“Given the growing utilization of the local delivery industry [...] and phenomenal market reception the time is right to start raising awareness of how GrandJunction's platform is quietly running the local delivery industry," said Rob Howard, CEO
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) December 05, 2013
GrandJunction Inc. (http://www.grandjunctioninc.com) is pleased to announce that its software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for the local delivery industry has, to date, managed more than 60 million deliveries, and is currently managing a local delivery every two seconds. Taking a unique approach to long-standing issues in the industry, GrandJunction brings together shippers, local carriers, and drivers on a Cloud-based platform that all parties use throughout the delivery process. Its goal is to make high-quality delivery programs—including same-day, scheduled, and two-person deliveries—available to retailers, small businesses, and, for the first time, consumers.
Rob Howard, GrandJunction’s CEO and founder, has a 15-year track record of driving innovation and leading both start-ups and nonprofits to success. In 2000 he founded Ensenda Inc., which became the leading third-party logistics provider for the local delivery industry. It was there that the technology platform that would become GrandJunction was built and proven. Howard says: “Given the growing utilization of the local delivery industry, more than 60 million deliveries’ worth of proven results, and phenomenal market reception—without any active PR efforts on our part!—the time is right to start raising awareness of how GrandJunction’s platform is quietly running the local delivery industry.”
Unique Challenges Require a Unique Technology Platform
Local delivery, a global industry worth $46 billion dollars per year in the United States alone, has an (often well-deserved) reputation for quality issues. It is extremely fragmented, with dozens of local carriers in a typical market. Local delivery companies, also known as couriers or local carriers, generally lack the money to invest in technologies that larger companies use to identify, diagnose, and correct quality issues such as late deliveries, problem drivers, or missing packages. At Ensenda, Howard solved some of these problems for its shipper customers by managing for them a large number of local carriers that it had identified as the best in the U.S. and Canada. Ensenda aggregated these local carriers into a single, managed network that could transmit order and delivery information in real time.
“In the process,” says Howard, “we realized that aggregating the industry through technology was not enough. We needed to give the local carriers tools that would allow them to manage quality on their own. And we needed tools to manage the network as a single entity, rather than as hundreds of separate entities.”
After evaluating existing technology solutions, Ensenda determined that no off-the-shelf system was currently available that could address the local carriers’ unique challenges. So, over nearly 10 years, Ensenda built the technology platform that is GrandJunction. It is a Cloud-based transportation management system, a customer relationship management solution, a business intelligence tool, and a learning management system, all rolled into one.
“The GrandJunction platform was built based on our experience managing all types of deliveries and dealing extensively with the local delivery industry,” says Howard. “Two years ago, Ensenda’s customers and sales prospects began asking us about using our technology platform, and that was the beginning of GrandJunction. In 2011, we started to productize our technology and make it available for sale on a subscription basis. After we finished, we quietly went to market. We’ve seen phenomenal early success over the last year, and we’ve closed deals with a wide range of companies, including FORTUNE 500s, large technology companies rolling out local delivery programs using local carriers for the first time, and smaller businesses looking to offer scheduled delivery.”
Milestones and Customer Launches
The reception for GrandJunction has been greatly enthusiastic. “The fact that we have already launched in production, and are in late-stage sales cycles, with many multinational corporations is a testament to how GrandJunction is reinventing the local delivery industry,” remarks Howard. GrandJunction will begin to announce its production customers, several of which are FORTUNE 500 companies, in the coming weeks. As of this announcement, GrandJunction’s platform:
- has managed more than 60 million deliveries;
- is managing nearly 80,000 same-day deliveries on a typical day;
- is used by carriers and drivers covering 96% of the population in the United States and Canada; and,
- profiles the quality and performance of more 6,700 drivers.
About GrandJunction
GrandJunction is the technology platform running the local delivery industry. A delivery managed through GrandJunction’s platform takes place every two seconds. Its unique approach provides local delivery companies with quality-enhancing tools that they otherwise could not afford, and its Cloud-based platform reduces shippers’ spend by up to 40% while reducing delivery issues by 25%. Its marketplace gives businesses—from small to medium-size to Fortune 500 enterprises—and consumers access to services from local carriers and drivers in every market in the United States and Canada.
GrandJunction is used by shippers to implement same-day, storefront, scheduled, and two-person delivery programs. Its platform channels more business to local carriers, and it empowers drivers by allowing them to work directly with shippers.
For more information about GrandJunction, please visit grandjunctioninc.com.
About Ensenda
Ensenda is the leading third-party logistics provider for the local delivery industry. Ensenda’s network of local carriers provides a wide range of local delivery programs in every market in the United States and Canada. For more information about Ensenda, please visit ensenda.com.
GrandJunction Media Contact:
Ross Merritt
rmerritt(at)grandjunctioninc(dot)com
415.277.2040
Ensenda Media Contact:
Chris Miller
cmiller(at)ensenda(dot)com
415.277.2023