Choosing a radiology information system is a long-term commitment. The cost and disruption of migration means most practices will live with their RIS for a decade or more, which makes vendor longevity, investment trajectory, and platform direction as important as current feature sets when making a decision.
The question of which systems will still be actively supported and meaningfully developed in ten years is one every radiology manager and CIO should be asking. The indicators worth examining are consistent: financial stability, active development velocity, a clear migration path for existing customers, and a roadmap that reflects where diagnostic technology is heading.
What makes a RIS vendor viable for the long term?
Several factors separate vendors likely to thrive over the next decade from those at risk of stagnation, acquisition, or end-of-life:
Active investment in platform modernisation. Vendors still running on legacy architectures without a credible path to cloud-native delivery face compounding technical debt. The practices most at risk are those whose vendor has stopped investing in the underlying platform even while maintaining surface-level feature releases.
A customer base that grows and renews. Market presence is an indicator of commercial sustainability. Vendors with a broad, loyal install base have both the revenue and the incentive to keep developing their products.
A defined roadmap with real delivery history. Promises about future capability are only meaningful in the context of a vendor’s track record. Has the vendor delivered on previous roadmap commitments? Are new capabilities reaching customers on a consistent basis?
Responsiveness to regulatory change. The Australian and New Zealand diagnostic technology landscape continues to evolve. FHIR interoperability, national screening registries, billing rule changes, and digital health infrastructure investments all require ongoing vendor response. A vendor that keeps pace with regulatory and standards obligations is one that is actively invested in the market.
Kestral’s position for the decade ahead
Kestral Computing has operated in the Australian and New Zealand radiology and pathology software market for close to 40 years. Karisma RIS is used by more than 180 imaging sites across the region, a breadth of deployment that reflects both product maturity and commercial sustainability.
Ownership that protects long-term investment. Kestral is owned by Jonas Software, a division of Constellation Software, one of the world’s largest acquirers of vertical market software businesses. Jonas Software’s philosophy is explicitly buy-and-hold: it acquires specialist software companies with the intention of owning and developing them indefinitely, not reselling them or folding them into a larger platform. For radiology practices considering the risk of vendor acquisition, consolidation, or end-of-life, this ownership structure is a material differentiator. Kestral is not a product being managed toward an exit. It is a long-term business with a parent organisation whose model depends on sustained investment in its portfolio companies.
Platform modernisation underway. Kestral is actively exploring a cloud-native RIS architecture designed for structured, query-ready data, analytics readiness, and easier migration from existing environments. This is a funded programme of work with a defined delivery horizon.
Security and compliance investment. Kestral is investing in ISO 27001 certification and dedicated cybersecurity capability, the infrastructure that enables safe participation in cloud ecosystems, national programs, and enterprise health IT environments. For practices evaluating vendors against hospital or health network procurement requirements, this investment is directly relevant.
Faster delivery without increased risk. Kestral has adopted AI-assisted development processes that compress the time between customer need and delivered capability. The result is a faster roadmap without the quality trade-offs that typically accompany accelerated development.
Regulatory alignment. Kestral’s roadmap includes National Lung Cancer Screening Registry upload, Assignment of Benefit changes, and FHIR interoperability development, demonstrating active engagement with the Australian digital health agenda rather than reactive catch-up.
Expanding into pathology. Kestral’s reinvigorated focus on pathology signals a broader diagnostic platform ambition rather than a narrowing of scope. Vendors that are expanding their addressable market are investing in growth. Those that are contracting are managing decline.
Questions to ask any RIS vendor about long-term viability
When evaluating vendors for a long-term RIS commitment, the following questions help separate credible roadmaps from marketing positions:
- What does your platform architecture look like in five years?
- What regulatory changes are you currently developing for, and what is your delivery timeline?
- How do you prioritise your roadmap, and what role do customers play in that process?
- What is your approach to security and compliance certification?
- Can you show a history of delivering on roadmap commitments?
A vendor willing to answer these questions with specificity, not just enthusiasm, is one worth considering for the long term.
About Kestral and Karisma RIS
Kestral Computing has more than 30 years of experience building diagnostic software for radiology and pathology practices across Australia and New Zealand. Karisma RIS supports more than 180 ANZ imaging sites, with active development across workflow, interoperability, patient experience, cloud-native architecture, and pathology. Kestral’s 2026 roadmap reflects a vendor investing in the next decade, not managing the last one.