In the late 1990s, Dan Calderone and Lyndon Edmonson struggled to find the right software for their courier businesses. Software packages available at the time lacked features, had fallen behind the technology curve, and were priced beyond their budgets. They decided to take matters into their own hands, combining their 30 years of experience in the delivery industry to form CXT Software. Their mission: To design software enabling larger companies to manage and control all lines of their delivery business, while also enabling smaller companies to grow, compete and thrive in an ever-evolving industry.
They founded CXT Software in 1999, and in January 2000 they launched X Dispatch, CXT Software’s flagship product targeting on-demand deliveries. In the early years, they relied on their roots in the courier industry and hands-on entrepreneurial grit in every aspect of their new business. Long days filled with adding new product features, fixing issues, and supporting a growing customer base were the norm, but they maintained their focus on their customers and on the direction of the industry.
Over the next 15 years, CXT Software kept a sharp focus on customers and a rapidly evolving industry, and continued to introduce products and features that kept its customers at the head of the pack. In late 2000, the company launched X Internet, empowering courier customers to place and track orders online. At the time, X Internet provided many companies with an online presence for the first time. Three years later, X Route was released to provide a better way for delivery companies to manage their static route deliveries. X Route offered tools to help routed delivery companies manage their operations electronically and move away from the old school paper route sheets and manual billing. On the heels of X Route came X Mobile, CXT Software’s first complete mobile solution, providing a conduit of information from the delivery company to the driver’s mobile device. Last, but not least, in 2006, X Route was enhanced to provide full support for couriers handling dynamic distribution work, initially for the pharmaceutical, office supply, and technology product distribution industries.
The business grew to a point in which CXT Software needed an experienced technology leader to take the business to the next level. Enter Darin Soll, who joined the company as CEO in March 2009. With nearly two decades of business IT and senior management experience, Darin's mission was to lead CXT Software into a new growth phase and create a strategy that would keep CXT Software at the leading edge of the industry. The delivery industry and the technology landscape continued to change rapidly. Over the next two years, strategic product launches kept CXT Software at the forefront of the industry: X Dispatch Hosted and X Stream. By 2009, cloud computing was becoming a household term as people moved away from managing hardware and applications on their hardware. The company launched its X Dispatch Hosted cloud offering later that year. Secondly, by 2010, requests for integrations with wholesale distributors, third-party logistics (3PL) providers, and internet retailers were rapidly increasing, and CXT Software’s X Stream platform provides a robust integration platform to connect couriers with their shipping partners. Both of these products have been very well received in the marketplace. Today, over 60 percent of CXT Software’s customer base runs on X Dispatch Hosted, and nearly 400 X Stream connections move data between the company’s customers and their shipping partners.
Partnering with and providing successful integrating shippers with couriers continues to be a major focus of CXT Software. “The ability to connect our customers to a large number of shipping partners opens up distribution opportunities for our customer base,” explains Darin Soll, CXT Software’s chief executive officer. “Using our X Route and mobile products in conjunction with our X Stream integration platform enables CXT Software customers to meet the real-time parcel tracking, chain of custody, and proof of delivery requirements of the last mile of the supply chain.”
This focus on integrations is well received by CXT’s customers. In a recent interview, Eric Robertson, IT director at Falcon Express Transportation, summarized the value of CXT’s strong integration abilities this way: “Undoubtedly, the single biggest efficiency we have with CXT Software’s X Dispatch product suite is our ability to easily import data from multiple customers, create the necessary orders and/or route stops, easily reconcile the matching parcels so we can supply OS&D’s and quickly send the drivers out the door of our depots with the correct parcels, manifests and accurate maps. To the IT department, it’s many things happening in concert, but to our operations staff, and to our customers, this is one thing. If any of these pieces were missing, the customer would not be happy and the job of the operation staff would be much more difficult. We simply could not have increased our volume as much as we have and still maintain the price points we need in order to be competitive.”
There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to shipper integrations. Integrations range from simple, one-way advance shipping notices to near, real-time, two-way supply-chain management solutions with complex business rules. By early 2014, CXT Software had connected its courier customers with over 120 shipping partners, so it’s no surprise that CXT Software’s customers are also experiencing significant growth in this area.
Take WPX Delivery Solutions, for example. “Two years ago we had a handful of integrations. Today that number has quadrupled and the requests just continue to increase exponentially,” states Shirley DeLong, CFO of the Auburn, Wash.-based customized delivery provider. “In the past, it was only the technology-savvy shippers that required complex integrations. In today’s market, the ability to provide a solid integration can be the difference between winning and losing new business opportunities.”
In 2013, CXT partnered with Shutl (now an EBay company) that provides same-day deliveries to consumers for many top retailers. The Shutl model illustrates how couriers focused on on-demand work can also benefit from integrations. “In the past, integrations seemed to be exclusive to distribution operations, but we are now seeing an increase in requests for integrations from on-demand customers that traditionally did not have that need,” says Shaun Richardson, vice president, services at CXT Software. “Our team at CXT Software has stepped up to the challenge, and we have developed a ton of experience implementing effective shipper integrations.”
CXT Software’s focus on customers has multiple facets. Sometimes unexpected events, like weather, can wreak havoc on a 24/7-delivery operation. Solid, stable software platforms can play a vital role in helping keep those operations up and running, as Jay Barry, president and CEO of Priority Express, Inc., Hartford, Conn., can attest. “On October 29, 2011, an epic snowstorm hit the Northeast. Power was out for over a week in the area and we implemented our emergency plan to provide our clients with uninterrupted service. Almost a million homes and businesses were adversely affected by this devastating storm. We set up a mobile ops center and by working with CXT Software’s X Dispatch Hosted software, our team was able to service our clients seamlessly. We are very happy with our choice of X Dispatch Hosted, and with CXT’s professional staff who are always here for us.”
CXT Software’s long history of staying on top of both the constant change in the delivery industry and dramatic improvements in web and mobile technology provides investment protection for its customers. The company’s current X Dispatch platform is a feature-rich, stable software solution that continues to serve couriers very well. However, to keep its customers ahead of the pack, in 2012, CXT Software embarked on the development of its next-generation software platform -- Nextstop. And, the first phase of its Nextstop platform is already out of the gates. Nextstop Mobile, which is currently available on both Android™, in the Google Play™ Store, and Apple® iOS® products, in the Apple® App Store℠.
About the Author
Tim Cocchia is vice president, sales and marketing, at CXT Software. Cocchia has 16 years of delivery and logistics industry experience. He served as second vice president of the CLDA, formerly MCAA, while serving four years on its board. Tim holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Material Science Engineering from the University of Arizona along with a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Arizona School of Law.
PHOTOS: Credit: Andre Mcalister