Eaze chooses leading AI networking solution to sail through regulatory requirements, mitigate costly downtime

The Challenge

Eaze is a cannabis marketplace and company that operates medical dispensaries throughout the state of Florida under the Green Dragon retail brand. Eaze is experiencing explosive growth in the state, opening new Green Dragon stores as fast as it can to keep up with patient demand.

However, there are complex regulatory and compliance hoops to jump through when opening a dispensary, and many of those rely on a solid IT infrastructure to pass state inspections. The existing vendor’s commercial-grade network equipment in Green Dragon stores wasn’t up to the task and caused delays in openings that resulted in real revenue loss, up to $5,000 per day. And the maintenance, management and troubleshooting of those networks was more than the small ad hoc IT staff could handle.

• Keep up with the rapid pace of new store openings
• Pass government compliance inspections the first time
• Take the IT responsibility off of the plates of non-IT staff

The Solution

Thirty Florida stores had previously been opened using a competitor’s networking infrastructure, but Eaze IT management was looking for an enterprise-grade solution that offered more capabilities, greater flexibility and better support. To that end, Eaze deployed Nile in its next seven Green Dragon stores. It’s been a night-and-day difference in the speed and efficiency with which new sites are brought online and opened to the public.

• AI-powered Nile Access Service backed by performance-based guarantees deployed in record time
• Nile security ensures compliance, protects patient information, shields the network from malware attacks
• Nile Customer Portal provides instant, intuitive access and visibility Green Dragon was missing

The Results

Nile has helped Eaze pass vital inspections and achieve compliance with all state regulations that were costing them months and thousands of dollars. It’s also alleviating stress for the small IT department of two. And, most importantly, the AI-powered Nile Access Service helps Eaze provide seamless access to the medication patients need.

• No more delays in store openings = no more lost revenue
• Network maintenance and management no longer manual, frees up time to focus on quickly and efficiently opening stores
• Reliable network ensures access to patient registries, compliance with regulations

“With Nile, I know at the end of the day I’ll have a fully functioning network that will enable the opening of the store. I’ve never had support like that.”

– Eric Sevell Director Operations for Florida, Eaze

Wearing too many hats

Eric Sevell is the director of Eaze’s Retail Operations for Florida and has become the de-facto IT support for all new store openings. Despite his limited experience in IT, he really enjoys that part of his job. But there’s a problem: IT is just one part of that job. In his role, he is responsible for every aspect of the store build out – from the flooring on the ground to the lighting in the ceiling and everything in between. He also heads up compliance for Florida which includes dealing with regulators for everything from store inspections to the grow facility, product submissions and advertising. Add to that the fact that it’s only Sevell and one other person for the entire state, and a change had to be made.

The Nile team not only supports the setup of the store network, the Nile Access Service includes the ongoing maintenance, monitoring and lifecycle management. This allows Sevell to focus on efficiently driving all of the other aspects of store openings and compliance while continuing to oversee IT at a high level.

“The Nile interface is much more user friendly and easy to navigate compared to the equipment we were using,” says Sevell. “With the old interface, it was really easy to click the wrong thing and blow up the whole system. And if anything broke, you really had to have an incredible amount of technical knowledge to fix it.”

“With Nile, I’ve been able to accomplish things that, ultimately, I think are pretty technical, but the interface makes it so easy that it’s not scary,” says Sevell.

Smooth deployments mean stress-free store openings

Sevell reports that having Nile support on site for roll outs eliminates much of the stress from the process.

“With Nile, I know at the end of the day I’ll have a fully functioning network that will enable the opening of the store,” he says. “I’ve never had support like that.”

Before Nile, Sevell had to deploy the network without onsite support at the Green Dragon stores. When he ran into problems, he had to initiate the support process remotely, resulting in a delayed store opening and lost revenue.

“With competitors, set up is generally manual, and we’re doing it ourselves,” he explains. “So when we plugged the network in and it didn’t work, we ended up on a conference call with IT and the product manufacturers for hours on end, just finding small little bugs that we had to work out.”

Compliance and security go hand in hand

The most critical security concern for Eaze is its network of surveillance cameras. The Florida sites generally have 15 to 30 cameras each and Eaze is required, by law, to have 45 days of continuous coverage. Without working cameras, you can’t even open a store.

“If just one camera in these critical areas like our secured storage or an entry or exit doesn’t work, the state’s not going to approve us.” Sevell explains. “You have potentially a two-to-four week delay going through the process to get a new inspection costing you around $5,000 per day in lost revenue.”

Beyond compliance, the cameras in the Eaze stores boost internal security.

“Having those cameras working correctly and being able to access them remotely is paramount,” says Sevell. “If I get that alarm call, I know I’ll be able to get the information I need to address the problem.”

In terms of traditional network security, at the Eaze stores that are supported by Nile, all devices trying to gain access to the network have to be approved. This eliminates the risk of the proliferation of malware on the network and breaches of personal medical information.

Network goes down, sales stop

Network reliability is crucial to the functioning of the Eaze storefronts. For every transaction, without exception, Eaze employees are required to log into the state registry to verify patient identification and confirm a valid prescription. If the network goes down, it results in an immediate halt to all transactions.

“It’s compliance hurdles like these that make our business unique and why it’s essential that our IT infrastructure is strong,” says Sevell. “We quite literally can’t run our business without a stable network. That makes the redundancy and backup Nile provides another huge benefit to us.”

If there ever is a problem on the Nile network, Sevell is notified immediately and can count on Nile support to remedy the issue quickly. At the stores not supported by Nile, the same can’t be said. Precious time is wasted before he is even notified and while he is trying to access often elusive customer support. All the while, sales are lost and customers aren’t able to get what they need.

“We quite literally can’t run our business without a stable network. That makes the redundancy and backup Nile provides another huge benefit to us.”

– Eric Sevell Director Operations for Florida, Eaze