American Innovations CEO Ed Kruft opened this year’s AI World with a candid look at the company’s past year—, outlining major product advancements, acknowledging where things could improve, and setting expectations for where American Innovations is heading in 2026. His remarks highlighted both transparency and a renewed focus on the customer experience.
Product Momentum Across PCS, FDC, Bullhorn, and CartoPac
With administrative improvements addressed, Ed shifted to the progress American Innovations made across its software platforms.
A major focus behind the scenes has been improving how American Innovations builds, tests, and delivers software. The development team introduced AI-driven tools and expanded automation that accelerate feature development while greatly increasing test coverage and consistency.. Ed shared that this investment led to a strong year for software quality, which enabled the team to develop, validate, and release enhancements more efficiently than ever. These improvements position the company to deliver an even higher volume of new capabilities over the next six to twelve months, while continuing to elevate the overall quality of each release.
PCS and Survey Manager
Ed noted that PCS Pipeline Compliance System had a strong release this year, with even more updates planned for version 2.6. Survey Manager also delivered several releases that continue to round out its capabilities.
Field Data Collector
Multiple Field Data Collector (FDC) releases brought iOS, Android, and Windows into full feature alignment—an important milestone for customers with mixed-device fleets. American Innovations is also preparing to introduce machine-learning capabilities “at the edge,” helping field users detect anomalies and reduce repeat site visits.
Bullhorn Web
Bullhorn Web moved to continuous delivery, allowing American Innovations to deliver updates without disruptions to our clients.. A major enhancement—a new mobile application that allows users to manage their Bullhorn units directly from mobile devices—is nearing release and expected early next year.
American Innovations also recently announced the Bullhorn Open API, which gives operators direct access to their Bullhorn remote monitoring unit data and enables seamless integration with GIS, ERP, Power BI, work management systems, and other enterprise tools.
CartoPac
The Fort Collins team supported several major digital gas as-built go-lives this year, including workflows integrated directly with work management and ERP systems. These workflows are now used in real-time operations, such as documenting residential gas line repairs and automatically populating ERP records.
Strengthening Subscription Management and Renewal Accuracy
Ed highlighted the significant improvements American Innovations made in how the company manages subscriptions across PCS, CartoPac, Bullhorn, Hosting, and Survey Manager. As the number of subscription-based products grows, the company has invested heavily in upgrading internal systems, refining processes, and expanding the teams responsible for subscription accuracy and customer support.
A Customer-Driven Roadmap Built on Real Data
This year American Innovations took a structured approach to resetting priorities. The team reviewed:
- Customer interviews
- Historical support cases
- Feature request data
- Internal logs
The goal was to identify high-impact improvements for each product line. American Innovations also increased staffing across software teams to accelerate delivery. Many of these prioritized enhancements are already released or nearing release, and attendees saw them demonstrated throughout AI World.
Improving Internal Processes to Improve Customer Experience
Ed emphasized that product investment alone isn’t enough—American Innovations is also overhauling the way it works internally. The company is implementing formal process documentation, standardizing workflows, and preparing for ISO certification. This work is designed to ensure smooth and predictable processes for customers.
The commitment is about more than ISO certification; it’s about ensuring consistent onboarding, support handling, order processing, and communication across teams.
Modernizing for the Long Term
American Innovations’ long-term vision includes more unified user experiences and expanded cloud capabilities. While PCS and CartoPac will continue to support on-premise deployments, American Innovations is continuing to advance its software by leveraging cloud technologies, enhancing integration capabilities, and creating a consistent experience across all products.This will be an iterative transition—not a sudden switch—but work is already underway.
Looking Ahead: Value, Usability, and Close Alignment with Customer Needs
Ed closed his remarks by thanking both long-time and first-time attendees for shaping the direction of American Innovations’ products. The next year will focus on usability improvements, deeper integrations, consistency across platforms, and continued investment in the tools operators rely on every day.
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