Partnership · Software for transport & logistics

Transport software partner.

A long-term partner for transport companies that don't have an in-house IT team but do have a growing software portfolio. We build, maintain and modernise TMS environments, planner portals, driver apps and integrations — acting as a fixed point of contact rather than a one-off supplier per project.

TypeSoftware partnership
Target groupMid-market transport
ScopeBuild + maintenance
ApproachEmbedded team
DurationMulti-year
LocationAmsterdam · NL remote

What is a transport software partner?

A transport software partner is not a one-off supplier and not a standard TMS reseller. It is the partner that works with you over several years on your entire software portfolio: which packages you run, what you develop in-house, where the risks lie, and where there is room to modernise or integrate. This role exists because many mid-market transport companies have operational needs that a standard TMS doesn't fit, yet they are too small to set up a full in-house IT team.

Unlike a one-off transport software project, the focus here is not on a single build. We become an extension of your organisation: senior engineers, a tech lead who helps shape the roadmap, and a fixed point of contact for everything software-related, from a new portal for a 3PL client to taking over a Delphi package whose original builder left years ago. That point of contact is deliberately a person, not a ticketing system: with a serious partnership, you know who to call when the planning environment slows down on a Friday afternoon.

We don't replace a standard TMS where it works well. We complement it, integrate, modernise and build what makes your business unique: planning logic, customer portals, mobile apps, integrations and the compliance layer. Vendor-independent, with code ownership staying with you. We have no reseller deals with TMS vendors, no incentives to steer you towards a specific package, and no "all-in cloud" lock-in. Whether you want to run on AWS, Azure, GCP or Hetzner is your choice, not ours.

The practical consequence of that positioning: our advice is sometimes unwelcome to vendors, and sometimes to ourselves. If the most honest route is "buy standard package X and build nothing yourself", we will say so. If your existing system is actually fine and only lacks a good integration layer, we will build only that layer. A partnership is only worthwhile if we help you make better decisions over the years, not if we bill every month for work that is not really needed.

1 partner
One fixed point of contact for the entire software portfolio
Senior
Retained engineers, not rotating juniors
100%
Code ownership with the client, no lock-in
Multi-cloud
AWS, Azure, GCP or Hetzner, as you prefer

When is a software partnership relevant?

01
No in-house IT

50-500 employees without an IT team

You have a planner, a controller and a management team, but no CTO and no development team. Software is nonetheless crucial to your operations.

02
Legacy inheritance

The original builder has gone

A family business with its own Delphi, Visual Basic or early .NET application whose builder has retired or whose company has ceased trading.

03
Scale

3PL/4PL with multiple customer portals

Every new customer asks for their own white-label portal or EDI integration. That needs to be scalable, maintainable and securely built to a consistent standard.

04
Growth

Start-up or scale-up in logistics

You are building a new concept, such as last-mile, cold chain or vehicle transport, and need a scalable software foundation without hiring a dedicated team straight away.

05
Specialty

Car transport, refrigeration, hazmat, transhipment

Your operation does not fit a standard TMS. Safety, customs or compliance rules call for bespoke workflows.

06
International

Dutch branch of a foreign group

Group-wide IT is far away or in another country. You want a local partner who can act independently within the group's standards.

Three things that set a partnership approach apart.

Core task 01

Continuity

The same engineers and the same tech lead, over several years. No loss of knowledge at each project handover. What we built last quarter, we still understand next quarter, and we can also explain it to a new member of your organisation. Documentation and code handover are an ongoing activity, not a separate final phase.

Core task 02

Strategic advice

We help you choose between building, buying or integrating. Trimble, Webfleet or build your own? Standard TMS or custom software? Cloud or on-premises? We advise based on your context and economic reality, not on a reseller incentive or a SaaS licence we earn commission on. We have no reseller deals; that is a deliberate positioning.

Core task 03

Tech and construction, combined

Not pure consultancy with expensive reports that gather dust on a shelf, nor pure builders who only work through tickets. A technically thorough adviser who also builds hands-on, and builders who think along about direction. That dual approach is what makes a partnership both cheaper and smarter than two separate engagements.

What a partnership covers in practice.

The work we do during a multi-year partnership, from strategic roadmap to day-to-day maintenance.

Software roadmap

Looking two to three years ahead: build, replace, integrate or consolidate.

TMS and portal maintenance

Keeping your own package, or a fork of a standard TMS, in good health and continuing to develop it.

Legacy modernisation

Moving Delphi, VB or early .NET applications step by step to a modern stack.

Driver app

A mobile app for on the road: trips, scans, e-CMR, time registration, photo evidence.

CTO-as-a-service

Interim technical leadership, sounding board for the board, escalation role with vendors.

Customer portals

White-label portals for 3PL/4PL clients with EDI, track and trace and invoicing.

Vendor management

Independent advice on Trimble, Webfleet, Centric and other packages.

AI integration

Route optimisation, planning assistant, document AI: pragmatic and focused.

Compliance programmes

NIS2 as critical infrastructure, CSRD Scope 3 emissions, customs and AEO integrations.

Integrations

Accounting, banks, customs, Trimble Maps, telematics, EDI formats.

Data and reporting

One central place for KPIs: margin per trip, fuel, hours, empty kilometres.

Security and backup

Periodic security reviews, backup testing, incident response procedures.

Five service models.

A partnership can start in several forms. They are not mutually exclusive and often grow into one another.

Model 01

Discovery and roadmap

An initial, pragmatic engagement in which we map the existing software, hold conversations with planners, management and, where relevant, current suppliers, and deliver a well-founded roadmap.

Model 02

Project work

A defined build assignment: a new portal, a driver mobile app, an EDI integration. Fixed scope, a dedicated tech lead, and code you own.

Model 03

Managed services

Ongoing maintenance, small-scale development, monitoring and incident resolution. A fixed monthly budget with transparent reporting.

Model 04

Embedded team

One to three engineers become part of your team: they attend your stand-ups, know your planners by name, and are reachable as internal colleagues.

Model 05

CTO-as-a-service

Interim technical leadership for management without an in-house CTO: roadmap, vendor choices, security questions, and support during due diligence or acquisitions.

How a partnership works in practice.

A partnership rarely begins with a large, signed multi-year contract on day one. It almost always starts with a clearly bounded first piece of work: a discovery phase, an audit of the existing software, or an initial build project through which both parties get to know each other. Only once that first engagement goes well and mutual trust is established does it grow into managed services, an embedded team or a CTO role.

Operationally, a fixed structure surrounds it. A working meeting every two weeks with your point of contact and the tech lead, a shared backlog you can prioritise, and transparent reporting on budget spent and work delivered. No black-box time registration, no surprises at the end of the month. For incidents and operational questions there is an agreed channel, often a shared Slack or Teams channel, where your planners can contact our engineers directly.

Strategically, we revisit the roadmap every quarter. What have we done, what has it delivered, what needs to happen in the next three months, and what should be put on hold? This keeps your software portfolio moving in step with your business instead of developing a life of its own. For boards without an in-house CTO, that quarterly review is often also the moment to put bigger strategic questions on the table: should we stay with this TMS or switch, how do we handle an acquisition, what do we do about AI?

We deliberately work with a small number of partnerships at any one time. That is not a sales tactic but a choice: a tech lead can genuinely think along with two, at most three organisations. Beyond that, the work becomes role-playing and superficial rather than embedded. That self-imposed scarcity is precisely what makes the difference between a "supplier" and a "partner".

Our role alongside other choices.

A transport software partner is not the only player on the field. We honestly outline where we are and are not the right party, and which other options may make sense depending on your situation. For a more thorough modernisation, we often also work together with an IT modernisation consultant, and for the broader context of AI applications, see our page AI in transport.

vs Off-the-shelf TMS

Transwide, Centric Distributievloer, Pionira

For pure commodity functionality such as administration and standard planning, a TMS package is often perfectly adequate. We don't replace those for commodity needs; we build what those packages don't do, and connect them to the rest of your landscape.

vs Staffing agency

Junior staff on a project basis

Staffing agencies rotate people and often send juniors. We bring senior engineers who stay with us, know your code over the years, and have a vested interest in keeping the solution maintainable.

vs Freelance developer

One lone senior, no back-up

One freelancer can do good work, but they fall away through illness or departure. We provide a team: back-up, code review, knowledge transfer and continuity are all included as standard.

vs Enterprise consultancy

Accenture, Capgemini, large integrators

Those firms are set up for concerns with turnover in the hundreds of millions of euros. For mid-market transport, they are often too heavy, too expensive and too far removed from operational reality. We are more pragmatic and closer to the practice.

Frequently asked questions.

What exactly does a transport software partner do?
A transport software partner takes over the role of an in-house software team for transport companies that don't have one of their own. In concrete terms: a strategic roadmap for your software portfolio, building and maintaining your own TMS components, customer portals and driver apps, integrations with telematics, accounting and customs, and advice on vendor choices. The goal is that you have one fixed point of contact for everything software-related, rather than a new supplier for each topic. A partnership also covers matters that are not projects: thinking along with you on a security incident, performing a technical due diligence on an acquisition, evaluating a telematics supplier, or advising a management team on an AI experiment. The difference from "hiring an agency" lies in continuity and context: after a year, we know how your planners think and which compromises have been made over time.
Do you replace Transwide, Pionira or Centric Distributievloer?
No, not if those packages work well for what you need from them. Standard TMS packages are usually the right choice for commodity functionality such as administration, trip registration and standard planning. We build on top of them, integrate them and add to them: customer portals, mobile apps, custom planning and integrations with your other systems. We only replace a package when it no longer fits your operation structurally, when the vendor ceases to exist, or when annual licence costs and integration restrictions start to outweigh building your own. In most cases, the honest conclusion is that a healthy mix works best: a standard TMS for the accounting core, and bespoke software for what makes your business distinctive.
How is this different from a staffing agency?
A staffing agency sells people's hours. We provide an accountable team with a tech lead who stays with you for years. Concrete differences: senior rather than junior engineers, retention rather than rotation, code review and knowledge transfer built in as standard, and we remain responsible for what we build, even if an individual engineer moves on. Our hourly rate is typically higher, but total costs over a multi-year engagement are lower because there is less rework and onboarding.
What does a managed services contract include?
With managed services, we take on the continuity of your software. This includes monitoring and alerting, regular maintenance (security patches, dependency updates), a small monthly development budget for minor changes, incident response during agreed working hours, a dedicated tech lead as your point of contact, and quarterly reporting on what has happened. Larger development projects are handled separately on top of this.
How do you handle GDPR, NIS2 and CSRD?
Transport increasingly falls under NIS2 as critical infrastructure, particularly for road transport of hazardous substances, customs processing and large-scale logistics. We help build a NIS2-compliant security level (access management, log monitoring, incident procedures, supply chain checks) and support board members with the governance side: who is responsible, how reporting works, and which suppliers fall within scope. GDPR is built into everything we develop as standard: data minimisation, retention rules, audit trails, and pseudonymisation where possible. For CSRD scope 3 emissions, we help collect fuel and route data from telematics into a reporting layer, so you can supply scope 3 figures that are substantiated and auditable. We are not compliance lawyers. We work alongside your legal or compliance partner where you have one, and focus mainly on implementing the technical side correctly.
What does a partnership cost?
That depends heavily on the service model and scope. A discovery and roadmap is a defined first engagement with a fixed sprint budget, designed to be limited in scope so you come away with a substantiated plan without a major investment. Managed services are a fixed monthly fee based on the complexity of your landscape and the agreed response level (office hours versus 24/7, same-day response versus within one hour). An embedded team is priced on the number of engineers and the duration, with flexibility to scale up or down within reasonable limits. CTO-as-a-service is typically one day or a day-part per week, with variable activation for larger decisions. After an introductory conversation and a short intake, we provide a concrete quote. We don't offer a web calculator, because the range between scenarios is too wide to show honestly in advance. What we do guarantee is that rates and starting assumptions are clear upfront, and that there are no hidden margins in licence pass-through.
How does an engagement start?
In a 30-minute introductory call, we go through what you currently have and where you run into trouble. This is usually followed by a short discovery phase: a few days to a couple of sprints in which we map out your existing applications, integrations and pain points, speak with planning and operations, and put together a proposal. Only then do you choose a format (project, managed services or embedded team), and we get started. No multi-year contract on day one: the partnership grows organically from the first defined engagement. We are also happy to deliver just an audit or second opinion first and part ways if you turn out to be better served by another party. A forced partnership is not a partnership.
Can you also do AI integration?
Yes, and we prefer to approach it pragmatically and with focus. Route optimisation, document AI for CMR consignment notes and invoices, a planning assistant that supports planners rather than replacing them, and AI-powered search across your trip history. We have a dedicated page on this: AI in transport. Importantly, we don't build AI because it's fashionable; we only do so where it measurably saves work or improves decisions.
Which other transport segments do you cover?
Alongside road transport, we also work in adjacent logistics domains. See, for example, our page on maritime software for vessel transhipment and port operations, and enterprise software for larger organisations with multiple business units. Specialty transport such as vehicle transport, refrigerated transport and hazmat we tackle with the same approach: bespoke workflows, not forced into a standard TMS.

Talk to us about your transport software.

A 30-minute introductory call in which we go through the software you currently run, where the pain points lie, and whether a partnership approach suits your organisation. No sales patter, just a conversation.

Response within 1 working day
No-obligation conversation
Westerdoksdijk 599, Amsterdam

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