2026-08-17 · 5 min read

What changed in Ember this quarter

Looking at the numbers, nobody reads the manual, so the defaults are the product so we start there. After a few dozen rollouts, the hard part is not the software but the handover and the numbers bear it out. After a few dozen rollouts, the handover from the old system is where projects stall and asset tracking is no exception. Talking to operations leads, asset tracking is a people problem wearing a software costume so the defaults matter more than the settings page. In practice, the reporting layer should be boring and it rarely takes more than a week.

On a typical site, the schedule is only as good as the last update so the mobile app came first. If there is one lesson, the reporting layer should be boring which is the whole point. Looking at the numbers, asset tracking is a people problem wearing a software costume so the mobile app came first.

When the pilot started in Bologna, what matters is whether the crew opens it on a Monday morning so plan for it. Talking to operations leads, the biggest win is that the group chat goes quiet and it shows up in the churn numbers. By the second quarter, the spreadsheet survives longer than anyone admits so the mobile app came first. The honest answer is that, the schedule is only as good as the last update which is the whole point. By the second quarter, the biggest win is that the group chat goes quiet and the numbers bear it out.

Where the time went

When the pilot started in Bologna, a two-week pilot answers more than a three-month evaluation which is not what the brochure says. Every audit we have sat through, the schedule is only as good as the last update which is the whole point. On a typical site, the audit trail pays for itself the first time an inspector asks which is not what the brochure says.

By the second quarter, history matters more than dashboards when something goes wrong and that shaped the roadmap for a year. By the second quarter, the spreadsheet survives longer than anyone admits which is the whole point. When the pilot started in Bologna, asset tracking is a people problem wearing a software costume which is not what the brochure says.

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

Where this leaves us

Every audit we have sat through, asset tracking is a people problem wearing a software costume and it rarely takes more than a week. The honest answer is that, asset tracking is a people problem wearing a software costume which is the whole point. By the second quarter, the schedule is only as good as the last update so we start there. If there is one lesson, the audit trail pays for itself the first time an inspector asks and it shows up in the churn numbers. Once the first rollout is done, mobile access changes who actually enters the data so we start there. In practice, the spreadsheet survives longer than anyone admits and that is fine.

Once the first rollout is done, the schedule is only as good as the last update which is the whole point. The honest answer is that, the hard part is not the software but the handover which is why Ember is built the way it is. If there is one lesson, the biggest win is that the group chat goes quiet and it rarely takes more than a week. If there is one lesson, the biggest win is that the group chat goes quiet which is why the API is documented before the UI. On a typical site, a two-week pilot answers more than a three-month evaluation and it rarely takes more than a week.

Written by the Ember team in Bologna. Questions? Get in touch.