5 Ways To Make Moving Office Easier
KEY POINTS
- Implement phased moves and remote work to minimize business disruption during relocation.
- Notify stakeholders early to ensure a smooth transition and maintain operational continuity.
- Choose specialized movers and upgrade tech infrastructure for efficiency and reduced downtime.
Relocating your business to another office can be exciting and equally daunting.
Here are five important tips to consider to ensure the move goes smoothly.
Determine how to minimize disruption
Some companies are shut down for a week while the move goes ahead, but for others this isn’t practical.
In such cases, you need to find a way of keeping your business running while minimizing disruption. One popular option is to move everyone in stages so that certain staff members are always working
Another solution is to get everyone to work from home while the move goes ahead. If you already allow staff to work from home, this could be a style of work that you’re already familiar with and could result in the least disruption.
Warn everyone well in advance
It’s important to notify everyone of your move well in advance. Start by notifying your employees so that they can prepare for the move (it may even be worth actively looking for a new office with your staff so that they are part of the process from the beginning).
Once you have a moving date, notify your suppliers of the move. It could then be necessary to notify any clients who may be likely to visit your or mail you.
Make sure to notify your bank and change the address on your website as you move.
Hire the right moving company
Some moving companies only deal with homes, while others have experience with offices and commercial premises. Make sure you choose the latter option so that they are likely to understand the unique challenges that businesses face when moving.
On top of moving services, you can hire professional packing services to take care of boxing everything up, allowing you and your employees to focus on other tasks. Take the time to collect multiple quotes and compare them for the best deal.
Work with IT experts when setting up tech
There could be tech issues that you need to consider when moving such as setting up wi-fi, setting up telephone systems, moving local servers and installing new cabling.
Before you move, check whether the building provides wi-fi and telephone and pay attention to where sockets are.
If you already outsource an IT company, they may be able to help you with the process of moving tech and setting it all up in your new location.
Replace equipment that’s due replacing
An office move is the perfect time to do away with the old and embrace the new. Plan to get rid of old desks or computers that are due to be replaced so that you’re not paying to relocate them. You could plan to donate or sell these the week you move.
At the same time, make sure you’ve got new equipment ordered and that this is set up (and that all data is transferred) before you get rid of your old equipment.
Moving in stages could help you to manage this process as you could have staff setting up and using new equipment in your new office while other staff handle the disposal of your old equipment at your old office.
