Your drivers are still calling dispatch instead of using the new driver app. Your brokers keep double-entering loads because they don’t trust the system sync. And your veteran dispatcher just told you the old whiteboard was faster than this fancy new TMS you spent six months implementing.
This scenario plays out every day in trucking companies across North America. They invest heavily in cloud-based transportation management systems, expecting immediate efficiency gains, then watch their teams find increasingly creative ways to avoid using the new technology. The software works perfectly — in the demo environment. But freight operations aren’t demo environments.
The disconnect isn’t about the technology itself. Modern TMS platforms deliver exactly what they promise: better visibility, automated workflows, and actionable intelligence. The breakdown happens in the change management process. Or more accurately, the complete absence of one. Companies spend months evaluating software features and weeks on technical implementation, then give their team a quick training session and wonder why adoption fails.
Wrong approach. Technology doesn’t change how people work. People change how people work. And that requires a completely different approach to rolling out new systems.
The Complexity of Today’s TMS + AI World
Your TMS used to be simple. Load in, load out, send the paperwork to accounting.
Now? It’s connected to everything. We’re talking 200-250 workflows with hundreds of touchpoints each – hundreds of connection points where your dispatcher clicks, your driver updates, your customer checks.
That’s the real change management challenge nobody talks about.
Take one delivery: driver location hits the ELD, should trigger customer notifications, update fuel cards, adjust routing, queue next loads. But when your data’s scattered across different databases, that AI you bought can’t even answer “where’s my truck?” without timing out. Your natural language query is basically shouting into the void.
Most carriers are trying to run optimization algorithms on chaos. That fancy optimizer suggesting your best driver take garbage rates? It’s not broken, it’s just working with broken data. Maybe it works great for the mega-carrier down the road with their pristine data warehouse, but your operation needs something that understands your reality first.
Meanwhile, your dispatcher’s drowning in “smart” suggestions that make zero sense.
Why Data and Workflow Must Align
Here’s what happens when you automate bad processes: garbage in, garbage faster. Unless you align data with your workflow, your change management process is destined to fail.
Fix Your Workflow Before You Automate It
Your new AI system keeps routing drivers through bridges that can’t handle their loads. Why? Because for months, someone’s been coding “general freight” instead of “overweight machinery.”
This is what happens when you automate broken processes—you just break things faster.
Most TMS failures start the same way. Companies rush to automate without cleaning data first. Your team enters customer data three different ways across two systems. Drivers use different codes for the same delivery status. Brokers guess at classifications because nobody standardized the options.
Then you wonder why the cutting-edge new system suggests unprofitable lanes and sends trucks down weight-restricted roads.
The Real Implementation Process
Clean your data first. Standardize your workflows. Then—and only then—let the computers take over. Simple enough right?
However, here’s where most companies make their second mistake: assuming one algorithm fits every operation. Your lane combinations, customer requirements, and constraints are unique. The technology should bend to fit your workflow, business constraints, use cases and objectives, not the other way around.
Real implementation means working alongside your team until the system actually works for your specific operation. Whether you’re running three trucks or three hundred, you need support that goes beyond a training manual and a phone number.
Get the workflow right. Get the data clean. Then automate what works.
The Human Factor in Change Management
Fixing your data and workflows solves half the problem. The other half is getting your people to use the new system correctly, consistently, and without constant hand-holding. Most companies treat training like a checkbox: Show people the buttons, hand them a manual, and hope for the best. But the truth is that real adoption takes three phases.
- First, prepare your team before going live. Explain what’s changing, why it’s changing, and how it affects the daily routine.
- Second, work with your team during implementation to adapt the workflows to how they really work, not how the software thinks they should work.
- Third, stick around afterward to coach, troubleshoot, and reinforce new habits until they stick.
Companies that follow the change management process are seven times more likely to hit their project goals and stay on budget. The difference? They treat getting people on board as part of the project plan, not something that happens automatically after the software goes live. Your dispatcher with 20 years of experience doesn’t change overnight just because you bought new software.
Real-World Examples of Support in Action (Testimonials)
At EKA Solutions, we see the difference the change management process makes with our customers every day. EKA concierge implementation and on-going support approach works because we don’t just sell software and disappear. We stick around to help companies through the messy reality of getting their teams on board. Also, EKA provides automated continuous improvement reporting tools for you to ascertain which workflow is not performing at required levels and why?
- Scott Ziegler, COO at Midwest Companies, says: “EKA has empowered us to punch above our weight. With EKA as a partner, we’re now able to say, ‘Yes. Now what’s the question?’” That confidence comes from months of working together to adapt our platform to fit how his team operates.
- Sergio Stoesz, VP of Ops at Westech Logistics, calls us “one of the best customer service teams” because we know that ongoing support makes the difference between software that works and software that gets used.
- Ryan Farrell, President at Wilson Logistics, highlights another piece: “EKA’s ability to integrate seamlessly with industry-leading providers gives us the advantage we are looking for.” Those integrations work because we build them around real freight operations, not just technical specifications.
Our customers succeed because we treat change management as part of our product.
Tech Without People Is Just Expensive Software
Your TMS can have every feature in the world, but if your team finds ways to work around it, you’ve bought yourself a very expensive problem. The trucking companies that succeed with new technology don’t have better software. They have better rollouts. They clean up their data first, map out how work really gets done, and then help their people through the transition instead of throwing them to the wolves.
We built our Omni-TMS™ after watching trucking companies struggle with software that works perfectly in the demo room but breaks down in the real world. That’s why we don’t disappear after your system goes live. When your dispatcher calls because the fuel card integration isn’t syncing, we pick up the phone. When your drivers need help understanding why the route suggestions make sense, we walk them through it. When your workflows need tweaking because real freight operations don’t match the textbook, we adapt the system to fit your operation.
Want to see more? Contact us and find out why our customers stick around.