Relocating your IT office shouldn’t be an exhausting task. Good planning is essential. In the following article, we are going to discuss the basics you need to know when you decide to relocate your office.
Project manager
The first thing to do is to assign a project manager. There will be a lot of people involved, but it’s very important that you have one person that everybody can rely on. That person will officially manage the project and will have several responsibilities. They will have to find out about the new building, their rules and regulations, if they require union labor, etc. The person can be you or someone else.
Current contracts
Another important aspect is the current contracts for voice and data (whether you are under contract or you can transfer the contract to the new address). Ordering a CSR (customer service record) from your service provider will tell you everything you need to know about your phone system – will you lease it or do you own it? If you lease it, who’s going to move it?
Find out about circuits available in your new location. It’s possible that you might like XYZ company but they don’t provide internet in the new building. Find out who does and get reviews from other tenants, see who people like, and make an informed decision on that. For any connection you get, find out who connects to it from the building’s main telco closet up to your office. Is it the service provider or is it the cabling company? A lot of times both companies assume it’s the other person.
If there’s construction involved, schedule a kickoff meeting as soon as possible. Talk to the architect, the general contractors, the technology vendors, furniture vendors, and keep meeting minutes. On every meeting keep detailed notes and make copies for everybody. It really helps with open communication and with accountability on timeline stuff and deadlines. Give an accurate floor plan. A lot of the vendors are gonna be asking for one.
Whereabouts
You must also determine where your server room is gonna be. This can lead to other questions. You need security for that server room, you need electricity, you might need additional cooling, etc. Find out if the building runs AC all night or if you need to cool that room yourself. A cabling company will be able to tell you if the location of your server room is a problem from a cabling standpoint. If it’s too far from any part of the office, then cabling can be an issue. When you’re deciding on your cabling, don’t just think about how many employees you have now or how much equipment you have now. It’s almost always cheaper to cable for the future. Think about any new hires that will be coming up in the next six months to a year at least. Also consider your cabling needs, security access, etc. Doing it all in one project it’s almost always cheaper.
Identify potential delays
Certain aspects of a move can take longer than expected. Figure out carpeting, your furniture vendors, lighting fixtures, etc.
Certificate of insurance
Get a certificate of insurance from your new building. Vendors are going to be requesting copies of that as well.
Get a moving vendor
Find a reliable and experienced company dealing with office removals. Make sure that they will move IT equipment and that equipment is last on and first off of the truck.
Port your phone numbers
If you’re switching carriers, you’ll need to deport them from your current carrier to your new carrier. In the event that things don’t go as planned, you need a temporary internet solution on clear offers – for example a wireless router that can be given to you temporarily. If you don’t have internet can employees work from home? Figure out the back-up plan and communicate that to everybody.
DNS records
If you’re hosting your own email server, you’re gonna need to get those DNS records to point into the new location. They’re almost always password-protected. Odds are an IT employee has that on file, so make sure you get that sorted away.
Cleaning and additional tasks
Figure out a cleaning day – who is responsible for cleaning the new space. Schedule it for the last possible minute.
Delegate people in charge of certain aspects. Who is in charge of removing the garbage, who is in charge of setting up the computers, etc. Test your connections before you move into the office, make sure that your voice and data connections are up and running, and also that you can make local calls and long-distance calls. Make sure the caller ID is working properly. Test your internet speeds and make sure your provider is giving you what they actually sold you.
Coordinate schedules for your employees
It’s usually not a good idea to have everybody at 9:00 a.m. On moving day that just results in people just sitting around doing nothing. If you can stagger start times, that’s usually helpful.
Forward your mail
You could do it at the post office or just jump on USPS.com. Also update your address, your email signatures, your business cards, the website, and any promo materials.
With all these being said, we hope the tips we provided in this article will prove useful whenever you plan to relocate your IT business to a new place.
