Once pest-control business, WorkWave has grown into software firm — with route management product

Inside Homdel’s Bell Works, the transformed Bell Laboratories facility, one of the tenants has been hosting back-to-back career fairs, quietly scooping up talent from all over the region.

And that company — the one so eager for new hires — is a business that was built on information technology solutions for pest control companies.

As much as that may sound like the most niche of niches, WorkWave has scaled up its business in unexpected ways throughout the years. The company transformed like the building it’s headquartered in, into one of the market leaders across a much wider field of business.

WorkWave is now a top provider of cloud-based software solutions for the accelerating e-commerce sector. Among other things, it has platforms for GPS navigation, tracking and marketing for the field service and logistics industries.

When the company was first founded back in 1984, its major product was called PestPac. That flagship product made the company by far the industry leader among pest control companies in the U.S.

Through a series of strategic acquisitions, WorkWave made itself relevant in today’s last mile delivery dynamic. Along the way, it developed a proprietary algorithm-based platform called WorkWave Route Manager that companies can use to optimize route scheduling and planning.

Nalin Chopra, product manager for WorkWave Route Manager, expressed that there’s never been a better time to be focused on these services — given the Amazon-inspired standards consumers have for the packages that end up on their doorstep.

Nalin Chopra

“With our solutions, we’re really focused on giving customers the right tools to reach their full potential,” he said. “Small companies (involved with deliveries) want to compete with bigger companies. And we’re intent on designing products for companies to succeed across the spectrum.”

Chopra explained WorkWave works to help businesses overcome a number of challenges that have arisen in the landscape of contemporary e-commerce deliveries, including tight timing commitment windows and the need for proper refrigeration in meal-kit deliveries.

Also, consumers who receive the packages from e-commerce merchants now want to know everything about that meal kit or other delivery as it’s making its way to them.

“We have our customers, but we also have our customer’s customers,” Chopra said. “So, the idea is, we want to give our customers not only a peek into where drivers are and if services are performed correctly and on time … but also look at how they’re able to communicate with the end customer and provide them input on when a delivery will happen.”

There are a lot of software companies competing to own that last mile deliver experience, Chopra added. The new entrants haven’t scared WorkWave off of building up its workforce locally and abroad, preparing for a leading position among providers of these logistics services.

The entrance to WorkWave in Homdel’s Bell Works.

“Over the past few years, the company has really been going through a growth phase,” Chopra said. “As other companies — our customers — grow their needs, we want to grow with them. We’re still interested in bringing on more people to further upgrade our solutions.”

And as the company recruits with a ferocity, its leaders are glad to be welcoming more at WorkWave’s Homdel home, the base of operations for a global workforce of 250-plus employees.

“Bell Works is a technology hub with history that is reinventing itself to become so important to the technology companies in the area,” Chopra said. “It feels like the perfect match for our company culture. It is great to be located in a place that sparks creativity and innovation by nature, while accommodating company growth and providing us with great facilities.”

Conversation Starter

Reach WorkWave at: workwave.comor 866-926-9820.