Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/599511
commercial carrier journal | november 2015 45 T hirty years ago, the trucking industry was in the dawn of deregulation. New businesses were forming and prospering, one of which was a software com- pany founded by Tom McLeod. He and many others wanted to seize the opportunity to give truckload carriers a taste of automation. At the time, carriers "were just looking to stop buying so many typewriters," recalled McLeod, president of McLeod Software, during the company's annual user conference held last month in Birmingham, Ala. McLeod personally wrote the company's first product, LoadMaster, to automate the routine dispatch, billing and driver settlement processes. Looking back, he remembers that at least 50 other startups had a similar product. Since then, the competi- tion has thinned out considerably. McLeod Software has widened its portfolio to all types of asset and nonas- set transportation companies and has grown to 383 em- ployees, with 2015 shaping up to be another record-setting year of growth. While giving the opening address at the conference, McLeod said the secret to the company's success is its customers. This year's conference had a 30 percent increase in attendance from 2014, with about 1,000 people. "We've had customers that have pushed us and pulled us and pointed us in the right direction," he said. McLeod also credited the company's four longstanding guiding principles: 1) Spend less than you take in; 2) Make commitments you can keep; 3) Do what you say you are going to do, and know what you are doing; and 4) Treat people with dignity and respect. New product During the user conference, McLeod Software announced a new customer-branded mobile app that carriers can extend to drivers through the Apple and Android stores. Five years ago, the company developed a mobile app for fleet managers, and subsequent releases of the McLeod Anywhere platform created full-featured mobile versions of its LoadMaster and PowerBroker enterprise platforms. But the company held off on developing apps that would encroach on the domain of in-cab mobile communications providers such as Omnitracs and PeopleNet – until now. One reason was to avoid direct competition with its vendor partners. Another was that mobile applications are "not some- thing you can whip together," McLeod said. The Carrier Driver app initially will be complementary to existing mobile communications systems. Future developments will extend functionality beyond what is available today from third-party apps, he said. McLeod Software also plans to create a version of the mobile app for its freight broker customers that use the PowerBroker system. The current release has dispatch messaging, full access to driver settlement information, document and electronic signature cap- ture, accident reporting and more. Pricing details have not been released, but the app will be a subscription model based on the number of active drivers using it. "We intend to be very competitive on our pricing model," McLeod says. "I think we are doing it in a way that will allow us to be successful." Making the latest technology developMents work for your fleet by AAron Huff technology Extending mobility to drivers McLeod Software celebrates 30 th anniversary Still growiNg: Mcleod software has widened its portfolio to all types of asset and nonasset companies. CuStomer SuCCeSS: this year's conference had a 30 percent increase in attendance from 2014. New produCt: carriers can extend a new customer-branded mobile app to drivers. Tom McLeod speaks during the annual user conference, held Oct. 4-6 in Birmingham, Ala. aaron huff is senior editor of Commercial Carrier Journal. e-mail ahuff@ccjmagazine.com or call 385-225-9472.