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Moving a business can be exciting. In many cases, the reason for the move is positive. Your business or organization likely is experiencing growth, either in space needed for added personnel and hires or you’re expanding to another location.

In both scenarios, congratulations are in order. However, moving can be incredibly stressful, especially for businesses. One of the often overlooked steps to a business’s move or expansion is hardware and equipment to make sure the new location’s technology is up and running as soon as the doors are ready to open.

But there are ways to make this transition as seamless and headache-free as possible for you and your employees with as little downtime in services as possible for your business.

Choose an IT provider experienced in relocation

The first action you should take when you are looking to move hardware and other technology equipment to a new location is to seek out a managed IT services provider who is experienced specifically in IT relocation services.

Moving IT equipment is not as easy as unplugging equipment, packing it away and plugging it in at a new workspace. Though you might expect everything to work as it should in a quick, plug-and-play sort of way, that’s simply not how hardware operates, unfortunately.

From start to finish, there’s much more to it than that. Relocations like the ones your business may be planning or soon undertaking involve planning, managing, configuring and installing of your IT equipment.

That’s why it is critical that you partner with a service provider that you trust and has relevant experience in relocation of IT services.

Once you have secured an IT services provider that you believe is the right fit for your relocation project, you can lean on their expertise from this point moving forward. Their experience should be able to help you make informed decisions that are best for your company or organization.

Conduct a technology audit

The next step in the process should be to work alongside your provider to conduct what is known as a technology audit.

During a technology audit, you and your provider will examine your business’s IT infrastructure and identify not only the hardware and software that make up your technology stack, but also how they are all connected and operate together with one another.

This audit will provide a map of your current setup, which can then be transferred over to or replicated at the new location – with any necessary changes and accommodations, of course.

A properly executed technology audit should also identify weak points in both performance and security in your current setup, which will only help improve your business operations moving forward.

But with a relocation, the most important factor of an audit is to simply know exactly what you have and what needs to be backed up, secured, packed away and moved.

Visit your new location(s) with your IT provider

Next, you will want to do a thorough visit and walkthrough of the next location, again, preferably with your IT provider also present.

While walking through the new location, you will want to envision how you might use the new space and where specific pieces of equipment listed in the technology audit will be moved.

This will also include the priority given to equipment and what needs to make the move first; what all needs to be brought over and what can stay in place at the current location if not moving all workstations; and whether the proper ports are present for network and telephone connections.

Develop a moving plan

Following the visit, your next priority should be to develop and document a plan for how you would like the move to proceed.

This plan should include more documentation about what all must happen before the move occurs, what all is being moved, who will be responsible for executing the move and then what should occur when the equipment arrives at its new location.

In this plan, be sure to document how the equipment is going to be packed, stored, transported, etc. This should be written in a clear way so that all expectations are known by each party.

Secure data and pack equipment before moving

Once a plan has been created, it’s time to make sure all equipment and the data they store or work with are secured. This includes creating backups of all data.

As for that data, make sure you are clear about who should be responsible for custody so that it is not lost, or if it is misplaced, can be tracked down.

You should also ensure that you are able to pack all hardware in a way that prevents it from any sort of damage during transit. Remove any batteries or cartridges before moving to avoid damage.

Finally, remember to label all boxes, containers and bags as clearly as possible and keep related pieces together.

Create a post-move checklist

Once the hardware and other equipment needed to move workstations has arrived at the new location, it’s time to unpack.

This is where the crystal clear labeling is useful. Even if your IT provider was not part of packing your equipment, which we recommend they should be, they should be able to assemble your desired workstations based on how boxes have been labeled and organized during the move.

Lastly, you will need to allow the provider to establish your network connections, as well as make sure data is also restored as needed.

Advanced Network Professionals can simplify your move

Hopefully this overview has been helpful. Should you need, Advanced Network Professionals can handle IT relocation projects of just about any size – and that’s just one of our managed IT services that we provide to our clients.

From small businesses to much larger, corporate operations – and across many different industries – ANP strives to provide the best customer service and expertise available in the region.

Our team’s experience and sophisticated skills are unmatched. We would love to work with you on any of your upcoming IT needs and projects. Please reach out to us and request a quote or learn more about all of what we can provide for your business.