Moving offices? Top 10 telecom considerations before you move.

Did you realise that even if you are moving offices across the road, you may not be able to keep your phone number? Furthermore, whether you’re a CIO, Telecommunications Manager or Head of IT, moving offices can be a daunting task. To help make sure that your phones keep ringing and you don’t miss those important calls, here are our top 10 telecommunication considerations before you move:

1. Plan ahead
First of all, the more notice you give to any of the suppliers you intend to use, the better off you will be. That’s absolutely true for your telecoms supplier, as it can take time to order and lay additional cable phone/data lines if required. So ideally plan at least six months ahead and leave at least 3 months to order new lines. Telecoms providers always ask to be contacted early as possible, so get them involved in the early stage of the planning process.

2. Do you want to keep you phone number?
Often businesses find out too late that they cannot retain their business phone numbers that clients and suppliers have stored in their phones. If the office you’re moving to is served by another Digital Local Exchange (DLE), you will not be able to keep your phone number. So check with your operator if you can keep your phone number. If you find you can’t keep your numbers, there are solutions such as smartnumbers that can control where calls are delivered, no matter where you move.

Even if you want to take the opportunity to acquire a new number range, it’s worth speaking with your telecoms provider to see if the DLE has enough capacity.

3. Voice and data connectivity to the new location
How many lines/channels are you currently using? What connectivity does the new office have; regular analogue line, digital lines (such as ISDN2/ISDN30) or perhaps IP (such as SIP). If you need to order new lines to be installed, make sure you leave at least 90 days to order new lines from your telecoms provider.  It might be a good opportunity to upgrade to a digital line. More information about the benefits of ISDN is available from the BT site here.

4. Move everyone in one go?
How many employees are you moving to the new office? Up to a 1,000 people can be moved in a weekend if you have already set up the IT and infrastructure. If you’re bringing IT and furniture with you, a common weekend move size is about 250 people. Many businesses go for a phased approach to minimise risk. The challenge though is how will you control where calls to each of the direct dial-in (DDIs) are delivered during the transition - to the old site or the new?

Speak to your telecoms provider they might be able to divert your main number to another location and coordinate a switch over date. If you need control of where calls to each DDI are delivered, for example if you are moving teams or departments separately, then a cloud based service like smartnumbers will give you the flexibility you require.

5. Make sure you have enough plugs
Plan where you are going to locate the PBX, printers, scanners and faxes in the new premises. The new building may require additional cabling and IT networks. Are there enough data and power points? The general rule of thumb is two per person plus an extra four per four person group for other equipment such as printers etc. Make sure that any structural alterations are completed before the move, especially if you are moving to an old building where it might not be possible to run cables or drill through walls. Make sure that all these fall under Building and Health & Safety regulations.

6. Be prepared for the unexpected, have an emergency plan
If business continuity plans are important to manage day-to-day risk, it’s even more important to get a plan in place during an office move. Make sure that it contains a contact list of all persons involved in the move, including the contact numbers of all IT and telecoms technicians. A great video guide about business continuity planning from Maris is worth a watch.

7. Consider an IT and telecommunications moving expert
Managing a substantial move can involve a complex range of variables including cabling, IT equipment, how calls are to be answered and off-site storage of data. It might be worth consulting an IT and telecommunications specialist to support your move so doesn’t affect your day to day business.

8. Disposing of old electronics - stay within the law
As well as complying with general waste legislation, you will need to consider how to recycle or dispose of your electronic equipment. This also includes how to dispose of sensitive data stored within hard discs and other computer memory.

9. Moving forwards
Whether your office relocation is driven by growth in personnel or you’re consolidating your office estate, an office move is a good opportunity to review if your telephone system is fit for purpose. Do you need a more flexible switchboard, are staff going to be working from home? If so, it’s worthwhile investigating if a new telephone system will be a better fit. If you get new technology, remember staff may need time to be trained to use the new equipment.

10. Test, test and test again
You’ve moved all the desks, bookshelves, got new ISDN lines installed and perhaps even got a new telephone system, now it’s time to test that it all works. Don’t forget to test that calls to each DDI are delivered to the right place. It’s highly recommended that you have a plan B if the unexpected goes wrong, so prepare a business continuity plan.