What happened at WERCS
Proof: the WERCS case
At WERCS, a full replacement system for accounting, dispatch and inventory went live and the team did not move onto it. Small tools aimed at one daily job each shipped instead, and those became the tools the office and sales staff work in. That lesson, fix the daily work people actually do, is why this firm exists.
The company
WERCS Inc. is an industrial finishing and hazardous-location service company based in Kalama, Washington. Its crews work in the field for customers across the United States, which means its work happens on customer sites, in the shop and in the office, and has to move between all three.
The big system
Jason Santiago came in to replace QuickBooks, ServiceM8 and a legacy inventory system with software the company would own. The result, WORX, was a full replacement for all three and went live in February 2026. The team did not move onto it.
Nothing was wrong with the idea of owning the software. What was wrong was the size of the change: every person had to learn a new system for everything at once, for a benefit most of them would never personally feel.
The small tools
From March, the approach changed. Instead of one system for everything, small tools shipped that each fixed one job a specific person did every day:
- rprt, for field reporting
- StrikeList, for prospecting
- StrikeQuote, for quoting
These became the tools the office and sales staff work in. Their usage was not measured with the kind of telemetry this firm now installs, so we do not put a number on it.
What the website brought in
Alongside the tools, the WERCS website was rebuilt. From the company's own records: 164 service and contact requests came in through the website between March and September 2026, not counting phone calls.
What we took from it
A company does not adopt a platform. People adopt the one thing that makes their own day easier. So every Fox & Santiago engagement starts from the work the crew actually does, with the number that proves use written into the contract before the build starts.
Questions people ask
What is WERCS?
WERCS Inc. is an industrial finishing and hazardous-location service company based in Kalama, Washington, with field crews serving customers across the United States.
Why did the big system fail?
It asked every person to change how they worked, all at once, for a benefit most of them would not feel personally. The small tools each fixed one job a specific person did every day, so using them was easier than not.
Were the small tools measured?
Their usage was not measured with the telemetry this firm now installs on every tool it ships. We say so rather than estimate. Every Fox & Santiago engagement measures use from the client's own records from day one.
Did WERCS approve this page?
This page is published only with the WERCS owner's approval of its wording, and no quote appears here that was not approved verbatim.