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TRAINING IN THE CLOUD TXTA partners with Vertical Alliance Group
BY JENNIFER BARNETT REED Contributing Writer
Trucking company owners under-
stand that driver safety training is a neces- sary part of doing business in today’s transportation industry. But actually pro- viding that training—and making sure it’s effective—can be a challenge. Texarkana-based Vertical Alliance
Group, which recently became a partner of the Texas Trucking Association, provides training programs aimed at removing the difficulty while ensuring the effectiveness. The programs are delivered entirely online, meaning employees can work through them at any time from any location. The company’s training system operates on lap- tops, desktops and all hand-held devices. “It’s basically a turnkey program that
doesn’t require any additional employees, hardware or software,” said Randy Sturdivant, Vertical Alliance Group’s busi- ness development and strategic partnership manager. “We handle everything for them. They don’t even have to learn the software if they don’t want to.” That provides a lot of advantages over
the traditional way carriers have handled training, with periodic in-person meetings at the company’s office. “If you look at that scenario, you’ve
got drivers coming in the room who may or may not be ready to learn at that time,” he said. “There are a lot of expenses related to it because it’s taking them off the road.
You don’t have a good idea of what’s being comprehended.” The company was founded in 1999,
when online training was still in its infancy. “That’s where we planted our flag,”
Said Jay Womack, the company’s CEO and the grandson of a trucking company owner. “We’re like great-great-grandparents in that industry.” The company’s online programs give
drivers short bursts of information fol- lowed by brief tests, Sturdivant said. If a
For instance, if a company is having a problem with hours-of-service violations, Vertical Alliance Group can recommend specific training modules and measure how knowledgeable the company’s drivers are. Having a third party conduct and
document training makes sense for carriers in today’s legal and regulatory environ- ment, Sturdivant said. “No matter what size carrier you are,
shippers are looking at your CSA scores to see if they really want that carrier to haul that freight, and insurance compa- nies are making decisions about your insurability based on that,” Sturdivant said. “Third-party doc- umentation of what training hap- pened can offer a lot of leverage.” Vertical Alliance Group also
offers training on other topics, including fuel efficiency and driv-
driver doesn’t pass the test on a particular topic, he or she repeats that training seg- ment.
Having all that data stored electroni-
cally makes it possible for safety directors to plan training in advance and easily keep track of who’s due for what kind of training at any time. “The average executive has 54 hours
of unfinished work on their desk,” said Womack. “They don’t have time to go in and focus on new software, so we come in and we make it seamless. The number one target in our company is service. Our renewal rate is over 93 percent, and that speaks volumes.” Vertical Alliance Group customizes
its program for each client, Sturdivant said. Winter 2015 31
er orientation, which aims to lower compa- nies’ costs related to high driver turnover and shortages. And it hosts a monthly boot-camp at
its home office to help train customers —something the company started 15 years ago. It’s a mark of Vertical Alliance Group’s focus on service, Sturdivant said. Womack and Sturdivant said Vertical
Alliance Group also takes its role as a part- ner of the Texas Trucking Association seri- ously.
“We’ve got people on the ground in
the states where we have partnerships,” Sturdivant said. “They volunteer and they help with different councils. That’s how we support the industry as well.”
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