As Your Winery Invests in Tech, Don’t Neglect Back-Office Software

In recent years, wineries have begun to make big, bold investments to modernize their field, supply chain and logistics operations. From smart irrigation systems to AI-powered crop monitoring, there’s plenty of promising tech that’s worth investing in as the industry faces climate change and other growing challenges.  

But as your winery makes its investments, it’s important to remember a technology that perhaps isn’t as dazzling as some others but is no less important: back-office software.  

Curious how wineries are currently investing in back-office software and technology? Listen to the webinar, How Wineries Leverage a Tech Stack to Make Better Business Decisions hosted by the Wine Industry Network, to hear how Enavate client, Darioush Winery, leverages technology in their back-office. 

Let’s take a look at some of the most popular emerging technology in the wine industry—and see how an ERP solution can help you get the most out of your tech investments. 

Emerging in the Field Technology for Wineries 

Technology is accelerating at a tremendous pace in all industries. These advancements are exciting and open the doors for new internal processes and new ways of reaching customers—giving them new digital experiences. Here are some examples of how real-world wineries are leveraging new technologies in today’s landscape. 

QR Codes  

For enthusiasts, wine isn’t just something to be bought and consumed. It’s a hobby and an interest. As a result, wine consumers want to know the whole story of the bottle they’re tasting. As Wine Industry Advisor reported last year, brands like Rhonea have used QR codes to deliver varietal information, vinification specifics, food parings and even tasting videos with a sommelier. Wineries have found that consumers become more engaged thanks to QR codes that deliver an augmented reality experience. According to the winemaker Siduri, consumers who have been directed to their site from a QR code spend an average of 3 to 5 minutes there, whereas the typical consumer will spend less than two minutes.  

NFC Tags 

Near-Field Communication (NFC) tags are an even more high-tech way of delivering information. Boisset Collection began using NFC tags in 2021 to not only give collectors the information they’re curious about, but also prevent counterfeiting. Unlike QR codes, NFC tags don’t take up any label space, and consumers just need to hold their phone near the label to make sure it’s authentic.  

Internet of Things (IoT) 

Wineries can use smart sensors to enhance every part of vineyard operations. By collecting bushels of useful data in real time, these Internet-enabled tools can help prevent crop infections, improve irrigation levels, and support better decisions about planting for the best possible yield. According to Wine Industry Advisor, “By leveraging Internet of Things with a wine filtration system that is connected to the Cloud, you no longer have performance variances in data collection between operators; the system collects the data for you.”  

Artificial Intelligence (AI) 

AI-powered tools are everywhere now, and the wine industry is no different. Forbes reports that wine recommendation apps, crop monitoring software, and even vineyard robots are leveraging the recent boom in AI capabilities to process and provide insights on all sorts of wine-related data. 

How Back-Office Software Ties It All Together 

You may have noticed a trend across all three tech categories we mentioned: data. These days, even smaller businesses generate tons of data, and many businesses choose to invest in tech that will help them analyze it and use it to make profitable decisions. In that sense, modern ERP software is an indispensable tool for today's wineries.

Of course, the wine industry is unique. Not only are the consumers typically quite knowledgeable, but the specific business needs that come with producing and selling are unlike those in other retail industries. Plus, there are government-mandated tracking and taxation requirements which must be maintained. which become even trickier if they hope to sell internationally.  

A wine-specific ERP like Enavation Cloud: VinPoint Wine Management can address those unique needs while also helping you store, analyze and leverage the large amounts of data you may be generating with your various other tech investments. And because VinPoint utilizes Microsoft BI Power Platform, it’ll almost certainly be possible to directly integrate those high-tech investments with your business operations.  

For more information about Microsoft Power Platform, refer to our blog, How Microsoft Power BI Empowers Data-Driven Success, to find out how quickly and easily you can access your data. 

If you’re curious about how VinPoint can help you get the most out of your winery’s forays into tech, contact one of our industry experts today.