Call us now on 023 9298 8855

We moved offices with no downtime!

Looking forward to a big new office move, but dreading the downtime? Well we think you can have one without the other! How? Read on!

By:

Hi everyone! Zarte here again! Could you just give me a moment, please? I’m just doing a little bit of painting! *mumbles to self* - and we go down here... and we go back here... and we try not to smudge everywhere or get it on the carpet... done!

OK, I’m with you now. Why am I painting I hear you not caring? Well because we’ve just moved into our brand new office and there are still some jobs left to be done to make it feel completely and absolutely like home.

But one thing that DOES feel absolutely like home is that all our technology is up and in full working order. And that’s kind of what this article is about. Too many companies, when they move premises, accept a period of downtime in between homes, because they’ve become convinced that just because it’s normal, normal means acceptable. But you don’t have to. Follow our lead, and you can find yourself moving freely from location to location without having to panic about not being able to keep your business moving forwards, whilst it’s moving along.

We picked up our keys on a Friday. One of the very first things we did was schedule in an electrician to put in all the cabling we needed for our new office. It’s much easier to do that first than to find that you don’t have plugs for everything that needs one (especially in our case, as in an IT company, you need LOTS of plugs).

Once all the electrics were sorted, we made sure that we got our phones and broadband setup. If you’re transferring your number to a new office, it’s perfectly acceptable to have the lines all ready to go for the second you move. You don’t have to wait until once you’re physically in the building to make it all happen. Why would you guarantee yourself time away from being able to answer the phone to your customers, or respond to emails from your work computer?

With that all ready, we could spend time getting the bulk of things painted, and prettified for our customers – and let’s face it for us too. Having done all this, and built a couple of the custom bits of furniture we need for our business (our workbenches are all handmade doncha know), we were in a position to move all our furniture in, get all the desktops, printers, routers and so on and so forth. The final activation of the phones and broadband, and there we had it, a fully functioning office.

And how long did all this take? 9 days. 9 days from picking up the keys on a Friday, to leaving our new office on a Sunday and knowing that when we came in the next day, everything was going to work. There was no downtime at all.

Now, aside from feeling like being unbearably smug for a little while, there is a reason for telling you all of this. In fact, two reasons.

First off, it’s to show you that if you plan it in advance, and get all your ducks in a row, you can avoid the hassle and stress of having to plan for downtime when you make a move to a new premises. Don’t get me wrong, some people LIKE to have the opportunity to take a bit of time to gather themselves and take stock of everything that’s happening, and we’re not saying for a second that that’s wrong. But the feeling that you have no choice but to accept downtime, when in reality you could really do without the mad catch-up period that you’re going to face after moving – that’s what needs to be a thing of the past.

The second reason is that if you want to avoid that period, but don’t necessarily have all the requisite skills to complete it yourself as we did – we can be there to help. We’re able to do the cabling, install all your PCs and other hardware and get your phones up and running for you in no time at all. Then it’s just up to you to find someone to do the painting...

So don’t feel alone if you’ve got a big move coming up, and don’t feel that you’re hostage to fortune. Instead, give us a call for some advice on how you ought to proceed to get the best possible outcome as you climb up the business property ladder!

Until next time,

Z