The competitor for dispatch software is not another product, it is a whiteboard and a phone, and the whiteboard is extremely fast. Every product in this category is judged against that baseline by somebody under time pressure, and the ones that lose do not lose on features. They lose because moving a job took four clicks and a confirmation dialogue.
Measure the common action, not the feature list
Moving a job to another person. Adding an emergency into a full day. Marking a job done on a phone. Time those three in a demo with a stopwatch and compare them honestly to your whiteboard and your group chat. Anything meaningfully slower will be worked around, and the workaround becomes the real system.
Online means one copy, which is the actual gain
A hosted board is not better because it is on the internet, it is better because there is exactly one of it. The dispatcher moves a job and the technician sees it moved. Nobody is told, nobody reconciles, and nobody is working from a version that was current an hour ago.
Mobile is a different product from the board
The office needs a grid; the field needs a list. Products that ship one layout for both are compromising the half you use most. Judge the phone experience with your most reluctant technician rather than your keenest, because the reluctant one decides whether this works.
Simple is not the same as limited
Simple means the common action is fast. Limited means the thing you need is missing. Test the first with a stopwatch and ask about the second directly, and do not accept a long feature list as evidence of either.
Questions people ask about easy dispatch software
Who should run the trial?
The person who actually dispatches. Choosing dispatch software without them is the reliable way to buy shelfware.
How long should a trial be?
Two weeks including at least one bad day. A quiet fortnight proves nothing you needed to know.
Is a mobile app essential?
For keeping the board true, yes. Without completions coming back from the field the board is a plan, not a picture.