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Relocating your business is certainly stressful, but becomes a necessity in some situations. Regardless of the reasons, you should ensure that you relocate accordingly to minimize inconvenience to your customers and the financial impacts on your business. Unlike before, office relocations have taken a new turn in difficulty, as more offices adopt and rely on complicated IT infrastructures.
Moving your office tech successfully requires a thoroughly logical and systematic approach. You should review all your business’ IT assets, plan the move carefully, and roll out the installation stages. Below are some factors to consider when relocating your business’ IT infrastructure.
1. Cost
While this may seem obvious, the cost is quite complicated because of the many secondary or hidden costs of relocating a business tech. What comes first is probably the cost of moving from one place to another. The more the distance, the higher the relocation costs. For instance, relocating a heavily packed office IT infrastructure with 100 employees across states is more expensive than moving minimal IT infrastructure down the road.
Next, you should consider how everyday operations in your new location will affect your business’ overhead costs. This includes changes in mortgage payments or leases, shipping, wages, and utilities. For instance, if you are relocating to a state like Washington, your office rent and cost of wages will significantly increase.
You should also consider the hidden costs of moving. Unfortunately, these secondary costs vary from one organization to another. Therefore, you should assess for potential financial surprises that can arise during the move.
For instance, if you are relocating to Washington, apart from paying the moving company, you should also budget for the cost of relocating your employees. That aside, some employees may not be open to relocation. Depending on the resulting attrition rate, you might have to budget for hiring and training new talent in Washington.
In addition, If you are relocating overseas, the process can get twice as hard, the good thing is there are third-party companies like Remote that offer employer of record services to make international employee relocation a hassle-free process for you.
2. Infrastructure
You should also consider the infrastructure of the new location before moving your business tech. However, the infrastructure in question slightly varies from infrastructural considerations when relocating with your family. Below are a few things to consider;
- Your telecom/datacom needs – relocating to a different location comes with changing IT needs. Internet access and phone systems are crucial for businesses of all sizes. Therefore, you should evaluate your needs in the new location.
- Telecom or datacom providers in the new location – you might not use the same telecom providers in your new location. Find out the available options and the costs associated.
- Is wiring ready and certified? – you should ensure that wiring and cabling in the new location can support your business needs. Your workstations, servers, and other electrical equipment need reliable wiring.
- Equipment to bring and upgrades required – you should examine your current IT equipment and determine what you should bring along and what to upgrade. Upgrading to new equipment can save future expenses.
3. Availability of Managed Services
Relocating disrupts or interferes with your normal business activities. Therefore, you should also determine the downtime expected during the move. You might have to suspend business operations for hours or days. Make sure that you have a tolerable plan for your business.
Similarly, you should ensure that all business data is backed-up offsite. While you may have in-house storage drives, data backup is important to avoid data loss in case of unexpected eventualities during relocation. Having an offsite backup makes it easy to access data and get running immediately after the move.
Bottom Line
In the current tech-driven/digital business realm, most companies relocate to improve their efficiency. Some relocate to consolidate locations while other businesses downsize office space due to the adoption of remote work models. Regardless, successful relocation of business tech should have a solid plan that caters to business deficiencies during the process.
