Are you moving to a new office and worried about the shifting process? The office moving process can indeed be lengthy and complex, and requires careful planning and flawless execution make it a success. However, most of the offices in India do not have a fair idea about how to go about this systematically, so you are not the only one facing this challenge.
So, here is a simple checklist that we have created to help you in moving an entire office. This checklist contains nuggets from the rich experience we have gathered in helping medium and large size companies to shift to new premises. Using this will help you to approach the moving process in a step-by-step manner, and not miss out on anything.
Preparation:
• Select the new office premises and complete the formalities for either leasing or purchasing it. • Choose a Project Manager, or create an Office Moving Team to lead the office shifting process. • Engage an Office Moving Company to help you with the entire moving process. Their expert advice will prove to be invaluable right from the planning stage till the end. • Create a plan detailing the exact shifting process, and break it into several tasks. • Decide on deadline for completion of every task, and finalise the date for final shifting. • Assign responsibilities to different persons within the office to execute each task. • Take an inventory of the furniture, office equipment, computers, servers, documents, and other in the existing office that will have to be shifted.
Getting the new office premises ready for use:
• Complete the interior designing of the new premises. • Evaluate the placement of IT infrastructure, including servers, Routers, switches, and, get the network cabling completed with the help of your IT administrator. This will ensure that the servers and computers can be quickly shifted to the new office and can be set up without any major downtimes. • Install the security equipment like CCTV cameras and get external network connectivity through LAN, Internet etc.
Take necessary permissions:
• Notify the landlord of your existing office about your decision to shift to a new office. • Take necessary steps to inform the registrar of companies, tax authorities, and other regulatory bodies regarding the change in your office address. • Most of the buildings impose restrictions regarding moving out during the daytime. It is important to talk to the building authorities of both offices regarding this and prepare a shifting schedule accordingly. • You will also need the necessary security permissions to take your belongings out of the office.
Communication:
• Keep your employees informed about the office shifting very early in the moving process. • You will also need to inform your customers, suppliers and every other stakeholder well in advance.
Final review:
• A few weeks before the final shifting date, have a meeting with the professional moving company and chalk out every detail regarding the move. • Keep them informed about the progress so far, any difficulties that might have been faced so far, and the movement restrictions being placed by the building authorities of both the existing in the new offices. They will have to plan out the logistics, keeping these points in mind. • Finalise the exact schedule for shifting. Discuss out every point in detail, and agree upon the roles and responsibilities that your employees and their employees will have on that day. • Communicate these responsibilities to your project manager or coordinators and ensure that they have understood the plan fully.
One week before the shifting:
• Get the professional office moving company to start the packing. • Ask your employees to clean up their desks and send the essential items for packing. • Do a review with the project managers to understand the level of progress, and to ensure that everyone is completely aware of their responsibilities on the day of shifting. • Get fresh stationery like letterheads, visiting cards, invoices, etc. printed with the address of the new office.
On the day of the shifting:
• Ensure that no employee other than the project coordinators are present in the offices. This will enable the team from the professional moving company to work freely without facing any obstructions. • Place the coordinators in both the offices to ensure that whatever goes out of the old office reaches the new office. • If possible, get the IT infrastructure ready as soon as the servers and computers have reached the new office. This will ensure that at least the emergency departments will be able to resume work on the next day. • Ensure that the old office has been completely cleared out, and no essential belongings have been left behind.
By following this simple checklist, you should be able to complete the shifting process seamlessly, without the worry of any last moment surprises. Customise this checklist with the specific points pertaining to your office, and use it to your benefit.
