Bluebird Freight and One Step Secure IT - “It wasn’t a concern until I started paying attention…”

Matty Allen didn’t initially set out to own and operate a freight company with four warehouse locations, 26 trucks, and 35 employees, but opportunities kept presenting themselves, and Matty kept seizing them.

 

Who is Bluebird Freight?

Bluebird Freight, in Phoenix, AZ, has provided various freight transportation services for over a decade.

“We incorporated in 2009, and it was just me and a truck until about 2012. Then, it was just me and another guy for about two years. We were running routes for another company but I started to feel stifled in our growth, so I decided it was time to part ways,” Matty said. “We had already built a following and went out on our own.”

 

Bluebird Freight now operates four warehouses — three in Phoenix and one in Riverside, California.

Bluebird Freight's services include specialty jobs, residential and commercial white-glove services for General Electric, and delivering and installing specialty kiosks such as ATMs, Amazon Lockers, Redboxes, and CoinStar machines. In addition to their freight services, Bluebird Freight offers short and long-term warehousing at their four locations. 

“We developed a reputation — we’re honest with our customers, we don’t bite off more than we can chew — the transparency has been huge for us. Plus, we’re showing up in clean trucks with uniformed personnel. It makes a big difference,” Matty said. 

 

Road to Growth

Bluebird Freight hit a growth spurt about 4 years ago. The company started delivering machines and medical equipment to hospitals during the pandemic which further sped up their growth.

The need for delivery of washers, dryers, couches, and other large household items increased during the pandemic as people spent more time at home.

 

Technology Used at Bluebird Freight 

Communication between drivers, dispatchers, and customers is essential for daily operations.

“Our system automatically sends our customers information about their delivery — including a photo of the job being completed,” he said.

 

To keep business running smoothly and customers happy — Bluebird Freight needs its technology to work properly. If Matty or his team runs into issues, One Step Secure IT and their experts are a phone call away to help get things sorted out so the business can keep moving.

 

Cybersecurity and IT Concerns

Matty has witnessed other companies in the industry suffer from data breaches and downtime as a result.

“As we grew, cybersecurity wasn’t something I really gave much thought to because, you know, I’m a freight guy. It wasn’t a concern until I started paying attention to some of these bigger companies, American Line Haul, Forward Air — they’re all getting hacked, systems going down,” he said. 

 

One of Matty’s chief concerns was being the target of a cyber attack, having financial information stolen or compromised, and having to shut down business operations. 

Keeping Bluebird Freight data and information secure is important to Matty, as he stores customer data for communication and more sensitive information on employees who underwent special training.

Every Bluebird Freight team member is TSA certified, and the company is an authorized freight carrier in the state of Arizona. The sensitive information needed to obtain and maintain those certifications is stored on the Bluebird Freight systems and it needs to be secure.

“We deal with Air Freight, and we are TSA certified, so we have to undergo background checks and training. We have to keep that sensitive information that involves our team members on hand,” Matty said.

 

One Step works to protect all the data Bluebird Freight locations and runs regular scans to check for any security gaps cyber criminals could exploit.

 “We’re growing, and the transportation industry seems to be an easy target. I want to limit our threats of somebody hacking into our systems and leaving us trying to figure out how we’re going to operate the business,” Matty said. “If someone gets our financial information, — it would shut us down.”

 

Why One Step?

Bluebird Freight's partner at Arizona Group recommended One Step's cybersecurity and IT services to Matty, so he knew he could trust the quality of One Step’s services. Matty purchased Cyber Liability Insurance from the Arizona Group and found the compliance process to be difficult. One Step Secure IT helped him through the process. 

While moving into the new building, Matty found that One Step proved to be incredibly helpful in determining how many servers and computers the company would need. One Step Secure IT created a plan and timeline for upgrading their technology to fit their budget. Matty said One Step kept on top of things that wouldn’t come to mind for him.

 “I would say the biggest benefit to working with One Step is the peace of mind, really. Just being able to know that we’re protected,” Matty said.  “I’m very grateful that there are companies out there, especially One Step, that is there to help us keep an eye on things.”

 

All in all…

Managing the daily operations of Bluebird Freight is what Matty does best, and he lets the experts at One Step Secure IT handle cybersecurity and IT concerns.

When he hears about other companies experiencing data breaches, he stays calm because One Step is always monitoring his systems and help is only a phone call away if problems arise.

 “They guide us along the way,” he said. “And anytime there are any issues — they’re on it.”

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