Case study interview: Adam Ollier (Head of Technical Delivery) on a recent office IT migration for Chiptech

Earlier this year, FACT3 delivered an office IT migration for Chiptech. Their main office in Lancaster, based in Palatine Hall, was undergoing a major renovation and they needed to vacate the building temporarily while the work was carried out and relocate to a nearby mill.

FACT3's role was to ensure their workforce could move to the temporary premises with minimal IT disruption while maintaining business operations across both sites during the transition. Below, FACT3’s head of delivery, Adam Ollier, explains the process.

Hi Adam, could you give some background on Chiptech? What industry are they in, and who are their customers?

Adam: Chiptech is a medical technology manufacturing company. They produce personal emergency response devices—the modern equivalent of the traditional emergency alarm pendant used by elderly or vulnerable people to call for assistance. Their devices connect via mobile networks and the internet, with all activity reporting back to Chip Tech's monitoring centre in Lancaster, where they monitor connectivity, network status and device performance.

They also have an office in New Zealand providing the same functionality, and they're looking to expand into European markets where there's demand for similar healthcare technology.

Why did they choose FACT 3 for the project?

Adam: Chiptech has been a long-standing customer of FACT 3, so this wasn't a case of winning a new project. We were already their IT provider, so it was a natural progression for us to manage the relocation as well.

How did you approach the project?

Adam Ollier: The first step was carrying out a survey of the new premises. We needed to understand what infrastructure already existed—whether there was an internet connection, structured cabling, suitable locations for network equipment, and so on.

Once that was complete, Andy Potkins managed the planning and coordination. That involved meetings with the council, their internet provider and everyone involved in delivering connectivity to ensure everything would be ready for the move.

From a technical perspective, FACT 3 supplied new Ubiquiti network equipment that matched the existing setup at Palatine Hall. That allowed us to back up the existing configuration and restore it onto the new hardware, enabling both locations to operate simultaneously while users were moved across over several days.

What did the implementation involve, and were there any challenges?

Adam: Installation was scheduled for Thursday morning. The plan was straightforward: once the council handed over the internet connection, we'd connect it to our network equipment, patch in the required desks and have the site operational by lunchtime.

Unfortunately, when you're working with third parties, things don't always go to plan.

Although everyone had attended planning meetings, some of our technical requirements had been diluted as they passed through different departments within the council. As a result, what should have been a Thursday lunchtime handover became a Friday morning handover instead.

We spent Thursday working alongside the council to troubleshoot the issue, but it became clear the connection couldn't be completed that day. Personally, I came away feeling disappointed because we hadn't achieved what we'd planned. However, once the council resolved their side of the connection on Friday morning, we were able to complete the installation, test everything and have the customer fully operational by mid-morning.

The second phase of the project took place around a week later, when Chiptech moved another department into the building. We returned to install additional cabling, fit wireless access points, carry out testing and complete the network deployment while the customer was moving furniture into the new space.

Once everything had been tested, we handed over the completed installation, showed the customer where everything was located and confirmed the network was ready for use.

There was an early setback, but it came together in the end.

Adam: Absolutely. One thing you learn is that you never really know the people you're relying on when third parties are involved. You don't know their priorities, workloads or technical experience.

What was encouraging was that everyone involved—from FACT 3 to the council's networking team—was genuinely committed to getting the customer operational as quickly as possible. That made it much easier to keep Chiptech informed, explain what had happened and reassure them that progress was being made.

Naturally, they were disappointed that they couldn't begin moving staff in on Thursday as planned, but they also understood that projects of this complexity don't always go exactly as expected.

How much did your previous experience help on this project?

Adam:  I've managed a lot of office migrations over the years, and that experience makes a huge difference.

One of the biggest strengths experience gives you is the ability to think beyond the original plan. Rather than focusing on why something isn't working, you're constantly asking, "Is there another way we can achieve the outcome?" Even if the solution is temporary, the priority is getting the customer operational before refining things afterwards.

Troubleshooting is really about working methodically. In this case, we eventually discovered there were two separate issues.

The first was that the council's engineering team hadn't connected the far end of the fibre circuit correctly in their data centre. We eventually identified that we were connected to the wrong fibre, but that required someone at the data centre to confirm the correct connection.

The second issue involved the device that handed the fibre connection over to our Ubiquiti equipment. It required a very specific configuration that none of us had access to. Fortunately, the council's networking team did, because they provision those devices themselves. Once they applied the correct configuration, the connection came online and everything worked as expected.

Much of troubleshooting comes from experience. You mentally work through a checklist, eliminate possibilities one by one and gradually narrow down the root cause.

It's difficult to explain exactly how that process works because so much of it becomes instinctive over time. Ultimately, you learn through experience—sometimes through your own mistakes, sometimes through issues caused by third parties or customers—but every project teaches you something that improves the next one.

I imagine that experience also helps you stay calm when things go wrong… 

Adam: Definitely. There's nothing worse than arriving on site with a carefully planned schedule only for everything to change the moment you walk through the door. You have to be prepared to abandon the original plan, start again and solve the problem that's actually in front of you.

At the same time, you have to communicate that clearly to the customer. Technical explanations filled with networking terminology aren't helpful to most people, so it's important to translate complex technical issues into language they can easily understand.

That's a skill in itself. Good engineers don't just solve technical problems—they explain those problems in a way that gives customers confidence.

Remaining calm is also critical. If the engineer appears stressed or panicked, the customer immediately loses confidence. In many situations, you may be the person coordinating multiple teams while everyone else is under pressure. Experience allows you to stay focused, think clearly and reassure the customer that there is a solution—it may simply take a little longer than expected.

Finally, what were the results of the project, and what are the long-term benefits for Chiptech?

Adam: The project was a real success. Chiptech was extremely pleased with the work we carried out. Everything we set out to achieve was delivered, and downtime for staff during the move was kept to an absolute minimum. Given they were relocating furniture and departments at the same time, they weren't expecting to operate at full capacity during the move anyway.

The new temporary office now has a stable, reliable network. Since the installation, there haven't been any support tickets relating to the network itself, which is always a good indicator that everything has been implemented correctly.

The customer also commented positively on how we handled the project—keeping them informed throughout, providing confidence during the delays and successfully managing the additional complexity of coordinating multiple third parties within a tight timescale.

It certainly sounds like a successful project.

Adam: It definitely felt good once everything was working on Friday. Looking back, it was a challenging project, but that's often where you demonstrate the most value for the customer.

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