“Information technology is at the core of how you do your business and how your business model itself evolves.” – Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft

DIS-TRAN’s goal for our Information Systems has always been to better serve customer needs with timely and accurate information at every point in the proposal or production process.

Though most of our IT support is ably provided by our corporate parent, Crest Operations, DIS-TRAN Packaged Substations realized a few years back that we needed more dedicated support for the IT systems that we use in carrying out our business functions.

“Our applications have always been reasonably robust in terms of being a strategic tool supporting the project management process, but by prioritizing and emphasizing the importance of our IT, we’ve been able to strengthen the level of support and customer performance that we can provide,” explains Alan Mobley, Commercial Manager at DIS-TRAN.

Consider information reporting. Both internal and external customers rely on timely, accurate information from our systems. “There’s always a need for updating this information,” says Shannon Dauzat, DTPS’ dedicated database administrator, and programmer.

That means we frequently update reports or create new reports to deliver the data that DIS-TRAN personnel need to make quick, effective decisions. This, in turn, improves service delivery. “If we can do a good job of getting our internal customers, like the project managers (PMs), the data and apps that they need, they can then do a better and more efficient job for our external customers,” Shannon says.

Customer service is always at the forefront of this behind-the-scenes function. “Our focus is on helping the organization to help the customers,” explains Shannon. “Though we rarely deal with the external customer directly, everything we do is intended to help the customer benefit from better information, or better processes.”

A great example is an old cataloging program. For each project, DIS-TRAN creates a booklet of catalog cuts from approved vendors to help PMs quickly identify the materials and components needed and allowed on a project. But the old program required an incredible degree of manual labor, and even then, it would render some pages unreadable. Shannon updated this system to automate and streamline the way the application worked, while simultaneously adding functionality. Now the system can produce a seamlessly and clear PDF document quickly and easily. As a result, both project managers and Procurement gain access to critical information in a fraction of the time.

“Through changes, additions, and enhancements like these,” says Alan, “we can all do our jobs better.”