McLeod Software Expands Into Canada
This story appears in the April 22 print edition of Transport Topics.
MONTREAL — Transportation management software provider McLeod Software said it is offering all its products in Canada for the first time.
The company, founded in 1985 and based in Birmingham, Ala., offers a suite of freight and financial software products for trucking fleets, brokers and other transportation firms.
Its products were on display here April 11-13 at Expocam.
The new software addresses multicurrency, tax and other financial and operational issues critical to transportation firms that do business in Canada and the United States, the company said.
“The big reason to go into Canada is to expand our services and products, especially for larger transportation companies, whether they have trucks or not,” Tom McLeod, founder and CEO, told Transport Topics in a telephone interview.
The Canadian software is being offered only in English — there are no immediate plans to offer a French version.
Tom McLeod did not attend Expocam. Instead, he was at the Transportation Intermediaries Association annual meeting in Las Vegas.
He said the “mood seemed up-beat at the meeting” and that participating with organizations like TIA, American Trucking Associations and Truckload Carriers Association made the decision to enter Canada easier.
“All of those groups embraced the Canadian market and over the years [at conferences] we have gotten inquiries about bringing our products and solutions there.”
At Expocam, the McLeod exhibit booth was mainly staffed by David Falk, the company’s national sales manager for Canada based out of the Winnipeg, Manitoba, area.
He provided demos and handed out literature describing the company’s various programs, including LoadMaster and PowerBroker. There was also a booklet outlining specific steps McLeod takes to help transportation companies successfully implement a new system.
Tom McLeod said one customer is Trans-Frt. McNamara and that installation of the company’s products began long before Expocam.
Calls to Trans-Frt. were not returned by press time. According to its website, the Ontario-based company offers a variety of trucking services, as well as brokerage and logistics.
It said it has about 100 trucks, 200 trailers and additional offices in Alberta, British Columbia, and Montebello, Calif.
McLeod said another customer, which he couldn’t publicly disclose, is “a sizeable freight brokerage firm that has established Canadian operations through acquisitions.”
He said that for several years more and more customers approached the company about expanding into Canada as they diversified their own operations.
“We want to accommodate our key customers who may have truckload and dedicated and less-than-truckload and freight management and brokerage operations,” said McLeod. “They have multiple modes and want us to help them handle their Canadian operations and freight.”
He said the initial groundwork for the move into Canada was started at least a decade ago.
“We saw far back that eventually we would need to serve the Canadian marketplace, but carriers in the United States have kept us plenty busy,” he said.
The decision to enter Canada this year comes after the company reported an all-time high in sales for 2012, with revenue growing by more than 20% for the third straight year.
