Transportation Industry Lacking Modern Solutions

If your computer looks like this, you're in the transportation industry.

There are now seemingly endless tools and SAAS apps that work so well for online businesses, but if you have a transportation service business like us, you might be feeling a bit left out.  When you get into the transportation and logistics realm, the only game in town is clunky and ancient software packages at gratuitous price points. This is referred to as "enterprise software" which is really just a fancy way of saying "we don't care about smaller businesses." I think many of the software companies must have a client base with long-term well aged contracts, but many of them must have missed the boat on the start up and small-business-friendly market, as well as the existence of smart phones and the past 10 years or so of the Internet.  I'm almost certain a large factor in this is the explosive growth of transportation companies in the 70's-90's.  Their software echoes the same vintage. 

For a smaller business, holistic integration with billing and accounting is a dream come true.  Yes, there are some service oriented apps that integrate with modern accounting platforms, such as Xero.  We've even made a clunky service call/contractor integration made for Australian home service companies work.  But as far as any kind of robust comprehensive solution, we're left out in the cold.  The closest thing we found ran off a bug-laden web interface, had no native integration, and required the inputting of your own list of cities and towns, one by one.  If that doesn't seem fun, you're right. 

My forecast is that this dire situation will improve.  Until then I will relegate myself to the tried and true methods of scanner apps, emails, and phone calls. It's a simpler way of life.

Have you felt left out in the cold when it came to software or apps for your industry?  Let's talk about it, I'll try to help!