ECA Gate and Lock – Reclaiming Time and Simplifying Accounting with Digits

ECA Gate and Lock designs, fabricates, installs, and services automated gate systems for residential, commercial, and industrial customers.

Their mission is to deliver security at your front door says founder Adam Tammisto.

While their mission is centered on delivering security and peace of mind to others, Adam realized their internal accounting processes weren’t delivering that same sense of clarity and confidence.

The Challenge: Complex Workflows and Constant Cleanup

As a material-heavy business running manufacturing, construction, and service operations, ECA processes a high volume of purchase orders, vendor bills, fuel receipts, payroll, and job materials every week.

QuickBooks couldn’t keep up.

“It looks like there’s automation, but you still have to review every single thing,” Adam explains.

Disconnected systems between their CRM, payroll, and accounting created duplicate entries. Basic workflows required multiple steps. If Adam fell behind for even a couple weeks, reconciliation became overwhelming.

To keep the books reliable, he was spending four hours every single day inside QuickBooks.

“If you let it go for two or three weeks, you’re in a pile you almost can’t recover from.”

For a small business owner actively running operations, that wasn’t sustainable.

Discovering a Truly Automated Ledger

Before switching, ECA evaluated multiple tools — including Wave, Xero, and an AI overlay platform that still required QuickBooks underneath.

“If something’s wrong in QuickBooks, the AI is wrong too.”

Digits stood out because it wasn’t layering automation on top of outdated infrastructure. It rebuilt the general ledger from the ground up.

“It’s the promise other platforms make — but Digits is actually delivering it.”

The Impact: 4 Hours Down to 15 Minutes

Since implementing Digits, Adam’s daily financial workflow has dropped to 15–20 minutes each morning.

“That’s cut four hours out of my day.”

Receipts are uploaded into Digits, transactions are automatically categorized, and any items that require attention surface in the Checklist. Even if he falls behind, getting caught up is simple — not overwhelming.

What Made the Biggest Difference

Checklist + Document Matching
“I can click into a transaction and get right back to the document. That’s fantastic.” No more manual cross-checking or hunting for attachments.

Simplified Categorization
Digits made it easy to clean up and reduce category clutter, creating clearer reporting and better visibility.

Bill Pay Workflow
With so many vendors to manage, ECA relies on a visual workflow that clearly shows what’s awaiting review, what’s scheduled for payment, and what’s already paid — giving them confidence in their outgoing cash management.

Financial Visibility That Makes Sense
“It was easier for my business partner to understand the P&L. It just made more sense.”

Digits transformed the P&L from a static report into an interactive story. With auto-generated insights and the ability to drill into any number for instant detail, they could clearly explain what was changing, what was intentional, and how major investments impacted the bigger picture.

Built for Real-World Small Businesses

Like many growing companies, ECA needed clarity without complexity. Without a full-time accounting team, they needed a system that was intuitive, efficient, and didn’t demand hours of manual work.

“If you’re a small business owner and don’t have a dedicated AR/AP person, QuickBooks is just going to be a struggle.”

Digits simplified financial management enough that Adam can stay in control — without sacrificing hours of his day.

Would ECA Recommend Digits?

“Oh, hell yeah!”

For contractors and operators overwhelmed by traditional tools, the message is simple:

Modern accounting shouldn’t take four hours a day. With Digits, it doesn’t.