Well, the whole office moved really, this weekend. And in a rare moment of quite, surrounded by not quite as many boxes, I thought it was about time I added a new blog post. Can you tell things around here have been a little busy?
So, a couple of tips for moving your technology (which I really should write up as a free report, but with content slightly better than just off the top of my head):
A) Backup, backup, backup: Always ensure you have a current, valid, tested backup before you move critical equipment like laptops and servers! That includes a system state backup for Windows Servers. Might take you a bit of time, but if anything gets upset about being moved, you’ll thank me for this one.
B) Voice Over IP: Apart from the wonderful cost savings (if you can get the quality right with decent VoIPgear AND a decent internet connection, preferably with ‘Quality of Service’), VoIP is so wonderful when you are moving premises. No longer are you at the mercy of the phone company to disconnect/reconnect or allocate a new number, but as soon as your internet connection is live, just plug in your VoIP and phones and away you go!
C) Cable guy: If your new office needs any cabling, get yourself a quality, approved cable guy. Our network takes one internet feed and splits into two networks – one for customer PCs and one for our server and office domain. Looks fairly straightforward on paper yet my husband can create it from scratch without a drawing. Invaluable. Minimal downtime.
D) Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3: Test that EVERYTHING works .. phones, email, printer etc etc. Dont take for granted that just because you can browse the internet, you can send/receive email. Technology can be fussy like that.
With our entire business dependant on our internet connection (website, email, phones, downloads etc) this was the first priority of the move. If we had to put up with boxes or sit on the floor on Monday morning, at least we would be operational if our connectivity was sorted. Kind of the IT equivalent of setting up the bed first when you move into a new house!
If your future contains any plans for moving, good luck!
-SCuff