Essential Checklist for Moving into a New Office
So, you’ve just picked up the keys for your brand-new office. Congratulations! This is a huge step forward for your business – and there’s no doubt that you’re going to love every moment of your time there. But before you can move straight in and get going like you usually would, there are a few things you need to consider to make office life as safe and straightforward as possible.
If you’re in the process of moving into a new office, take a look at this essential checklist before you do anything else:
1. Is the building secure?
Stop and spend a minute or two to assess the current security situation of your building. Whoever spent time here before might not have had the same security priorities as you, or they may have taken more of their security features with them when they moved on. Burglaries are still a massive problem – it’s thought that there were 1,401,840 burglaries in the US in 2017 alone – so preventing them with security features like alarms, CCTV and motion sensors is essential.
2. Are my keys suitable?
When you move into a commercial building, unless it’s brand new, there’s a good chance it’s been used previously by another business. With that in mind, you’re best paying a visit to a locksmith, who can use key cutting machines to create a whole new set of keys for you. Before you do that, it might be worth checking with your letting agent or landlord that a new set of keys haven’t already been cut, which is sometimes the procedure with commercial moves.
3. What about my cyber security?
Your cyber security is important no matter what your location, but moving into a new office is a good time to reassess your current cyber security setup and see if it’s still working well for you. When it’s thought that around 60 percent of small companies go out of business within six months of a cyber-attack, staying safe on the internet is only ever going to increase in importance.
4. Is my Wi-Fi in check?
On the topic of the internet, there’s nothing worse than moving into a new office and having to wait a good week or two for your Wi-Fi to show up. Wi-Fi is notoriously slow to set up, so make sure you have everything you need ordered and ready to go at least three weeks prior to your move. That’ll mean you can get straight into productivity mode as soon as your move is complete.
5. Have I changed my address?
This may be one of the most essential tips of them all: remember to change your address everywhere. Your clients, your business partners, the people who pay you, the people you pay… they all need to know that your address has changed, or sensitive data may end up where it shouldn’t be. Add your new address to your website, email it out to staff and customers, and arranged for any mail sent to your old address to be bounced straight over to you.
