During my recent travels around the world, I found myself in the Tate Modern in London. After a few minutes of wandering around, I realised that art is definitely in the eye of the beholder. More able to catch my attention was the Design Museum just a little further along the Thames. For 22 years since its establishment, the Design Museum has championed creative thinking and inspired problem solving, celebrating the talent of the world’s best designers and architects.
Much to my surprise and delight, one of the displays was a collection of reusable coffee mugs, affectionately known as the KeepCup. KeepCup is the supplier of the world’s first barista-standard reusable cup designed to replace disposable cups. The company was founded in Melbourne in 2009 by Abigail and Jamie Forsyth. KeepCup is one of my Fenwick customers.
Jamie first approached Fenwick in 2009 looking for a 2 user backend financial system for their Microsoft CRM which was already operational. Together with the CRM add-in Experlogix, this system was responsible for all of the operational side of the business. After the initial workshops held with Jamie and his team, it was clear that Microsoft Dynamics NAV could provide the accounting needs of the business. Three months later, the system was implemented and integrated to the CRM system using Scribe as middleware.
By the time I saw the KeepCup display in the London Design Museum these clever cups were being used by tens of thousands of Brits. The success and growth of the company has been staggering. But the Microsoft Dynamics NAV system has handled the growth and what was initially a 2 user, single company system is now a 10 user, 3 company system. It has replaced Microsoft CRM as the main operational system.
As I looked at the many coloured cups I felt pleased to have been a small contributor to this interesting and successful Australian company.
