From paper trails to digital highways — Adobe's impact on higher level dispensary operations
Image credit: Adobe Stock/ Tj.
In an era where traditional paper-based processes are transitioning to digital, Adobe has consistently pioneered innovations for businesses of all sizes. Higher Level Dispensaries’ director of Operations, Tyler Licata, attests to Adobe’s transformative power.
Involved in the cannabis industry since 2015, Licata observed its evolution from Wild West origins to its current corporate dimension. As Higher Level, a chain of cannabis dispensaries with approximately one hundred employees across its four retail locations, entered a due diligence period with its soon-to-be parent company, the urgency for operational enhancement became starkly apparent as they faced the challenge of regulatory compliance. Rapid digitization was no longer an option — it was a necessity.
Painting a vivid picture of the initial situation, Licata revealed, "We were struggling to meet the deadline for our audit." The crux of their dilemma? An avalanche of paperwork. “All our documentation was printed, accumulated in banker boxes spanning over four years. With 50-60 boxes, locating any document was a Herculean task,” Licata remembered.
Recognizing the dire need for a change, Higher Level turned to Adobe's Acrobat Pro and Acrobat Sign solutions and these tools emerged as game-changers in streamlining Higher Level’s operations.
Enter Adobe Acrobat
It started with Adobe Acrobat. Higher Level began by digitizing and organizing paperwork on a massive scale using Acrobat’s optical character recognition (OCR). No manual steps as Licata and team automated the process of document handling, integrating scanned files, processing via OCR, and organizing and storing them by date. Licata highlighted the software's flexibility, saying, "Be it a simple form or an urgent change in operational directive, Adobe ensured a smooth adaptation."
Acrobat’s Optical character recognition (OCR) works as a text converter, automatically extracting text from any scanned paper document or image file and converting it to editable text in a PDF. The new PDF will match your original printout thanks to automatic custom font generation. Useful for archiving, the exact look and feel of your documents is preserved and you can restrict editing capabilities by saving them as smart PDFs that include text you can search and copy.
This initial digitization resulted in a reduction of labor from two hundred hours to just fifty, a seventy-five percent improvement. Licata and team were now able to instantaneously access any document needed, "With Adobe Acrobat, once it was OCRed, it was... type the vendor name, type the amount, and boom, there it is."
The team also transitioned to Google Workspace and found that many documents were breaking during the move. Acrobat again came to the rescue by enabling the team to convert these documents straight to PDF, maintaining their original formatting. The integration of Acrobat with Google Drive also made document access and printing more efficient as they are able to preview and open in Acrobat seamlessly from their Google Drive.
Incorporating Digitization for HR Processes
Buoyed by the success, the next target workflow was Human Resources (HR). The team shifted from manual, inconsistent forms to fillable PDF forms using Adobe Acrobat, simplifying the entire HR process and freeing up manager time for more important tasks. Signatures became more streamlined too. While external documents like marketing agreements utilized Acrobat Sign for external signature, internal documents capitalized on the integrated Sign feature within Acrobat.
From DocuSign to Acrobat Sign
Higher Level Dispensaries previously relied on DocuSign for their document signing solutions. However, their experience with it led them to sign up with Adobe for a more comprehensive e-signature solution.
"Before Acrobat Sign, we used DocuSign, but the transition to Adobe's ecosystem was a game-changer… together the superior form fill features and the better price didn’t justify keeping DocuSign. It felt like DocuSign was trying to emulate many of Adobe's features but always had a piece missing. The Adobe suite, on the other hand, had every piece more fleshed out and the workflow was incredibly flexible."
Tyler Licata, director of operations
Moving to an end-to-end Adobe Acrobat & Acrobat Sign solution provided Higher Level with a cohesive, efficient, and economical system for handling documents.
Keeping up with Industry Giants
Adobe's tools have enabled Licata and his colleagues to rival larger industry players. Operating with just six members in their regional office, they've skillfully projected the presence of a robust 50-person team. The power of Adobe's Creative Cloud, particularly through Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, has allowed them to craft exceptional marketing materials, including a standout company magazine crafted with Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop.
Licata alluded to the potential of harnessing Acrobat Services in upcoming ventures.
- PDF Extract API — Given Licata’s team’s limited bandwidth, they are exploring how to parse data from vendor invoices using this API and Google Data Studio to quickly submit pertinent data to Accounts Payable.
- Document Generation API — Given last year’s challenges when preparing their Holiday Gift Guide release, they plan to use this API to power through invoicing nearly 75 sponsors.
- PDF Accessibility Auto-Tag API — While OCR is great on its own, the enhanced searchability of tagged documents makes a difference. They are looking to utilize this API to tag the now-digital document archive to further optimize accessibility across their company structure.
While excited to explore the possibilities the APIs enable, he was quick to emphasize that even those without deep coding expertise can wield considerable power with tools like Acrobat. "Being able to digitize thousands of pages while away from my workstation is the epitome of operational efficiency," Licata noted.
Wrapping it up
Higher Level’s operational journey underscores Adobe's instrumental role in modernizing business operations. They stand as a beacon to businesses worldwide, demonstrating a rapid and cost-effective transformation from paper-centric systems to a dynamic digital setup. By embracing Adobe Document Cloud offerings, businesses can seamlessly transition, expand, and flourish in this digital age. Echoing this sentiment, Licata concluded, "Adobe has expanded our horizons, redefining our growth potential."