At all costs, a smooth and uneventful relocation of network access was critical to kicking off this new chapter in the development of Coaching Focus. Enter Optinet. With a reputation for expertise in risk mitigation, Optinet was given the responsibility to complete installation of a new network within the strict deadlines set for the office move.
In many ways, risk management is a thankless task. Get it wrong, disruption reigns and people shout at you. Get it right, nothing happens so nobody thanks you. Unperturbed by this injustice, Optinet always maintains the discipline of risk assessment prior to every project.
When it comes to network relocation, one risk stands out – wayleaves. Together with easements and servitudes, a wayleave is a legal permission allowing access across private land or, when working in more built-up environments, through a neighbour’s property. Either way, it’s essential to understand the route of network access at the very earliest stage. Why? Because the legal process of agreeing on a wayleave can take months. It’s not uncommon to hear of businesses over-looking wayleave applications and being faced with delays to the office move or being forced to work for months with temporary, inadequate network connectivity, such as ADSL.
With this in mind, and with experience of many office relocations, Optinet set about a ‘network discovery’ process to identify potential access points and determine the most advantageous in terms of time, cost and performance. With maps and data on local network infrastructure and facilities, the Optinet team were able to identify the optimal routing and connection, whilst also ensuring availability within deadline.
In the meantime, the rest of the team worked on cabling, switching, firewall security and WiFi installation to allow employees immediate access to services on day one. All activity was managed according to an agreed method statement and careful planning of timescales and resources.
Today, with high speed ethernet fibre, Coaching Focus can manage their high demand for online conferencing whilst also planning for new, productivity-boosting cloud services.
