Anyone who builds scheduling software quickly ends up talking mainly to managing directors and project leads. Those are rarely the people who sit in the service van at seven in the morning and find out whether the schedule holds up in practice.
At ineltec 2026 on 9 and 10 September in Zurich it was different. Many companies came with their whole team, from apprentices to fitters to management. Added to that was the building technology digitalisation conference. Two events at which we mainly did one thing: listen.
When the fitter reads a screen differently than the dispatcher
Several existing customers came to our stand with their staff. And a few times the same thing happened: A fitter looked at a screen he uses every day and said he did not really understand why a particular piece of information was shown there.
That is uncomfortable and useful at the same time. The screen was not built wrong, it simply showed what matters from a planning perspective. The conversation quickly made clear which details are actually needed on site, and that other information would be more valuable in that place than what is there today.
You do not hear sentences like that in a demo or in a support ticket. You hear them when someone who works with the software is standing in front of it.
Service technicians schedule themselves
The second piece of feedback concerned short-notice jobs. In mobile scheduling, employees with the right permission can create their own future assignments.
At the fair it turned out that service technicians and service fitters in particular use this, for one specific case: They are at the customer site, it becomes clear that a second appointment is needed, and they enter it themselves right away. No call back to the office, no note that gets forgotten later.
We are glad the function lands this way in everyday use. It solves a real problem in service planning, because the information is recorded where it arises.
What we take away
Exchanges at events like these do not replace market research, but they correct the perspective. Spending a day with people who actually work through their assignments makes it clear which functions matter day to day and which mainly look good in a presentation.
That is exactly why we are members of EIT.swiss and suissetec, and from 2027 of the EEV as well. Not for the logos, but to be present as often as possible at events where everyone in the industry comes together. That is where these conversations happen.