The Top 5 Mistakes We Saw During Grain Track Implementations in 2025 (and How to Avoid Them)
If there’s one thing we’ve learned this year, it’s that no two implementations go the same way. Every company we worked with in 2025 had a slightly different approach – some thoughtful, some chaotic, and some a mix of both.
But over time, we started noticing a pattern. The same five mistakes kept popping up. It didn’t matter if the company was big or small, old-school or tech-savvy – these problems came up again and again. So I thought I’d write them down, along with a few things that helped some teams avoid them (or recover when they didn’t).
I’m not writing this as a “tips and tricks” post. More like a field note for anyone about to roll out new software in a commodity trading company – or already knee-deep in the process.
Mistake #1: “We’ll figure it out as we go”
One company got excited, signed the contract, and started using the system within three weeks—without any internal plan. Within a month, their logistics guy was manually rewriting half the contracts because of typos in the initial setup. Their accounting team refused to touch the system. People blamed the software, but the real problem was simple: no one mapped out the workflow ahead of time.
What actually helps:
Spend several initial meeting sketching out how contracts, shipments, and payments move through your company. Just a whiteboard and coffee. Do this before you touch any software. You’ll thank yourself later.
Mistake #2: Only involving “the tech guy”
In one case, a company assigned an IT manager to handle the entire implementation alone. Nice guy, smart too – but he didn’t know how traders negotiate or how logistics handles vessel documents. So of course, things got missed. Three months later, the traders were still using WhatsApp and Excel.
Lesson learned:
If you’re setting up software that affects the whole business, involve the people who actually do the work. Not just one IT person. Traders, execution, accountants – they need to see it, click around, complain, and help shape it.
Mistake #3: Trying to rebuild Excel inside the system
This one is surprisingly common. Teams try to copy their old Excel sheets into the new system, column for column, formula by formula. I get it – it feels safer. But often, Excel logic is full of shortcuts and workarounds built up over years. Rebuilding that in a structured system usually creates more problems than it solves.
What works instead:
Take a step back. Ask: what is this Excel file really for? Most of the time, the system can handle the same thing more cleanly – but only if you stop trying to force it to look like a spreadsheet.
Mistake #4: Endless testing, no real data
Some companies get stuck in “test mode” forever. They input fake contracts, run made-up shipments, and try to check every possible scenario. But no one really uses it. Then when they finally go live, everything feels unfamiliar again.
Real talk:
The best way to learn the system is to run a real contract through it. Just one. Start to finish. Real prices, real documents. That’s when the good questions start coming up—and that’s when real adoption begins.
Mistake #5: Assuming no news is good news
At one company, after the first few weeks of rollout, the manager told me, “So far, no one has raised any issues – it must be going well.” I asked, “How often are you checking in with the team?” He admitted he hadn’t really asked anyone directly. He just assumed that if there were problems, people would speak up.
They didn’t.
Instead, a few traders quietly opened up their old Excel sheets again. One person even started sending duplicate reports manually “just in case.” It wasn’t sabotage – it was just people reverting to what felt safer when they weren’t sure.
What actually helps:
Don’t wait for complaints. Make feedback part of the routine. Have someone casually walk around and ask, “What’s annoying you this week?” Or open a shared doc where people can drop comments anonymously. Silence doesn’t mean things are smooth – it often means people gave up trying to fix what’s broken.
Final thought
Every implementation has friction. That’s normal. People are busy. Habits are hard to break. But I’ve seen companies go from overwhelmed to fully digital in less than a month – when they approached it like a real team project, not just another tool to “install.”
So if you’re about to roll out something new this year – Grain Track or anything else – maybe keep this list nearby. And if you’ve already made one of these mistakes… well, welcome to the club. Fix it and keep going.
You’re still ahead of most.