I don’t know about you, but I am always looking at ways to make what I do on a daily basis easier. We only get twenty-four hours in a day and if your driven to succeed or work with someone who is, you want to use your time wisely.  This often turns us to technology, it saves us time, money and makes us better but there is so much of it and so many players in the technology space.

One of the players Is ISB/MEE.  Have you ever driven down the 401 West and looked over to the right just by the highway 25 exit and see a big beautiful building with the pond out front and wonder what they do and who they are?  The company ISB/MEE is one of the largest suppliers of document sourcing organizations in the world.  You name it they can probably get it for you.  For our industry that means things like driver abstracts, criminal record searches and driver history.  The big deal is they do it at lightening speed which is important when your trying to get drivers insured and on the road.  They are experts and very good at what they do.  They are the chosen service provider of many brand name transportation companies.  Fast, affordable, accurate, this is the best way to describe ISB/MEE.

This month, in a couple of weeks at the TTSAO Conference, Micheal Thompson, CEO of RSB Global Services (ISB/MEE) is the keynote speaker at the conference where he will talk about technology in our industry. He has broken his presentation into three groups;

1. Top Tech Products; to help your business, things like facial recognition, 3D Printing and assessments.
2. Technology Disrupters; things that could disrupt the industry like E- Commerce, Drones and Uber for trucking.
3. What Does the Future of Trucking Look Like; in reference to social media, the cloud, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and quantum computing.

This excites me and it’s not because I’m a technology geek, it excites me from the recruitment and retention end of our business.  In order to hire the right people we must use the right tools to gather correct information in order to insure the driver.  This technology is not only important to the companies its important to the person on the other side of the desk, the people your hiring. They want to see our industry using technology and they want to work for companies who are using it.  Understanding what is out there to potentially disrupt our industry is important so we can be prepared to challenge and defend the disrupters.

With the TTSAO Conference on February 27th and 28th you need to get registered, there is limited space left.  The TTSAO Conference is billed as highly educational, very affordable and is attended by all industry sectors; schools, insurance, carriers, government, and suppliers.  Day one will feature meetings led by both the TTSAO Insurance Group and the TTSAO Carrier Group.  Both groups will talk about important issues they are working on collectively with the industry and government. The annual general meeting is on Day 1, followed by a networking cocktail party that gives you a chance to mix and mingle with other industry people.  At the cocktail party there will be a conversation between Dave MacDonald, President of Revolution Staffing and Glenn Caldwell, Vice President, Corporate Development of NAL Insurance on the Power of Networking.  Other agenda items on Day 2 include; Social Media for Business Strategy led By Kimberly Biback of Sharp Transportation, Best Practices For Training featuring leaders from Bison Transportation, Quail Transport, KRTS and CHET moderated by Geoff Topping of Challenger Motor Freight, Kelly Henderson of the THRSC will moderate a panel of industry association leaders from the PMTC, OTA and the Fleet Safety Council to discuss the value of industry associations and how you can benefit from them. This year’s conference will also feature the presentation of the first TTSAO/ PayBright Instructor of the Year.

As President of the TTSAO I know I speak on behalf of the entire board of Directors that we are proud that the TTSAO is the only association in the Province of Ontario which number one objective is representing the best interest of our full member truck training facilities. The TTSAO includes strong representation of insurance, for hire and private trucking companies, industry associations and suppliers.  The companies who are members of the TTSAO represent tens of thousands of people who are employees in the transportation industry across Canada.

I want to thank the entire TTSAO Board of Directors who have been actively involved in the success of the association over the past two years. Your commitment of time, knowledge and expertise has made our association better and our industry stronger. Never under estimate the power of the donation of your time.