Thinking of starting small fleet business

Come-on Gman, time to enter the '90's and take off the tinfoil hat.

We us an SaaS for our TMS mainly because the cost of managing servers at our size is much more expensive. Even do that with our accounting. And reality is, I am not like Gman that I am worried about someone getting ahold of the launch codes.

Biggest factor for outsources is redundant systems. We would be lost for a period of time if we lost our data.

But from single O/O I don't see that it makes much difference.

Speaking of getting out of the '90's. That is my biggest complaint about all the trucking software. If is outdated and bloated. Purchased some IFTA software, just the software was larger that my tax software plus it need to be controlled by a TMS system that was huge. Time for some fresh blood in the trucking software business.

 

Using internet programs that are owned by trucking/brokerages can make someone leery of them. I'm sure you know the ones i'm talking about. They sell data(supposed blind)to rate/volume services. Read the fine print.

Servers are cheap,very little cost to back up multiple times per day to an online server. Had a server go down a couple of weeks ago and it took all of 15 minutes to be working off the backup.

It can be pretty expensive but having someone write your own program makes life a lot easier than the one size fits all.(If you have multiple trucks)

 

There are alternatives to the online SaaS programs that sell your anonymized data. Servers are NOT cheap. Yeah! The one time charge for a server out of the box but having someone with the IQ to maintain the daily care and feeding of that server for backups, anti-virus, malware, intrusion detection, software upgrades, operating system patches, licensing, etc. gets really expensive. Most people opt not to do any of that until they have to. Sort of locking the barn door aftr the horse runs away. I am in no way touting SaaS as a panacea. There are a lot of SaaS companies that are only one step away from scams but if you go with a reputable company your costs and risks will be lower over time. As I said in my previous post I have 30+ years in IT. I have seen it all. I too was a little skeptical when SaaS first came out but having worked with dozens of small businesses, I myself, if I were to start a business would go this route. Doing it yourself no longer makes sense. Just the tax advantages alone make it worthwhile. A straight expense over an amortized and depreciated expense. Another advantage people fail to realize is that if some overbearing government agency comes in with or without a warrant they just unplug and take your computers away without regard to you running your buiness. In a hosted environment that same government agency needs to show the hosting services high priced law firm a whole lot of paperwork to get your stuff -- and only then does the government get a copy or snapshot of your virtual server instead of the actual system so that you can continue to function. Seizure is the best way a government entity has of putting you out of business. I know I have done several contracts for law firms looking at siezed computer equipment. The people who have hosted systems always fare better.

 

Guess we have a different opinion of cheap. Nothing wrong with online services,just those that offer the services. If you're running a lot of trucks/brokering,ect it is far cheaper in the long run. Just a larger up-front cost. And using the one size fits all creates a lot of headaches.

 

Looks like this thread took a left turn. Guess some didnt read what the op asked. Good luck rado101. Be safe out there drivers.

 

JB Hunt will allow multi trucks leased on with them. And you might look at some smaller firms woudl woudl be willing to work with you as it is to your and their benefit. You help them to grow as you supply the trucks and drivers and they help you by having the freight to move. At one time we leased a truck onto a small broker/carrier in Arkansas and it was really a win win for both of us.

 

An O/O with JB Hunt is lucky to make a reasonable profit for himself . I don't see how a JB contractor could give a driver a reasonable pay .

 

No need for a tin foil hat, Bill. I have had my computer hacked and it can be difficult to reconstruct records, if you are not prepared. Everyone who uses computers should have their data backed up and even keep a copy at a remote location. The way the IRS and other government agencies have been accessing individual and company records, I would not want my information stored at a location where I had no idea of what was going on with the information. It doesn't matter if you are a one truck or 10,000 truck operation, you need to safeguard your financial information.

I don't think that using a third party to store information is a good idea. You don't know who is accessing the data or for what purpose. You can keep your records on a spreadsheet or database, if that is what you want. You can also use the old manual system and then no one can access it from a computer. Some of the trucking specific software is not updated as much as it should. That is why I like Trucknpro. They are constantly working to improve the program. At one time, The Truckers Helper people also seemed to work to improve their software on a continuing basis. I don't know at this point. Unless something changes in the industry, accounting is still accounting regardless of how you keep the books. The more simple a program is to operate, the better for the user. I would not want to have to hire an IT person to come in and handle my software or systems. If that is the case, then the system is too complicated. Some of the old ways of doing things are still best.

There are much more expensive trucking specific software programs that are available. You can see them at most of the trucking shows. I don't know that they are worth the price. I like the idea of buying software and not having to pay a monthly fee for as long as I use the program. That is another problem that I have with the online software that is available.

Regardless of the size of your business, it is critical to have up to date financial information at your finger tips at all times. As a company grows, you may want to do some projections and "what if's." If you want to outsource your financial record keeping, that is your business. I suppose that I am still a bit skeptical about allowing a third party, that I don't know, to have access to the heart of my business. You have absolutely NO control over who can access your information or what they do with it. You could conceivably have your bank account cleaned out or credit cards maxed out and not be aware of it until it is too late. Then it becomes a problem to finding out who has had access to your financial data. It is much easier when you control who can access your data.