When it comes to winning bids and managing complex projects across multiple states, Third Coast Tech relies on a feature of D-Tools System Integrator (SI) software that’s often overlooked: its powerful reporting and custom proposal capabilities.
The Bunnell, FL-based custom integration firm with locations in Michigan and Florida and a growing team of 15 to 20 employees has used D-Tools SI to run the financial backbone of its business for years. According to CFO Joe Stadler, who has been on the platform for seven years, the proposals and reports the software generates do more than communicate, they close deals.
"Every job that we do, D-Tools-built proposal and custom reports seal the deal." -- Joe Stadler, Third Coast Tech
“Every job that we do, D-Tools-built proposals and custom reports seal the deal,” says Stadler. “And that information handoff from the sales guy to the engineering team to procurement to project management helps us navigate through every project and be able to hand off information step by step from point A all the way through to completion.”
D-Tools SI Reporting Function Offers Financial Visibility
While many integrators focus on the design and engineering muscle of D-Tools SI, Stadler insists that the reporting function is one of the most powerful and most underrated reasons firms should invest in the platform. Custom reports give Third Coast Tech the polished, professional documentation that clients expect at the proposal stage, while internal reports keep every department aligned once the contract is signed.
That financial visibility is critical to Stadler’s role. “We use it from sales all the way through,” he explains. “The salesman is the person that enters the data. I transfer the data, export it to QuickBooks to make my purchase orders, and then when the job is complete, I use that data to create my invoices as well.”
Stadler also values the seamless workflow connections built into the software. “My favorite feature of using D-Tools SI is probably the information handoff and workflow triggers,” he says.
Those triggers eliminate the silos that plague many integration firms, ensuring nothing gets dropped between sales, engineering, procurement, and project management.
D-Tools Team Acts on Feedback
Equally important, says Stadler, is the company behind the product. He praises “how well D-Tools as a company listens to customer feedback and how quickly some of those things get implemented in new versions—and how rock solid they are when they come out.”
After attending the recent D-Tools User Conference in Atlanta in February to look for new ways to expand his firm’s use of the platform, Stadler came away impressed with the depth of industry knowledge at D-Tools.
“Most of the people involved in D-Tools have a background in integration that we come from. So, they understand the product from both sides, and I think that really helps the implementation of these features,” he says.
For a fast-growing, multi-state integrator like Third Coast Tech, that combination of industry-built features, responsive development, and powerful proposal reporting is what keeps D-Tools SI at the center of the business and keeps deals moving from quote to close.
D-Tools is the Integration Business Platform for the technology integration industry, powered by three layers: Product Library & Data, Operations, and Intelligence. Industry-leading D-Tools System Integrator (SI) is the most respected end-to-end business management software for the integration industry, with more than 8,000 users over its 28-year history. The on-premises solution is designed for enterprise-level firms’ complex projects, from system design and engineering documentation to procurement, project execution, and financial visibility.
