“We are saving over $150,000.00 in salaries each year since
switching to Axon.”
 J.B.M.
Logistics have been hauling dry van and reefer freight across
most of North America since 1996, operating 70 tractors, including 9
owner operators. They went online with Axon software in November of
2002. In this interview, Lindsay Keene, President and General
Manager, speaks to us about his Axon experience.
What were some of the problems that led you to
look at Axon software?
“What was very attractive to us was the integration that Axon has,
that we didn’t have with our existing systems. Primarily with
respect to equipment statements and payroll and downloading fuel
transactions. That’s what really stood out.”
How did the way you do business change once
you started using Axon?
“It improved the life of our admin. staff dramatically. Our systems
were all very fragmented. We had a payroll system that was outside
of our general ledger. We had a trucking system that was not
integrated with either the general ledger or payroll, and there was
a lot of manual validation and multiple entry. When we started using
Axon, the strength of it was that the operations people had the
information right in front of them, and they were able to assign
equipment to orders and track it. So the people that were actually
doing the coordinating of the equipment became actively involved in
posting the information into the system, which improved the accuracy
and definitely improved the efficiency with which we handled the
information.
When we went online with Axon in November of
2002, we had 14 staff people managing roughly 70 tractors. Now we
have nine staff with the same number of units. In terms of cost
savings, it’s roughly $150,000.00 per year in salaries alone that we
have saved, relative to the programs that we were using prior to
Axon. This has become even more critical in today’s marketplace
where things are certainly more difficult than they were five or six
years ago.”
Tell us about your experience in dealing with
Axon.
“It’s been a great experience for us right from the beginning. We’ve
always had unbelievably short response times to any problems we have
ever run into. The ability that the support staff and the
programmers have had to correct things in short order has always
been phenomenal. Everything’s just moved along very smoothly. If we
have run into a small bug or anything, it’s been corrected virtually
within two hours. I think that’s as long as we’ve ever gone without
having an issue corrected.”
Has Axon helped with your invoicing process?
“The big improvement for us is that now the operations staff
initiate the whole order, and once an order is in the system we’ve
got a means to validate and make sure that we are invoicing for
every transaction that we handle. With our old system, we went
through all kinds of manual validations before we were comfortable
that we were billing for everything, but now it’s very easily
handled through Axon. Originally, we had one person doing invoicing
for us; now the person that handles invoicing handles several other
areas as well. It’s been a dramatic improvement.”
Has it sped up recovery of your receivables?
“Yes, it has. Having every invoice posted to the A/R as soon as it’s
generated is an invaluable tool to the people that are trying to
collect money because we know where we stand; there’s no delay in
seeing any transactions.
In addition to that, we use the attachments part
of the program very extensively, so for anybody requiring
documentation, we can retrieve it and print it instantly, with a
click of a button. We no longer have to go and dig for paper.”
 How
have your staff found the move to Axon?
“Basically everybody in the office loves the program, and the more
they use it, the more they like it. With each additional module
that’s been added, the interface is so consistent between modules
that the training is very simple when you start something new,
whether it be work orders, payroll or anything along that line. The
transition’s been easy.”
Has Axon helped you with your customer
relations?
“Well, if anybody has any questions with regard to their account,
the information is there instantaneously. There’s no posting
function like there would be with traditional accounting software.
So we never have to go through a process to ensure that most current
transactions have been posted to accounts. Everything is virtually
always current and we’re extremely happy with that.
We deal with a very large grocery company, and
they basically audit their payables every two months. Our records
are so current that we can provide them information within minutes
of their request, which is probably two weeks earlier than most
companies are doing.”
A lot of accounting people are reluctant to
give up their existing software. How did you find the transition?
“Very straightforward. We were using Accpac, and the biggest thing
that I had to wrap my head around when we made the change was the
no-posting feature in Axon; every entry was basically live. But
being able to insert protection dates when we had finalized a period
in terms of financial reporting resolved all of my concerns, and the
transition was very simple and very smooth. I can’t emphasize how
happy we were with it once we made the change.
We still have all of our data since we started
using the software, and we’re able to look at payable and receivable
invoices at the click of a button as opposed to pulling paper, which
is certainly well beyond anything I’ve seen in any other accounting
software. The interface is very flexible in terms of moving the
fields to the spot you want them to be in order to make your key
strokes more efficient. I like it. I do data entry fairly steadily
every day and I find it very easy, as easy as anything I’ve ever
used in the past.”
What would you tell your industry peers about
Axon?
“I have always recommended Axon to anyone that’s ever called for a
reference. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the software or the
company to anybody in the trucking industry. As I said, in the
competitive market that we’re in today, people have to save as many
dollars as they can. We’ve certainly been able to capitalize on the
fewer number of employees. We didn’t lay anybody off, but through
attrition we didn’t replace people because we were able to cope with
smaller numbers, and it’s certainly easier to manage as well.”
New software represents a huge change for a
trucking company.
“It was. But once we got people moved over, the transition was
really much easier than I had anticipated. Within the first week, we
had people buying into the product and starting to see the benefits
of using the system. I don’t think there was anyone that didn’t see
some enormous improvement from what we were doing before as soon as
we made the change. Whether it was importing fuel downloads or
handling accounts receivables, there was always something that was
really significant to every individual.”
What tips would you give to someone
considering moving up to Axon?
“I think the biggest thing is just to identify the key people in
your operation and show them what they would gain from the software.
And once they see the strengths in what they’re getting, people will
make the effort to make the transition. And, believe me, once you
start making the change, people will be extremely happy with the
product. I have no doubt in my mind that there is no other trucking
software out there that can do everything Axon does as easily as
Axon does it.”
Was there a hot button that helped you decide
to go with Axon?
“There were two key things: the first was the ability to assign any
number of tractors, trailers, and drivers to any particular order;
and the second was the efficiency of the fuel downloads and the
ability for error correction. I was very concerned about odd
situations that periodically happen in our business, like
individuals that use their fuel cards and happen to run into another
one of our drivers on the road and use someone else’s card to fuel
their truck—that type of thing.
But the software is so easy and so user-friendly
that to make those types of changes when they occur was so
incredibly simple, I knew at that point that everything was going to
work really well with the software.”
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