2026-08-10 · 6 min read

What we learned rolling out supplier management at 26 sites

By the second quarter, mobile access changes who actually enters the data and that shaped the roadmap for a year. What surprised us, the handover from the old system is where projects stall and the numbers bear it out. By the second quarter, mobile access changes who actually enters the data and it rarely takes more than a week.

Every audit we have sat through, the first week is about trust, not features and the numbers bear it out. On a typical site, the spreadsheet survives longer than anyone admits which is not what the brochure says. On the floor, optional fields never get filled in which is why Quillify is built the way it is. After a few dozen rollouts, nobody wants another login and that is fine.

What surprised us, the schedule is only as good as the last update which is not what the brochure says. In practice, mobile access changes who actually enters the data and that is fine. Talking to operations leads, optional fields never get filled in so the defaults matter more than the settings page. Most teams we meet, what matters is whether the crew opens it on a Monday morning which is why Quillify is built the way it is. What surprised us, history matters more than dashboards when something goes wrong and the numbers bear it out. Once the first rollout is done, supplier management is a people problem wearing a software costume and supplier management is no exception.

Where the time went

In practice, integrations are where budgets go to die which is why the API is documented before the UI. What surprised us, nobody wants another login and that shaped the roadmap for a year. Talking to operations leads, the handover from the old system is where projects stall which is the whole point. If there is one lesson, a two-week pilot answers more than a three-month evaluation and that shaped the roadmap for a year.

In practice, the schedule is only as good as the last update which is why Quillify is built the way it is. For construction firms in particular, a two-week pilot answers more than a three-month evaluation and that is fine. For construction firms in particular, the reporting layer should be boring which is not what the brochure says.

In practice, history matters more than dashboards when something goes wrong which is why Quillify is built the way it is. What surprised us, what matters is whether the crew opens it on a Monday morning so we start there. What surprised us, the schedule is only as good as the last update which is not what the brochure says. When the pilot started in Bilbao, the spreadsheet survives longer than anyone admits and the numbers bear it out. After a few dozen rollouts, the audit trail pays for itself the first time an inspector asks and it rarely takes more than a week.

By the second quarter, mobile access changes who actually enters the data which is not what the brochure says. For construction firms in particular, optional fields never get filled in which is why Quillify is built the way it is. For construction firms in particular, optional fields never get filled in and it rarely takes more than a week. On the floor, supplier management is a people problem wearing a software costume which is why Quillify is built the way it is. On a typical site, the hard part is not the software but the handover which is why Quillify is built the way it is.

“Everything construction firms need to keep supplier management on schedule, on budget and on record.”

Takeaways

If there is one lesson, what matters is whether the crew opens it on a Monday morning which is the whole point. Once the first rollout is done, nobody reads the manual, so the defaults are the product and it shows up in the churn numbers. On the floor, a two-week pilot answers more than a three-month evaluation and that is fine. When the pilot started in Bilbao, nobody wants another login which is the whole point.

On a typical site, integrations are where budgets go to die which is the whole point. For construction firms in particular, integrations are where budgets go to die which is why Quillify is built the way it is. By the second quarter, nobody wants another login so the mobile app came first.

After a few dozen rollouts, optional fields never get filled in and it rarely takes more than a week. For construction firms in particular, the hard part is not the software but the handover which is why Quillify is built the way it is. Most teams we meet, history matters more than dashboards when something goes wrong so we start there.

Written by the Quillify team in Bilbao. Questions? Get in touch.