When a business is moving premises both the preparations and physical transfer of equipment, staff and ancillary services can be a difficult and lengthy process.
Whatever the specific reasons for moving the business location; be it to obtain larger premises, the termination of a lease or change in operating area, achieving a smooth transition and keeping the business operating can throughout takes careful planning, skill and often good fortune.
Customers will not often realise the move is in effect until the are notified by the business and will expect the same levels of services, deliveries and attentiveness they have come to expect or as has been advertised.
Coping with these demands in addition to moving premises can create high demands on staff and at times cause stress and anxiety.
One of the keys to successfully moving business premises lies in planning. Identifying keys areas of the operations, accounting for overlaps of critical functions at the new and old locations and preparing a network analysis model to identify the chain of events and the order in which they must occur can aid in achieving an organised transfer.
Computers can be connected to a server until the network has been laid and the server configured, staff can not be housed until desks and chairs have arrived are some obvious examples.
Some organisations choose to inform their primary customer before the business move thereby preparing them for delays in service and delivery. Others might choose to wait until the operations have been relocated and plan for customers not to be aware of any interim issues.
From personal experience, one of the most difficult aspects of a business move to manage is that of transferring telephone services. It is usually mandatory to book facilities a month or two in advance and structuring the service so that telephone and fax numbers remain unchanged and are online throughout the move relies on the skill of the provider.
As most businesses use telephone lines for the broadband internet access, any disruption to landlines can render email and voice services inoperably; thereby removing two of the most widely used form of communication.
In the post moving phrase, the business may require some time to achieve full operating capacity as unforeseen and unplanned problems become apparent. On the back of adequate planning, there should only be relatively minor issues to resolve. Nonetheless all would need a resolution for every staff member to be able to be completely effective.
