Industrial internet of things provider Samsara announced on Monday that it will scale up its association with McLeod Software by enhancing workflow integration of its suite of solutions with McLeod’s LoadMaster platform.
LoadMaster is an accounting software tool that helps trucking fleets manage dispatch operations. By integrating with LoadMaster, Samsara hopes to optimize the experience and increase the productivity of drivers on the road via technology that is intuitive and seamless in function.
“Our existing partnership with McLeod has shown how shared access to data can boost fleet performance. This enhanced integration with LoadMaster builds upon that foundation by focusing on the driver experience and importantly, meeting the needs of our customers,” Sean McGee, director of product management at Samsara, told FreightWaves.
McGee mentioned that the decision to take it forward with McLeod arose from the interest their first iteration garnered from customers. “Many of our customers wanted to take advantage of the full workflow experience — and now they can,” McGee said.
The enhanced workflow will enable dispatchers to not only track and trace trucks and driver hours of service (HOS), but also to directly control dispatch operations, communicate with drivers and track trailer assets in real time.
This association will also help shared customers between Samsara and McLeod improve the driver experience and productivity by equipping them with the Samsara Driver App — with features like HOS tracker, optimized routing, digitalized versions of forms and driver vehicle inspection reports.
McGee explained that the response from initial customers like Outwest Express and TCI has been very positive. With these companies having gained traction while being shared customers of Samsara and McLeod, McGee hoped this integration would further help them manage workflows and operations more seamlessly.
Bill Chilson, director of business operations at Outwest, explained that for a trucking business with operations across all 48 contiguous states in the U.S., it was beneficial to have all related services tied down within a single integrated solution. “This makes it easy to efficiently dispatch drivers and stay in touch with them while they’re on the road,” he said.
Dispatchers accessing the new integrated software will now be able to plan and assign loads to drivers, helping fleet managers to manage dispatching workflows from beginning to end on a single platform, without the need to shuffle between multiple tools.
Route management is easier as dispatchers can now include route notes in LoadMaster, which will now be available directly on the Samsara driver app. Dispatchers can designate exact routes as well as stops needed for order fulfillment, and they can micromanage active orders through the track and trace option. Full fleetwide visibility, in essence, ensures precise optimization that eventually helps create a better experience for all stakeholders in the organization.