Meet Andrei Chekan, the Co-Founder of Simple Office and a visionary leader in the world of automation and development. With a strong passion for creating comfortable and efficient spaces, Andrei has played a pivotal role in revolutionizing the way offices are managed and optimized.
Recognizing the challenges faced by businesses in managing seating arrangements and workflow, Andrei and his team developed cutting-edge smart office software that has garnered significant attention and traction in the industry. Learn more about him through our interview below:
What’s the idea behind Your Company?
Simple Office, as a product, was introduced two years ago. Initially, it was an in-house solution to address the challenges of managing seating arrangements for our IT department employees. With our company experiencing rapid growth, expanding our office space at the same pace was simply not feasible. That’s when the idea arose to streamline the workflow of employees with flexible schedules, with the goal of accommodating 50 employees in 30 workstations. After the minimum viable product (MVP) was launched, one of our major engineering clients expressed interest in the product, and the COVID-19 pandemic further validated the soundness of the idea.
The quality of our software and our reputation as a trusted supplier of high-quality solutions is very important to us. Our core competency lies in creating a comfortable space. Our expertise has traditionally been in engineering smart homes and offices, but as we ventured into the software market, we realized that our commitment to quality has been our driving force. Our smart office software is the logical continuation of our mission to create comfortable office experiences, addressing the struggles that clients face with clunky interfaces.
Currently, Simple Office is being used by renowned companies like Leroy Merlin, Hellman, Avito and other biggest companies on their markets. This year, we have even bigger plans in store.
Strategically, we aim to merge our products into one ecosystem in order to give our customers an even more flexible and customized solution. We want to give company employees a convenient and easy tool that will make their work more comfortable and efficient, and managers and owners a management system with visual analytics that will help them to make decisions.
For over 15 years, we’ve been active in the market with a workforce of 450+ employees. Our software department generating over 50,000 USD in revenue in its first year of sales. As a burgeoning software company, we specialize in cutting-edge solutions for businesses.
How did you begin your career journey? Do you have any advice for beginners?
My brother and I have established a company that specializes in automation and development. Starting with a small team of fewer than 10 employees, our company has now grown to employ over 450 individuals, and we offer a diverse range of products and services, including engineering systems, mobile applications, and smart building management.
Drawing on the knowledge I acquired during my time at university studying financial and management accounting, I have been able to apply these skills to our business operations. With the support of an exceptional team, we have been able to take on large-scale projects and gain recognition in the industry, allowing our company to expand and venture into new areas.
At the core of our business philosophy is a commitment to talent and quality. In fact, in our smart home project when we first started out, we even removed prices from our equipment and contractor price lists, so that engineers can choose the best solution for our clients without personal concerns about the price. We have always strived for the best possible results, and we have learned how to optimize costs without compromising on quality.
And it’s proven by the value our products bring: according to feedback from our clients, our product has helped to reduce office rent by approximately 25%, improve our clients’ HR brand, assist office managers, and foster team bonding. The system also helps to introduce a respectful attitude towards other people’s time and use of office space, which makes up a large share of the company’s costs.
Our dedication to excellence has helped us attract discerning buyers who appreciate our commitment to delivering high-quality products and services. To have a bigger vision behind the scene is crucial.
What’s the goal of Your Company?
“Simple” – Simplicity. This word is truly a fundamental aspect of all our products. Our mission is to simplify intricate processes. We specialize in creating comfortable and automated spaces – offices, buildings, villas, apartments, yachts, museums. Our products deliver fast and comprehensive results by addressing specific pain points. Despite its extensive range of features, the product maintains a user-friendly and intuitive interface, ensuring ease of use.
Currently represented by one product in the UAE market, we have plans to expand our ecosystem soon, integrating with other products such as Application Management Service and smart home solutions, all geared towards office automation and creating conveniently managed office spaces. We have more than 15 years of experience in automation and control of buildings, creation of multimedia complexes, and the creation of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.
How important are employees’ energy levels to the success of Your Company?
We believe that employees’ energy levels are crucial to the success of our company. We encourage our employees to take breaks, prioritize self-care, and maintain a healthy work-life balance. We believe that happy and energized employees are more productive, creative, and better equipped to handle challenges. We offer sports activities and language courses to help our team avoid getting stuck in a rut. Our office also includes its own gym and comfortable areas for relaxation.
How do you plan to motivate your team to go the extra mile?
Our people are truly our greatest asset, no matter how cliché it may sound. We firmly believe in the principle of “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” It’s our exceptional team that enables us to maintain flexibility, even in the face of unexpected challenges or “black swan” events.
Whether it’s launching a new product or pivoting an existing one, we’re always ready to take action and make it happen! We perceive everything as a team effort, with everyone experiencing highs and lows together. It is important to select individuals who align with the company’s values and work on projects together, sharing successes and failures. This approach allows for a high degree of responsibility and involvement, but it works with certain people.
What keeps Your Company moving forward even during challenges?
We are attentive to market changes, but we may not accept its rules if they do not match the level of quality that we are accustomed to demonstrating. Our private clients are very demanding, and we have learned to provide solutions that exceed expectations and anticipate people’s desires. This approach always resonates with our clients, and they turn to us when they want to be sure of the result – both in simple and difficult times.
For example, we were approached by a large DIY company to create a solution that involved detecting whether someone was present in a meeting room. The goal was to automatically update the availability status of the room to “available” after 15 minutes of inactivity. This request highlights our commitment to providing tailored and efficient solutions to specific pain points, which is a core principle of our company’s mission.
How do you think technology is leading to changes in businesses? Do you feel it’s helping Your Company grow?
There are a lot of technologies now; the question is not the technologies themselves but what value they bring. So, we maintain a balance here. For example, office maps are made individually by designers as AI cannot yet create a map that fully meets the client’s requirements. However, we use a car number recognition system of our own design to open the barrier to the parking lot. Additionally, we have plans to utilize big data analytics of space management to help our clients find the best solutions for organizing their office spaces.
How is Your Company adapting to digitalization?
As I mentioned above, our company is at the peak of technology, but it is important to use technology where the client needs it, and not just on its own. A good example is the role of our department that develops AI-based solutions. Each of its’ tasks is committed to a specific value from the client’s standpoint: reduce the onboarding time, automate the part of a workflow that couldn’t be automated using “traditional” tools, make the insights that a manager gets from our analytics features more precise and ready-to use. So, I can state, that we do not adapt to digitalization. We use this ongoing and unstoppable process to help our clients make their office workflow more transparent, clear and efficient.
Do you use innovative ideas to be unique?
We have a special approach. We are not just looking for a number of features in a product. Ease of use, flexibility, and unification are the main success criteria.
If there is a function, but it is not convenient to use or difficult to find, we can assume that it does not exist.
Therefore, we pay huge attention to the convenience and design of our solution.
Yes, we have several solutions that are our own innovations, such as the recognition of license plates with AI cameras to open the barrier to the parking lot. Our BMS for the highest building in Europe is a custom solution, making it truly unique. These are just some examples of the innovative solutions we have created.
What services/solutions or products are offered by Your Company as part of the current industry standards? Tell us something about your upcoming products or services.
In Simple Office, we have a flexible system for distributing the rights to use space and control discipline for individual employees and entire teams.
We provide software for booking meeting rooms, desks, parking spaces, lockers, sleeping capsules, and anything else you might need in your office. It’s an amazing tool for structuring your work on a hybrid schedule. We are constantly improving our product, and you can find our release notes on our LinkedIn page. We have a flexible system for distributing the rights to use spaces and control the discipline of individual employees and entire teams.
According to feedback from our clients, our product has helped reduce office rent by approximately 25%, improve our clients’ HR brand, assist office managers, and foster team bonding. The system also helps introduce a respectful attitude towards other people’s time and the use of office space, which makes up a large share of the company’s costs.
For those who are interested in cutting-edge technologies, we would like to offer an extended trial period. Feel free to ask us for more details or check our client reference on YouTube.
Is there anything else you would like to say to our viewers?
I would like to thank you for your interest in Simple and our mission. We are passionate about what we do, and we are committed to helping businesses achieve their goals through simple and effective software solutions. We just want to assure you that we like challenges and recently integrated our system with our client HR system, Exchange server, and internal data system. 3,000 people were placed in a 24,000 square meter area. Employees register in their system, and all information is synchronized with Simple Office. So, whether a person is a newbie or leaves the company, you don’t need to make any additional moves; the system will make the necessary changes automatically.