The Importance of Freight People Building Freight Tech

In the world of freight technology, there’s a stark difference between solutions built by industry outsiders and those developed by experienced freight professionals. At Alvys, we pride ourselves on having a team that lives and breathes the freight industry. For example, our Founder, Nick Darman, grew up in trucking and ran his own company for a decade, and our Head of Product, Jordan Kidd, has spent over a decade researching TMSs as the VP of Tech at FreightWorks. Those are just two examples of many on the Alvys team that come from freight. This deep understanding of the industry’s unique challenges sets Alvys apart and allows us to create truly revolutionary freight tech solutions.

Some common issues with freight tech built by non-industry experts include:

1. Misunderstanding of freight-specific terminology and workflows, such as the differences between loads, trips, legs, and shipments. Emily Feliton, Alvys’ VP of Business Development, points out, “Something so simple can impact the logic being used in the platform. Some systems don’t take into account the differences in use cases for each type of shipment and overlook the complexities in supply chain technology and how it is built.”
2. Inability to handle the complexities of different shipment types and industry verticals. Ramona, another Alvys team member, highlights, “Outsiders often misunderstand or overlook key freight-specific terminology and workflows, including deadhead…which is often overlooked in efficiency calculations in other software.”
3. Lack of real-time tracking and poor integration with existing systems. Rehan from Alvys’ Sales team emphasizes, “Alvys came into the space and has an inherent innovative culture. Leo comes from Walmart’s e-commerce platform and understands the need for uptime and speed. This benefits the customer tremendously because newer generations have come into the trucking and transportation space who grew up with devices and expect immediacy and speed.”
4. Inaccurate rate calculations and insufficient customization options. Patrick Dragutan, an Alvys team member, stresses the importance of “using correct freight terms: accessorials to add on to the loads, or TONU – truck ordered not used, vs cancelled,” to streamline workflows and improve clarity.

These shortcomings lead to operational disruptions, communication breakdowns, and missed opportunities for growth and profitability.

The Solution: Tech Built by Freight People with Experience

At Alvys, we understand that effective freight tech solutions must be built by people who have spent their lives working in freight. Our team consists of experienced freight professionals, including former dispatchers, brokers, and carriers, who bring a deep understanding of the industry’s unique needs and challenges.

For example, our Founder, Nick Darman, grew up in trucking. He was dispatching for his dad when he was still in high school. He ran his own trucking company for a decade before starting Alvys, so he knows the issues inside and out. He built Alvys after he discovered the lack of a comprehensive, modern solution for supply chain software.

Or our Head of Product, Jordan Kidd, who spent over a decade in freight technology. In his words, “I am passionate about the grossly underserved intersection of technology and logistics. I have worked in nearly every role at both trucking and brokerage companies, and have been the technology strategist across all departments for eleven years. I spent significant time creating the roadmap for a next-gen asset-based TMS, and was a founding member of the Trucking Analytics Council organized by KSM Transport Advisors. I also served on the McLeod Executive Advisory Council, which is their focus group of visionaries who provide product feedback and development directionality. Now serving as Head of Product at Alvys, I help create ‘Tomorrow’s TMS, Today.'”

Here’s how Alvys ensures that our technology is tailored to the freight industry:

1. Diverse team with backgrounds from various sectors of transportation. As Rehan explains, “In growing Alvys, we built a diverse team with backgrounds from varying sectors in transportation to influence product development and solicit user input. This way, we ensure we understand customer needs to outline the product roadmap.”
2. Continuous learning and knowledge sharing through comprehensive onboarding programs, mentorship, and access to industry resources. Emily shares, “We have an awesome team that has personal experience in the industry in many aspects. We have in-person training sessions, provide industry experience training to new hires, and if needed we have clients who allow our team to go shadow and practice using the system as if they were an operator and working for that carrier or broker.”
3. New hires work closely with experienced team members to learn best practices and industry nuances. Ramona adds, “Ongoing education sessions to cover new features, updates, and advanced industry concepts.”
4. Opportunities for new hires to interact with customers and gain real-world insights. According to Ramona, we encourage “new hires to participate in customer meetings and support calls to understand customer needs and pain points.”

By leveraging the expertise of our team, Alvys has developed a TMS that addresses the pain points faced by freight companies. Our solution offers:

1. Optimized workflows that streamline operations and drive revenue growth. Rehan shares, “Alvys was born from Nick’s needs when growing his brokerage business.” Nick could not find any software to fit his needs in the marketplace, “so he developed Alvys and was able to drive revenue past $100M, which then prompted him to bring Alvys to market for carriers, shippers, and brokers to benefit.”
2. Accurate handling of freight-specific terminology and processes. Patrick Dragutan emphasizes, “Roughly 30-40% of terms we use in freight are specific to our industry: tenders, ELDs, load boards, accessorials, POD, BOL, Lumper… etc.” Alvys makes sure to use these exact terms to make actions as unambiguous as possible since “different words can mean different things, such as an invoice vs a billing file.” As Emily puts it, “Being able to speak supply chain is crucial in order to truly understand what someone is saying.”
3. Seamless integrations with existing systems and technologies. Patrick adds, “keeping your tech stack in one platform, such as EFS, fuel, tracking, communications with drivers, and paperwork, allows you to easily connect everything to the right load to avoid errors, eliminate double entry, and make auditing easier.”
4. Scalability and flexibility to adapt to different operational models. Rehan notes, “No software is going to be perfect for every transportation organization. Having staff from the industry heavily influences the UI and workflows to make effective freight tech. This is exactly how Alvys develops our optimized workflows.”
5. Data-driven decision making. This is important to provide to our customers in two ways: one, ensuring new features and solutions address real-world problems effectively and two, providing our customers with their data such as “real-time tracking, reporting, and analytics to enhance decision-making.”
6. User-friendly interfaces that balance simplicity and functionality. For example, Patrick mentions that with Alvys you get unlimited users and business divisions so “each user has their name attached to their work. We don’t encourage using same accounts, so you can easily see who did what and at what time.”

In the words of Patrick Dragutan, “We listen to users’ pain points, address them, and add value. Our goal is to help customers grow their business successfully. If they’re successful, then so are we.”

At Alvys, our success is directly tied to the success of our customers. By building freight tech solutions that are grounded in real-world experience and a deep understanding of the industry, we empower freight companies to overcome challenges, optimize their operations, and achieve sustainable growth.