We had a feeling this would happen, even before our Grower Vertical customers started calling us in the past few months to ask us about it. We knew there would be a point when companies in the horticulture industry would realize they needed help with their human resources management, and it would be more cost effective to run it in-house.
Travis Davidson, a greenhouse scanner with Metrolina Greenhouses in Huntersville, N.C., uses an Intermec CK-3 handheld to scan the items on a cart on May 9, 2013. Metrolina Greenhouses has always been an early adopter of technology in their operations.
Technology is quickly becoming a vital part of the horticulture industry. When we first started working with Metrolina Greenhouses in 2006, we received an eye-opening education into the history of North American horticulture. (We were lucky, because the Van Wingerden family is practically a history lesson in and of themselves.) We learned that only recently — within the last 15 or 20 years or so — that these growers, most of which are family-run businesses, started thinking of themselves as a structured company instead of “the family farm.”
The interesting thing is that large-scale growers were quick adopters of automation technology. That knowledge came with many of the Dutch immigrants who had to learn to conserve space and speed up processes in such a small country that produces a huge amount of agricultural products. It was a natural progression to automate their business processes as well, which is where a product like Grower Vertical for Sage ERP comes in. Now, financials can tie in with forecasting, planning, picking, logistics, and the whole nine yards.
But then we also started learning about many of the HR issues the horticulture industry deals with. When I wrote this newsletter article in 2012, we learned about how immigration and seasonal employee tracking were huge pains for the industry. We also knew the Affordable Healthcare Act was going to become a huge issue to the industry as well.
Luckily, we were able to assist our customers from the outset. Practical Software Solutions was already an authorized reseller for Sage HRMS, an industry-leading, customizable HRMS solution that helps companies optimize their HR business processes. With comprehensive benefits tracking, U.S. and Canadian government compliance and reporting, HIPPA and COBRA compliance, FMLA tracking and much more, Sage HRMS can help the horticulture industry with some of their biggest needs.
What’s even better is that Sage HRMS is completely integrated with Sage ERP products, so our Grower Vertical users could find even more seamless business process automation. But the word we want to get out to the horticulture is that Sage HRMS is a stand-alone product, and we have many HRMS customers who don’t own one of our Sage ERP products. Even if you aren’t a Grower Vertical customer, you can still receive the benefits of this powerful HRMS tool.
We are exhibiting today through Friday at MANTS, the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show, at Booth Nos. 3101 and 3102. We’re over by the food court at the Charles Street lobby, so if you’re eating in for lunch, come by and see us. Not only are we demonstrating Grower Vertical and Scan by Cart, but we also have information about Sage HRMS and how it can help your company. We also will be in our usual booth (No. 1726) at the AmericanHort Short Course (formally the OFA Short Course) in Columbus, Ohio, in July.
We hope you’ll stop by to learn how we can help your company for HR and all your other business processes. Or you can contact us by calling 704-721-6800 or by clicking this link.