“SINCE WE STARTED USING AXON SOFTWARE, WE’VE INCREASED OUR FLEET BY 20 TRUCKS WITHOUT INCREASING OFFICE STAFF.”
“Axon Software is a complete package for us… It paid for itself in the first year. It helped us cut down costs.”
Texas-based Caddo Mills Freight (CM Freight) has grown 50% over the last two years. How did they do it? We spoke with Jay Masood, VP of the company, to learn more about their experience of switching to Axon Software. He explains how they’ve used it to improve their efficiency, speed, customer relationships, and more.
Before we started using Axon in August of 2015, we were having a lot of difficulty, because our business was split up in three different sections. Axon has helped us consolidate everything which has been a great help for us. The transition was really smooth – all of our data was transported in and we’ve reduced a lot of our mistakes. It’s very easy to keep track of where the money is going, what goes to the drivers, what goes to the employees, and it has really helped to have everything in one place.
Axon is a complete package for us. We’ve reduced the time we were taking to get orders in, since our dispatchers are entering them in now. They book the load and it’s easy for them to put it in. We have all that data from the dispatch side, and it’s really easy for management to monitor it, because we can see live who the dispatcher is, what the load is, and which driver is assigned to it.
It has saved a lot of time as far as paying the dispatchers and drivers. It has also reduced our staff. It has helped us monitor everything closely and reduce the mistakes.
I am Jay, the Vice President of Caddo Mills Freight. Our office is in Grand Prairie Texas and we have a yard down in Caddo Mills, close to Greenville. Most of our trucking is owner/operator based. Basically, we operate as a leasing trucking company working throughout the US.
Before Axon, we were using QuickBooks and spreadsheets to do everything, so there was manual data entry for fuel, and any checks that we were writing to the drivers. All of that had to be manually put into this settlement sheet. To make the settlements, it used to take us two days to just have everything together and get the loads in from the drivers.
Now it’s easy. As soon as we get the paperwork in, Axon gives us the capability to have it on the statement right away, so that has helped us a lot. With Axon, one entry goes everywhere. It’s easy for us to do our accounting. We just have one entry and it’s on the books, and it’s on the driver’s statement. It’s easy to keep track of, because we know if any changes were made, who made the changes, and when.
Another important thing that helped us was the fuel system. Now, fuel is imported automatically, and we have reduced the mistakes. When we are auditing it, we know exactly when it was imported and who imported it.
We’re dealing with one fuel company and all of our transactions are through them. We have our EFS checks and cards, and it’s all through one system. It’s really easy to import from there. The fuel downloads through Axon have helped us reduce hours of work. Before, somebody had to enter it, and somebody had to come back and tally it with the report. Now with Axon, it’s so easy.
Everything is there, and the only thing we have to do is audit it. Even the auditing is easy, because we know exactly which truck the fuel goes against. We don’t have to sit there and figure it out. It shows exactly where the fuel is. It has helped us keep track of the discounts we get, so we know exactly what day, how much discount, and which place gave us the most discount.
When we started, we were at 30 trucks and right now we have between 40-50 on the road. It fluctuates. The only people we added were in our safety department. As far as the dispatch and accounting side, we’ve had the same staff for over two and a half years now. We haven’t had to add any more people, and even if someone has a day off, it’s easy for one person to manage it without being overloaded. It’s easier for everybody. Since we started using Axon, we’ve increased our fleet by 20 trucks without increasing staff in the office.
On the receivables end, it has helped a lot. As soon as our dispatch puts the orders in, our accounting department knows exactly which loads were done for our drivers. Even if we don’t get any paperwork from the drivers, it’s really easy to track through Axon. We can see which load we’re missing paperwork for, so we just call up the driver and get it from him. It has reduced our invoicing time from a week to one day.
Yes, that’s my best friend in Axon. I can create any type of report I want. For example, if I want to know how much revenue each dispatcher is generating, I can sort it by dispatcher, or I can customize it to show me by the truck.
Another thing is, it’s so easy. The only thing you need to understand is where you are getting the data from. After that, you can play around with it as much as you want. That is the best thing about it.
Yeah, it paid for itself in the first year. It helped us cut down costs on a lot of things.
Even if I’m not in the office, I can easily log in and look at stuff. Our president, whenever he needs the reports, can look at it. It’s really handy for everyone, because we use those reports every day. It helps him go over our financials.
Most of our booking is through Spot Rates, so we don’t have a set lane. The best thing about it is that we can go back and check the history of which brokers we have worked with the most, and which lanes we’ve run for them. We can track that during a period of time, this is the lane that was offered most to us. Any time of year, when a certain time is coming up, we can go back to our brokers and tell them, ‘We’ve done this much volume with you, during this time, and we’d like to get the business again.’
All of our paperwork is together, so anytime somebody needs anything from us, we have it ready for them. We don’t have to tell them to wait a week or a month to figure out where everything is. That has helped keep our relationships strong. Before, we were doing paperwork with physical copies, but since Axon it’s all digital. We have everything scanned in. Any time we need to, we go to the invoice or order number, and track everything from the bill of lading, to the receipts, to the invoice. That is another thing Axon has helped us with – it has reduced our paperwork.
Axon support is great. I really love it. We don’t have to wait for anybody, we don’t have to listen to a computerized message, and we don’t have to put in a request. Any time we need help, we just call in and somebody is there to help us out. In the last two or three years we’ve had a couple of issues, but every time we’ve called, somebody was there, and they helped us get over it. Whatever we needed to do; they were there to help us out.
I would surely recommend Axon to anybody in the trucking industry. We have already told our friends, who are a smaller fleet right now, but as soon as they grow, they’ll probably switch to this. Personally, we have found it really helpful for our day-to-day operations, so I would recommend it to anybody in the trucking industry.
RECOGNIZE BANK GAIN/LOSS
Axon Software automatically recognizes bank gain/loss. The only exception is if you have a bank account in foreign funds. The system converts the amounts in your foreign currency account to your home currency on your financial statements (e.g. account activity report, trial balance).
If the exchange rate changes between the time the money was deposited in your foreign bank account and the time when you prepare your financial statements, you will notice a discrepancy between the two amounts. The difference between the two amounts is “unrecognized gain/loss” and can be accounted for on the Recognize Bank Gain Loss screen. It is important to do this at year end, but you may wish to do it on a monthly basis.
Note: Recognized gain/loss will be recorded in your home currency and will not affect the foreign amount
Example
May 8
- A Canadian company deposits $1,000 in US funds into its US bank account at an exchange rate of 1.4
- The system records this amount as 1,000 USD or 1,400 CAD
May 31
- When you go to run your financial statements at the end of the month, the exchange rate has increased to 1.5 so the deposit is actually worth 1,500 CAD
- You can recognize the difference of 100 CAD by recording it as a Debit on the Recognize Bank Gain Loss screen
Unrecognized gain/loss on foreign bank accounts will be calculated on the Ending Balance in the Account Activity Report and will take into account any transactions entered on this screen. It will not be taken into account on your Bank Reconciliation.
