Moving an office and moving a house are totally different processes. Office moving includes the movement of staff, computers, documents, furniture, internet connection, equipment, and business processes. When the process is not well coordinated, any little hitch may cause some problems to the normal running of the business.
However, it is great to note that office moving becomes an easy process when all aspects of the process are well-coordinated. This means that rather than waiting for the last moment to do everything, the process can be broken down into little tasks, which can be assigned to appropriate individuals.
Whatever the size of your office or business, moving from one place to another requires a proper office moving checklist.
Start Planning the Office Move Early
First, you have to plan when and how the process of moving an office will happen. The best way would be to start the planning several weeks prior to the moving day.
Pick a moving day that will affect your work the least. Most companies use holidays or weekends because there are fewer employees working, although it depends on the calendar of your company.
Make a rough timetable for such tasks as packing, informing employees about moving, preparations of IT services, transportation of all things and setting up everything in the new office. Make sure you assign certain duties to some employees or team members.
It gives you enough time to solve unforeseen problems without interrupting work of the company.
Create an Office Moving Team
It will be much easier to conduct an office move if one person will not do everything. It would be good to form a small team which will take care of coordination of various stages.
It depends on the size of your company whether this team will consist of people from the administration, human resources, IT department, financial department, and individual departments.
This team will have the right to contact the moving company, to organize employees, to track equipment, documents, etc. It is needed as relocation includes many parallel tasks.
Prepare an Inventory of Office Belongings
Prior to packing, it is important to make an exhaustive list of all items required for moving. These may include desks, chairs, computers, computer screens, printers, network equipment, documents, filing cabinets, office supplies, equipment from the conference room, and other office items.
Inventory will help you estimate the number of items that have to be transported and will make it easy to verify whether all items arrived at the new office premises.
While working on the inventory list, you can select the items which do not require transportation. Old furniture, old equipment, faulty office supplies, unnecessary documents should be disposed of, recycled, or donated.
It is pointless to spend money transporting things your business does not need anymore.
Plan Your New Office Layout
Before packing up and shifting the furniture and equipment, first determine how they should be arranged in the new office.
Draw up an initial plan with the location of workstations, conference rooms, reception area, storage room, and other essential areas.
Discuss the arrangement with the moving crew so that they are aware of where each furniture item should go.
The layout can help save a lot of time during the unpacking process since it eliminates the need to rearrange the things after putting them together in one place.
Inform Employees About the Move
The employees should be well informed about the move ahead of time. Inform the employees about the date of move, the new address of the office, changes expected, and all the instructions that they will have to follow.
If the employees are supposed to pack their own desk contents, inform them of the deadline for doing so.
Also, you should give them the information about the new office, like parking facilities, transportation facilities, access facilities, etc.
This will minimize confusion among the employees.
Back Up Important Digital Data
The move of an office entails physical equipment; however, digital data must be considered as well.
Before removing computer devices, servers, or other related devices, ensure that business data is appropriately backed up.
Essential documents must not be stored exclusively in the equipment being moved. Backup must be done based on your company’s IT policy.
If your office has servers or special IT equipment, you may need the assistance of your IT department or professionals in handling the move.
Back up will ensure the protection of the business even if something goes wrong in terms of equipment or data during the move.
Plan the Movement of Computers and Electronics
Computers, monitors, printers, servers, and other electronic devices need special care.
Prior to packaging the equipment, labeling should be done properly for ease of installation in the same workstation. In case of multi-device users, labeling the equipment with the corresponding desk number or name of the employee will simplify the process.
Cable disconnection should be done in a way that the cables do not get jumbled up. Small labels for the cables could save considerable time in setting up the new office.
Sensitive electronics should be packaged appropriately and handled cautiously while loading and transporting the same.
Arrange Internet and Utility Services
For an office to work properly, some utilities need to be present in the building. Ensure that you have these installed or set up prior to moving into the new office.
Internet connection is vital for almost every modern company. Arrange this service from your supplier in advance to activate it when needed.
In case internet access is crucial for your business, then arrange a backup connection as well, just in case.
The presence of basic utilities in the new office needs to be checked before moving into it.
Handle Office Documents Carefully
Companies usually have important documents, contracts, invoices, employee files, customer details, and other such papers.
Organize the documents before you pack and make decisions about whether the documents require moving, storing, archiving, or disposal.
Important documents should be treated with care and should never be left unsupervised at any point during the move.
Label your cartons carefully with important documents and ensure that sensitive documents do not receive office-supply treatment.
Choose Professional Office Movers
Moving to a new office is not just about moving the boxes. There are a lot of things like furniture, computers, electronics, paperwork, and other office assets that need proper handling.
Select a mover who has expertise in office moves and knows how he is going to pack, load, transport, unload, and place all the stuff.
Get a detailed quote, and know what services are included.
In case your office has any specialized equipment or oversized furniture, let the mover know about it before the move.
Create a Labelling System
Office move could be made very easy through effective labeling.
Assign a certain name or code for each department or location. For instance, you may write HR in all HR boxes and give accountancy, marketing, information technology, and administrative departments their names too.
Numbers can also be assigned to each desk and work station. This will help in labeling computers, monitors, chairs, files, and other personal items for each location.
Ensure that the names are big enough and visible to avoid misunderstanding.
Pack Non-Essential Items First
It is not necessary to move everything at once. Begin with those things that are not needed during the normal functioning of your business.
Archived materials, decorations, extra office supplies, additional furniture, and less frequently used equipment can be packed.
Essential papers, computers, communication equipment, and other necessities should remain accessible until the very end of the process.
This way, the impact on work will be minimal.
Prepare an Office Essentials Box
Boxes should be placed, which will contain items which might become necessary after getting to the new office.
Such items can comprise of stationery, chargers, tools, cleaning equipment, extension boards, important documents, labels, cords, and many others.
It will not be good to place such boxes below tens of other boxes; rather, they should be easily accessible.
Plan Moving Day Carefully
When it comes to moving day, there should be someone who will coordinate everything.
This person will have the ability to contact all movers, building administrators, other service providers, as well as the staff.
When the movers get out of the old office, check all rooms to ensure that everything has been accounted for. You should check the cupboards, drawers, meeting rooms, storage rooms, reception rooms, and other rooms.
When the movers arrive at the new office, guide them around the floor plan and arrange everything accordingly.
Check Equipment After Delivery
After all the office equipment has been unpacked, check for damages to important pieces of equipment.
This includes the computers, monitors, printers, desks, servers, and other valuable pieces of equipment. In case something seems to be damaged, note it down with pictures.
Do not dispose of the damaged boxes until further inspection has taken place.
The moving quote, inventory list, pictures, and other related documents should be kept until the move is completed.
Help Employees Settle Into the New Office
After all the office equipment has been unpacked, check for damages to important pieces of equipment.
This includes the computers, monitors, printers, desks, servers, and other valuable pieces of equipment. In case something seems to be damaged, note it down with pictures.
Do not dispose of the damaged boxes until further inspection has taken place.
The moving quote, inventory list, pictures, and other related documents should be kept until the move is completed.
Final Office Relocation Checklist
To make sure that the move has been successful before calling it finished, repeat some of the key steps.
Make sure that all the office items have arrived at the new location, all the furniture is set up in the right way, all computers and networking equipment are operating well, all vital papers have arrived, and all utilities are functioning properly.
In addition, change the address of the company wherever needed. It might be the company website, Google Business Profile, invoices, email signatures, paper business cards, and so on.
Final Thoughts
An office relocation can turn out to be a challenging task, however, by means of proper planning, one can make the whole process much easier. Begin the procedure in time, organize your inventory, notify your employees, make backup of the necessary data, plan the new office layout, prepare for the installation of utilities, and select experienced office movers.
First of all, you should make sure that the relocation process does not negatively influence the course of work. In case of well-organized office relocation, the work can resume very quickly.
Professional packing and moving services offered at Sunrise Packers & Movers can assist businesses in conducting an office relocation physically. Packing office items and furniture, loading, transportation, and unloading – all these procedures can become much easier due to professional services.
By means of proper checklist and office relocation help, the business can relocate to its new office place without any problem.