Office Moves Are On The Move!
Let’s face it, the landscape of “the office” has changed – for good. Many companies and their employees have adapted to a new Work From Home (WFH) status that has become temporary, or in some cases, permanent. It’s no longer necessary or expected to let your manager know that today is the day you need to WFH, and there is no guilt felt for being the one who is not in the office – no one is! It is a welcome change for many who have had an opportunity to realize the value of being able to work from home or Hawaii (whatever you define your “H” as) more frequently. And for some who now have a choice as to where they work, it has enabled the valuable reassessment of what’s most important in their “work-life-balance”. No matter what the future of work holds for you, for now it has inspired the need for everyone to find creative ways to find focus in our current WFH remote world.
However, many companies and their employees still greatly value or need face-to-face interaction, even if it is with a custom mask advertising whatever they’re feeling on that day. The continued changes in how work gets done has created a significant commercial real estate domino effect. Some of the moves are those companies that are choosing to relocate to Colorado, Texas and other less expensive states compared with New York and California, for example. In other instances, well established companies are simply downsizing their on-site work population and opting for an office environment that takes us back to the 80’s and 90’s where employees had designated offices and walled off cubicles. All this to protect our employees who’s definition of getting back to work literally means getting back to work!
If you are considering a move for all the reasons above and more, well, you need to consider the: Why, When, How and What. Below we have shared what’s involved on the IT side of a move and why your company might consider Altitude Integrations and our partner network to handle all of your moving needs. We know moving and job changes rank at the top of stressors, so we have thought through every aspect of the process to make it as worry free as possible!
When Is Relocating a Good Idea?
– WHY RELOCATE –
• Merger / Acquisition
• Consolidation / Expansion
• Cost of living
• Change of IT strategy
• Facility changes
• Diversify geographical footprint
• Security
• Consider changes needed for your employees’ quality of life post COVID
– WHAT’S INCLUDED –
• Planning sessions with project and technical teams focused on achieving your goals
• Logistics, technical, and project Management
• Coordination between OEM and Other 3rd party vendors
• Site Survey / Inventory Audit / Cable Audit / Support Audit
• Hardware procurement consulting
• Facility readiness review
• User/Application dependency
• Disaster recovery readiness review
• Transportation, logistics, and materials
• Onsite Technical and project team for physical relocation
• Cable management
• Power on and validation
• Day 1 support
– OUR APPROACH –
• Altitude Integrations’ Professional Services & Engineering Teams work hand-in-hand with businesses of all sizes and industries on their office moves. Here is our approach:
• Review origin and destination floor plans
• Site Audit
• Weekly conference calls
• Risk assessment
• Stage 1 – Decommission
• Stage 2 – Recommission
• Stage 3 – Day 1 support
– DETAILED APPROACH –
REVIEW ORIGIN & DESTINATION FLOOR PLANS
The new space allowed for better organization of departments, so users who were previously seated together were dispersed throughout the new office. Therefore, clear and detailed documentation was needed to ensure each station was relocated to the correct cubicle.
AUDIT
An initial audit will be completed to determine what peripheral devices were included with each workstation and the preferred orientation of each user to ensure a smooth and seamless transition for employees. A server audit of both locations will also performed to determine what equipment would remain in production or be decommissioned from the environment.
WEEKLY CONFERENCE CALLS
Weekly calls with the Altitude Integrations project management team will be scheduled to keep all parties up to date on the progress of facility readiness, scheduling, device procurement, issues, and changes.
RISK ASSESSMENT
All possible risks will be assessed and assigned multiple ratings based on likeness, level of impact, and cost. A risk response plan covering all contingencies and mitigation strategies will be presented to the client.
STAGE 1 – DECOMISSION
The relocation will be scheduled over the weekend. Systems will be powered down in the early afternoon by the client in order of lowest priority, allowing higher-ups to continue working as long as possible. All equipment, and peripherals will be validated against the inventory list in case of any undocumented changes. Equipment will then be labeled with non-residue labels and packed according to Altitude Integrations’ packing standards.
Server equipment will be confirmed offline alongside the client remote system administrators. Altitude Integrations will document and remove patch cable connections and un-racked the equipment before bringing it to the staging area. The server equipment will be boxed and palletized according to Altitude Integrations and customer agreed upon packing standards.
STAGE 2 – RECOMISSION
Efficiency will be realized through the planning process, so Altitude Integrations will mount monitors, PC mounts, surge protectors, and cable prior to the weekend maintenance window.
Server equipment will be prioritized for reinstallation by an engineering team focused on an RTO/RTP goal agreed upon during planning. After the physical equipment is mounted and patched, Altitude Integrations engineers will work with the remote system administrators to configure ports and IP addresses. Onsite troubleshooting will be performed when required to complete validation of the network remotely.
Upon equipment arrival, the IT equipment will be cleaned with compressed air and anti-static cloths. All equipment will then be validated against the inventory list to ensure no equipment is missing. The Altitude Integrations team will follow the technical action plan and set up the equipment according to the preferred layout. Power, monitor, data, and voice cables will be connected, and equipment will be powered-up and tested for connectivity and speed. Any issues will be troubleshot by our on-site Technical Support team.
STAGE 3 – DAY ONE SUPPORT
By Monday morning the Datacenter will be completely operational and employees will be able to seamlessly continue operations where they had left off before the weekend. Our onsite Technical Support team will be on standby with established call procedures in case of any issues with faulty cables, unresponsive equipment, or last-minute changes.