Gage Marine operates three locations across Wisconsin - Lake Shambu, Manakua, and their newest expansion in Green Lake. As a multifaceted marina offering pier division services, storage, and comprehensive marine services, they've built their reputation on operational excellence and customer service.
The team at Gage Marine has relied on DockMaster for over a decade as their comprehensive marina management solution. Lance Jacobson, in accounting, credits the platform's robust capabilities with enabling their successful expansion while maintaining the high level of service their customers expect.
Managing multiple revenue streams across expanding locations presents unique operational challenges. Before implementing DockMaster's integrated payment solutions, the team struggled with manual processes that consumed valuable staff time and created potential security concerns. Now with DockMaster's automated payment processing and customer portal, these workflows have been completely transformed, allowing staff to focus on higher-value customer service activities while customers enjoy secure, self-service payment options.
The features of DockMaster that Gage Marine uses most
Automated Payment Processing
"We kind of did a very manual process for collecting payments before," explains Jacobson. "We have customers that would like us to just automatically charge their card, and it's very manual process to go to one individually."
DockMaster's payment processing capabilities transformed this workflow completely. "Giving our customers that portal where they can self-serve helps them because they don't have to give us a credit card that we have to keep on file and so security reasons there as well as just ease for us because we don't have to take the time to process it," explains Jacobson. The customer portal provides security benefits for both parties - customers don't have to provide credit card information to be stored on file, and staff time is freed up from manual processing tasks.
Custom Reporting System
The robust reporting functionality has become essential to Gage Marine's operations. "There's so many different fields that you can use," notes Jacobson. "I can create so many custom reports that save me a ton of time just running those rather than going through different modules."
This level of customization allows the team to generate exactly the business intelligence they need without manual data compilation. The reporting system's flexibility means they can track performance across all their business divisions and locations from a single platform.
Multi-Division Operations
With DockMaster's comprehensive module structure covering sales, service, pier division, and storage operations, Gage Marine operates all business divisions through one unified platform. This integration has been crucial as they've expanded from two to three locations, providing consistent operational processes across all sites.
How Gage Marine has streamlined operations with DockMaster
Eliminated Manual Payment Processing
The automated payment system has transformed revenue collection workflows. Customers can now process their own payments through the secure portal, reducing administrative burden while improving the customer experience. Staff time previously spent on manual payment processing is now available for higher-value customer service activities.
Operational Efficiency Through Custom Reporting
The ability to create custom reports tailored to their specific needs has delivered significant time savings. Rather than manually pulling data from multiple modules, the team can generate comprehensive reports that provide exactly the insights needed for decision-making across all business divisions.
Seamless Multi-Location Management
DockMaster's unified platform approach has enabled consistent operations across all three locations. The same processes, reporting, and customer management systems work seamlessly whether the team is managing operations at Lake Shambu, Manakua, or their newest Green Lake location.
Partnership and Support Excellence
Jacobson rates DockMaster's support team "10 out of 10," highlighting how this partnership approach enables smooth operations. "I often get a response within a few hours at the latest or sooner, and I've grown to learn that there's definitely some people on support team that are specialized in different areas so I know who to reach out to for certain things."
Specialized expertise means issues get resolved quickly without bouncing between different support representatives. This level of support has been essential as they've scaled operations across multiple locations.
Why Gage Marine continues with DockMaster
Despite new marina software options entering the market over their decade-long partnership, Gage Marine continues to rely on DockMaster. "The reason we've stayed with DockMaster over some other new services that are popping up is just because the robust amount of features that they have and tons of different capabilities."
For a multifaceted operation like Gage Marine, this comprehensive functionality translates directly to competitive advantages. The platform handles their diverse business needs - from pier division operations to storage management - all within one integrated system. As they've expanded to their third location, they've been able to replicate successful operational processes without having to rebuild workflows or train staff on new systems.
What's next for Gage Marine?
With their successful expansion to Green Lake, Gage Marine continues to leverage DockMaster's capabilities to support their growth. The unified platform approach means they can focus on what they do best - providing exceptional service to their customers - while the technology handles the operational complexities of running a multi-location marina business.
Final comments about DockMaster?
"I would recommend DockMaster to other marinas just based on its robust capabilities that can definitely be built to suit exactly your needs," concludes Jacobson.
The comprehensive system, custom reporting flexibility, and partnership approach to support have enabled Gage Marine to scale confidently while maintaining operational excellence across all locations.
Would you like to find out more about how DockMaster can streamline your marina operations?