Descartes Systems Group has acquired Airclic Inc., a US-based provider of mobile solutions that help companies reduce the cost of delivering goods by automating traditional paper-based processes. The purchase price for the acquisition was approximately US$29.7 million.

Airclic’s cloud-based mobile solutions help streamline and automate complex ‘last mile’ logistics processes. The ‘last mile’ is a key piece of the supply chain that directly touches customers and has traditionally been fraught with manual paper-based processes. Airclic’s Perform platform provides configurable, feature-rich mobile technology and advanced electronic proof of delivery (POD) solutions that operate on a hand-held device carried by the driver. The solutions help customers across a number of industry verticals, including third-party logistics (3PL), food and beverage, retail and healthcare, improve transportation efficiency and reduce the cost of delivering goods.

“Demand is steadily growing for robust mobile applications that help customers improve their fleet operations and compete more effectively,” said Andrew Roszko, senior vice president of sales at Descartes. “With deep domain expertise in delivering advanced mobile solutions across key industry verticals and proven solutions operating on more than 40,000 handheld devices, Airclic helps strengthen Descartes’ market-leading Routing, Mobile and Telematics solution portfolio.”

“Descartes and Airclic have several common customers who have achieved significant value by augmenting their route planning and optimization systems with comprehensive mobile data at the driver, vehicle and stop level,” said Edward J. Ryan, Descartes’ CEO. “With a focus on integrating our businesses to provide superior results for our customers, we believe we can meet the growing demand for integrated routing and mobile fleet management solutions and put Airclic on a path to achieving similar operational profitability to Descartes.”