SAVED US $60,000 TO $80,000 IN 10 MONTHS
“It has tremendously shortened the time it takes for us to input loads, do driver pay, carrier pay billing, invoicing, accounting – overall, it’s just great.”
FREE BOOK – “HOW WE TRIPLED OUR FLEET SIZE WITHOUT ADDING ANY OFFICE STAFF”
EGL Logistics is a young and successful carrier company based out of California. They invested in Axon Software less than a year ago but claim that it has had a big impact on their recent success. We stopped in for an interview with Khris to learn more about their Axon Software experience.
My name is Khris Kakosimidi. I am the fleet manager for EGL Logistics, and we have been in business for about four years now. We are a carrier company located in Glendale, California. We run close to 45 trucks.
When did you start using Axon Software?
We started using Axon at the beginning of the year [2016] and we are very happy with it.
It has tremendously shortened the time it takes for us to input loads, do driver pay, carrier pay, billing, invoicing, accounting – overall, it’s just great.
Has Axon Software helped you solve some problems that you had before?
It has. The IFTA calculations have helped a lot with the importing of the fuel.
Now there is no human error. The data that we get from our fuel company goes directly into Axon so there are no human inputting errors.
Driver pay is much easier. The routing with PC*MILER helps a lot. Invoicing is pretty simple. Overall, it has helped us.
How has Axon Software changed the way you do your fuel tax?
Before, we had to have the drivers write every mile they did, in every state, on a piece of paper. We would bring that in, input it into a system, and then input all the fuel mileage gallons and states into the system. It would print out a report that I would have to verify with the routing.
With Axon, the states are already input automatically for us. The fuel is already input automatically – gallons, which state it was fueled in – it spits out a report with the taxes on everything showing how much I have to pay.
That saves us days of work. At least three to four hours per truck and we have forty trucks. Axon saves us over 120 hours per month on our IFTA. I would recommend it to everybody.
With the fuel being downloaded automatically into the system, it automatically charges the owner operators for whatever they have, whatever fuel they use. We can deduct it out of their pay with a simple click of a button. It gives me the total for the check I have to write them, subtracting all the expenses. Done, automatically.
Has Axon Software changed the way you invoice?
It automatically populates everything on an invoice. We really don’t have to input any information. Once we put everything on the load, it just populates on the invoice.
We click one button and the invoice is printed out. We don’t have to go change customers, rates, pickup, delivery, addresses, nothing. Everything is on there. It is much simpler, much faster. No issues with it at all.
Do your dispatchers like the new system?
Yes, they do. We use the Orders Against Time screen, and we get to see what orders occur during which day. It has a timeline which gives the dispatchers a look ahead on who is unloading, where they are unloading, and they can prepare for them.
If you have five trucks it’s easy to manage, but when you get up to 40 or 50, you forget which truck is where, what time they’re unloading, and if they have something next. But that timeline in Axon has it all. It helps tremendously.
Have you used the equipment revenue report?
Yes, I have. Equipment revenue reporting is great. It gives me up to the minute on how much I’m making on my owner operators, how much I’m making on each truck.
It lets me know what my cost is per mile, my empty miles, my loaded miles, how many cents per mile, and an overall average. It lets me know if my dispatchers are doing a good job finding the right loads at the right rates to keep us profitable.
We didn’t have anything like that before. We would sit and make an Excel sheet, input numbers, and see if it was good or not. We would have to do that every time an owner operator was paid, but again, since it’s a human inputting and nobody is perfect, there was error. Instead of a four, you hit a one or something, and it just messes up the whole sheet. You think you’re making money when you’re not. It has saved a tremendous amount of time.
Has Axon Software helped your office with productivity? Could you add more trucks with the same staff?
Oh, yeah, for sure. In the last 10 months since getting Axon, we have probably added close to 10 trucks without having to add any more employees. Before Axon, we were thinking of reducing our trucks or adding more employees.
Axon has helped a lot, and the guys don’t have that much stress. Drivers and owner operators don’t call, ‘Is my pay ready? Have you calculated?’ A lot of time is saved just because of that. We have also been getting more calls from people wanting to work with us.
If we didn’t have Axon, I would probably hire at least two dispatchers and maybe one more person to do calculations for the drivers and owner operators.
Do you feel that Axon Software has paid for itself yet?
Oh, yes, for sure; it definitely has. There is no other software that I would go to, and I honestly would swear by it. I love the software. In the 10 months that we have had Axon, we have most likely saved between $60,000 to $80,000.
Has Axon Software helped you maintain or improve your customer relations?
Usually customers will call and ask us for a bill of lading, an invoice, or some other paperwork on a load that we have done. Before, we had to go through the folders, look for them, scan them, and email them to the customer. Now it’s all in Axon. All I have to do is open up that load number and email all the paperwork from Axon directly to the customer.
As soon as we deliver, as soon as we get the rate, the bill of lading signed, we input it into Axon. All of our storage is right in Axon. We don’t need any more files, folders, or printouts of anything, which also saves us a lot of money. As soon as a customer calls and asks for anything, with the click of a button, they get it in the same minute.
If one of your peers in the industry asked about your experience with Axon Software, what would you say?
It is a great experience, and I have enjoyed training with them. Every time I call Axon support, I have no issues. They are very helpful. It’s a great experience. It’s just a great accounting product, dispatching product, and I would recommend it to whoever asked me about it.
