The good news is that your business is growing. Revenues are increasing. Clients are happy. You are adding staff to meet the increased demand for your product or service.
Growth is a wondrous thing but it comes with its share of problems. Increased revenue often means increased staffing needs and more equipment which, many times means… moving.
You have probably thought about working out a budget for the new place with your accountant, discussing the move with a real estate agent, dealing with utilities and a myriad other issues… but have you considered your IT needs?
Planning
Now you have found the place. The lease is a go, all of the pieces are in place. It is time to move. A plan is critical and success is predicated on planning the move of your IT. Continuity of IT services is necessary to a painless relocation. Failure to include how you will move your computer hardware and data mean lost productivity and that means needless loss of revenue.
Gnosys can help! We help our clients plan how they will move their IT hardware, network, and data.
IT Checklist for a Successful Move
- Who are the team members and leaders? Who will implement the relocation plan? – This makes sure that everyone knows who the “doer” is.
2. Inventory: What components are there to your infrastructure. Do we need them? Do we need to reconsider how we are deploying them? Do you own all of your equipment or do we need to notify a leasing agent about the move? Multi-Function Printers are the big culprit here. Are we decommissioning any equipment? New purchases?
3. Make sure any infrastructure like network cabling or wireless is planned for and ready to go prior to the move. Also, test the connectivity. Few things are worse than finding out the day you begin operations in your new space that you have dead network jacks.
4. Phones? Do we need to have a phone vendor come in to deploy POTS jacks (Plain Old Telephone System) or are we on VOIP? Is the VOIP a new thing with the move? If so, did we plan for the extra jacks?
5. Internet: Communicate with any vendors and plan for over-lapping service dates. It will cost a little extra money but it may save things if something goes wrong.
6. Make sure you have new backups for data as well as configuration files for all routers, wireless access points, ect. Do you have virtualization in place? If so, having a snapshot of each VM could be a life saver.
7. Who is moving the physical equipment and how?
8. Have a solid plan for setting the needed services in the new space. Prioritize services as needed.
This checklist is extremely basic and every move is unique. The move is an excellent time to review how your business communicates and what telecom vendors & service agreements are in place and may need to change. This is where Gnosys Networks can help. We have been planning and executing moves for both our clients and ourselves for almost a decade. With that experience has come a tried and true process for getting the move done with minimum fuss or muss.
Planning a move? Give us a call at 352.870.2034 or email us at info@gnosysnetworks.com