Celebrating a Milestone Anniversary for Coyote

15 years of trusted service celebrating a milestone anniversary for coyote - coyote logistics

An Inside look at Coyote’s approach, evolution and future with CEO, Jonathan Sisler.

Coyote Logistics opened its doors in 2006 with the mission of delivering a better third-party logistics (3PL) experience through a unique blend of strong core technology, reliable service and a commitment to delivering on promises. Today, Coyote is excited to be celebrating its 15th anniversary, an important milestone that reinforces the strength of its customer-centric approach and comprehensive solutions portfolio built to move business forward.

Coyote’s first 15 years, by the numbers:

  • 17 million loads moved
  • 1 trillion lbs. of freight shipped
  • 8 billion miles travelled
  • 2,870 cities in 72 countries with pick ups or deliveries

Members of the supply chain met third-party logistics (3PL) providers with some skepticism back in the early 2000s.

Across the industry, there was a noticeable lack of trust in 3PL reliability that was preventing widespread adoption.

This was compounded by a critical void in freight booking and management technology that would enable more seamless connections between shippers, carriers and logistics providers.

While these hurdles presented a significant challenge, Coyote’s founders saw them as a major opportunity to create a new and better 3PL that filled these gaps in the market.

With an unrelenting focus on building strong core technology, offering reliable service and delivering on promises, Coyote opened its doors in April 2006 with a mission to deliver a superior experience to shippers and carriers.

Fast forward 15 years and here we are today, celebrating our anniversary as a global leader in the logistics space, backed by UPS and a reputation for service, scale and expertise.

While the path wasn’t always easy, I’m incredibly proud of all the accomplishments Coyote has achieved in just 15 years. We’ve expanded and evolved while retaining the core philosophy and culture that set us apart from day one.

In celebration of our 15th Anniversary, I’d like to reflect on how we’ve gotten to where we are today, share how we’ll build on this success in the future and highlight the perspectives of a few of our most tenured Coyotes.

What We’ve Accomplished. Over the past 15 years, Coyote has:

  • Helped shippers move more than 17 million loads over 11.8 billion miles through our vast carrier network
  • Network carriers have moved freight through more than 2,870 towns in 72 countries
  • Expanded our global carrier network to over 77,500
  • Built relationships with over 15,000 global shippers
  • Grown our global workforce to over 3,000
  • Been consistently recognized by long-time customers The Home Depot and Heineken for superior service
  • Won industry accolades, including Top 50 3PL by Logistics Management, Top Freight Brokers by Transport Topics
  • Received top employer awards, including America’s Best Midsize Employers by Forbes

These accomplishments not only showcase our impressive growth and scale, but also the clear impact we’ve had on the industry and on businesses around the world.

While it’s important to look at these numbers and the opportunities we have for expansion, it’s also important to take a step back and reflect on what made them possible.

I’d like to talk about a few elements of our approach that have been critical to our success.

I’ve had the rare opportunity to witness the evolution of Coyote from its early days to a world-leading 3PL. One important lesson I learned is that change is not only inevitable, but also a requirement for success.” –Marie Kolodz, Director of Database Technology, 14+ years at Coyote.

Key Elements Driving Coyote’s Success

We Are People-Centric

We are a customer-centric business at our core — but we’re also a people-centric business.

We’ve always believed that our employees are our greatest asset, and they will remain a top priority as we continue to evolve. No matter what we throw at them, how difficult the problem is to solve or what is going on in the world, our people always rise to the occasion.

I’m endlessly impressed by their resilience, tenacity and relentless determination to get the job done.

As we went virtual in response to the pandemic in 2020, our more than 3,000 people around the world proved that our culture lives in how we interact and treat each other, not in our office spaces.

It’s a great example of how adaptable we are to change, which is how we must continue to operate in order to support and service our network through the increasingly rapid evolution of the global freight market.

When we pair this culture with one of the best employee training and development programs in the industry, we’re positioned to offer an unmatched experience to our network.

Our training program was recognized with a Brandon Hall Award for Sales Training Excellence in 2020. Even 15 years after opening our doors, the commitment we have to supporting our people has never been stronger.

From day one, I knew that my journey here at Coyote would be a long and fruitful one. To see how we have grown from the time I started, when we were happy to move 1,000 loads a day, still amazes and excites me for our future to come. Best advice I can give to new Coyotes is to set goals and grow your network. Our people are what make Coyote great!” –Jerry Jacobs, Manager, Cargo Security, 10+ years at Coyote

We Are Solutions-Oriented

Coyote’s scalable solutions have enabled us to serve businesses of all sizes, industries and ages.

What started as a U.S. full truckload service offering has expanded into a comprehensive global multi-modal solutions and technology portfolio with the flexibility needed to enable businesses to adapt to fluctuations in the market.

We know that a one-size-fits-all supply chain strategy doesn’t lead to optimal results, especially with rapid changes in demand, consumer behavior and market volatility.

That’s why we merge our solutions with data intelligence and industry expertise to consult with our network and create customized solutions with tailored strategies that drive efficiency and cost reduction in their supply chains.

When shippers and carriers work with Coyote, it’s more than a transaction –it’s access to the expertise and service that moves business forward.

We Are Technology-Driven

To deliver true value, logistics providers can’t simply offer multi-modal solutions and technology. They have to offer technology-powered multi-modal solutions.

This idea has been central to our strategy and a catalyst to our technological innovation since 2006.

Over the years, we’ve been able to take a strong core product, which is our proprietary Bazooka platform, and built on it with easy-to-use features and functionality that meet the evolving needs and demands of our network.

From our CoyoteGO® digital freight platform and its ever-expanding capabilities, to advanced API and EDI integration to drive visibility and process automation, to AI and machine learning to create more efficient and sustainable route plans, we are offering new ways to use technology to make jobs easier and managing supply chains more seamless.

We Innovate Collaboratively

Working together to more efficiently and effectively advance our business has always been a differentiator for Coyote.

Internally, every Coyote around the world is aligned on our business priorities and growth initiatives, which enables more seamless cross-departmental collaboration.

In 2021, we launched the Coyote Global Kickoff (CKO), a company-wide virtual event that not only connected our people to our goals, vision and growth strategy, but also to each other as a global workforce.

By combing this unified approach with a culture that applauds individual contributions and celebrates the wins achieved together, Coyote has created a better experience for employees, while keeping them united and focused.

“When I started at Coyote fresh out of college, I would have never guessed that 10 years later I would have moved four times, including almost two years in Mexico!  Coyote has supported my professional and personal ambitions, and has trusted me and my teams along the way to make an impact on the business.  Seeing the work that my teams have done, and continue to do, gives me a ton of confidence in the direction Coyote is going for the next 15 years and beyond!” –Kyle Toombs, VP, Mexico &Canada Operations, 10+ years at Coyote

Following our acquisition in 2015, UPS Supply Chain Solutions (SCS) has been another important collaborator for our business.

The synergies we’ve developed have made both of us stronger and will lead to further advancement in the coming years.

Coyote has also been committed to collaborating with our network of shippers and carriers to understand their unique needs and challenges in order to create new solutions that solve for them.

Collaborative innovation outside of our network will be a key driver of broader industry advancement.

To support this, in 2020, we launched the Coyote Collective, a global industry forum that seeks to bring together experts from around the world to collaboratively solve the most complex supply chain challenges.

No matter how our business evolves in the future, a holistic approach to collaboration will always be central to our strategy.

These four business focuses have enabled us to become a leader in the global logistics space, but we’re just getting started.

A Focused Approach for the Future

As we look ahead, we have an incredible opportunity to further scale both our portfolio and presence, while continuing to deliver on the areas that have been key to our success over the past 15 years.

In the coming years, Coyote will be laser-focused on two overarching strategic directives, which encompass the tactics and business focuses that will be critical to our continued growth.

These initiatives are centered around reducing volatility, improving efficiency, advancing our portfolio and expanding our global presence.

I’d like to highlight a few of our biggest focuses.

Unlocking Synergies with UPS

One of Coyote’s biggest differentiators is our relationship with UPS.

Over the past six years since the acquisition, we have worked together to align our unique capabilities and perspectives to maximize efficiency and create more comprehensive, wide-reaching and reliable solutions for our networks.

However, there is an opportunity to further combine Coyote’s capacity network and flexible model with UPS’s global scale and asset-based capabilities to create new, easy-to-use solutions for businesses of all sizes and types around the world.

As we move into our next growth phase, Coyote and UPS SCS will work together to build a true end-to-end supply chain solution offering that benefits the customers in both of our networks.

Modal Diversification

Over 15,000 shippers around the world rely on Coyote’s capabilities today.

We’ve built strong core offerings and learned how our network wants to access and interact with them.

As we look to further expand and diversify our modal offerings, we’ll leverage these learnings to deliver the experience our network has come to expect from Coyote in exciting new ways. At the core of these advancements will be efficiency and ease of use.

Enhancing and expanding our solutions is critical, but a key focus will be making it easier than ever to do business with Coyote. We’re uniquely positioned to offer the optimized balance of human expertise and tech solutions that our customers want, but no matter how they choose to work with us, we’ll continue offering a best-in-class experience.

Advancing Technology Experience

Today, we have advanced technology that enables shippers and carriers to move freight how, when and where they want to — easily.

However, new challenges and customer needs mean that we’re always innovating and developing new solutions that make running supply chains more efficient and simpler. Like our model, our technology is scalable, expandable and inherently flexible.

We know that visibility, easier access to solutions and faster operations are extremely important for our customers to keep pace with rapid changes in consumer expectations and demand. As we continue to advance our technology offerings, they will be rooted in delivering on these needs.

Here are a few of the ways we’re focusing:

  • Offering more real-time visibility to allow shippers to better track their freight
  • Leveraging process automation to streamline manual tasks and increase speed
  • Further digitalizing our marketplace to unlock more of Coyote’s capabilities in an easy-to-use digital experience

Continuing to push the envelope with our tech offerings and focusing on these areas will make working with Coyote better and more powerful than ever.

It’s been incredible growing with Coyote and being able to experience the company expanding from 8 to well over 3,000 people. Something I have learned is that in order to execute, you need a great support staff and strong rapport. To achieve this, you have to engage, involve and build trust with those around you. If you can do those three things, you will be able to execute anything that is put in front of you.” –Dave Herbert, VP, Carrier Sales &Operations, 14+ years at Coyote

Bringing It All Together

Shippers and carriers are facing new challenges because the world and consumer behaviors are changing.

As we build the future of our business, everything we do will continue to be rooted in helping our network navigate these changes and the subsequent challenges they present.

With a unified approach and focused areas for advancement, Coyote will enable shippers and carriers to address the evolving complexities of the market by thinking beyond short-term capacity and focusing on market agility.

Through our diverse, centralized transportation marketplace, comprehensive multi-modal solutions portfolio and data intelligence, we have been — and will continue to be — uniquely positioned to help empower business growth.

It’s been a pleasure to be a part of this family for almost 10 years. We’ve grown so much during this time.  We constantly adapt, we continuously evolve. That’s what I’ve always loved about this place, we refuse to be the follower. We are always the leader.” –Amy Savino, Senior Manager of Carrier Sales, 9+ years at Coyote

I want to sincerely thank the members of our network, past and present, who have given us the opportunity to drive their businesses forward.

Coyote is built and positioned for continued success, and I’m excited to see how far we can go over the next 15 years and beyond.

Always forward.

 Jonathan Sisler