McLeod Software Annual User Conference Draws Crowd in Phoenix
McLeod Software’s annual User Conference was held September 17-19 at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, AZ.
September 18, 2023 – Birmingham, AL
This week McLeod Software is holding their annual User Conference for McLeod customers in Phoenix, AZ with over 1,000 in attendance. The company has a number of new product announcements for the event.
Transforming the User Experience
In May 2023, McLeod Software released Version 23.1 for LoadMaster and PowerBroker. This system upgrade includes the highly anticipated PowerBroker//web product, which is the web-based user interface PowerBroker.
Featuring re-engineered workflows, an interactive dashboard, and streamlined user experience, PowerBroker//web contains all of the necessary tools for creating and updating orders and managing movements – all in one user-friendly web page. Users can find coverage for a load, send offers to carriers, post to load boards and perform all of the common tasks brokers need to conduct their daily work.
The Next Generation of McLeod’s App for Drivers
The new Version 23.1 for LoadMaster includes Driver Sidekick, McLeod Software’s next generation driver app. The new design displays as much information as possible on the home-screen dashboard, reducing the number of touches or taps for drivers to navigate to commonly used features. Upon login, drivers can view current assignment details, recent settlement amounts, and quickly access document scanning, messaging, mileage, and their home time requests.
Operational Planning Made Simple
Today McLeod Software is announcing a new feature included with our base LoadMaster product, LoadMaster LoadMatch. This new tool helps planners find the best load for every driver based on instant analysis of the fleet, and every driver’s current position, status, and available hours of service at the time they are creating the assignment.
By reviewing company preferences and driver-specific requirements, it provides users with the ranked top 5 eligible loads for each driver. It examines all critical parameters in the system, such as hours of service, empty distance to the next load, any lane preferences, and minimum revenue per order goals.
This new tool has the potential to help new planners hit the ground running and can help seasoned planners make the best decisions faster than ever. It also helps identify drivers with special requirements, including specific lane preferences, and their empty distance to the next load.
The Future of Rate Prediction
Today McLeod Software is announcing a new built-in feature of our lane and rate analysis tool, MPact PRO. MPact PRO Predictor gives McLeod’s customers the power to forecast freight rates up to 14 days in advance. Backed by historical data from McLeod’s Market Insight, MPact PRO Predictor factors in line haul rate, carrier type, trailer type, and commodity type to offer predictions based on real data. Predictor’s forecast confidence level can also be adjusted to match the business’s risk preferences.
New McLeod MPact API
Today McLeod Software is announcing the MPact API, which gives McLeod customers, who have signed up to be anonymous rate contributors for our Market Insight data set, the option to programmatically access the market lane intelligence and analytics housed in our MPact lane and rate analysis product via an API. MPact data can be imported into internal reporting, dashboards, and homegrown applications by customers for their own market comparison purposes.
Cloud-Based Business Intelligence and Analysis
Today McLeod Software is announcing Cloud IQ Version 2024. McLeod IQ is our advanced business intelligence, analysis, and reporting solution for LoadMaster and PowerBroker. It now offers customers more than 20 updated data reporting templates. These reporting and analysis templates include subjects such as fuel analysis, lane analysis, customer scorecard, driver scorecard, revenue reporting, and much more.
Expanding Business Process Automation
McLeod Software continues to expand our complete, out-of-the-box business process automation solutions, this time with two new Logix Solutions for Cargo Insurance and Shipper Portal Automation.
McLeod Software’s Logix Solution for Cargo Insurance streamlines the entire process of buying supplemental cargo insurance, as well as comparing the costs of quotes – in four clicks or less without ever exiting the McLeod system to go to an insurance web portal. One click automatically submits the order details to the insurance partners a customer has set up. Then the system presents the tailored premium and deductible, complete with terms and conditions. With a one-click purchase, the insurance certificate is automatically generated and saved in the system.
McLeod Software’s Logix Solutions Shipper Portal Automation allows customers to save time and receive payments faster by eliminating the manual process of uploading required trip documents to a wide range of shipper TMS solutions. Shipper Portal Automation connects a customer’s to the shipper’s web portal and uploads the required documents.
Subscription-Based Pricing
Starting this month, McLeod is now offering all new customers the option of subscription-based pricing for all of our core products. In lieu of the upfront capital cost or financed cost for the McLeod software license for our products, customers may elect to go with subscription-based pricing which includes the license to use our systems along with our cloud hosting services for the customer’s system and our Subscription Support Services. This option provides new McLeod customers with more choices for acquiring, deploying, and using our solutions.
Cloud Services Premium
Now over 1/3 of all McLeod customers have chosen to have us host their systems with our cloud systems offering. This week, we are announcing an optional enhanced version of that hosted service which provides an even broader range of services and capabilities for customers including Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) and Advanced Database Failover.
McLeod Software has grown to over 650 employees and over 1,200 active customers since last year. 100% of the company’s growth over the last decade has been organic.
In 2023 McLeod Software was the first-place winner in our category for the Birmingham Business Journal’s annual Best Places to Work Survey. We competed with every company similar in size in the greater Birmingham area to win this prestigious award. We are very proud of what it represents in terms of our employees, our culture, and our leadership position as Birmingham’s largest software company (also as determined by the Birmingham Business Journal in August 2023).