Top 5 tips how to make your transition as smooth as possible
As your business expands there will come a time you must face that necessary evil. Change.
Change is one of the most feared words in corporate culture, and moving offices are one of the most common changes. It means moving away from the status quo that got your business to where it is. And with it raises a whole host of questions. How will your staff react? How do you reduce any downtime? Will your existing equipment be the right equipment in your new premises?
The simplest way to make everything flow smoothly is to get your communications right. Below we highlight our top 5 points to getting your communications right.
1. Get your house in order early on
Decide your communications provider as early in the process as possible. This gives you time to decide if you’re going to stick with your existing supplier, to look at alternative solutions and weigh up what services each provider recommend for moving offices to make an informed decision about what’s right for your business.
There’s no one single answer for any business when you’re moving offices. The timeframe for moving lines and data connections varies by size, available resources and even by location. Give yourself as much time as possible to get everything right early, this will avoid any potential mistakes and time to implement any new services.
2. Check what’s available where you’re moving to
Most businesses today want superfast broadband, however it’s not available everywhere in the UK yet. For example, not every provider covers every area and not every area has fibre broadband.
3. What are you going to do with your existing phone numbers?
Consider how many people know your existing number, not just customers and suppliers but business cards, brochures, websites and blogs that are out of your control. Consider the costs of getting a new number, new marketing material and business cards printed compared to losing potential new business. These are just some of the costs that aren’t considered when moving offices.
Depending if you’re sticking to the same exchange or going to a new one, transferring your existing number can be straight forward or expensive. If you’re concerned about the expense you’d be wise to consider SIP Trunking instead of, or as well as, any ISDNs, giving you the ability to take your numbers anywhere.
4. What are you going to do with your telephone system?
There’s a simple question to ask yourself when you think about replacing your existing telephone system. Is there are any value in taking it with us?
If your telephone system is ageing and you’ve had it for a while, taking it with you can be more expensive than replacing it. Consider not just the time removing the entire system and re-installing it, but also hoping it still works as you’d hope at the other end.
New telephone systems can offer you an opportunity to bring in the latest technology that not only saves you time, installation expense, and on-going maintenance costs, but also works with extra features such as SIP Trunking.
Unified communications solutions also bring together all of your communications under one umbrella to be as secure, mobile and user-friendly as you want it to be.
5. Beware of additional charges
Serviced offices can apply extra charges for telephone systems, whilst also making it difficult for you to bring your own system or numbers with you. It can also be difficult for you to use your own telephone numbers, or add new telephone numbers as and when you require them.
So, in a nutshell; your communications when moving offices should be easier if you plan in advance, research what you need and what support/ resources you have, decide what you’re taking with you, whether phone numbers or systems, and consider all possible costs and charges involved in your move.
If you need any help from an independent, professional organisation we’d be happy to help you decide what the best solution is for you. Simply contact us and one of our friendly team will contact you.
