Moving Like A Champ

Posted on: 30 April 2015

Relocating your small business office can be an exciting event, but it can also be a business disaster if done incorrectly. You must take extra care during a move to protect computers, printers, and other electronics from loss or damage, as well as any customer data that is on the computers. Here are four tips to help your office move go as smoothly as possible.

1. Create a Floor Plan Before You Move

When you are moving your office, you will likely have to make some major layout changes to make sure that all of your employees' desks or cubicles fit comfortably. The easiest way to do this is to sketch out the dimensions of your new office building when you visit and create a floor plan draft to determine the best layout.

Computer intranets and telephone lines form the backbone of the modern office. It is almost always best to have your IT department set up all wiring, servers, and phone systems before you begin moving desks or other furniture into the building. After you have installed your employees' workspaces, you will be able to set up each workstation easily by connecting phone receivers and computers to pre-installed wiring.

2. Take Extra Precautions for Electronics

Computers and printers are some of the easiest types of office equipment to damage during a move. You should make sure that your movers wrap all monitors in bubble wrap or heavy blankets to protect their screens from breaking during the move. To stay organized, it is a good idea to put all wiring in plastic bags and label them with the number of the workstation they came from. Printers should have their ink cartridges removed and their lids taped down.

For maximum protection of sensitive data, you may want to remove all hard drives from your office computers and have them wrapped separately. Excessive movement can cause data corruption on a hard drive, sometimes requiring you to reinstall the operating system for the drive to be usable. In the worst case, movement can cause permanent damage to the drive that cannot be repaired.

3. Use the Right Storage Containers

Sometimes it is necessary to store office equipment before the move can be completed. Unlike household belongings, you cannot simply store valuable office supplies in cardboard boxes. Electronics can safely be stored in heavy duty plastic storage bins if they are wrapped with bubble wrap to protect them from fall damage. Including silica gel packets or other desiccants in the storage bins will protect electronics from moisture changes that could deteriorate circuitry over time.

For non-digital files, electronic safes are the most secure storage methods. However, many business owners prefer the convenience of running a paperless business, where all company files are scanned and maintained in digital format. This will save office space, storage space, and the expense of buying a safe for file storage. Contact Quantum Storage to purchase heavy duty storage bins.

4. Use a Cloud Service to Back Up Your Data

It can be catastrophic to lose months or years of company records that are stored on physical disks during a move. Fortunately, the advent of cloud computing has enabled businesses to store virtually unlimited amounts of company records over the web without worrying about local data loss. If your company is not already using a cloud backup service, you should strongly consider signing up and creating a full backup of your records before the move takes place.

An office move can be a great way to expand your small business and provide your employees with a more enjoyable work environment. Use these tips during your move so that your company can start the next chapter of its growth and success.