Earning a million dollars in sales with an AI-powered logistics app

Problem: Inefficient spreadsheet and paper-based processes and a customer segment underserved by technology. 

Solution: A Glide app that gives businesses visibility into their fleets and uses powerful AI features to help dispatchers and drivers complete their work faster and more accurately.

Outcome: Innovative Logistics Group is managing twice the carriers with the same headcount, saving 20 hours a week on administrative tasks, and impressing their customers, leading to over $1 million in sales since the app launched.

When the pandemic struck in 2020, a segment of the freight transportation industry began to grow rapidly—small businesses with fewer than ten trucks on the road. This segment has continued to flourish since then, and they now represent 95% of American trucking companies. Adam Wingfield of Innovative Logistics Group (ILG) realized that this niche was almost entirely underserved when it came to dispatch software. 

Transportation Management Software, or TMS, is used to manage all the activities that trucks and dispatchers carry out on a day-to-day basis. However, legacy TMS software is too bulky and too expensive for small businesses to manage. “Larger transportation management systems simply left them out as users,” Adam explained. “Dispatchers really are not represented from a technology perspective just yet.” 

He knew his team could create something better for them and fill that gap. The result was iDispatchHub, a comprehensive dispatching software that is now helping over 1,000 previously underserved businesses and has made over $1 million in sales for Innovative Logistics Group. Not to mention earning a sterling reputation within the trucking industry. It was entirely built with Glide. 

Before building software for their clients, ILG was managing all their dispatch services with spreadsheets and paper copies of files. “We were using Google Sheets, we were using Excel. I remember times using manila folders. We were trying to do everything that we could to manage because when we looked just wasn't software that allowed us to manage multiple companies at the same time,” said Adam.

He needed to manage multiple companies from an agency-level perspective and each of his team members from a user-level perspective. He wanted to monitor performance, see what their carriers were doing, and reassign and unassign freight pick-ups in real time. None of that worked with his existing systems.

“The biggest impact it was having on our operations was inefficiency. It was taking us way too long to process invoices at the end of the day. It was taking way too long to onboard carriers. It's talking to us way too long to do anything that we needed to do. And it just didn't look professional.” Their antiquated systems were a huge bottleneck for his company.

“That's when we decided to start building in the tech space,” he explained, “I was like, you know what, we need to build our own platform. For me, as a business owner, I wanted to put a product out there that led the way and really differentiated us against our competition.”

In the three years since bringing their Glide app to market, Innovative Logistics Hub has built a thriving customer base. “Since implementing the app, our dispatchers and support staff have saved easily over 20 hours per week on administrative tasks, allowing them to focus more on load planning and customer service as well as retention,” said Adam, “Our clients have reported an average of 12% increased revenue due to profitability triggers and reporting within the app itself.

Having the app has also doubled their team productivity, enabling them to manage twice the number of carriers without increasing headcount, which has led to a 25% increase in overall business throughout. “It's reduced overall downtime and lead time on our processes by at least 25 to 30 percent,” he explained, “Before, a lot of our payroll and admin time was spent on inefficiencies just because we didn't have a qualified system in place. We’ve been able to reinvest the time and money we’ve saved back into the app and integrate new features that make it more and more valuable to us and our customers.”

While the efficiency benefits were enough on their own to get Adam and his team excited, they’ve also seen a huge boost to their profits since implementing the app. “The app has enabled an additional $1 million in sales since concept inception,” he explained. That success has been enabled by “our ability to create a subscription model that supports other companies in the industry improving their daily workflows, leading to increased repeat business as well as company endorsements within the industry.”

“We started on a different platform as a prototype, but then we transferred it over to the Glide platform because it had a much better experience for us, and our customers went with us.”

So we reached out to a couple of Glide Experts, Hassan Qureshi and Bob Petito, directly through the Glide's resource page. To be honest, I couldn't ask for better partners to help us in our journey and build our application and overall support for our needs. They're just as excited about the product as we are. ​​We were able to take our IP, combine it with their skill with technology, marry those two together, and create beautiful projects.”

Bob is their specialist, jumping in to help with the implementation of advanced new functionality like APIs or AI capabilities as Glide launches new features. Hassan did the initial build and has now been integrated with their team to provide support and make the changes his team needs on a regular basis. “Whenever we want to make a change, we ping Hassan, and it's literally done that day. He's so quick and responsive, and he knows Glide better than the back of his hand.”

“Obviously, the longer it takes, the more costly it becomes, said Adam. “You're not able to go to market as quickly as you want to. As an entrepreneur and as a business owner, getting into the market as quickly as possible is so important.”

ILG’s app is designed to help with visibility and coordination between dispatchers and drivers. It’s used by drivers on their mobile devices in the field and by dispatchers in the office, who get pings from each driver so they always have visibility into where freight and trucks are located and when deliveries are happening.

“Dispatchers search for freight for their trucks to haul for that day,” explained Adam, “When they find that freight, they'll go into the Hub and upload what's called a rate confirmation document. Then, AI reads the document,  fills out the entire form, dispatches the truck, and automatically alerts all parties involved in the transportation process. Once the delivery is completed, the driver takes a quick picture and uploads it to the Hub, which completes the delivery and sends the proof of delivery out to all parties”

Managers and business owners can get an admin-level view of their whole operation. They can see every dispatcher and what they are doing, benchmark performance, and do comparative analysis since the application allows them to do unlimited reporting tasks. In the last year, they’ve incorporated some powerful AI features that make the app more efficient and accurate.

“It's a powerful application,” said Adam, “We’re seeing it save time for everybody in the process. User error has been completely eliminated, and because we've been able to limit that, our efficiency has improved, our accuracy has improved, and it’s improved our level of customer service to the end user.”

Adam believes the ability to iterate on their app quickly and easily as new Glide features launch and push those improvements to their customers has been critical to their success. “I'm just excited to see what the next phases are for Glide. We keep up with Glide’s new features when we implement our app release, so as Glide gets better, we get better, too,” he said.

ILG’s business is only growing. Adam believes their ability to embrace technology using no code in a traditionally underserved market is what has made the difference.

“We are a disruptor in the transportation industry,” said Adam, “That’s why we leverage platforms like Glide. Technology is only becoming more and more advanced, and I believe it's designed for us to make our lives easier. We launched our app because we wanted to create an easier life for the folks that make our country move down the roads every single day.”

He’s already planning improvements to their app, using upcoming Glide feature launches, that he thinks will further strengthen their foothold in their industry. “Today, we support a little over a thousand users in a variety of different places. And our goal—quite frankly—our goal is to support 10,000 users in three years. So your enterprise plan better get ready for us, right?”