Vert Design was founded in 2005 by Andrew Simpson as a design consultancy specialising in product development.

Vert Design currently has eight industrial designers that form part of the team and the business boasts an extensive and wide product portfolio, from more common consumer products such as sunglasses, bottles, eyewear and glassware, through to boats, furniture, and art installations.

2020 marks their 15^th year in business with a client base ranging from passionate individuals through to large multi-national corporations.

Andrew said the idea of starting and running his own business was in his blood, “My family is in management consultancy, my parents ran their own small business and our dinner conversations were always all about small business issues and sales. I was always going to run my own business!” 

The Challenge

The past fifteen years have seen great change and challenges within the industry. A shifting geopolitical landscape had seen the local manufacturing base dwindling and the opening of new doors into Asia. In his capacity as Director of Vert Design, Andrew manages the company’s business development and growth strategies year-on-year.

The combination of having multiple previous service providers, and an inability to access timely, accurate, and valuable business data, meant Vert Design was looking for a new Business Advisory partner to help them navigate this constantly evolving and changing market - one that could give strategic advice and input along with no fuss management of day to day payroll, accounting, and annual compliance.

We were missing the bigger picture as a result of the separation of advice and services. Mark reached out to us and had a discussion around what we were doing, where the disconnects might be and how RSM could assist utilising their experience and capability.

The Experience

“Vert Design has been a client of RSM’s for the past two years and we have been assisting them with compliance, tax advisory, business strategy advisory, and Strategic Outsourcing services, including bookkeeping, payroll, management reporting”, says Mark Nichols, Principal, Business Advisory at RSM in Sydney.   

According to Andrew, “Working with RSM has been a partnership that has helped me grow. From the beginning of the relationship, the focus has been on growth, clarity, and cleanliness. The simple admin stuff has been well managed and ended up saving us thousands of dollars.”

In addition to the Business Advisory work mentioned above, RSM has assisted Vert Design with their digital asset suite including web-hosting, Gmail accounts, and structural IT support through RSM’s dedicated, national Digital Services team.

This seamless integration of cross-divisional services and support has been a valuable add-on for Andrew and the business. “The service and advice we get from RSM are deep and multi-layered. It has a personal nature, an Australian approach that is based on honesty and it is one that I really enjoy.”

As Mark Nichols states, “Andrew is a business owner who is motivated to grow his business and is engaged in the accounting and numbers behind business growth and performance. At RSM our ability to bring bookkeeping, payroll, accounting, advisory, and compliance under one umbrella, and to deliver timely and accurate financial data is a great advantage in the hands of the right business owner”.

RSM’s responsiveness to questions and issues is also high on the list of benefits according to Andrew, “We can contact members of the RSM team at any time and any issues, questions or concerns we have are addressed very quickly.” More recently, as they experienced challenging economic times, Vert Design has called on RSM to assist with risk assessment and management of the Government stimulus. “RSM has had my back and minimised the stress,” explained Andrew.

The Future

The re-onshoring of manufacturing to Australia as a result of current global forces, the immersion of new product categories, and delivering on sustainability promises are all things that Andrew sees as areas of change going forward. “RSM has helped me to identify that the current changes we are all experiencing are an opportunity, but only if we are on the right side of it," says Andrew.

Ultimately, our relationship with RSM allows me to focus on improvements in design, business development and maximising our growth.

This sentiment aligns strongly with Mark’s, who says “Our goal is to be a trusted adviser that Vert Design can leverage to develop growth strategies and performance improvement processes.”

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

To learn more about Vert Design, click here.

To learn more about Mark, view his professional profile >>

Mark Nichols Partner - Sydney Services:  Business Advisory Services, Business strategy and development, Structuring advice, Strategic Outsourcing, Outsourced CFO services   VIEW MARKS PROFILE HERE >>