Mentor Digital

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Information Resources Manager of Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We provide education and qualifications for Loss Adjusters and other insurance claims professionals.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Mentor Digital to accomplish?

• To replace a legacy CRM and member portal with a modern, scalable Dynamics 365 platform that improved membership management, CPD tracking, event bookings and payments, while creating a strong foundation for future digital services.

SOLUTION

How did you find Mentor Digital?

Memberwise

Why did you select Mentor Digital over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit

How many teammates from Mentor Digital were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The project involved the complete replacement of a legacy CRM and members' area with a modern Dynamics based CRM and Umbraco web Portal.  This was integrated with a new payment system using Stripe, and a new improved marketing platform using DotDigital.  

Key deliverables were:

• Dynamics CRM creation: Set up and configure core CRM tables/entities: relationships, lookups, dependencies, model driven forms and Views. Form validation and JavaScript logic.
• Complete data migration from legacy system to Dynamics, with testing to ensure data integrity
• Creation of development, staging and production environments
• Development of custom membership solution to mange membership renewals both for individual membership payments and memberships managed in bulk by corporate accounts
• Development of custom qualifications module to manage member qualifications
• Implemenation of Single Sign O for secure login with forgotten password, confirm email by code, and authentication system
• Creation of members' Portal to manage member registration, membership details, CPD, renewals, and payments
• Implementation of Stripe payments integrated with Portal and back office Dynamics CRM
• Implementation of DotDigital marketing and transaction email system, integrated with Dynamics CRM 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Successful migration and cleansing of all legacy CRM data, full onboarding of members to the new platform using secure magic-link access, improved speed and usability across desktop and mobile, and faster payment and invoicing processes through integrated online card payments.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The project was very well managed and we were able to meet some ambitious targets timewise.  They were also very responsive.

What was your primary form of communication with Mentor Digital?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

There was a good technical understanding of the project from everyone involved.  Requirements were thoroughly scoped out and the project was planned out in detail.  There was always someone available to help, including out of hours - we never had an issue with resources not being available and were able to meet a tight delivery target.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Mentor Digital could have done differently?

The data migration was managed jointly between CILA and Mentor and it might have been possible to go through the planning of this even more thoroughly, although the time available was obviously a limitation.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital marketing manager at a nonprofit charity. We care for the green spaces in Milton Keynes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mentor Digital?

We needed help with website development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Mentor Digital has developed three websites for us from scratch using Umbraco. They’ve also provided hosting and maintenance services. The team has created design mock-ups based on our brand guidelines and brought them to life on the websites. They’ve done some branding work on one of the websites prior to the launch.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with Rob (Creative Director), Rebecca (Senior Project Manager), and Marija (Project Manager).

How did you come to work with Mentor Digital?

We went out to tender and asked several companies to submit proposals for our new websites. We selected Mentor Digital based on their experience, value, and the different skills their team had. I also previously worked at a company that used Mentor Digital.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first went out to tender in November 2023, but we officially appointed Mentor Digital in January 2024. We launched the three websites in October 2024, but our partnership with the team is still ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

The websites have been launched without any bugs, which is impressive. Mentor Digital's work is always of a truly high standard. The team is responsive and works through any issues that arise. The websites have transformed our technology, and they’re interactive and engaging. Overall, Mentor Digital has brought our branding to life within the designs.

How did Mentor Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

The project has run on time, and we haven’t gone over budget. We’ve used Basecamp and Jira to manage the project. We mainly communicate through Basecamp, and we also have weekly calls.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

Marija has been brilliant. We have weekly calls, which help the project stay on track. She’s responsive, and the back-and-forth communication keeps things on track.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed by Mentor Digital’s skills, dedication, and creativity in bringing the work to life. Everything has gone smoothly throughout the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Put together a good brief and reach out to Mentor Digital’s team to see what ideas they bring to the table. They can help shape the direction you want to go in on your project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Assistant Director Business Development of Research in Practice

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Research in Practice promotes and enables evidence-informed practice, leadership and policy across the social care workforce in England through live learning, multi-media learning resources and bespoke projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Mentor Digital to accomplish?

• Develop a new website for the company
• Host and maintain the website
• Continue to support the development of the website

SOLUTION

How did you find Mentor Digital?

Other

Why did you select Mentor Digital over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned
• Other

What was the size of Mentor Digital’s team?

32

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• Build new website based on Umbraco CMS to meet client needs, including payment integration
• Transfer content from old website to new website
• Provide ongoing maintenance and hosting services over 4 years
• Undertake ongoing programmed bespoke development of the website for Umbraco in response to user need
• Contribute to identifying design and development priorities
• Established CMS integration with CRM
• Working with the CRM supplier to ensure continuity of service and quality
• Currently upgrading site to Umbraco 10

Deliverables:

• CMS website with bespoke integration to CRM to provide content access control
• Ongoing maintenance and hosting with high availability, low downtime SLA level quality measures with monthly reporting
• Bespoke development and testing managed using AGILE and Jira

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Initial project completed within agreed timescale
• Ongoing development activities completed to satisfactory standard and within budget
• Positive user response
• Ongoing excellent customer relationships over a period of time
• Very limited number of bugs and downtime, all quickly resolved
• Meeting SLA requirements each year
• Realistic and accurate time planning and effective project management

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

• Effective project management, excellent planning and engagement, regular reporting with all the detail we need in a dashboard format
• Proactive in project management, anticipating activities and potential developments, with a solution focus
• Support in scoping, accurate in cost and time estimation
• Projects delivered on time
• Competitive pricing
• Mentor are always very responsive and proactive, keen to anticipate and meet our needs
• Mentor invest in a partnership approach, being responsive and keen to engage with us in ways that work for our organisation
• Consistent account managers, developers, project managers, so we can build and sustain relationships ensures that this works well

What was your primary form of communication with Mentor Digital?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email 
• Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The effort they make to invest in their relationship with us - being continually responsive, intuitive, proactive, accommodating. They deal with changes quickly, produce accurate codes, and provide good test plans.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Mentor Digital could have done differently?

No, we're really happy with the quality of service we get from Mentor Digital.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a membership organization for planners based in the UK.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Mentor Digital?

We’ve worked with Mentor Digital for many years on various website development and UI/UX design projects.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Mentor Digital has helped us rebuild our website and integrate it into Microsoft Dynamics. They’ve also done various upgrades to its UX and more. Moreover, they’ve helped us with cybersecurity.

What was the team composition?

We work directly with a project manager that Mentor Digital has assigned to our account. Still, we’re able to speak with others, including their design and technical teams.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent around £25,000 (approximately $31,000 USD) on the website.

What is the status of this engagement?

When I joined my company, the original contract with Mentor Digital was already in place. Thus, I estimate that we started working together in 2012, and our engagement is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’ve seen a steady increase in our website traffic since Mentor Digital redeveloped it, which has been a great improvement for our company. At the time, we were desperate to have a fully integrated website, but we weren’t exactly sure of what we wanted. Still, Mentor Digital helped us figure out how to track the user journey and get information from our members.

How did Mentor Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve worked with a couple of project managers from Mentor Digital who have always ensured to stick to the timelines. A delay would imply a financial cost for us, so they’re great at ensuring that doesn’t happen.

We communicate in various ways, depending on the situation. For example, for new feature requests, I send them a formal email. Whenever I have a question, I pick up the phone and call them. Finally, if there’s an incident with the website, O can message them and get a quick response.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Mentor Digital is a very good team that coordinates very well with each other and always brings the right people to the meetings. For technical discussions, they bring the technical director; for UX design inquiries, they bring the design team. Moreover, they always think about the best ways to help us with the project’s progress, which is very helpful and makes our engagement efficient. They’re always forward-thinking.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Everyone has room for improvement. In Mentor Digital’s case, it would be great if they were faster at dealing with support tickets and small projects. Still, they’re great at dedicating time and effort to bigger projects.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a very detailed project scope and ensure everything is well-documented. If you don’t, you may experience delays and start working over in some areas. If you do, Mentor Digital will give you their best opinion and help you get your user stories correct.