Technology Checklist for Office Moves

Your company is growing! You’re moving from a co-working space into your own office. Or maybe you’re expanding and need a bigger space, or a new location. There are a million details you need to take care of: furniture, supplies, desk assignments, and moving all your—and your employees’—stuff. And then there’s all the technology and communication requirements to make sure your phones, Internet, and other systems are fully operational on day one. It’s lot of work, and you need to plan for a smooth transition. Here’s a checklist of best practices to help you do just that.

Start planning at a minimum six months before the move (if possible).

There are a lot of services that need to be coordinated, so give yourself plenty of time. A six-month lead time is ideal—the absolute minimum is two months.

Pre-qualify your new building for carriers and services available.

You can ask the building manager or superintendent, but they often can’t provide that information. If that’s the case, you’ll have to contact individual carriers to find out if their services are available in the building. Make sure you confirm the services are also brought to your floor/suite.

Document your technology strategy.

Are you using traditional telephones or forgoing the hardware with soft phones? Will employees have wired Internet access or only WiFi? Your technology plan will drive the to-do list and timelines.

Plan construction with technology in mind.

Ideally, you’ll want to run all your cabling before walls and ceilings are closed up.

Get access keys.

Make sure that anyone who needs to get into the space at any point in the process can do so.

Turn on power.

Carrier services can’t be installed until there’s a backboard and all the necessary electric power, so plan accordingly.

Order, install, and test services in a timely fashion.

Telecommunications services aren’t a next-day kind of thing—you need plenty of lead time. The standard timeframe for an Ethernet circuit is 30 to 90 days. For lit providers, you’ll need anywhere from 15 to 45 business days. And the lead time for broadband is 7 to 20 business days. Once installed, you’ll need to schedule a test and turn-up of your Internet circuits.

Plan your hardware and IT requirements.

This includes printers, copiers, and scanners, as well as all your IT components—firewalls, routers, etc.

Schedule phone number ports with your carriers.

They’ll need two weeks’ notice, and you should plan for the port itself to happen either after hours the day before or the morning of the move. To minimize scheduling issues, reach out with as much notice as you can.

You don’t have to do it alone.

Moving into a new office is a lot of work with a lot of moving parts—and a lot of potential for disruption. When you work with BCM One, you get a partner who’s done this thousands of times for our clients. We know the ins and outs, and we can take on the heavy lifting for you. In addition to providing connectivity, voice, cloud, and Microsoft Office, we can help you determine available carriers, get quotes and negotiate pricing, develop a best-value-for-your-requirements technology plan, manage the contracting process, and order services. We can be your single point of contact, taking care of the project management for all carrier services. And we have an ecosystem of trusted partners we’ve worked with for years who can help with cabling, IT services, scanner/copier/printer hardware, and more. Contact us to learn more.