Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/215766
technology Like many smartphone apps that use the phone's GPS data, Load Track has additional side benefits. Since it is part of Overdrive's Trucker Tools app – used by more than 200,000 drivers – can use location information provided by Load Track to push information to drivers, such as coupons from truckstops along their route. the Trucker Tools app, there is an opportunity for Trucker Tools to use the location information to push information to drivers, such as coupons from truckstops along their route. The information could be pushed to drivers before they start the route to avoid distraction. Branching out Load Track is among the many low-cost tracking tools used by transportation companies. Other tools are offered by companies that traditionally have developed back-end dispatch and transportation management functions. PCS Software, developer of the Express TMS system, has an HTML load tracking application used by a broker's contract carriers and drivers. "Since (HTML) is accessible from any Web-enabled device, it works well for brokerage operations that cannot control the type of equipment that their outside carriers use," says Sean VanDyk, vice president of sales. McLeod Software and TMW Systems are seeing growing demand from carriers and brokers that want to integrate tracking information from low-cost load tracking apps into their TMS systems. Both have an integration with MacroPoint. McLeod also has its own mobile app for fleet managers. Oxford, Iowa-based Don Hummer Trucking, a dry-van and temperature-controlled truckload carrier, uses the McLeod Anywhere app to conduct business during nights and weekends. Messaging drivers and sending wire codes for cash advances are two of the most-used functions, says Chris Hummer, vice president of the 200-truck company. Looking at customer-specific information is another. "If I'm at a customer who wants to look at 'days to pay' or a revenue report, I don't get caught flat-footed," Hummer says. "I can look it up right there." Mobile trucking apps have made it possible to gain the full returns from technologies such as load tracking for a fraction of the cost. Text INFO to 205-289-3554 or visit www.ccjdigital.com/info 36 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2013