DENVER—While many think of the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” when they hear a trumpet play the first three notes of Richard Strauss’ “Sprach Zarathustra,” attendees here at the 2025 McLeod Software User Conference might think of a completely re-engineered interface and a new era for the logistics technology company
As the transportation technology company celebrates its 40th year in business, it’s only fitting that the milestone be honored with the rollout of new, customer-driven technologies and features, as well as additional third-party integrations. And that’s just what it delivered—complete with a rocket launch countdown, accompanying imagery, and artificial smoke.
“We want to mark this occasion and the rollout of our current release to let you know we're taking you into the future,” Tom McLeod, McLeod Software founder, president, and CEO, said on stage at the main event.
The new rollout enhances McLeod Software’s LoadMaster, PowerBroker, DocumentPower, and MPact products and also ensures that artificial intelligence (AI) takes the spotlight with the company’s RespondAI offering.
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Rewriting the platform to fit the current industry landscape
McLeod said this new rollout is the third-generation product of McLeod Software and essentially a third rewrite of the company’s offerings and focus. When McLeod Software launched in 1985, the founder said the initial product propelled the company into a leadership role within the industry. The company’s second rebuilding phase took place between 2000 and 2004, when developers started again from scratch with “a clean sheet of paper” to help extend McLeod Software’s lead in the industry, McLeod said.
“Now on our third rewrite, essentially, we have completely reimagined—we've re-engineered—the user interface,” he said.
McLeod Software’s team designed these changes using feedback from a group of its customers and influencers through a series of beta tests designed to help McLeod “stay on the right track.” This process helped the company roll out productivity improvements, most notably in helping “shorten the number of steps it takes to do certain tasks,” McLeod said.
And while it has been a challenging few years for the industry, McLeod said his company has heavily invested in its research and development process to help its customers remain the most competitive in the marketplace.
McLeod Software’s AI era
McLeod also highlighted the company’s use of AI, either within its own platform, with the newly announced RespondAI, or from the offerings of its integration partners.
A new offering of McLeod Software, RespondAI can help turn an email into an order for McLeod Software customers without the need to enter order data manually. The second function of the initial rollout, which McLeod said is already tested by customers, is automatically responding to rate requests.
“Being able to come back and recommend a rate, format the response, allow the user to click and send or edit—it's one of the most common things that is done manually,” McLeod said. But in addition to those automatic responses, RespondAI can also keep a record of those quotes and identify which quote led to an order and which ones did not. The system then creates a “report card” that carriers can refer to when assessing business performance.
RespondAI’s third and final function within its initial rollout is to automatically respond to requests for information, “from your driver or from your customer,” to speed up response times and further increase productivity within the organization.
Autonomous trucking with Aurora
Rounding out McLeod Software’s new era is its integration partnership with autonomous trucking company Aurora. While the goal of autonomous trucks is that they’ll operate without drivers, these trucks will still carry freight; therefore, the McLeod Software integration will help facilitate the freight bill and driver pay for the drivers who take the trucks on and off long interstate routes
What’s more, McLeod hopes the partnership will eventually give McLeod Software customers a competitive advantage when autonomous trucking becomes a reality.
“This is a huge technology that's going to have enormous impact on the industry when it rolls out, and we want our customers to be in the front row of being able to participate in that,” he said.
The importance of integration within trucking tech
While McLeod touted the company’s offerings and its ability to meet a wide range of customer needs, he acknowledged that the industry is too large for any one technology company to meet every need.
“Trucking is made up of many, many niche markets, and it's a real privilege for us to serve those markets,” McLeod explained. “To do that, we've got to have lots and lots of integrations.”
The McLeod Software platform is designed as an “open system with a robust API,” as McLeod described it. This means that McLeod customers can develop their own applications and integrate them within the platform.
The platform also supports integrations with existing trucking technology providers. McLeod Software currently has about 70 integration partners. Of those 70 partners, nine are AI providers, which McLeod said has grown within the last two years.
“Our goal is to have the most complete product—the broadest product line—that's available to help you become more efficient, help you compete more effectively, and help you take your operations to the next level,” McLeod said.
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While celebrating four decades of business and announcing a new era of McLeod Software with all the pomp and circumstance of Space Odyssey might seem like a high threshold to beat, McLeod said there’s still more to come.
“We're not done with continuing to make the software better, but this marks a real inflection point ... in our product line,” McLeod said.
