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MentorMate and ESCREO: the creative approach towards innovation

Office productivity

Introduction

MentorMate are specialists in custom software development solutions. With more than 500 employees, spread across 7 global offices and working on more than 30 development languages they are no strangers to the challenges of communication.

Because those who provide solutions, often need solutions themselves the installation of our whiteboard paint helped MentorMate unlock the creative potential of their teams, by giving them freedom of expression with writable walls that helped their day-to-day workflow and made office collaboration a pleasant and proactive experience.

Do you recall the times when we piled up information on paper and put it in boxes; when communication was slow and learning new skills was much further than a click away?

Those were times when technology belonged to sci-fi literature rather than to our daily lives. Today, there is an app for almost anything one could think of. We bet you, there is an app even for the unthinkable.

Once upon a time, the Matrix suggested a future in which computers rule. And while AI is the cause for many people’s concerns, we are not ruled by a globally networked super-entity that out-learns and takes over the human species, not yet. That said, it is still humans that help you discover, define and develop the blueprint of the technological solutions that facilitate both businesses and consumers.

MentorMate has creative and visionary teams of people in their offices in Sweden, Bulgaria and USA, who are in the business of making your life easier by providing solutions to different problems.

They have been doing it successfully for over 18 years and they are doing it great. With over 1200 completed projects and over 320 clients, recently MentorMate became a client themselves and joined the ESCREO extended family.

We catch up with MentorMate’s Marketing Director Nikolay Lubchev to talk about magic, vision, competitive advantage, productivity and the ESCREO paint. All cool things.

Can you turn work into play and what is the magic formula?

Innovation is rarely created by boring and repetitive work. Thus, we continuously seek to bring a creative spark in all aspects of our work.

We turned to ESCREO to bring that extra dose of encouragement in tackling daily challenges, transforming our work from an ordinary process into an intriguing pursuit.

Is there any magic formula to it? The truth hides in empowering our people. The more enjoyable and interactive their daily workflow, the more creative approach to meeting our goals. Thus, at the end of the day, both our teams and clients are satisfied.

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You provide technological solutions to your customers. What was the problem that ESCREO solved for you?

When work becomes streamlined, our teams lose their creative momentum. To support their productivity, we needed a physical prop that could unlock their creative potential.

We chose ESCREO because it provides an easy to access writing surface. It matches with our concepts of flexibility and usability, and gives us the freedom of expression within a hand’s reach.

ESCREO turns inconveniences into pleasant experiences. It helped us move away from the heavy boards and flip charts; to reduce paper disposal and minimize printing. This fits well with our MentorMate Go Green initiative, which encourages recycling and the use of biodegradable products.

Most importantly, the joy of brainstorming led to an overall boost in performance.

MentorMate has 10 distinctive professional teams (JAVA, LAMP, .NET, etc.). The representatives of which team are we most likely to find writing on ESCREO?

ESCREO’s writable wall surfaces are free to use by anyone at MentorMate. We have multiple conference rooms that feature these writable walls with open access to anyone in our office in Sofia.

That said, apart from these 10 technical teams, both our HR and Marketing departments have also made great use of the ESCREO products, utilising them to scheme out anything from team buildings, corporate parties, and internal sport initiatives to promotional campaigns.

office collaboration

Nowadays, the dynamics of the business environment requires companies to be at the top of their game. What are the special powers that give MentorMate a competitive advantage?

At MentorMate we thrive on investing in our people and shared culture. We work, learn, and celebrate successes together.

A fascinating blend of solid experience and fresh talent, our 500+ software engineers are both communicative and open-minded, and have a strong technical competence.

We also take pride in being able to demystify the digital trends and cut through the technical jargon. We rely on constant innovation within a range of projects that match our common values and goals.

What is your ultimate office productivity hack?

Our ultimate tool for productivity is not so much a hack. It is a mutual understanding of sharing ideas openly and proactively among like-minded people. We pride ourselves with being all of the following characteristics:

Communicative * Innovative * Diverse * Consistent * Encouraging  Goal-oriented * Devoted * Punctual *Agile

We are a closely-knit community with bright ideas. Expressing them freely during meetings and sharing positive attitude, is our way to meet short- and long-term milestones.

What does the near future look like for MentorMate?

  • Continue growing, by focusing on the quality rather than the quantity.
  • Double the 550+ team members and 1200+ projects within the next five years.
  • Extend geographical reach, by increasing both the circle of clients and the number of offices.
  • Adapt its structure and culture to the ever-growing ecosystem of strong international competition.

Conclusion

At MentorMate they find a solution to every problem, they see an opportunity in every crisis.

At ESCREO we see walls as opportunities rather than dead ends, and find flat surfaces more than just flat – we see them as a soil that nurtures the growth of ideas.

And this is how ESCREO helps MentorMate with their workflow:

  • Brings an extra dose of encouragement in tackling daily challenges.
  • Grants the freedom of expression within a hand’s reach.
  • Makes out of the ordinary process an intriguing pursuit.
  • Unlocks the creative potential of our teams.
  • Inconveniences and work hurdles become pleasant and proactive experiences.
  • Provides a solution to limited writing space.
  • Reduces paper disposal and printing.