Specialized Transport Service is a heavy haul trucking company operating out of Dallas, Texas. After 27 years in business, they decided to step up their game and invest in a fully integrated system. Did it make a difference?
We stopped in to chat with the VP Operations, Darrell Hendrix, about their first year with Axon Software.
Q&A
Tell us about yourself and the company.
I’m Darrell Hendrix, Vice President of Operations with Specialized Transport Service. I’ve been here for 27 years. We haul all types of oversize or overweight pieces, like equipment, vessels, oilfield equipment.
We first started using Axon during the first part of 2018. It has really helped us cut down on overhead. The flexibility of it and all the tools that it offers – it combines everything.
It’s all integrated, from the time we take a call and do a quote, to the time the load is done, all through the accounting process. It has really helped us out a lot and sped things up.
The biggest thing is the cost-savings benefit from it.
How has Axon helped you from a financial point of view?
We’ve cut down on overhead. We had a staff member quit and because of Axon we haven’t had to replace her. We eliminated that full-time office position, so it has definitely paid for itself twice over – maybe three times over at this point.
It’s definitely been a big, big help, from our antiquated ways of doing things.
What type of problems has Axon helped you solve?
Getting our paperwork and work orders to the drivers – it has helped that out a lot. The problem of redundancy doing paperwork, it has cut down on that. And of course all the other issues with keeping up with inventory in the shop, all of our parts and maintenance.
It has simplified invoicing, very much so. If a customer calls and says, “Hey I need this invoice right away,” it is really easy for us to get it sent to them.
If you increased your fleet by 15 trucks, would you have to increase your staff here in the office?
I would say probably not. The person invoicing might do some other things less and spend more time invoicing. But I don’t think 15 trucks would change that much at all.
Has Axon helped improve your customer relations?
It has helped us get invoices to the customers more quickly. Any of us can send the customer a statement if they call and request it. We don’t have to go get somebody to send it, so it’s a little more responsive in that sense.
How do you find the software for ease of use?
It’s pretty simple. Once you learn its personality, so to speak, it’s pretty simple to figure stuff out. Especially writing up orders, which is the biggest thing for daily operations.
The training seemed pretty straightforward. It’s one of those things where they explain it and it all makes sense. Then when you sit down, a lot of it will come back to you.
The support is good. We can send a message for them to contact us and usually within a few minutes we get a call back.
If somebody in the industry asked about your experience with Axon, what would you tell them?
I would tell them that they should definitely consider it. The upfront cost is a little bit of sticker shock, but once you put the pen to paper and realize what you’re going to save in the long run, it’s just not very costly.
