Ken Sparrow and Andrew McKinlay founded Axon Development Corporation in 1982 with a vision to pioneer and develop a single real-time fully integrated trucking software application. Since then, Axon Software has established itself as a trusted and leading transportation management system serving thousands of users in the most unique and complex trucking industries across North America. Despite the enormous growth over the years, Axon Software continues to operate on its core values and forward-thinking philosophy of developing superior software and delivering world-class customer service with a company-wide commitment to measuring our success – by yours. We believe in building customer relationships that pass the test of time with trucking software you can count on and people you can trust. Today we are proud to be the premier provider of real-time trucking software to freight carriers, brokers, oilfield trucking, dump/aggregate haulers, intermodal and specialized trucking industries, as well as serving a network of over 10,000 software developers worldwide using products created by Axon Software.
MISSION
HISTORY
“This is crazy!” complained ‘Sales Guy’ for the umpteenth time to his friend and associate, the head ‘Software Geek.’
“Every company I deal with wants to computerize their operations, but, at the end of the day, none of the software we sell will even come close to solving their problems! It’s completely frustrating!”
“I know,” replied ‘Software Geek.’
“Most of the software on the market today is garbage. But the problem is even worse than that. The software development tools available to create application software are complete crap. So, what are we going to do about it? Let’s stop complaining, get to work—and change the world!”
That was in 1982. That conversation, and the challenge it inspired, created what has become the premier developer of software for the trucking industry in North America.
Ken Sparrow and Andrew McKinlay, the Sales Guy and the Software Geek, built Axon Software with a commitment to excellence of both the software products they developed, and the level of service provided to the users of those products.
Their earliest product, Lucid (a powerful but easy-to-use information management system), eventually inspired C4, an object-oriented software development system that enabled them to provide extensive, custom-tailored applications for a wide variety of clients, in almost every industry imaginable.
But they didn’t stop there. They continued their drive for excellence by constantly investing resources in ever better, more useful software systems, a commitment that continues today. Many of Axon Software’s earliest clients were in the trucking industry. And the demand for their services to trucking companies became so great that, in the spring of 1995, the partners decided to focus all their future energy and resources on that industry.
“We’ve tried to develop a system for every part of our business to ensure that we remain focused on our customers. We’ve built the best support and training team in the industry, bar none,” says Ken Sparrow.
VISION
So, what does Axon Software have planned next? “My personal goal has always been to make a huge, positive difference in the lives of our customers and their staff, as well as our business partners, our staff and their families. And I think so far, we’ve been able to accomplish this. I will be happy if I am allowed to continue doing that until they put me out to pasture,” laughs Ken.
“But we have lots of great challenges to tackle yet. There are still many niches within the transportation industry that are not being well served by the software industry. We want to continually expand our product features and capabilities to help more of those companies.” “It’s a never-ending process,” agrees Andrew, “and every day presents new challenges and opportunities as technology advances. If you want to stay on top in business today, you need to be ready to turn on a dime. You have to be ready for ‘the next big thing’ to come along and be prepared to re-invent yourself in response to it.”
For Ken Sparrow, Andrew McKinlay and their Axon Software team, it’s just another day of trying to change the world for the better.
