Relocating Your Company With These Few Tricks

Every once in a while, a time comes when a company starts considering relocation. This most often happens either because of the fact that the business is rapidly expanding and it needs larger premises, or because the lease on its current location is nearing its end. Very often, relocating can open up a whole new world of opportunities and prospects.

However, this does not mean that it is an easy process. It comes with a lot of choices and issues that you have to deal with in order to do it as efficiently as possible. For starters, you need to choose the proper location. Once you have done that, you need to face the fact that, no matter how far you will be moving, your business (or at least certain parts of it) are not going to be operational. During this period, you are going to lose some revenue, and quite possibly, a number of your customers. Therefore, you have to make sure that you do it right, and as quickly as possible.

Make a plan ahead of time

One of the most important things about relocation is that you plan it all out ahead of time. You should have pretty much everything set out at least 4 to 6 months before the day of the move. First, you need to visit the new location in order to be able to map out how you are going to arrange all of the furniture and equipment.

If you are moving into a bigger office space, then you will probably have to consider buying more. On the other hand, if your office space isn’t going to be that much bigger, you should consider getting rid of some of the items from your old headquarters. All those old items that you aren’t going to need – recycle them and donate to a charity.

As for the relocation process and its complexities, it is crucial that you don’t do it at the last moment because you want to make sure that it is done as efficiently as possible. This may sound like it doesn’t need to be said, but the fact is that a lot of people underestimate how long it is going to take them to pack and be prepared for the move.

Take care of other aspects as soon as possible too

You need the time to let all your employees know about the big change, and see which ones will be staying with you. You need to assign a manager for the move whose job is going to be to coordinate everything and everyone.

As for your internet and phone services, as well as licenses, permits, and insurance policies, you need to make sure that they are all update on time.

What is also crucial is that you find the right moving company and contact them on time as well. After all, these are the people in whose hands all your things are going to be, so you want to make sure that you are dealing with professionals. Think about material handling, and make sure that you have what it takes to get every bit of furniture, equipment, and other items in place efficiently and quickly.

Be very careful with your electronics

The best idea is to pack up all your electronics on your own. Every single electronic device has its own set of specific instructions for being properly packed and moved. It isn’t all about putting things into boxes and making sure that they are protected by bubble wrap. You must also follow the manuals. For example, when packing a printer, you must take out the printer cartridge and make sure that all covers and scanner lids are covered in tape. You don’t want your devices to get damaged and void the warranty.

Cables are also something you should pay special attention to. You probably have a whole lot of them. Begin by removing them from each device one at a time. Then use zip-locked bags to pack them, and make sure that you write down with a marker which device they belong to. Packing the cables is crucial because you don’t want them to be damaged by their pins are ports being bent, or something like that.

As for your computer monitors, make sure that you pack each one into thick blankets or the aforementioned bubble wrap, and then use tape to hold it all together. Simply putting them in a box certainly will not do, and you must also be careful so that the tape doesn’t come into contact with them. The whole “blankets and tape” approach should be used when it comes to your computers as well.

As for the hard drives, it would be smarter to take them out and preserve them, because if they stay inside the PC cases, they can get damaged from all the bumping that could very well happen during the trip. And, since this is where the majority of your most important data is located, you really don’t want that to happen.

Update your website and other assets

Once the final week before the move has arrived, it is important that you make sure that your website is updated according to the new location. You can try to keep your old phone number, but your citations, paid search campaigns and automatic payments need to be up to date as well.

During the moving process, it has to inform everyone that your offices will be moving to a new location. Do the same with all your social media channels. Update your business cards and let both your clients and the post office know where you are going to be located from now on.

It is very important that everything is in place once your employees start coming to work in the new office. This is because you want them to take the least amount of time possible to adjust to the new surroundings and get back to work.

In summation

Relocating your business can open up a whole new world of opportunities. But one cannot deny the fact that it is quite a hassle, and can result in many issues while it’s happening. This is why you need to make sure that you have planned, prepared, and executed everything properly. Stick to the tips and tricks discussed in this article, and you should be fine.