency that has the capabilities of transferring between parties in an instantaneous way. This means that there is no need to worry about market fluctuation or volatility of the price of DASH. Which also means that you can be sure you’re receiving $100 when you’re being told you are being given $100.

What’s more is that DASH is easy to setup, fast to use, and rides on the blockchain wave—another term you’ve probably heard of recently.

DASH operates as ‘digital cash’ and is incredibly secure. Each transaction is added to a virtual & unchangeable ledger, resulting in being able to “track-and-trace” each and every single dollar that is brought into your dispensary.

Unlike physical cash, cryptocurrency is federally unregulated and can be accessed digitally on just about any mobile device that has internet connectivity, making it a vital asset to cash-only businesses such as canal is dispensaries. The days of having to sit on cash or find a way to store it are slowly disappearing with the ability to use cryptocurrency.

One other cool thing about digital payment solutions like DASH is that there is simply no physical cash involved with each transaction. This makes your dispensary secure by limiting the amount of cash on-hand and reducing the possibility of employee theft (although we’re not saying every employee would do such a thing).

Stand out by offering a fast, secure, and creative way of taking payments for your cannabis goods! It’s sure to get the conversation going!