Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/378850
COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2014 35 technology O n July 29, John Graham, David Post and other Omnitracs executives met to prioritize investment strategies and create a budget for 2015. None of the decisions made that day or from now on will require Qualcomm's approval. Graham, chief executive officer, and Post, president and chief operating officer, no longer answer to Qualcomm – nor do any employees at the new Omnitracs. In 1988, Qualcomm launched its first product, Omnitracs, which helped the company forge its legacy as the pioneer of long-distance mobile communications in the trucking industry. In early 2013, Omnitracs became the new name of Qualcomm's mobile fleet software business subsidiary, formerly Qualcomm En- terprise Services. Qualcomm changed the name after it decided to sell the property and focus on its high-growth microchip business. In November 2013, Vista Equity Partners bought Omnitracs for $800 million. Vista, a private equity firm, has a reputation for continuing to invest in companies after buying them. The next month, Vista acquired Roadnet Technologies to expand the Omnitracs portfolio. Roadnet develops route planning software for private and dedicated fleets. "That was a great signal to employees that it is a new day for Omnitracs," said Graham. "We are here to play to win and grow in the market." New leadership, new headquarters After the Vista acquisition, Omnitracs leased the same San Diego office from Qualcomm while it moved its data centers to Las Vegas. Meanwhile, the former management team began an exodus, including Norm Ellis from sales and marketing, Vikas Jain from product management and Andy Deninger from engineering. "People need to make life decisions," Graham said. "In any acqui- sition, there is going to be some amount of change." Load One, a Taylor, Mich.-based expedited, truckload and special- ized hauler, uses Omnitracs' in-cab hardware and mobile computing applications. From a customer's perspective, the Omnitracs manage- ment exodus might look bad, said John Elliot, Load One president. "But then again, new blood often does good things," said Elliott, adding that Load One has yet to see a direct impact from Omni- tracs' new ownership or management team. One early positive from the change has been the opportunity to promote employees to new positions within the company, Graham said. Omnitracs also has hired 100 new people since last December. "We kept a lot of the legacy talent with deep transportation knowledge and experience, and added diversity of thought along with other types of talents and different perspectives," he said. Besides staffing changes, the biggest change so far for Omnitracs will be moving its headquarters to Dallas early next year, a move that makes sense for logistical reasons, Graham said. First, em- ployees will be closer to customers. Second, all of Omnitracs' user conferences are being combined into a single Dallas-based event to be held Feb. 8-11, 2015. Omnitracs' business groups now include Sylectus, FleetRisk Advisors and Roadnet. While Omnitracs will continue to focus on developing software to meet fleet safety, compliance, productivity and driver retention needs, the company also increasingly will focus on business intelli- gence and data analytics while integrating its products with those from its fellow business groups. "We are very excited about the opportuni- ty," Graham said. MAKING THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS WORK FOR YOUR FLEET BY AARON HUFF technology AARON HUFF is Senior Editor of Commercial Carrier Journal. E-mail ahuff@ccjmagazine.com or call 385-225-9472. A NEW DAY: Under new ownership, Omnitracs says it is "here to play to win and grow in the market." MANAGEMENT EXODUS: "New blood often does good things," says John Elliott, Load One president. PACKING BAGS: Another big change for Omnitracs will be moving its headquarters to Dallas. Charting a new course Omnitracs seeks to continue Qualcomm legacy while parting ways In addition to in-cab platforms, Omnitracs offers a trailer tracking and management system.