HSBC - First Direct Office Relocation

Client

First Direct is a telephone and internet-based retail bank in the United Kingdom, a division of HSBC Bank plc. First Direct has headquarters in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, and has 1.35 million customers.
First Direct is based at two call centres in Stourton (Leeds) and Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The Leeds call centre is the main site of the bank, housing all the major departments.

Requirement

In 2015 First Direct embarked on an ambitious refurbishment program of their call centre. This involved the relocation of thousands of users over multiple floors while the refurbishment work was carried out. During this time it was essential that a working call centre environment was maintained.

Challenges

The biggest challenge to the Conceptunet team was ensuring that the data infrastructure was in place to support the movement of staff around the building. This meant increasing capacity in certain areas where users were temporarily housed while the office was refurbished.

Outcome

A detailed project plan and excellent coordination was needed to ensure that IT equipment was moved and re-connected with the minimal disruption to working conditions. Users were able to come into the office on a Monday following a weekend move and have all of their IT operational and ready to make calls.

Over a 10 month period Conceptunet completed 18 phases and moved thousands of users around the building and installed hundreds of additional data and voice outlets to accommodate the project.