D-Tools CEO Town Hall Covers Future Vision, Economic Outlook
At the D-Tools User Conference in Atlanta, outgoing CEO Randy Stearns and incoming CEO G Paul Hess discussed the company's strong growth—highlighting nearly 500 new customers last year and over 1,000% recurring revenue growth in a decade—the optimistic 2026 economic outlook driven by AI and robotics innovations, and the future product roadmap amid a stable post-pandemic business environment.
At the recent D-Tools User Conference in Atlanta, outgoing CEO Randy Stearns and incoming CEO G Paul Hess participated in an interactive Town Hall discussion. They addressed a variety of topics, including the future product roadmap and the general economic outlook for 2026.
During the session, they set the stage for two days of thought leadership at the conference, which hosted nearly 150 industry professionals at the Renaissance Midtown Atlanta hotel from February 25-27.
Randy Stearns began by reflecting on the broader business environment:
“Let me take a brief look at the broader environment we’re all operating in today. I think it is always an important backdrop. We’ve come through COVID, supply-chain disruptions, and tariffs, and for the most part it seems that the turbulence is behind us.”
He continued:
“The economic backdrop is rock solid from where I stand. Growth is healthy, inflation has cooled, and corporate profits are exceptional… the stock market is showing those results. Innovations like AI and robotics are driving real productivity gains in businesses across the world and in the marketplace. Labor is a bit soft right now, but that actually plays in our favor at times. I am super optimistic about 2026—and, frankly, the next few years. I think it is going to be a really good run for us and for the rest of you as well. So hopefully you are acknowledging the business climate that we are in today and taking advantage of that.”
On D-Tools' performance, Stearns noted:
"We added nearly 500 new customers last year. It's a big number."
He explained that the company set an aggressive growth goal and exceeded it, with recurring revenue growth over the past decade up more than 1,000%. Stearns emphasized the company's strong, steady growth, improving products, and expanding team.
G Paul Hess Discusses AI
After his remarks on the industry and company, Stearns spoke about his upcoming retirement, expressing gratitude for his time at D-Tools and introducing new CEO G Paul Hess.
Hess shared his background, starting as an integrator using D-Tools software, then moving to the supplier side with roles at Elan, SnapAV/Snap One, and ADI. He highlighted D-Tools' unique position in the industry:
“D-Tools has a unique role to play. We're in a position to help the industry improve workflow efficiency and deliver industry‑level insights. Many dealers today are juggling a stack of tools: CRM, ERP, project management, accounting, service tickets, and more. None of that is wrong, but when those systems don't talk to each other, your workflows get fragmented.”
“Our job at D-Tools is to build a platform and a workflow to help you create proposals that are both profitable and competitive, to give you the visibility and insight to make better decisions, and the standardization to execute those decisions efficiently.”
Hess emphasized the rapid adoption of AI in the industry, especially in the past three months:
“The gap between teams that embrace AI and modern workflows and teams that don't is going to widen quickly. The time to lean into AI is now.”
During the Q&A session, attendees asked about:
- Feature parity between D-Tools System Integrator (SI) and D-Tools Cloud
- When and if integrators should use both platforms
- Why D-Tools does not offer features à la carte, but instead provides the entire feature set to licensees
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