Picas helping growers address business management challenges

Added on 25 May 2022

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Innovative Software Solutions may not be a familiar name to growers in the controlled-environment industry, but Picas certainly is. This is precisely why the company decided to change its official name to the Picas Group this past year.

Greenhouse Grower Senior Editor Brian Sparks caught up with two members of The Picas Group team - Andrew Stallmer, Brand Developer, and Ben Dill, Software Implementation Specialist - to learn more about the company's rebranding efforts, the importance of using data to make informed decisions, and some of The Picas Group's offerings.

Brian Sparks: Can you talk about the main reasons behind the company rebranding?

Andrew Stallmer: Picas is a known brand, but our previous company name was Innovative Software Solutions. So at its core, the name change eliminated a little bit of confusion. But more importantly, we changed our name because we wanted to give ourselves the opportunity to reach a larger audience within the horticulture industry, not just growers who are running our software but with any grower. Renaming ourselves to The Picas Group allowed us to take advantage of a brand that had already built a reputation in the industry and position us in a way that can be more conducive to growth. Our vision is to be essential to growers in this industry by providing excellent software, coupled with excellent service, and the name change allows us to more effectively serve that vision.

The reason we chose the word "group" for our company name is we wanted to focus on the group aspect within our company and in the industry. We want everybody who works with The Picas Group to feel like they're part of our group/community. Growers have similar needs and interests, and this promotes collaboration with one another in a group/team environment.

Sparks: What are the services you currently provide?

Stallmer: There are three main services we can talk about: Picas BI (Business Intelligence), our IT service, and website design. We felt like through the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to pivot in certain areas and start being creative with what we were offering to customers. Their needs were shifting, and they were looking to become as lean and efficient as possible. We felt like we had a lot of different skill sets as a company that we wanted to take advantage of, which is why we launched these services. The website design was something we already offered, and the more I was working in this space, the more I realized the effect that a powerful website can have. The horticulture industry doesn't have a lot of robust websites, and it felt like a service that a lot of growers could benefit from. The objective is to allow growers to utilize a website that can help them in building out their brand, showcasing product, and, if possible, be an e-commerce solution.