I was thrilled to see Roger Federer’s successful defence of his Australian Open tennis title on Sunday night. Like many people around the world I’ve been inspired by his sustained excellence over a prolonged period.
Looking back on the timeline of his celebrated career it occurred to me that here at Orchid we’ve been following a vaguely parallel path:
- 1993: Orchid Systems is established in Sydney, Australia. Federer appears at the Swiss Indoors tournament…as a ballboy.
- 1999: Federer wins his first pro tournament on the Challenger tour, and enters the top 100. Orchid Systems launches their first add-on module, RMA.
- 2000: Federer first meets his future wife Mirka…at the Sydney Olympics.
- 2003: Federer wins his first Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon. His star is definitely on the rise.
- 2004: Orchid Systems wins the Accpac Development Partner “Rising Star” award.
- 2018: Federer wins a record 20th Grand Slam tournament and shows no sign of slowing down. Orchid Systems celebrates it’s 25th anniversary, and our products continue to evolve.
At the risk of stretching the analogy to ‘break point’:
- You can’t excel in tennis without an exceptional service game, but you also need to keep on top of your returns.
- Last month Orchid drilled into the importance of customer service. This month our featured product is Return Material Authorizations & Repair Tracking.
- Federer’s re-emergence as a major force in 2017 was largely due to the way he dealt with a potentially career ending knee injury. A great example of repair management if ever there was one!
Australian Tennis fans wish Roger many happy returns to our shores!
About the Author:
David Lacey is Communications Manager at Orchid Systems. You can find out more about David and other Orchid staff members at the bottom of our About Us page.
