In the year 2020, you really can’t afford to deal with business technology downtime.
Even when your team isn’t in the office, your company’s business technology is hard at work crunching numbers and processing incoming requests. And that doesn’t change during an office move. So while you obviously can’t keep your devices connected throughout your company’s entire transition from one office to another, you can work to make sure you hit the ground running upon arrival at the new facility.
If you’re looking to avoid the headaches associated with moving your company’s business technology, be sure to follow these steps over the course of your office move.
1. Assess Your Equipment and Needs
You shouldn’t start any office move without first having an idea of what you have.
It’s always crucial to have a plan in place before starting an office move. But you can’t start formulating a plan until all of the basic facts are agreed upon, such as what you will and won’t need in your new office as well as whether your current office equipment meets your company’s needs.
Start by taking an inventory of all your company’s business technology. Categorize each device by its age, operating system and whether it’s functional or not. This information will help you determine what technology your company should take along to its new facility and what should be disposed of in favor of new devices. After inventorying your company’s technology, you’ll then want to have a discussion with your IT manager to get a better sense of what you’ll need in your new facility. This could include the number of outlets you’ll need and the amount of Internet bandwidth your business requires.
Once you’ve gained an understanding of your business’ technology needs, contact your technology providers and vendors and let them know about your move so they can help you manage your devices throughout the process. Finally, as you evaluate new facilities, make sure to discuss the needs you’ve established with the realtor and their technology team before making a final decision.
2. Create a Business Technology Moving Plan
Now that you’ve decided on what you’re taking with you and what’s being left behind, you can start drafting a comprehensive moving plan.
First and foremost, consider the moving timeline for your technology. Again, you want to minimize the downtime as much as possible to ensure your businesses operations aren’t disrupted. Plan to move your technology to the new facility before any of your other office equipment to ensure its safety and allow your IT to begin setting it up upon its arrival.
You’ll also want to establish who is in charge of what tasks throughout the moving project. Someone, for instance, needs to get in touch with your company’s technology vendors to alert them of the impending move and see if they are able to offer any help in managing the relocation. You also need someone to handle properly shutting down and unplugging each device before the start of the move.
If creating a plan for a project of this scale sounds daunting to you, we’ve created a checklist to help you start sorting out your move timeline and deciding what to prioritize.
3. Backup Your Business Technology Data
In the modern business environment, data is arguably a company’s most valuable asset. Failing to backup your company’s data during an office move is simply not an option.
In fact, 60 percent of companies that lose their data are out of business within six months. With the grim consequences of failing to backup your data before a move in mind, you should start evaluating the various options available to your business during an office move.
Essentially, you have two options. You can either store the data in a remote facility or utilize cloud storage services that store your data outside of company hardware.
If you’re considering using remote storage services, it’s advisable to contact your internet service provider. They can help you identify quality data storage facilities near your business. But given the direction the world is moving in, you may want to opt for cloud storage services.
Instead of storing data in hard drives, cloud storage services allow your company to store all of your company’s customer and financial information in a virtual cloud that’s hosted by a provider. Cloud storage services give your team flexibility since they’re able to access company information regardless of whether they’re in the office or at home as well as peace of mind since it’s more difficult for hackers to steal your company’s data.
In any case, you’ll want to conduct an IT test upon arrival at your new facility to make sure no data was damaged over the course of the move. In addition, make sure your IT team has a contingency plan in place in case a catastrophic event occurs in which your data is lost or irreparably damaged.
4. Carefully Pack Your Business Technology for the Move
Despite all of the modern threats to your company property, you can’t ignore the oldest and most likely source of a technological setback at your firm: Your equipment breaking during a move.
Yes, failing to make sure your computers and mobile devices are prepared for the bumps and vibrations they’ll almost certainly sustain over the course of a move should be your number one concern. Replacing equipment that was needlessly damaged during a move can quickly cause a moving budget to become bloated.
If you want to learn of some tips for packing your business technology in advance of a move, we discussed some best practices in our post from last week. But still, it’s always a good idea to discuss with your office moving vendor the steps they are taking to mitigate breakage during a move.
5. Thoroughly Inspect Your Technology Upon Arrival
Your company is finally settled in its new office. Now what?
It’s time to go back to the technology inventory you created in step one. Along with members of your IT team, first check each device for any cosmetic damage. Examples of this might include broken keyboards or cracked device screens.
Then, power on the devices and check for internal damage. If it’s not working properly, be sure to carefully detail the specific issues you’re witnessing. After reviewing each of your company’s devices, contact your office move insurer to see what can be replaced or at the very least partially covered under your office move insurance plan.
If conducting a smooth and painless office move is a priority for your team, we’re here to help. Our experienced team of movers will make sure your belongings arrive at your new location safe and sound.
Contact Nodus Office Movers today for a free office moving estimate!
