Planning Your Office Move - Important Steps to Remember

Planning your office move is always a stressful time for businesses. IT is often a part of the move that is neglected till the last minute and therefore we have put together this brief checklist of items to ensure you have continuity of service and everything ready to go for the big day!

• Remember Lead Times for Phone Lines & Internet - All your services need to be ORDERED at least 4 weeks prior to the move. Yes, you can get ADSL delivered within a week if you're lucky, but let's not take that chance! You should also ensure that the internet connections are "tested" prior to your move in date. Nothing is worse than thinking an internet connection is installed only to find on the day of the move it is not functioning! The testing process is easily done with a laptop and router taken to the new site by your IT Provider a few weeks before the day.
• Internet - When changing internet connections it's important to get your IT Provider involved early. Moving an internet connection is often not as simple as flicking a switch. Emails, VPN's, remote access and inter-office connectivity can be disrupted.
• Internet Cutover - If you have your own email server, you need to give your IT Provider at least a 48 hour window where you will not be able to receive all emails. The reason for this, is the address of your new internet connection takes time to update all across the internet. Mail may experience interruption during this time, so it makes sense to ensure the provider is setup to perform your email cutover the weekend of the move.
• Leverage their Experience - A good IT provider has done many moves before and encountered many different obstacles, hence is someone you should involve early on in the planning stage of the move. They will not only assist with the requirements of your infrastructure and recommendations for optimally housing your equipment, but also details like what type of cabling will suit your business best (Cat 5e, Cat 6 etc).
• Phone System - Particularly with VoIP phone systems it's important you have a discussion with your IT provider about this prior to the move. If they have the capability, they will be able to assist with the moving and testing of this equipment, or alternatively can act as the liason between you and your phone provider.
• Printers - Big Multifunction printers may not be as simple as moving over. We always recommend you speak to the Printer supplier for assistance with moving them and any reconfiguration
• Moving IT Equipment - Servers need to be moved carefully as they are susceptible to physical damage and even a bumpy ride in a car can cause hard-drives some grief. For this reason, make sure to discuss this with your IT provider; they will often offer to assist with this.

Case Studies

IT Support Case Study "Starting out as a husband and wife team and growing to a 2 office business with 13 employees in just over 18 months certainly gave us a few headaches in relation to managing our IT requirements. We received no “service” from our previous IT Company" » Read More

Cloud Solution Case Study "Expanding a services business into new territories is never an easy thing, but R & G’s hosted desktop cloud computing solution let’s easily manage IT costs whilst having the ability to rapidly deploy new offices and equip staff literally anywhere." » Read More