SkyBitz and TMW Systems announced enhanced integration between SkyBitz’s asset management and TMW’s TruckMate transportation management system during TMW’s user conference in Orlando, Fla., Sept. 14-16.

Noting that SkyBitz and TMW have been partners for a number of years, Henry Popplewell, senior vice president and general manager, said what they had found was that “customers don’t want disparate information, they want actionable data.”

The latest integration enhancements to TruckMate add a “small handful of functionality that take trailer location data to another level.” Popplewell said.

Among the enhancements in integrating the capability for TruckMate user to select a tractor and see the closet available trailer to that tractor directly from TruckMate. “That brings a lot of value,” he added.

The company said these enhancements, available with the most recent version of TruckMate, are the latest in SkyBitz’s integration efforts with TMW Systems which already includes integrations with TMWSuite, Innovative and TMT maintenance software.

In an interview, Popplewell said SkyBitz would continue to push functionality of their system to their transportation-management software partners. He said the level of integration desired depended in many ways role of the user. “Dispatch wants it as part of the transportation management software” so SkyBitz data is available from their screens. In the shop, the data is accessed from the SkyBitz system while management wants the data available in the SkyBitz analytics service.

Focus on Customer Satisfaction

Popplewell said the company has been giving increased focus to customer satisfaction and that they can spend as much as six months getting customers up and running with what they call success management.

Much of this focus derives from the company’s switch to a subscription-based “service model,” from a model where the company sold software to a user.

“In a subscription-based model, you have to perform every day,” he said. “A customer can cancel at any time,” otherwise. That means offering a fully managed service, he said. “We are much more hands-on with customers,” he said.