Your Personal IT Office Relocation Checklist
I like to Move It, Move It
Relocating your office is an exciting process, however if the process is managed without an office relocation checklist it can spell disaster for your business.
The perfect office has good public transportation links, practical commute times for employees and an adequate range of local amenities. Once you’ve chosen your perfect office it’s time to start planning your office relocation. To ensure business continuity you need to ensure the process is managed months in advance. This office relocation checklist helps you accomplish an effortless office move from the initial site visit to the office move-in day.
The Initial Site Visit
The initial site visit can be overwhelming, between taking in the new scenery and being inundated by the property agent’s sales techniques, you need to consider these key points:
- Identify the optimum location for key access points such as routers and network switches
- Determine where appliances such as printers, copiers and scanners will be located
- Count how many phone lines are available, do you need to install more?
- Identify the total number and locations of power outlets and Ethernet ports
- How large is the server room, how many servers are available, is it worth considering moving to a cloud server?
More Internet Speed, More Outcome
Your ‘perfect office’ may not be the perfect office if your download and upload speeds aren’t up to your businesses requirements. Ensure you check your internet speeds before you finalize your office move, you can check speeds for any location using this website. Additionally, ensure you contact your existing internet service providers and technology vendors a couple of months beforehand and inform them of your office move-in date.
New Office, New Telephone System?
An office relocation creates a good opportunity to reassess your current telephony system. Depending on your budget, you can evaluate whether your current system is fit for purpose for your new office or whether it’s time to upgrade. Before making this decision, you must consider these three key factors:
- What is your expected growth over the coming years?
- Will the cabling infrastructure in your new office support your current equipment?
- Will it cost more to reinstall current equipment or upgrade your existing setup. You should contact an independent telecoms company before you move to receive these quotes
Telephone systems are the main form of communication between a business and a client, therefore any upgrade should be planned at least a month beforehand. If you decide to change your phone number ensure you set up call forwarding, and don’t forget to test it!
Back up, Back up
A good back-up solution ensures business continuity. If an office move is not managed correctly, valuable files can be lost. We recommend backing up your data in the cloud during an office relocation. Backing up in the cloud, rather than a physical server, ensures nothing gets lost when moving information and reduces the impacts of human error.
Putting Your Office Relocation Checklist to the Test
Hopefully by now you’ve ticked off all the points on this office relocation checklist. Here are some last-minute tips to ensure your move-in day runs as smooth as possible:
- Label all cabling for each machine
- Place a member of staff in charge of each department to ensure equipment arrives in the right location
- Arrange for temporarily parking to drop off equipment as close to the office as possible
If you want your office relocation to be managed flawlessly, you should leave it to the experts. Southbank-IT provides the extra firepower you need at this busy time – backing up data and systems, planning physical moves, and providing the people to deploy phones, PCs and servers at the destination site.
If you’re faced with office relocation or new branch openings, Southbank-IT is here to help. Click here to find out more or