Party at ZooEasy! This year our company celebrates 25 years of operation. Our worldwide customers have already registered more than 3.5 million (!) animals in ZooEasy Online. And that number is growing daily thanks to many breeders and clubs, from this kennel club in Kenya to this enthusiastic bird breeder in the Netherlands. Founder and director, Erik Reudink, answered a few questions about ZooEasy.
What is your best memory?
“The best part is that you meet people and come up with solutions for them. This energizes us. Soon after we started ZooEasy Online, we got the full confidence of the Dutch Association for Stabij- en Wetterhounen (NVSW) to transfer their database to the first version of ZooEasy Online. That was exciting and everyone was enthusiastic. The club still works with us to find the best solutions, even after all these years. This is how we developed new functions at their request, such as the stud request module.”
What was the biggest challenge?
“Associations wanted to share information with their members, but that was not possible with the Stand Alone version. There was only one thing left to do; make ZooEasy available online. We had to rebuild the entire program and adjust our internal organization. Step by step we have expanded ZooEasy Online with new features. It is nice that breeders and associations have always understood our growth process.”
Where do you find inspiration?
“Although I really enjoy contact with breeders at animal trade fairs, we are increasingly focusing on our online service. I therefore look at online platforms in niche markets that are doing well, such as Insightly and Zendesk. Every breeder can now create a ticket in Zendesk, so we can answer questions better and faster. This way we make ZooEasy even easier and more accessible for everyone, and the more enthusiastic customers get, the more space we get for further development and improvements.”
What does the future of ZooEasy look like?
“By the end of 2019, ZooEasy Online will be able to do everything the Stand Alone version can do. We will then develop ZooEasy further. With web services, associations can publish details of their animals on their own website, as desired. ZooEasy Online is used as the source, and the data only needs to be recorded in one place. We also think about useful apps for the mobile phone. When you think of something that breeders around the world would like to use, that gives enough energy for the next 25 years!”