Some big news in the channel as D-Tools and Portal.io have announced a merger between the two widely used software platforms. According to executive leadership, the organizations come together with a single purpose: to build the next generation of software integrators use to run their businesses.
What Will the Combined D-Tools and Portal.io Company Look Like?
G Paul Hess will continue as CEO for the combined company. Meanwhile, Kirk Chisholm, founder and CEO of Portal.io, will join as Chief Product Officer, with responsibility for product vision and strategy across the portfolio.
Josh Willits, Portal.io’s COO, will also serve as head of Portal.io, continuing to lead the Portal business unit.
Why Integrators Should Take Note
For nearly three decades, D-Tools notes it has been an anchor platform for the integration industry, earning its position by building the breadth and scale integration businesses need to bring structure, accuracy and control to their operations, across sales, system design, engineering, project management and procurement.
Portal.io, meanwhile, has spent 15 years understanding how dealers sell and turning that insight into its software. That focus has produced an intuitive proposal and catalog experience, robust customer support and a loyal customer base for the company.
The merger brings together the largest network of integrators in the industry, running from single-operator shops to enterprise teams with hundreds of users.
How Will the Software Change Under the Merger?
It’s worth noting that while this merger formalizes the union between both Portal and D-Tools, the two companies have been partners for more than a decade, since Portal.io’s managed product catalog was first integrated into D-Tools SI.
The combined company will bring together three purpose-built products, each designed around different ways integrators run their businesses.
- Portal.io
- D-Tools Cloud
- D-Tools System Integrator (SI)
Rather than pushing every customer into a single system, D-Tools and Portal.io will continue to support each platform while working with integrators to match the right software to their needs.
“There is no forced merger or disintegration of product or eliminating a product,” Hess told Commercial Integrator. “That’s not planned.”
What Will the New Product Catalog Look Like?
D-Tools operates a comprehensive product data catalog, with complete specifications and pricing from thousands of manufacturer and distributor suppliers. Meanwhile, Portal.io brings its own extensive managed catalog and established relationships with industry manufacturers.
Together, the combined company aims to improve accuracy, deliver more up-to-date product and pricing information, and strengthen specification workflows across the combined portfolio.
D-Tools and Portal.io Leadership Speak on Merger
According to Hess, “Bringing D-Tools and Portal.io together gives our industry something it has never had before: the most established platforms in custom integration, the integrator communities that have grown up around them and the most complete product data, now backed by one team. I came up in this industry as an integrator, and I have spent most of my career in product. And for me, this is a return to a product-led organization.”
He continues, “Kirk has spent more than a decade obsessing over what integrators need from software, and Portal.io reflects that in every detail. His product leadership complements the deep experience this D-Tools team has built over decades, and together we get to build the next chapter for this industry as one team.”
Chisholm remarks, “Portal.io was built on one idea: understand dealers better than anyone and build software they love to use. D-Tools has built the most capable platform in this industry and earned a place in more integration businesses than anyone. We have known and worked with D-Tools for more than a decade, and what has always been clear is how aligned we are on what integrators actually need.”
He adds, “Putting our two teams together is a real chance to shape where this industry goes and to build what dealers have always wanted. In a world of AI, an integrator should be able to run their entire business on software that is powerful, beautiful and intuitive all at once. If you had to hand-pick two companies to deliver on that, it would be D-Tools and Portal.io. That is the company I want to build, and it is why I am excited to take on product for the combined organization.”
D-Tools and Portal.io Strengthen Commitment to Integrator Channel
The combined company says it will continue to serve the CEDIA channel, residential and light commercial custom integrators, while continuing to expand into commercial, pro AV, security and international integrator communities where both see growing demand.
Existing relationships with distributors, buying groups and industry associations will also continue.
D-Tools and Portal.io will both exhibit at CEDIA Expo in Denver next week. There, attendees can see live product demonstrations and meet the joint leadership team.
Readers can learn more about the combined company at D-Tools.com/together.
Another version of this article originally appeared on our sister site Commercial Integrator.
