Accela Partners with NCS Analytics to Create Next-Generation End-to-End Cannabis Regulatory System

SAN RAMON, Calif., Dec. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Accela, the leading provider of cloud-based solutions for government, today announced a partnership with NCS Analytics, a data analytics firm that provides regulation-specific actionable insights and decision support to governments and financial institutions, to bring a new level of refinement and reliable data to cannabis regulation. Through the power of a comprehensive platform that collects and analyzes data from sources across the industry, users can now be alerted of potentially high-risk activities and empowered to make better informed decisions, optimize revenue, and improve public safety. The NCS partnership is a new component of Accela's end-to-end cannabis ecosystem, which combines licensing, track and trace, and patient registry all in one solution for state and local governments. 

"NCS's advanced algorithms will provide agencies with the unparalleled insight they need to keep pace with rapidly evolving and complex regulations, and succeed in a challenging but rewarding industry," said Greg Felix, Accela's Vice President of Strategic Solutions. "The partnership between Accela and NCS is based on our intentional design, end-to-end integration, workflow optimization, measurable outcomes, and a mutually strong alignment centered on client needs for a new generation of capabilities."

As cannabis legalization continues to expand across the country, so too are the challenges governments face in regulating this industry. State and local governments are realizing they have an opportunity to learn from past lessons of legalization so that they might better navigate the future. What was adequate even just a few years ago is no longer keeping pace with the rapidly evolving matrix of cannabis regulatory complexities. An essential element to meeting these challenges is the ability to leverage advanced data-driven insights.

"By partnering with Accela, we believe governments will now have an all-in-one, best-in-class cannabis solution built on the pillars of safety, law enforcement support, and tax collection," said NCS CEO Adam Crabtree. "NCS's technology utilizes sophisticated algorithms to bring massive data sets down to a granular level to ultimately help agencies improve decision-making and better enforce regulatory guidelines. The actionable insights provided are unique and critical to helping governments decrease costs, optimize valuable resources, and keep their communities safe."

To help governments overcome these growing challenges, Accela is partnering with NCS Analytics as part of the Accela-led, next-generation cannabis regulation system. Accela's preconfigured end-to-end system was designed in response to the evolving cannabis market and the issues created by the typical haphazard collection of regulatory tools. NCS's patent-pending technology pulls information from multiple components of the ecosystem of cannabis businesses, including licensing, track and trace, point-of-sale, as well as other data sources such as banking, demographics, taxation, and utilities, to identify under-reporting and identify diversion or inversion of products proactively. As a result, cities will be empowered to take action to save valuable time and resources and maximize tax revenue.

For example, with NCS' advanced data analytics, governments can now proactively identify if a legally-sanctioned cannabis cultivator is engaged in illegal activity. When a cultivator reports growing a particular amount of cannabis, the system will compare the report to data from utilities, such the amount of water or energy used by the grower. NCS can intelligently predict how many resources are generally needed to produce that quantity of cannabis, and will notify agencies of a discrepancy, which could indicate that product is being diverted to the illicit market. Regulators will be provided with these insights and suggested questions to ask the cultivator when they make their inspection.

The California Cannabis Authority, a Joint Powers Authority established by county governments to develop and manage a statewide data platform, said that the partnership between NCS and Accela will have positive implications for government regulators across the state of California and beyond.

"The new integration between NCS Analytics and Accela can drastically increase efficiency and improve our efforts to regulate commercial cannabis and enhance public safety. We believe this new partnership will offer immense benefits for the state of California and the industry as a whole," said Cara Martinson, the Executive Director of CCA. "At the California Cannabis Authority (CCA), we partner with NCS in our work with county governments throughout the state, and use Accela as the statewide cannabis regulatory platform."

Today's announcement builds on Accela's recent momentum in the cannabis regulatory space. Earlier this year, Accela announced partnerships with cloudPWR and KIND Financial, the patient registry and track and trace components of the Accela-led end-to-end cannabis ecosystem, respectively. Accela's agile, SaaS based-cannabis application is based on experience powering programs in cities and states across the country, including Denver, Michigan, and California.

To learn more about Accela's solution for cannabis regulation, please visit: https://www.accela.com/solutions/cannabis-regulation/.

To learn more about NCS, please visit: https://www.ncsanalytics.com.

About Accela
Accela provides market-leading cloud solutions that empower state and local governments to build thriving communities, grow businesses and protect citizens. Accela's fast-to-implement Civic Applications, and robust and extensible solutions platform, help agencies address specific needs today, while ensuring they are prepared for any emerging or complex challenges in the future. Accela is headquartered in San Ramon, California, with additional offices around the world. For more information, visit www.accela.com.

About NCS
NCS Analytics is a leader in providing dynamic, comprehensive, data-driven solutions for governments and financial institutions as they interact with traditionally high-risk industries. By utilizing a multitude of sources such as licensing, point of sale, seed-to-sale tracking, socioeconomic, bank, tax, and utility data, NCS offers a holistic insight into high-risk industries. The NCS solution enables meaningful transparency between the financial and regulatory sectors to reduce risk, increase revenue realization, enhance public safety and strengthen communities.

Contact: Kate Helete, (805) 458-5093, [email protected]

SOURCE Accela

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