How to manage your business telephony, IT, and hardware during an office move?

There are many reasons for moving your office. You are probably expanding your business and going to a new location. You have outgrown your current premises and need more office space. You feel it’s time to upgrade the technologies you use, and moving to a new office is the perfect opportunity. You have to reduce your costs, and you have found a better rental agreement. Whatever your reason might be, office moving can be a stressful process unless well-organized. 

Planning, organization, and communication are the key to having an office move with minimal disruption. Relocation usually means moving an entire team of employees, office furniture, valuable equipment, machinery, and electronics. It requires planning the logistics ahead of time and managing your coworkers effectively. And this can be a challenging task. To help you, we have gathered below the steps you can take to run your office moving smoothly and with less frustration. The focus is on effectively managing your telephony, IT, and installation transition during the move. Follow our guide to plan and prepare for the big event – moving your office.

Schritt 1: Finden Sie heraus, was Sie für den Umzug benötigen und legen Sie sich eine Strategie zurecht

There are different reasons behind every office move. Once you have cleared yours, you can start planning the process.

Vergrößerung – wenn das Ihr Beweggrund für den Umzug ist, sollten Sie am neuen Standort mehr Arbeitsplätze einplanen, die mit allem nötigen ausgestattet sind.

Aber eins nach dem anderen – Sie sollten die Internetverbindung of the potential new office. You can contact your Internet service provider and ask them to do a quick research on the Internet infrastructure of the office building. When they are ready, they can advise you if the bandwidth capacity of this place will match your expanding needs for a high-speed Internet connection. Also, consider more open collaborative spaces and good accessibility to the company’s meeting rooms. All these are must-haves in the new modern office of your growing company.

Kunden und Talente anlocken – your office can greatly impact your employees, partners, and clients. So, look for a place representing your brand, mission, and values. Finding the best spot can take a while, but it’s worth waiting if this means new business opportunities for you.
If your organization constantly searches for new employees, moving to an attractive office location can help you. It does not have to be at the very center of the city (or sometimes it does), but your potential team members have to access it easily. So your perfect new office should be seen as a hub for the talented workforce you want to attract.

It should be designed for the new working ways by offering modern communications solutions for your team.

If there were limitations in technical capacity at the old location, ensure that the new office has the right infrastructure to switch to new technologies.

Die Teamproduktivität verbessern – if you decide to change your office because you care for your staff’s well-being, you made the right decision. And it is not just the fact that this improves your team productivity as employees feel more engaged. Considering their health and wellness, choosing a new modern office helps you create a better work environment and boost connectivity among teammates. How can the office you choose support your employees’ work-life balance:

• wenn Technologien im Büro die Telearbeit vereinfachen. Wie zum Beispiel durch ein Cloud-Telefonsystem, mit dem Sie Ihre geschäftlichen Anrufe direkt über Ihr Mobiltelefon entgegennehmen und so die Flexibilität Ihres Teams sicherstellen können;
• wenn das Bürosystem zu jeder Zeit dank einer verlässlichen und sicheren Internetverbindung für diejenigen im Homeoffice zugänglich ist;
• wenn sich das Büro in der Nähe eines Fitnessstudios befindet oder
• if green spaces surround it and have enough natural light
• wenn Ihre Angestellten in der Umgebung gute Orte für ihr Mittagessen finden.

Small details make a big difference.

Once you have evaluated your needs for a new office, it is time to act. Start looking for the perfect place. When you find a potential new office with a good location, the first thing is to check its technical infrastructure. Review the network bandwidth and any possible technical restraints and solutions that will enable you to build a better telecommunications system for your company. You’ll have to contact your telecom, Internet, and IT service providers to get their professional opinion before deciding on the new office.

Create a detailed schedule for the office move when you find your new office space.

Planning your relocation should start six months before reviewing your current lease agreement. Assemble a planning team responsible for managing and executing the office move. Get quotes from moving companies to find the best offer that matches your needs. Set a budget to avoid overspending during the process. If you possess expensive equipment or machinery, it is probably wiser to have moving insurance. Delegate the task to your planning team to research and give you the options that fit your budget.

Schritt 2: Kontaktieren Sie Ihren Telekommunikations- und IT-Dienstleister 

After you find a potentially good place, it is time to contact your telecommunications, IT, and Internet providers for a thorough system audit. It happens 2 – 3 months before the set date. Analyze your current installation and set deadlines on when the new telecommunications and IT system should be ready. Check IT infrastructure, telecom facilities, and utilities at your new location. Design your office space and consider how you will organize your workstations, IT installation, and fixtures there.

Coordinate your office relocation with IT partners to review ICT systems and equipment needs. Inform your internet service provider on time about your office move and discuss your internet connection needs at the new place. When to order, install and activate your new internet lines and when to close the existing ones. Carefully plan any changes to your business phone numbers, corporate phone systems, or cabling needs with your telephony provider. You have to discuss with them your business telephony migration: 

• if you can port your existing numbers, or will they order new ones (and how long it take to have them activated)
• Werden neue Tischtelefone bereitgestellt?
• Denken Sie auch an die Telefonleitungen, die Sie im neuen Büro brauchen werden und bitten Sie Ihren Partner für Cloud-Telefonie diese nach Ihren Wünschen anzupassen.
• Was genau ist für den kompletten Umzug Ihres Business-Telefonsystems nötig?

Der Zeitplan ist in dieser Situation maßgebend, da Sie nicht stunden- oder tagelang vom Rest der Welt abgeschnitten sein wollen, wenn Sie umziehen. Sobald Sie Ihre Kommunikationsinfrastruktur überprüft und bestimmt haben, wo sich die Komponenten für das Internet befinden werden, sollten Sie Ihren Internetanbieter darum bitten, die Verbindung dort einzurichten. Wenn Sie alle Telefone, Computer, Internet/WLAN, IT-Systeme und Verbindungen eingerichtet und getestet haben, wissen Sie, dass Ihr Büro vollständig vernetzt ist und dass Ihr Team dort mit der Arbeit beginnen kann.

Schritt 3: Kommunikation und logistische Planung

Ein klarer und präziser Zeitplan für den Umzug Ihres Büros ist wesentlich für den Erfolg des ganzen Vorgangs. Dies gilt sowohl für den Umzug an einen neuen Standort als auch für den Wechsel zu einem neuen Business-Telefonsystem. Once you set a date, you know your well-organized plan should be ready. So communicate it internally and externally so the employees, partners, and clients know it.

Interne und externe Kommunikation 

Create a checklist for your office move and share it with the team who manages the process. It should include the necessary actions, employees, and deadlines. Apart from the planning team, the rest of the company should also know the timeline of your office move. And how they will be involved. 

Your legal department should be responsible for changing the company’s address on all contracts. The marketing team must review your social media accounts and branding materials to ensure your contact details are current. Also, remind the employees to update their email signatures when they move to the new address.

Notify your current landlord or property manager by giving an official notice beforehand. Create a list with all parties concerned, and share your new address with them. Include clients, affiliates, partners, or stakeholders. List all the institutions or delivery companies that need to be informed – the post, banks, or service providers.

Die Kontaktaufnahme mit Ihren Telekommunikations-, IT- und Internetanbietern zur Ankündigung Ihres geplanten Umzugs ist die beste Gelegenheit, die Bedingungen Ihrer Verträge neu zu verhandeln.

As we already wrote, switching to new providers is the perfect timing if the current ones cannot meet your growing communications and IT requirements. Even better, you may try to optimize the number of your providers and find the one company that can provide business telephony, IT, and Internetlösungen für Ihre besonderen Ansprüche bietet. 

Review your existing contracts and get in touch with a new service provider. Then compare how different vendors handle canceling an internet line, opening a new one, porting phone numbers, and managing Internet outages – whether it takes too long or happens fast and seamlessly. 

When planning your office move, you must contact all your providers to clarify issues related to your telecom and IT systems. It is a period of highly intensive communication with many parties that can be exhausting and time-consuming. So you realize it would be more efficient to have one partner offering solutions for your business phone system, IT system, and Internet lines. That way, you will communicate with one company that will support you in all the different phases of the relocation – from audit/ planning to move/installation and after installation. 

Entdecken Sie Mixvoip – Ihre gesamte Unternehmens-IT, Internet und Telefonie an einem einzigen Ort!

Planung der Logistik

Audit your current office furniture and determine if you will need more furniture in your new office space. Consider special furniture and expensive equipment requiring specific packaging and transportation boxes. Think ahead if you need your IT or Telecom providers to support you in disassembling complex hardware or installation systems.

Entwerfen Sie Ihr neues Büro mit einem Grundriss, auf dem die Schreibtische, Gemeinschaftsbereiche und Konferenzräume eingezeichnet sind. Identifizieren Sie außerdem die Sicherheitsanforderungen Ihres neuen Büros. Erstellen Sie einen detaillierten Plan für die Ausstattung der neuen Örtlichkeiten und überprüfen Sie, ob die technische Infrastruktur zu Ihren Kommunikations- und IT-Bedürfnissen passt. 

Buchen Sie für ihr altes Büro und die neuen Örtlichkeiten einen Reinigungsdienst. Sobald das Datum für den Umzug festgelegt ist, sollten Sie für diesen Tag einen Parkplatz reservieren. So stellen Sie sicher, dass alle Umzugsfahrzeuge so lange parken können, wie für das be- und entladen nötig ist.

Once you finalize all the paperwork concerning your new office premises, it is time to focus on one of the most important aspects of any office move—preparation of the whole telecommunications and IT infrastructure to match your specific business and communications needs.

Step 4 Office equipment – plan, prepare, and optimize your hardware during the relocation

Moving your office equipment is a task that must be managed carefully and on time. Office equipment includes:

• hardware that supports your daily work – like PC sets with a keyboard, monitor and mouse, laptops, Tischtelefone, Headsets
• machinery for telecommunications and IT infrastructure such as servers, racks, switches, router
• other tools from your office – like conference systems, TVs, printers, copy machines, fax machines, IP doorbells, badging systems

When moving to the new office premises, decide which hardware is coming with you. If you already have a hosted phone system, all you need is to transfer your desk phones, cordless phones, and conference phones if you use any. And if you have a complete business telephony solution, you should count the pros and cons of moving the whole installation or upgrading it.

Wenn Sie bereits mit dem Gedanken gespielt haben, zu Cloud-Kommunikation zu wechseln, ist jetzt der perfekte Moment dafür gekommen.

Sie müssen den Prozess mit Ihrem Cloud-Telefonie-Dienstleister koordinieren. Um das neue Cloud-Telefonsystem einzurichten nutzen Sie am besten die Ausfallzeit während des Umzugs. Dinge, die Sie vor dem Umzug beachten müssen:

• Erstellen Sie eine Liste aller Ihrer aktuellen IT- und Telekommunikationsanlagen, die an den neuen Standort mitgenommen werden sollen
• Überprüfen Sie, ob die ganze mitgebrachte Ausstattung problemlos mit der bestehenden technischen Infrastruktur im neuen Büro läuft
• Analysieren Sie Ihre Geschäftsstrategie und entscheiden Sie, ob jetzt der richtige Moment für einen Umzug Ihrer Kommunikation in die Cloud ist
• if you plan to purchase new hardware inventory for the office, order it on time to be present when you move to the new location

Verschieben Sie Ihre Business-Telefonie to the cloud and optimize the equipment you take to the new location!

Schritt 5: Sichern Sie Daten und verwalten Sie Ihre Netzwerksicherheit durch eine Verlegung

If you already use a cloud-based telephony solution or plan to switch to it in your new location, ensure your Internet connection runs all the time, as all your outbound and inbound calls go through the Internet. Now you can benefit from your advanced communications system and redirect your calls to your smartphone or other mobile devices. It means your clients will still reach you, and you will not miss any important calls.

Find the best backup solution for any voice communication data during the office move. Whatever storage solution you choose, ensure you can access your data and have it up and running seamlessly in your new premises.

Beachten Sie folgende Punkte bezüglich Ihrer Sicherheit während eines Umzugs: 

• Zählen Sie alle Anlagen auf, die wichtige Informationen enthalten und machen Sie einen Plan, wie damit während des Transports umgegangen werden soll.
• Erstellen Sie eine Liste der Angestellten mit den entsprechenden Zugriffsrechten auf das Firmennetzwerk. Sie können diese auch nutzen, um ihnen Zugangscodes, -karten oder -schlüssel und Parkausweise zuzuteilen. So werden alle Sicherheitsinformationen in einer Datei gespeichert und Sie können am Umzugstag in letzter Minute alle Details schnell finden.
• Update your security policies to match your new office’s requirements.
• Inform your telecommunications service provider if you need additional security solutions to create a safe and reliable work environment in the new premises.

Moving your office is not a simple activity. It is a process that requires careful planning, preparation, and management. And while you cannot avoid moving your office furniture or team, you can upgrade your communications to facilitate the office relocation. Having a cloud-based business phone system helps you reduce the stress of your move and ensures minimal disruption in your business communications. 

Organization and internal and external communication are the keys to a successful office move. It can be costly but still, a meaningful investment, as moving to a new office increases productivity, more business opportunities, and more engaged employees.

Kontaktieren Sie Mixvoip, and we will answer all your questions about your business telephony, Internet, and IT services during the office move!

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