By: Debbie Simms, Atria Senior Living Group 

Sometimes it seems like only yesterday that our corporate offices (or support center as we call it) moved from our cramped, crowded and overflowing space to our newly designed and decorated office space in the B&W Tower. It was actually December 22 & 23, 2006.First, let me say that we were thrilled with our new furniture and workspaces that MBI provided for us at our new home. Quite a change from the miss-matched furniture, cubicles and workspaces crammed into every possible spot within our old office space.

 TIPS FOR PREPARING FOR A MOVE.

Start the preparations early. Of course it depends on the size of your move; we started almost 6 months in advance of our move.

The right Mover is extremely important. We based our decision on the services they offered before the move, as well as their references and experience with large office moves.  It’s also helpful if your mover is familiar with your current location and the new location. They should be aware of any dock rules and freight elevator usage and limitations.

We found our move to be great time to get rid of clutter!

Clean out desks, files etc.  Order recycle bins, and shred bins as necessary.Pack away files and send to off site storage. Collect excess supplies to redistribute. We even called 1-800-GotJunk to dispose of items that we did not need.Since we were getting all new furniture, we had a lot of furniture, chairs, lamps, file cabinets and desks that we were not going to use in our new space. We had an Employee Auction. Everyone loved it and got some good bargains for their homes and home offices.

Don’t forget to notify all of your vendors of your move date and new address.

Also, order your stationary and business cards so that they will be ready for day 1.

Remember your mail room (if you have one). Make sure it is set up and totally functional for your first business day in your new offices.

In our case, very few of our employees got to see our new space prior to the first business day after the move. They knew what floor they would be on and the general location of their office or workspace, but they had not seen it.

To ease the confusion, we had large floor plans displayed when our employees got off the elevators that included names and directions to each work space. We stationed “move captains” on each floor to help direct the employees to their new work spaces.  Our “move captains” were identified with special shirts so that anyone could easily find someone to assist.

As another special treat, there were a few Atria logoed items and an Atria mug filled with candy on each desk on day one as a little “welcome to your new space”.

My final comment is to simply keep all lines of communication open. Make sure all parties are aware of their responsibilities and expectations. Keep the employees, movers, building management at both the current and new locations apprised of all pertinent details and time lines.

Our move was a huge undertaking, but went very well and we love our new space.

 10. Make sure to coordinate the move of your phone lines/service. Be aware that AT&T will often NOT move your phone numbers to different parts of town. There are options for keeping your main numbers with other carriers.

9. Consider all carrier service options, including dial-tone and internet, for the new location. Different carriers have different pricing models for different areas of town. Engage Unified Technologies to do this analysis for you free of charge. We recommend that you not engage direct sales reps because there are more than 10 different service providers in town and you don’t want to meet with each of them individually to do you due diligence.

8. Coordinate move of your current phone system with a trusted vendor. (This is a great time to consider investing in new technology. The cost to move your current system may justify moving to a new system.)

7. Invest some time reviewing options with new telecommunications technology. Begin this process no later than 3-6 months prior to the move. VoIP provides nice feature sets that could benefit your organization.

6. Engage a vendor to help you coordinate the phone system move/install AND carrier services. Work with one project coordinator to eliminate any communication issues that may delay your move.

5. Be sure to understand the infrastructure needs with the new space. Typically you will need to cable the location for voice and data cabling. This is often a forgotten expense! Make sure to get a budgetary figure for cabling so you can include it in your budget.

4. Look at security options for the new space. Surveillance cameras and door access security is something for your consideration.

3. For Multiple locations, consider VoIP solutions to connect the multiple offices to be on one voice platform.

2. Call your printer to order new stationary and business cards but make sure you have your phone numbers secured BEFORE ordering! Call Unified Technologies for our preferred provider that offers discounts to Unified Technologies customers.

1. Call Unified Technologies to help you project manage all of the items above.

For more information contact: sdiamond@unified-team.com