By Dan Leone, Staff Reporter
This story appears in the March 22 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
TMW Systems and McLeod Software each said they signed fewer new customers in 2009 than the prior year, but overall sales remained strong as carriers sought to improve their operations and prep for an economic rebound.
TMW, Beachwood, Ohio, said it signed on 140 new customers in 2009, down from 160 in 2008. “Both new and existing customers are capitalizing on periods of reduced market activity to strengthen their operations and increase management visibility to business performance,” said David Wangler, president of TMW.
McLeod, Birmingham, Ala., brought in 84 new subscribers, down from 96 in 2008. While the number dropped year-over-year, those that signed on during 2009 bought more add-on products and supplemental software than those in 2008, McLeod said.
Rick Halbrooks, vice president of sales and marketing at McLeod, said that as freight demand slumped, carriers reasoned that “if they can’t increase their revenues because of the rate market, they have to figure out ways to keep their costs down.”
TMW has previously released revenue figures only for odd-numbered years between 2001 and 2007. Between 2005 and 2007, TMW said revenue rose to $65.5 million from $26.3 million. The increase reflected, among other things, acquisitions.
TMW said that its tally of new customers for 2009 does not include Innovative Computing Corp. customers that TMW acquired when it bought ICC last year.
McLeod said that its revenue in 2009 was a company record but declined to provide a figure.
TMW is the largest provider of enterprise software to the trucking industry. McLeod is the second-largest, and ICC had been third.
Both TMW and McLeod said their 2009 results benefited from unexpectedly strong sales of certain products.
Halbrooks at McLeod said that his company’s “HirePower” module, software designed to automate information collection associated with the driver-hiring process, “had a huge year” in 2009.
“I thought HirePower would take a few years to get off the tracks,” Halbrooks said. “I was thinking that, with the driver pool like it was last year, that wouldn’t be a big seller.”
TMW, meanwhile, said sales of its maintenance software outpaced internal projections in 2009.
“The product line that most exceeded our sales expectations in 2009 was TMT Fleet Maintenance,” said Monica Truelsch, TMW’s director of marketing.
Both McLeod and TMW also said that business has continued to firm up in 2010 and that carriers are still shopping for software.
In January, TMW landed a big contract with truckload carrier U.S. Xpress Enterprises, Chattanooga, Tenn.
Halbrooks said that McLeod didn’t have its usual seasonal slump this winter.
“Usually, we get a little bit of a break in January and February,” Halbrooks said. “This year, it’s wide open. There’s not been much of a refractory period” between 2009 and 2010.
