Case Study – IMA
How the right building
Customer overview
The Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) is a professional body for mathematicians incorporated by royal charter, and one of the UK’s learned societies.
From their headquarters in Southend, they have coordinated continuous professional development, training, and advocacy work for mathematicians across the UK and the world for the last 50 years.
The Challenge
In 2025, IMA decided the office they’d occupied since the 90s, a converted 1860s bootmaker’s workshop, was no longer suitable for their needs. Having decided to keep hybrid working after the Covid-19 pandemic, the separate rooms isolated staff working on-site, reducing their opportunities to collaborate on their in-office days.
To make the most of a more open, collaborative office, they decided to move from fixed desktops to a full laptop fleet, with desk docks, better WiFi, and hot-desking support. The brief handed to Sprint Integration was:
Install internet, wireless, and structured cabling in the new building
Manage the move of the whole IT estate to the new office
Issue everyone with a new laptop, migrating their settings, programs, and data
Plan and implement new IT collaboration features
Our process
1
Early Planning
IMA involved Sprint Integration at the earliest planning stages, before a new open-plan office location was picked. This gave us the opportunity to check the best internet options available and assist IMA’s office managers with the office design. Doing it this way, IMA were able to sign the new office lease and internet order on the same day, reducing the time to working internet, which helped the other departments with their move, allowing them to hybrid-work between the two buildings. Working with the office managers, we assisted with designing the desk layout to make sure we had network wiring in the right places and full high-speed WiFi 7 coverage.
2
Moving Day
Once the prep work was complete, we moved all the IT servers, switches, routers, and computers over. With careful planning, we were able to move everything on a single Friday, with only three hours of downtime, and the new office ready to operate from Monday.
New office ready to operate from Monday after a single Friday move
Collaboration and Mobile First
Once the office move was complete, we surveyed all the users and worked with them to help choose the kit they were most comfortable with for IMA’s new “Mobile First” way of working:
Choosing kit for “Mobile First” working
People picked either a lightweight 13″ laptop or a larger 16″ laptop, with their desired style of mouse, headphones, and bag.
Migrated to the Microsoft Cloud and SonicWall VPN
All the users were migrated over from their old desktops and laptops, using the Microsoft Cloud and SonicWall VPN to allow them to log in and work from anywhere with all their files and data securely.
New docks for full hotdesk flexibility
Each desk in the new office was equipped with a new dock that provided network, power, wireless keyboard and mouse, and triple screens by plugging in a single cable. This allows any user to sit at any desk and work, allowing for full hotdesk flexibility.
Meeting table and digital signage for collaboration
We also installed a meeting table with a 27″ conference screen, with built-in multi-person camera and array microphone. A 55″ digital sign was also installed in the main office for larger meetings and welcome rooms.
Results & Benefits
Alongside the new office, the IT improvements brought a lot of collaboration benefits to IMA:
Full “Mobile First” configuration
Full “Mobile First” config, allowing users to work seamlessly from anywhere, not just the office.
Complete hotdesk setup
Complete hotdesk setup – people can work anywhere in the office with anyone, as needed.
Full WiFi 7 office coverage
Full WiFi 7 office coverage for high-speed wireless.
Improved conference tools
Improved conference tools with small and large meeting areas.
It was a pleasure working with the leadership and staff at IMA to help them plan both the office move and improve their IT collaboration.
