Fifteen years ago when Boston-based Red Thread Spaces misbid an AV project by $100,000 due to a formula error, the company knew it needed a different solution for creating accurate proposals and managing its projects.
“When we first built the business, which was largely from the ground up, we were using spreadsheets to manage our product catalogues and put together our proposals for our customers. Obviously, using spreadsheets is wrought with calculation errors,” recalls Brian Baril, Director of AV Business Operations at Red Thread Spaces.
That unfortunate $100,000 Excel formula error was one of the primary determining factors that led the company to conduct an exhaustive review to look for a better business management software solution.
“We did a pretty exhaustive analysis. We looked at a lot of different software platforms and did a lot of demos. We landed on D-Tools. It was the clear front runner,” recalls Baril.
"It is really a one-stop shop for finding all of our product information."
-- Brian Baril, Red Thread Spaces
Red Thread Spaces’ AV division has been using D-Tools System Integrator (SI) as its proposal and business management software solution ever since. It has adapted as the software has evolved over the years, according to Baril.
Today, Red Thread Spaces is one of the largest independent Steelcase furniture dealers in the country with 11 locations across multiple states in New England. Its large AV installation division relies on D-Tools SI for building detailed proposals and managing business operations from its sales offices, showrooms and warehouses.
Product Catalog Management Is Favorite Feature
Baril says it is hard to narrow down his favorite feature of D-Tools SI because there are so many, noting Red Thread appreciates the software’s flexibility and customization for setting its product catalog, managing labor and creating proposals. However, he asserts the ability to use the software to seamlessly manage Red Thread’s product catalog and vendor partners is probably his favorite feature.
“We don’t need to look for cut sheets. We don’t have to go look for how the input and outputs plug into everything and how it interacts. It’s all largely there. It’s really a one-stop shop for finding all of our product information,” comments Baril.
Another element of D-Tools SI that Red Thread is using productively is the Change Order management feature. The company recently had a large construction project with lots of change orders where the Change Order module came in very handy for its ability to track the change orders, run reports for the client, and ultimately bill the client for the change orders faster. Baril notes the D-Tools Change Order management module has “flawless” in terms of helping Red Thread handle the project.
Lately, Red Thread has been experimenting with D-Tools’ open API and according to Baril, the company’s furniture division is now looking at the possibility of implementing D-Tools.
