Office relocation is an exciting time for business owners and employees. A new, well-furnished space with better views and enhanced facilities is what keeps employees motivated. However, one important thing to remember is that your IT infrastructure needs to be flawlessly installed. Moving your office’s IT infrastructure isn’t a small task. Careful consideration and prior planning are required to ensure it’s a success.
As you look at your current office space bursting at the seams, it may seem impossible to move everything effectively. You may have even considered delaying your move. Fortunately, you can take steps to move your office space, and there are many benefits to doing so.
Why Should You Move Your Office?
First, your employees’ productivity is directly correlated with the environment in which they work. If your office is currently not modernized and high-tech, your employees won’t be as motivated to work. On the flip side, if the office were better, your employees would automatically be more enthusiastic to complete their tasks than applying for other jobs during their lunch hours.
Therefore, a good workplace will also significantly improve your employee retention rate for the years to come.
Furthermore, your company needs the appropriate ecosystem to grow, expand, and scale up. Staying in an environment with shoddy internet connections, insufficient water, and electricity supply, intrusive noise, and other issues won’t be conducive to continuous growth. Whether you have client, internal, or investor meetings, you need a professional and sophisticated environment that shows you take your company seriously.
Having a better office space in this way helps your company grow and improve efficiency in your daily operations.
Things To Consider Before Moving Your IT Equipment
Power Outages
A power outage can’t be predicted and can cause downtime for critical systems. Computer equipment that uses electricity has very little tolerance for power outages, resulting in damaged or even destroyed hardware. Without running equipment, the company wouldn’t have access to critical systems such as email and business software.
Cyber Attacks
A hacker could alter or delete critical data files in a company’s database. The cyberattack can be damaging and cause employees and companies to lose out on confidential information. A worse situation is when malware is deployed by an attacker that takes over systems that are essential for business operations.
Conduct a Hardware Inventory Test
This is to ensure new equipment is compatible with the company’s existing systems. In many cases, data center relocations involve the deployment of new types of technology to make your business more efficient. Whether it’s state-of-the-art server capacity, lighting systems, or data backup and archiving solutions, it is important to test all new hardware in cooperation with your IT staff upfront to avoid problems later on.
Don’t Take Your Data Center Offline without Warning
Fighting unplanned power outages or other natural disasters in your data center is extremely difficult and should be avoided if possible. Whether it’s a physical or cyber disaster, the problem needs to be addressed as soon as possible.
Now that you understand why moving your office will help you, let’s discuss how you can make that big move happen.
Steps for a Smooth IT Equipment Transition
Plan The Move
Once you’ve got a blueprint in place, you can move to the next step of the process, which is planning. You need to develop a strategic plan that works with your company’s mission and vision. One important tip to remember is to always keep stakeholders in the loop; they will help ensure that your plan is feasible.
Set a Goal
Before planning the ‘when’ and ‘how’ of migration, it’s essential to understand the why. Take some time to set a goal and determine what you want to achieve. Find out ways you’ll measure success and how this migration can help you in the long run. You can talk to your business partners, heads, and managers about this, so the entire company is on the same page.
Evaluate Your Office’s IT Infrastructure
The next thing to do is assess your IT infrastructure before moving day to ensure a smooth and easy process. This is also an excellent opportunity for you to replace or repair any equipment before relocation. Here’s how you can evaluate your infrastructure:
- Make an inventory of all the company’s IT assets
- Assess your current cable requirements and determine if there’s a need to upgrade.
- Create a comparison chart of the existing IT infrastructure and the one in the new office.
- Determine where everything is going to be placed and if you need any additional equipment.
Review your Office Space
Once you’ve evaluated everything you’ll need for setting up the IT infrastructure in the new office, you have to review the space. Start by making arrangements for setting up the items and see if there’s any need for adjustment. You’ll have to take note of all cables, printers, scanners, power jacks and so on.
Get In Touch with a Professional Moving Team
When it comes to office relocation, having a professional moving team is a must. They will help ensure a smooth and hassle-free process, so your team can begin work as soon as possible. When choosing a moving team, it’s essential to ensure that the company you choose can cater to your needs. If you’re moving IT infrastructure, ensure the company has suitable vehicles and trained staff to handle the task.
About the Author
This post is brought to you by the relocation experts at Valley Relocation in California, a full-service moving company. The Bay Area movers offer comprehensive relocation services, IT equipment and industrial machinery moving and storage, and specialized logistics.