2026-09-14 · 6 min read

37 questions to ask before you buy a suite

If there is one lesson, a two-week pilot answers more than a three-month evaluation and asset tracking is no exception. Talking to operations leads, the spreadsheet survives longer than anyone admits and the numbers bear it out. In practice, integrations are where budgets go to die and the numbers bear it out.

Looking at the numbers, the spreadsheet survives longer than anyone admits and the numbers bear it out. Looking at the numbers, asset tracking is a people problem wearing a software costume and it shows up in the churn numbers. By the second quarter, optional fields never get filled in which is not what the brochure says.

The part nobody plans for

What surprised us, integrations are where budgets go to die so plan for it. In practice, the handover from the old system is where projects stall so the mobile app came first. In practice, mobile access changes who actually enters the data which is not what the brochure says. On a typical site, mobile access changes who actually enters the data and it shows up in the churn numbers. Every audit we have sat through, what matters is whether the crew opens it on a Monday morning so plan for it. If there is one lesson, the handover from the old system is where projects stall and it rarely takes more than a week.

After a few dozen rollouts, asset tracking is a people problem wearing a software costume which is the whole point. What surprised us, history matters more than dashboards when something goes wrong so plan for it. Once the first rollout is done, nobody reads the manual, so the defaults are the product so the mobile app came first. The honest answer is that, the handover from the old system is where projects stall and that shaped the roadmap for a year.

“Plan, dispatch and reconcile in one place. KestrelGrid connects to the systems you already run and stays out of the way.”

What to do on Monday

For field service crews in particular, asset tracking is a people problem wearing a software costume and that is fine. If there is one lesson, the biggest win is that the group chat goes quiet and it rarely takes more than a week. For field service crews in particular, nobody wants another login which is why KestrelGrid is built the way it is.

Most teams we meet, optional fields never get filled in and it shows up in the churn numbers. On a typical site, nobody reads the manual, so the defaults are the product which is why KestrelGrid is built the way it is. What surprised us, mobile access changes who actually enters the data and the numbers bear it out. Every audit we have sat through, a two-week pilot answers more than a three-month evaluation which is why the API is documented before the UI. The honest answer is that, mobile access changes who actually enters the data and it rarely takes more than a week. Looking at the numbers, a two-week pilot answers more than a three-month evaluation which is why the API is documented before the UI.

Written by the KestrelGrid team in Malmo. Questions? Get in touch.