Case study · Legal

A new office for OMB, open on day one.

When OMB Solicitors moved into the top two floors of a new five-level Southport building in late 2022, we designed and built the IT from scratch and kept the firm trading on day one, even after the ISP missed the install.

The challenge

A new office to build from the bones up.

OMB had outgrown its previous premises and signed for the top two floors of a brand-new five-level building, around 1180 sqm of office space with nothing inside it yet. More than 50 staff needed to walk in on opening day to phones that worked, drives that were where they expected, and a network that held.

- 01

Twice the floor space, no IT to inherit

Every cable, outlet, and rack location had to be specified from scratch across two floors. There was no existing network to extend or adapt, just an architect's plan and a date.

- 02

Vendors pulling in different directions

Electricians, cablers, the ISP, the print vendor, and the firm's legal-software providers all had a hand in the move, and none of them talked to each other. Without one party holding the thread, it would have been the partners on the phone chasing trades.

- 03

A go-live date the firm couldn't slip

Confidential client matter doesn't pause for a relocation. Court deadlines, settlements, and trust-account work all needed to keep moving, which meant the new office had to open ready to trade, not ready to commission.

01 · Got the bones right before the desks arrived

A site survey that shaped the fitout, not just the IT.

We ran the site survey early and fed the findings back into the electrical and cabling plans before any cable was pulled.

The original drawings had one double power point and one network drop per desk, which is enough until you remember that a modern legal workstation runs a desktop, two screens, and a phone. We pushed for two of each so desktops weren't piggy-backing off phones, and adjusted outlet placement in the boardroom so the screen and the conferencing kit weren't fighting for the same socket.

02 · A cloud foundation, sized for growth

No more tying a person to a workstation.

The new environment is fully cloud-based, so onboarding is a sign-in, not a build.

A new hire doesn't need a desk-side IT visit on day one. Existing staff can sit at any desk in the office, sign in, and pick up exactly where they left off. OMB has hired since the move, and we haven't had to revisit the build.

03 · One point of contact for every vendor

The partners shouldn't have to referee trades.

Evolve coordinated print, ISP, and legal software directly, so OMB only had to call us.

When a vendor needed access, a decision, or a sign-off, it came through us. The partners stayed focused on the firm rather than chasing emails between an electrician, a printer technician, and a carrier.

The outcome

Open on day one, and ready for the next hire.

OMB walked into a working office on the agreed date. The infrastructure scales as the firm hires, and the office still opened on time even when the ISP didn't.

- 01

Open on day one, despite the ISP

The ISP missed the install date and the wireless backup wasn't working either. We brought in a 4G service from the provider, added our own 4G at the opposite end of the building, and load-balanced the two so coverage held across both floors. OMB opened the new office on time.

- 02

Onboarding is a sign-in, not a setup day

A new lawyer is productive on day one without a desk-side IT visit. Existing staff hot-desk between floors without losing files, sessions, or settings.

- 03

Evolve still owns the vendor list

Print, ISP, legal software, every vendor still routes through us. The partners have one number for anything IT, not a list of trades to chase themselves.

Moving offices?

The IT can be the part you don't have to manage.

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