Solving the problem of temporary connectivity for the John F Hunt Group
Deadlines are tight in the construction industry, and there’s no time to waste when it comes to getting a site office set up and ready to work. But the teams at John F Hunt and their IT support providers, TechVertu, were left frustrated by repeated attempts to install what should have been straightforward connectivity.
Challenge
Just like any other workplace, when John F Hunt sets up a site office at a construction site, their team needs telephone and internet connectivity to work. Unlike most other workplaces, though, the team will vacate the location after a relatively short time, leaving no trace that a temporary office was ever there – besides, of course, a job well done.
How do you connect a site like this to the internet when it is going to be to be demolished or infrastructure needs to be removed at the end of the project? As we’ll discover, this is perfectly possible, but with previous providers, the challenge had been near insurmountable.
Hadi Marashy, Chief Technology Officer at John F Hunt and Managing Director of TechVertu, the company that provides IT support for all companies within the John F Hunt Group, explains the frustration he experienced:
“We’d used various suppliers for these projects before, but most of them let us down. We had problems with delays and lack of communication, they didn’t really deliver.”
On numerous occasions, other providers had tried to install phone and broadband connectivity to a temporary site, but on each occasion, Openreach engineers (who provide much of the UK’s physical internet infrastructure) arrived with instructions to install a regular, permanent service, not a temporary one. This was a waste of time for all concerned, and very frustrating for Hadi and his team: “The bottom line is, when there’s no connectivity on site, no one can work.”
Solution
Alternative solutions such as 4G connectivity were considered, but proved to be unreliable and expensive. By the time Beaming entered the scene, the problem with engineers trying to install a permanent connection at one particular site had been on-going for months.
With a wealth of experience in provisioning both permanent and temporary connections, we were able to take a different approach.
Our team project manages each installation from start to finish, ensuring that the need for temporary connectivity is clearly communicated to Openreach engineers in advance of their site visit. This means that the activation date we give is the activation date that’s delivered, and everyone can then get on with their work. When the on-site work is complete, Beaming arranges for Openreach engineers to visit the site again and remove all temporary infrastructure.
Results
Hadi explains the difference made by Beaming’s refreshing approach: “We have just one account manager contact, so we don’t have to speak to lots of different people and departments. Everything is extremely straightforward.”
With Beaming involved, projects can get off on the right foot; everyone knows what to expect and temporary connectivity is delivered where it needs to be, when it needs to be, which has a knock-on effect on the job as a whole. “Projects happen on time, as planned, and we’re always kept in the loop. That keeps everyone happy.”, he says.