“We’re the guardian angels working in the background”

Thomas Staub hovers above the vegetables. The 59-year-old has used a lifting platform to get himself up to the ceiling of the Migros supermarket. Watched by curious customers, he examines a small, white box. “The antenna is definitely broken,” Staub calls down. His 23-year-old colleague Thien Nguyen immediately hands him the correct replacement component. “Here you go old fella!” After a few simple steps, the new WLAN antenna lights up blue and everything is OK.

Staub and Nguyen are two of over 30 “field services technicians” working at Migros. They equip all supermarkets – in addition to Denner and Migrol branches – with computer technology and ensure network stability. It’s thanks to them that the checkout systems work, Cumulus points are credited to customer accounts and orders for goods are sent out. “We’re the guardian angels working in the background,” says Thomas Staub.

Problems at the shopping centre

They are dealing this morning with various minor problems at Zugerland Shopping Centre. “The more antennas fail, the slower the store network becomes,” explains Thien Nguyen. The skilled telematics technician joined Migros a year ago. Together with Staub and two other colleagues, Lucerne-born Nguyen looks after the branches in Central Switzerland and Ticino. He is the youngest member of the team. “By a long way.” – “That’s enough,” his workmate responds with mock indignation.

Staub himself joined Migros 27 years ago. For many years, the skilled technician from Horw in Canton Lucerne equipped Migros Lucerne branches with new hardware. “I know the systems inside out.” Since joining Field Services in 2022, he has also been configuring networks.

Best of friends

The large age gap between the two men is certainly no barrier - on the contrary, Staub is full of admiration for his young colleague’s network expertise, which benefits everyone. A point of attack for Nguyen: “I think Thomas is making progress, albeit slowly, as he’s no spring chicken.” Staub counters: “But I’ve got better local knowledge and know all the tricks when it comes to laying cables.”

As they’re about to leave the supermarket, they bump into the head of facility management. “I’m glad I caught you!” There’s a problem with the scales on the cheese counter: the customer display isn’t showing the weight of cheese, but a juicy piece of meat. “You’ve got the wrong scales,” says Staub. “Can you create a ticket for us?”

Problems aren’t always quite so easy to solve. In the night before 31 December 2023, Thomas Staub suddenly received an error message on his mobile phone. The WLAN had gone down completely in about a dozen stores. No checkout systems were working. “An unexpected software update had paralysed the network – and precisely on one of the busiest retail days of the year.” He had to quickly round up the other IT specialists so they could work together to get the systems up and running again. “Things like this really make you sweat.”

A tangled web of cables

The Zugerland server room is in one of the shopping centre’s back rooms. As they enter, the two technicians are met with warm air and a loud humming noise. “That’s coming from the fans in the network cabinets,” says Thien Nguyen. He opens up one of the cabinets in which countless cables create a colourful pattern. “The grey cables are for the checkout systems and the blue ones for the WLAN antennas.”

Nguyen connects his laptop to the cabinet and checks that the replaced components in the Migros supermarket are working properly and at full capacity. He routinely replaces a faulty cable that has been inhibiting data flow.

The next job pops up on his mobile phone – this time outside the shopping centre. An antenna has also failed at the Migrol petrol station on the other side of the road - but the system doesn’t show which one. “All I can see is that number 1 is no longer working,” explains Staub.

Everything is working properly in the petrol station shop and the garage. “Where else do you have antennas?” Nguyen asks a mechanic working on a delivery van. “There’s another one in the car wash.” That’s the one! The device is installed at the top of the wall, protected by a plastic cover. There’s no blue light. Nguyen unscrews the antenna and connects it to the network cabinet at the Migrol petrol station. Suddenly the bulb lights up. “In that case, there must be something wrong with the wiring in the car wash.” The two technicians can’t solve this problem by themselves. They tell the manager that he’ll need to call out an electrician.

The next job has already come through, this time at the Denner store in Surseepark. After a quick bite to eat in Zugerland, the two technicians set off again.