Microsoft finally opened its doors for marijuana business as the tech giant promoted Kind Financial onto its Azure Government cloud platform. With the help of such promotion, Microsoft now widens the influence of Kind Financial in helping US states to track marijuana plants from seeding to selling.
Kind Financial is part of an industry trying to make marijuana business mainstream, according to Time. With 25 US states currently adapting legalized marijuana for recreational or medical purposes, tracking marijuana plants and sales will be much easier with the help of the startup company KF and Microsoft.
Though the tech giant is not involved directly with selling marijuana, allowing KF to move to Azure Government cloud platform means a lot for the LA-based start-up company. This would mean that the cloud platform they will be on, they can interact with federal agencies with a distinct security and compliance protocols. And for that gesture of promotion, Kind CEO David Dinenberg is very grateful for the opportunity that Microsoft has given to them.
"Thanks to Microsoft's huge reach, it'll be easier for us to target every state with our compliance solutions," USA Today quoted Dinenberg as saying. "It's a win-win for both of us as more states look to legalize medical marijuana."
Since marijuana is still a federally regulated substance, and other US states are still debating on the legalization of the use weeds, companies like KF offers "end- to-end solutions" for marijuana-related businesses, financial institutions, and most especially with the regulatory agencies. Interaction would be made easier while compliance of state and federal regulations are still highly observed until legalization.
One the other hand, this particular move of Microsoft has been interpreted by some experts as a way of Microsoft anticipating this lucrative weed industry in the near future. As the tech-company focuses its attention on the maturing industry, companies dealing with cannabis will see much of improvement in the coming years as predicted by industry analytics firm New Frontier.
This particular news is indeed beneficial for companies and individuals who are into legal marijuana business. And this gesture would hopefully improve the current atmosphere of the debates on marijuana legalization in the country or even overseas.