Whether you’re upsizing or downsizing, reaching into a new market or consolidating your operations, an office relocation is a significant step in your business’s evolution.
With over 30 years of helping businesses move from point A to point B (and sometimes points C, D and E as well), we think it’s fair to call ourselves “insiders”. We’ve seen every scenario imaginable – and a few that weren’t all that imaginable, and as such required some very quick thinking and incredible teamwork.
And based on our experience, insight and relationships with thousands of clients over the years – from small businesses to large enterprises and everything in between – here’s our list of the 5 “insider secrets” of a successful office relocation:
According to WeatherDB.com, St. Louis gets an annual average rainfall of 43.42 inches – which is nearly 10 percent more than the national average. And as anyone who lives or works in the area knows, rain isn’t a seasonal thing, either: it’s a year ‘round experience, with between 2 and 3 inches falling from December through February, and around 5 inches in the summer months.
All of this means that there’s a reasonably good chance that it could rain during your business move. However, don’t worry: this isn’t a baseball game, and unless conditions are severe and dangerous, there won’t be a rainout (followed by a double-header!). Instead, your professional movers will work with your team to plan accordingly so that everything is safe and protected from beginning to end. Here are 3 tips to keep in mind:
When it comes to purchasing solutions for your business, naturally you want to maximize value, minimize cost, and achieve the shortest path ROI. That’s not just good business sense: that’s good common sense, too! However, as you may have already experienced, going with the lowest bidder is almost always a disastrous and regrettable decision. As noted by the law firm Brent Law Group, PLLC:
"At least once a week, I have an opportunity to meet with an individual whose life has been hurt by a lowest bidder. Contractors, prior attorneys, mechanics, etc. who low-ball do so for a reason, in my experience. My great-grandmother used to say it takes twice as long to do something fast. I firmly believe it can cost twice as much to get something done cheaply."
Life is full of little – and sometimes big – warning signs that give us a chance to avert disaster or, if we unwisely and regrettably choose to ignore the message, lunge head-first into disaster. Ever had a car warning light come on and ignore it? Then you know what I’m getting at.
Well in the same light, there are some clear signs that you’re headed for a business move disaster – one that will likely end up wasting thousands of dollars, weeks of time, and might even put you on the wrong end of a lawsuit (which according to most seasoned attorneys is either end).
Here are the 3 signs that business move is on the way to becoming a horror story:
“Handle with care” are words to live by in the technology field – and we aren’t talking ensuring the health and wellbeing of IT professionals and other specialists! We’re referring to the valuable and mission critical IT equipment and assets that are deployed on-site; everything from workstations and servers, to peripherals and devices, to cables and connectors, and the list goes on.
Naturally, properly maintaining IT equipment and assets at all times is a top organizational priority. However, this requirement takes on an added significance – and more risk – during an office move, both from an asset protection point-of-view, and from an end user access point-of-view (as noted by CIO.com, hell hath no fury like employees who can’t access their technology tools!).
As you may know from prior experience – hopefully positive, but perhaps negative -- a successful office relocation isn’t just about adhering to schedules and budgets. You also need to ensure that you minimize employee downtime, since every hour that your people can’t be productive means money down the drain.
Fortunately, there are steps and strategies you can focus on well ahead of moving day that will reduce – or better yet, eliminate – employee downtime during and immediately after your office relocation. Here’s what to keep in mind:
Let’s start with this: what many people around the country call winter is balmy, almost tropical compared to what happens in and around St. Louis from about Thanksgiving to late March. In fact, it’s not uncommon to be scraping off ice and shovelling snow into April (although this hasn’t stopped the fine folks at Riverfront Times from finding 20 reasons to love winter in St. Louis).
However, many businesses can’t put their office relocation plans on hold just because “the weather outside is frightful”. Take it from us: we’ve been around for more than three decades, and business moves happen throughout the year – even in the dead of winter. We’ve even moved several businesses during snowstorms!
It’s well known that most homeowners aim to switch addresses during the summer. However, they aren’t the only ones doing some packing and labelling when the days are long – and usually hot and sticky, too. A substantial number of office relocations take place from June through September as well.
In an article published by the About.com network, operations and technology expert James Bucki advises businesses to have a relocation option in the event of a disaster.
Clearly, that’s wise advice. But what happens if the office relocation itself is the disaster? Not necessarily of the life-threatening kind, but certainly of the “this office move is taking far longer than it’s supposed to and costing way more than it should” variety. Unfortunately, that’s what THOUSANDS of businesses experience each year – and most often, the root cause is that they didn’t have the right professionals on their moving team.