For radiology managers evaluating the long-term direction of their diagnostic software, the question is rarely just about what a system does today. It is about whether the vendor behind it is genuinely invested in where healthcare technology is heading, and whether the practices that depend on their software will be brought along for the journey.
Kestral Computing’s Innovation Vision offers a clear answer to both questions. Spanning radiology and pathology, cloud-native architecture, interoperability, workflow optimisation and patient experience, it reflects a vendor that is accelerating rather than consolidating and doing so on the basis of what its customers have told it they need.
A roadmap built with customers, not just for them
What distinguishes Kestral’s development approach is the role that customers play in shaping it. Kestral runs structured pilot programs that place new capabilities in the hands of real practices before they are finalised. Feedback from those pilots is used to triage the roadmap, determining not just what gets built, but what gets built first.
For radiology managers, this matters because it means the features reaching the product are the ones that address real operational friction, not hypothetical use cases. The development priorities visible in Kestral’s Innovation Vision reflect years of accumulated feedback from the more than 180 ANZ imaging sites running Karisma RIS, spanning eForms, split billing, patient self-check-in, provider directory integration, and smart reporting worklists.
Karisma workflow improvements landing now
The near-term radiology roadmap is focused on the operational pressure points that practice managers encounter daily. eForms digitise and streamline the referral and booking process. Split billing reduces the administrative burden of complex billing scenarios. Integration with provider directories ensures patient and referrer data is accurate and current without manual maintenance.
National Lung Cancer Screening Registry upload addresses a specific and growing compliance obligation for Australian practices participating in the national screening program, a capability that reflects Kestral’s active engagement with the Australian digital health agenda rather than reactive catch-up.
The My Health Record integration allows both the upload of results for compliance but also the retrieval of relevant information such as previous radiology and pathology reports from other providers giving your team all the information they need to provide the best patient care at their fingertips.
Interoperability as a foundation, not a feature
Kestral’s K-Link API gateway represents one of the most significant platform investments in the 2026 roadmap. Rather than treating interoperability as a point-to-point integration problem, K-Link provides a centralised authentication and routing layer that decouples Karisma from the complexity of individual system connections.
For CIOs and RIS managers, this architecture matters. It means Karisma can participate in a broader health IT ecosystem, connecting with PACS, patient engagement platforms, billing systems, and national infrastructure, giving practices the level of connectivity appropriate to their environment.
FHIR eRequesting capability, further positions Kestral at the forefront of Australian radiology interoperability, enabling structured, standards-compliant electronic requesting that reduces friction between referrers and imaging practices.
Patient experience as a clinical and commercial priority
The patient experience layer in Kestral’s roadmap is not a cosmetic addition. Patient self check-in, online booking integration, and intelligent assignment directly affect throughput, staff workload, and patient satisfaction, all of which have operational and commercial consequences for a practice.
As patient expectations in healthcare continue to shift toward the consumer experiences they have in other parts of their lives, imaging practices that offer friction-free booking, arrival, and communication processes will have a meaningful advantage. Kestral’s focus on patient experience positions Karisma to support that shift rather than lag behind it.
A new way to deploy Kestral, cloud-native and built for independent practices
One of the most significant announcements in Kestral’s Innovation Vision is the exploration of a new cloud-native RIS designed specifically for single-site and independent practices. Built on a modern data architecture optimised for structured, query-ready data, the new platform is set to be faster to deploy and easier to operate than traditional on-premise RIS installations, while carrying the clinical capability and vendor reliability of the Karisma ecosystem.
Critically, existing Karisma K3 and K4 customers have a will have a defined, supported migration path to the new platform. This is a controlled, phased transition designed to protect the investment practices have made in their current systems, not a disruptive replacement.
For smaller and independent practices that have historically found enterprise RIS solutions over-engineered for their needs, this represents a significant shift in what is available to them from a vendor with Kestral’s depth of experience.
AI where it earns its place
Kestral’s approach to AI is pragmatic. The focus is on applying it where it produces tangible improvements rather than adopting it as a positioning statement. In the near term, that means AI-assisted development that accelerates the delivery of roadmap features, producing faster releases without compromising quality or increasing technical debt.
On the product horizon, Kestral is developing AI-driven capabilities targeted at specific high-friction points: OCR and automatic population of patient details from request forms, billing accuracy improvements, and smart reporting worklists that surface the right study to the right radiologist at the right time. Each of these addresses a real operational problem. None of them is AI for its own sake.
Pathology, a reinvigorated focus
Kestral’s 2026 roadmap marks a significant recommitment to pathology. The company is developing new modules within its Laboratory Information System, extending functionality and building toward a next-generation pathology workflow platform. The full scope of Kestral’s pathology direction will be announced at its live webinar on 2 June, and the investment signals a vendor expanding its diagnostic platform ambition rather than narrowing it.
For pathology operations leaders evaluating their software landscape, Kestral’s renewed focus represents a meaningful development in the ANZ market.
The ownership context
Kestral is owned by Jonas Software, a division of Constellation Software. Jonas Software’s model is explicitly buy-and-hold, acquiring specialist vertical market software businesses with the intention of developing them indefinitely. For practices weighing the risk of vendor acquisition or product discontinuation, this ownership structure provides a level of assurance that is uncommon in the diagnostic software market. Kestral is not being managed toward an exit. It is being invested in for the long term.
About Kestral Computing
Kestral Computing has more than 30 years of experience building software for radiology and pathology practices across Australia and New Zealand. Karisma RIS supports more than 180 ANZ imaging sites. Kestral’s 2026 roadmap spans cloud-native architecture, interoperability, patient experience, workflow improvements, and a reinvigorated pathology platform, built in close collaboration with the practices that depend on its software every day.The full Kestral 2026 roadmap will be presented live on 2 June at 1pm AEST.