Computerworld - Enroute Systems Corp. today launched a software-as-a-service (SaaS) application that its CEO claims will save companies up to 30% off their shipping bills while getting their packages delivered just as fast.
In an attempt to reduce time and complexity, many companies ship packages using one or two favored vendors, such as the U.S. Postal Service, UPS or Federal Express, using next-day air as a standard, said Enroute founder and CEO Keith McCall.
Enroute's product, ShipIt, offers real-time pricing and delivery-time information on a half-dozen shipping vendors, from the big companies to unknown regional shippers that are often cheaper and faster, McCall said.
Its dashboard can also let shippers broaden their options to ground shipping, for example, which is just as fast and cheaper than next-day air for destinations less than 200 miles away, McCall said.
ShipIt also crunches and presents statistics to help users figure out whether their shipping vendor is imposing undue delivery surcharges after the fact for things like overweight packages and incorrect addresses.
"Surcharges can kill you," said McCall, who started Enroute last year after leaving his job as chief technology officer at Exchange service provider Azaleos Corp.
McCall's ambition is no less than to "become the Salesforce.com of the transportation management industry," he said.
ShipIt is targeted at U.S. companies that spend more than $100,000 a year on shipping. Those include Internet retailers and many law firms.
But ShipIt can make sense for even eBay PowerSellers due to Enroute's low start-up cost (it charges 10 cents to a dollar per package and claims that it can shave $1 to $3 off the average $12-per-parcel shipping fee).
That, claimed McCall, is far cheaper than incumbent client apps offered by companies such as Kewill or Pitney Bowes.
Enroute, which is based in Bellevue, Wash., already claims a number of customers, including Seattle-area e-commerce retailers such as Cutter & Buck and Zumiez.
Enroute has received a total of $1.25 million in venture funding.
The software is hosted on Amazon.com's EC2, with a separate data center to provide redundancy.
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