Wineries have to track lots of complex data throughout the wine production process, from vine to bottle. At a time when more and more companies are investing in ERP projects, many wineries still use paper notebooks or Excel to track their data. This often results in complex worksheets that can become corrupted with time or lost if there is no backup, and are often difficult to decipher when one winemaker leaves and a new one takes the reins. Wineries may keep using traditional methods to track their data instead of using production software because they wish to save some dollars with a free system. But the lack of efficiency of these old-school methods might cost even more than the real cost of production software.

If you are still not convinced, here are 7 reasons why you should throw away your Excel sheets and pieces of paper and adopt vineyard and winery production management software to better manage your estate:

1. Get a comprehensive traceability of your wines on a unique platform

Vineyard and winery software enables you to record on a unique and central tool every step of your wine production, from establishing the vineyard, through harvest, to the bottled and packaged finished product. You don’t have to navigate through different papers or spreadsheets to find the right information or to check the full traceability of a batch or of a bottle; all stages are connected and communicate on the software platform. Thanks to this comprehensive traceability you are always ready for unexpected audits or for product recalls.

2. Optimize the performance of your business with management tools

Winery production software is not only a traceability tool, it is also a management tool. It helps you to establish the right processes for your winery by efficiently planning and managing all operations performed on the estate. Thanks to comprehensive work orders you can organize the work of your employees, and you can even track the time spent on each task and calculate production costs. But planning and recording are not enough. If you are always seeking greater efficiency within your organization, you also need to analyze the work you have performed. Winery software like Process2Wine provides you with reports on your production and on the work of your employees. You can therefore analyze your operations and their results and take the right decision for your future vintages.

3. Improve your margin by tracking your production costs

If you want to improve your margins you need to be aware of your production costs at each step of your wine production. Winery Production software makes it easier to calculate your production costs since every step of production from vine to bottle is already recorded. At the end, you are able to analyze the production costs of a bottle or a wine batch so you can check where margins can be improved.

4. Improve efficient communication across your organization

With cloud based software every production department in your estate works and collaborates on the same platform. Information is updated in real time for everyone, which improves the communication process within your company. Winemakers, for instance, can have a look at the analyses on the grapes before harvesting. Lab staff always have access to wine batch data during fermentations. Human Resources can check hours spent by employees… Your colleagues don’t waste hours finding the information they need.

5. Save precious time on administrative chores

The administrative workload of a winemaker or a vineyard manager is really high. Filling regulatory reports like the TTB tax report in the USA or tracking the time spent by their crews each day are some of the numerous time-consuming administrative chores that winery managers have to deal with. Wine production software helps them to be more efficient on this kind of tasks with an array of ready to use reports (including prefilled TTB tax report) generated at the click of a button. Process2Wine software goes even further regarding timesaving with automatic data tracking in the vineyard thanks to GPS tracking of the tractors. The blocks that have already been sprayed and the time spent by tractor drivers are automatically updated in real-time on the software. By saving precious time on administrative chores, your employees can spend more time on doing what they love and what they are good at: making great wines.

6. Always be connected to your production

Software like Process2Wine is connected with a mobile application. Your production is therefore always at your fingertips. You can check and record any data even if you are far from your computer. When walking in your vineyard, you can instantly check the work order history of a specific block. When working in your cellar, you can instantly record the blends or the additions you are doing.

7. Secure your data

One of the main advantages of cloud-based software is the back-up of your data on your server. If you currently track your operations in a notebook, you always have the risk of loosing the book. If you use an Excel spreadsheet you are not immune to a computer breakdown, which can be very serious if you haven’t any back-up… With a SaaS software, you will always be able to access to your platform through the internet from any computer, and your data will have multiple back-ups.

Conclusion:

Implementing production management software in your winery is a big decision that will change the working habits of your employees. However this is a decision that you won’t regret in the long run. It will quickly become your best friend to produce great wines and to manage your business. Say goodbye to the old paper notebook or complicated Excel sheet and enter into the world of connected viticulture and winemaking.

When choosing your winery software you will have to take into account lots of criteria: is it cloud-based software? With a mobile application? Does the system offer full traceability from vine to bottle? Is there a support team that will help you with the first steps and with everyday support?

Process2Wine is vineyard and winery software already used worldwide by 180 estates. The software is connected to a mobile application for day-to-day traceability. Clients benefits from 2 support teams, one in Europe (France) and one in North America, who accompany clients from the set-up of the application, to the training of the users and for the everyday support they may need. More information can be found at: www.process2wine.ca or www.process2wine.com