That thought served as a blueprint for new software development at the nation’s largest privately-owned truckload carrier, U.S. Xpress (CCJ Top 250 No. 10). Inspired by social media, the company transformed its legacy transportation management system, named XPM, into a cutting-edge platform.
The first step in the transformation was developing “push” architecture to deliver information to users in a highly visual and prioritized workflow. The strategy is no different than Facebook using push notifications for social media updates.
Tracking business activities is much more complex than using social media, however. The volume of data in load planning, dispatching, customer service and driver management is enormous.
“You’re talking hundreds of thousands of little army ants moving around,” says Odum, the software applications development manager of Chattanooga, Tenn.-based U.S. Xpress. “How do you organize all of that to be informative and push out information when you really, truly need it?”
To answer that question, U.S. Xpress created a back-end messaging application and other tools that give front-line users all the real-time information they need, when they need it. Searches, queries and pressing “Ctrl + F5” to refresh their screens to find orders, track shipments, monitor drivers’ hours-of-service, and more are relics of the past.
Besides developing a new push architecture, U.S. Xpress has seamlessly integrated a suite of HTML5 Web apps that serve as the user interface of XPM. The Web apps run on any device with an Internet connection and a browser. They function and look like a full-featured Windows desktop application, he says.
