Moving office is often a stressful time, plenty of office equipment to move and people to organise. To minimise disruption and keep productivity levels up one of the first things you should do when setting up in a new office is check your connectivity. It sounds obvious, right? Surely there will be some sort of broadband, internet or point-to-point connection in this day and age? But that’s not always the case.
If this sounds like a familiar story you’ll know it can take from 10 – 18 weeks for your telecoms provider to set up the services that are 1:1 contention – irrelevant of the age of the building or what’s currently in place.
Traditional telecoms providers will typically use a postcode checker that enables them to see what is on-net or off-net. New buildings, without historical connections, may require outside groundwork. This could require the involvement of local councils to assess potential road disrupton. Be aware that telecoms providers often outsouce civil works and costs are footed by the tennant.
If you are moving into an older or refitted building, depending on how many tennents are already in the building, the existing route may well be at capacity meaning that your provider has no space left to install the fibre. Expect more work and time delays.
So what can you do? Here are 4 things to consider when you are about to move office:
- Watching the clock – you can order connectivity services through your telecoms provider or landlord any point in the run up to moving day. However, the clock cannot start until you have officially signed the lease. That is when the lead time or, in some cases, after the survey kicks in. Much like a mortgage, you can’t change providers on a property you do not own. You can obtain quotes but until you have the keys nothing can be actioned.
- Create a plan for the worst – The best providers will set your expectations allowing you to create a plan to for staff to work remotely. Set up workers with virtual desktops, hosted PBX applications to answer phone calls and virtual meeting rooms. Clients won’t notice any a change in service levels.
