The business world isn’t stagnant, and it’s not that unusual for a company to eventually reach a point where an office move is on the cards.
In the ‘old days’, such a move meant loading up furniture and files into trucks and heading off. It was hard work and something of a pain, but nothing compared to moving today’s tech laden offices.
While you may have a plan for actually moving your tech to its new home in the back of your mind, there is another important consideration that will need to be addressed before you even choose a new space. Cabling.
The sheer amount of cabling required to ensure your IT capabilities are working to their maximum capacity can be mind boggling, even for a smaller business. Therefore, it’s crucial that you understand your cabling requirements when upgrading your office.
Survey the New Location for Infrastructure Suitability
A new location will need to be carefully evaluated in order to understand the infrastructure capabilities it presents. Surveying the physical layout should be your first move as this will allow you to plan where your cabling, power supplies, networks and telecommunications can be installed.
This is rarely something that can be done successfully without help from an outside expert. The good news is that cabling experts like the Data Installers team can survey both your old and new locations and devise a plan that will keep everything running as it should after the move while keeping the time involved to do so to a minimum.
Discuss Budgeting Issues
Another reason to work with an outside team of cabling professionals is budget. Only when you have a solid plan in place will you be able to determine a real cost estimate of just how much moving your tech is going to work out to. Outside teams will also be able to suggest, if needed, cost-cutting measures that will keep that budget lower without having to sacrifice functionality when you more to your new space.
Plan for Future Expansion
Many businesses move premises because they are outgrowing their old ones. And they want to think that their growth will continue. Therefore, making sure your new premises will allow you to expand in terms of both space and the ability to integrate additional cabling is another must.
Other Considerations to Keep in Mind
Equipment and employee changes can have a drastic impact on the layout of your office. Couple this with the need for expansion and it’s clear to see that reorganizing an office and its cabling is still a big deal when the move is underway. As a result, the following relocation factors need to be considered:
Moving Office Furniture
Cabling is often run under, over and across your office furniture, so it presents a major obstacle when it comes changing your office around. The main sticking point is the downtime incurred from employees unable to work at their computers, so the simplest solution is to move the furniture around out of hours.
Additional Power Supplies
The influx of your equipment may bring with it the need for an upgrade in power supplies and data solutions. However, these utilities also require new cabling or a reworking of existing cabling, so it’s essential that consideration is given to achieving this successfully.
Reorganize and Classify Your Cabling
Over time, office cabling can become severely jumbled as new equipment is integrated and older cabling is left behind. A full office upgrade provides a fantastic opportunity to organize your cabling into something more coherent, so make sure that doing so is a part of the overall plan.
Relocating or upgrading your office is never an easy task and it’s especially difficult when it comes to reorganizing your cabling. However, with careful consideration, planning and expert support you’ll be able to complete a successful move with these tasks completed successfully and with minimal downtime.