Switching to WakeWorks from an older DMS
A lot of marine dealers are running a system that started life in another industry and had marine features added later. WakeWorks is built for marine dealerships from the ground up, with AI at the point of action instead of a chatbot on the side. Most dealers cut over in four to six weeks.
The short version
If your current system feels slow, your multi-store reporting is limited, the AI is a chatbot bolted onto the side, or accounting hand-off is a manual mess, WakeWorks solves all four on one platform. Pricing is a base platform fee per store, so book a demo and we quote your exact number.
What WakeWorks covers
| Capability | WakeWorks |
|---|---|
| Marine-first data model (boats, trailers, engines, hours) | Native |
| Help at the point of action | RO suggestions on open, one-click email drafts, AI-parsed ID and registration photos |
| Sales, service, parts, CRM, F&I on one stack | One platform |
| Multi-store | One account for every store, each with its own reporting |
| Accounting | Built in, with a QuickBooks Desktop export file |
| Implementation speed | 4-6 weeks single store, 8-12 weeks multi-store |
| Native mobile tech app for service | Web + iOS + Android |
| Row-level tenant isolation (RLS) | Postgres row-level security on dealer data |
Why dealers switch to WakeWorks
Not every dealer on an older system is looking to switch. The dealers who call us tend to share one of these four triggers:
- AI is a chatbot in a sidebar. The AI helper opens in a window, the user types a question, the bot answers from documentation. It does not surface suggestions on the record itself. On WakeWorks, opening a repair order for a unit surfaces suggested operations, parts, and hours from your own shop's history on that make, model, and year, and the email composer generates an AI draft in one click.
- Multi-store reporting is limited or gated. WakeWorks runs every store from one account, and each user switches between the stores they have access to.
- Accounting hand-off is manual. A lot of older systems export to CSV, and the bookkeeper re-keys it into QuickBooks. WakeWorks keeps the books itself, with journal entries, AR aging, bank reconciliation, and a month-end close checklist, and it exports a journal file for QuickBooks Desktop.
- The UI feels slow. Boat pages render fields you do not need and hide the ones you do on a system built for another industry. WakeWorks was built around marine records from the start.
Migration: what cutover to WakeWorks actually looks like
We have migrated dealers off older systems before, and the work follows a predictable roadmap:
Week 0: discovery call
We pull a read-only export of your current system (customer list, open ROs, open deals, inventory, AR aging). You confirm your chart of accounts, your tax rates, and how you want accounting set up.
Week 1-3: data migration
Customers, vehicles, parts master, open ROs, open deals, AR balances, and the last 24 months of closed ROs come over. We rebuild your canned job library and labor rate matrix from your current system's definitions. Every tax rate gets checked against state rules, and AR ties to the penny against your current system's reports.
Week 3-4: training
Two live sessions per role (sales, service writer, tech, parts, F&I, admin) plus a playback video your team keeps. We write custom playbooks for any workflow your shop uses that differs from default.
Cutover weekend
Friday evening: final delta export from your current system. Saturday: delta merge into the WakeWorks tenant. Sunday: you run a shakeout RO and a shakeout deal while we watch the telemetry and confirm the day's accounting entries balance. Monday morning: you open for business on WakeWorks.
Total elapsed time: four to six weeks for a single-store dealer. Eight to twelve weeks for multi-store. Costs scale with RO volume and store count. We quote after the discovery call.
Pricing
WakeWorks is priced per store per month across three tiers, each building on the one before it:
- Starter: sales and deal management, service and repair orders, parts inventory, CRM, e-signatures, Stripe payments.
- Growth: everything in Starter, plus RO suggestions, AI email drafts, predictive service reminders, and automated lead scoring.
- Multi-Store: everything in Growth, plus one account for every store, per-store reporting, parts stock visible across stores, and store-level access controls.
Every tier includes unlimited user seats per store, data migration from your current system, training for your full team, and ongoing support. See the full pricing breakdown, or book a demo and we quote your exact number against your store count and add-on selection.
Frequently asked questions
Is WakeWorks only for marine dealers?
Yes. We do not serve powersports, auto, or RV. The schema, the workflows, the reports, and the AI prompts are tuned to boats, trailers, engines, and hours-based service. That focus is the reason we beat general DMS platforms on day-one fit.
Do you integrate with my existing payment processor?
We run Stripe natively and pass through the processor fees with no added margin. If you are locked into a processor contract with your current provider, we keep the processor and integrate on top until your contract ends.
Can I run WakeWorks and my current system in parallel during cutover?
For two to four weeks, yes. We keep your current system read-only so reports still render from it, while all new ROs and deals start in WakeWorks. This avoids the hard-stop risk of a single-weekend cutover for shops that want a softer ramp.
What happens to our historical reports?
All closed ROs from the last 24 months come over with full line items, parts, labor, and payment history.
How do we see it working before we commit?
Book a 30-minute demo. We open WakeWorks on a sandbox preloaded with a dealership profile that matches your size. Bring a real RO or deal from your current system and we run it on the call.
See your own migration scope in under 30 minutes
We bring your current numbers to the demo call. You see WakeWorks running against your real data.
Book the demoLast updated 2026-09-25. WakeWorks is not affiliated with or endorsed by any other DMS vendor. All trademarks belong to their owners.