GP Transco takes in-house TMS to market

A dry van service out of Illinois has formally stepped into a brand new line of enterprise not typical of a trucking firm. GP Transco launched its personal transportation administration system (TMS) about six years in the past; now the corporate has branched into software program, taking its SaaS-based OpenRoad TMS product to market – providing its opponents the key to the corporate’s success.

When different carriers have visited GP Transco’s workplace for networking or benchmarking, Sergey Bort, vice chairman of selling and strategic enterprise growth, stated they had been at all times impressed with the TMS.

“Loads of (carriers) are truly utilizing very antiquated instruments like Excel for managing their complete operation. Think about a spreadsheet with 47 totally different tabs on the backside that 25 persons are modifying on the similar time, and it is type of a nightmare,” Bort stated. “A TMS that is simple to make use of might be mind-blowing, particularly for the people who find themselves utilizing spreadsheets, and sadly, in our business, even firms our dimension typically are utilizing spreadsheets to run their enterprise. So it is type of low hanging fruit.”

GP Transco took its TMS to market about six months in the past, and it already has a pair hundred customers from small- to mid-size carriers – all dry van, although the system can assist different sectors.

Bort stated the corporate not too long ago acquired outcomes from a satisfaction survey it shared with its clients, and satisfaction averaged 4.7 out of 5. He attributed that satisfaction rating to the benefit of implementation and the system’s means to combine simply through API to different disparate companies.

[RELATED: TMS helps carriers improve supply chain visibility]

“For the primary time ever, they get a centralized hub the place they do not need to log into each service individually. All the pieces feeds into OpenRoad TMS, and so they can see all of the info,” Bort stated. “They’ll see the place their vans are; they’ll see TA (areas); they’ll see gasoline costs; they’ll see their accounting; they’ll see their payroll and all of that in a single place. And that is what clients have actually been loving.

“After which they’ve actually been loving the planning function. It is referred to as OpenRoad Planner, and basically it is a visualization instrument that lets you visualize a whole week to your complete fleet: the place each truck goes to go, what time it’s going to reach, what time it wants to go away and all of the connected paperwork – all of the info multi function place,” he added.

The platform’s options embody IFTA and state reviews, reasonably priced gasoline finder, gasoline card integration, climate alerts, computerized detentions, tolls administration, OpenRoad TMS Planner, a driver cellular software, driver and dispatcher efficiency monitoring, computerized settlements, security and compliance, alerts and notifications, Cloud-based doc storage, one-click invoicing, auto-notifying driver ETA, full journey/week driver planner, paperless BOL administration, and gasoline, upkeep and trailer and yard administration instruments.

All of those options got here from GP Transco’s personal wants as a trucking firm.

Bort stated when the corporate was procuring round for a TMS a number of years in the past, it wasn’t capable of finding one thing that was each simple to make use of and implement whereas additionally being function wealthy. All the pieces they discovered was difficult to make use of and implement and antiquated, wanting prefer it was made within the 90s, or it was one thing that was function poor however seemed attractive and straightforward to make use of.

The corporate determined to make its personal.

“One of many larger, attention-grabbing differentiators, I believe, for OpenRoad TMS is it’s type of made by truckers for truckers. It is made by an organization that we constructed it for ourselves; we all know the points we’re attempting to unravel not like another transportation administration techniques which can be Silicon Valley firms which can be type of imagining what would it’s prefer to be a trucking firm,” Bort stated. “They’re attempting to place themselves in our sneakers, however they do not essentially at all times hit it proper. With us, it’s extremely relatable for the shoppers as a result of we have been by way of these issues; we’ve overcome these totally different challenges, and we have used this instrument to do it, so we are able to inform folks precisely what they’ll count on and easy methods to do it.”

GP Transco was acknowledged as one in every of CCJ’s Innovators for its TMS as a result of it has yielded an spectacular ROI of roughly 480% for the corporate. It has additionally helped the service with driver and back-office retention in addition to buyer satisfaction.

Bort stated different carriers took word.

“(Carriers) come to us … and they ask us how we do it, and it actually comes down to 2 issues, which is folks and expertise,” he stated. “We will not share folks, however now we are able to share our expertise,” which begins at $225 per thirty days with entry to all options for three workplace customers and 15 drivers, in keeping with the OpenRoad TMS web site. Bort stated the price of the TMS is negligible in comparison with how a lot you save.

“The success of GP Transco – we’re a seven-time Inc. 5000 firm for progress – is an efficient testomony to what a service can do through the use of trendy expertise,” Bort stated. “So do not be shy of utilizing expertise is the recommendation I at all times give as a result of this business is sadly nonetheless crammed with folks which can be afraid of expertise, and I suppose that is one thing we have to overcome collectively.

“We actually need to see different carriers succeed and grow to be extra trendy as a result of if the business turns into extra trendy as an entire, it is higher for everybody versus us worrying about preserving our playing cards near our chest.”

Angel Coker Jones is a senior editor of Business Provider Journal, masking the expertise, security and enterprise segments. In her free time, she enjoys mountaineering and kayaking, horseback using, foraging for medicinal vegetation and napping. She additionally enjoys touring to new locations to strive native meals, beer and wine. Attain her at AngelCoker@randallreilly.com.