Month: July 2013
5 Tips to Stay Productive During a Corporate Relocation
On Monday we offered a few tips to help your staff stay productive during a corporate relocation. Today we will focus on tips to ensure that you remain on top of things during the office relocation process.
During an office relocation, it is almost inevitable that a business owner or manager will face a bump or two in everyday routine. The question is how to address and minimize the potential for a standstill – that period when business won’t seem to be able to operate as usual? Christopher Elliott of Microsoft has a few tips on how to best remain productive during an office relocation.
1. Make the actual move at the best time.
Identify where the downtime of your business is, so you can minimize the impact of the move on your clients and customers. Before you make the move, know where the local-area network, PCs, printers, and wireless networks are, so you can get right to work when you absolutely have to.
2. Expect the unexpected.
A client or customer might suddenly request a copy of an important file, or arrange for a special transaction. Be ready for any business-related concerns that might suddenly crop up during the move.
3. Upgrade.
It’s time to let go of outdated software and PCs in favor of faster, more updated ones. Office relocation is a time for you to upgrade. Another tip is for you to use laptop computers as your office tools in the meantime, before you settle into the new office.
4. Make room for downtime.
You are smart to notify your clients, associates, and other stakeholders in advance of the move that there might be a lag in correspondence. If any unexpected issues come up that won’t be addressed until after a few hours after the fact, you won’t have to explain over and over again every time a client asks you what the problem is.
5. Move your applications.
Fortunately, this is a lot easier now, regardless if you’re on Mac or Windows. In fact, you might also want to consider cloud computing. There are several applications that will give you a much easier time moving your files and applications from hardware to hardware.
Read Christopher Elliot’s full article here.
Tips to Stay Productive During a Corporate Relocation
For many companies, the fear that productivity will come to a standstill during a corporate relocation is enough to make them shy away from deciding to undergo the big move, regardless of how beneficial it might be in the long run. This is a valid concern. It is, after all, a common experience shared among companies who endured the daunting office relocation process by themselves or faced it with an ill-experienced corporate moving company. We’ve all heard the horror stories of corporate renovations and relocations that went over budget and well past the expected timeline. But this doesn’t have to happen to you.
At D.J. McGauley & Associates, we’ve been successful in helping our clients move to their new office without putting the productivity of management and/or staff at stake. Here are just a few tips for keeping your company running at an efficient pace while undergoing a corporate relocation.
Timing is everything. Even the most experienced corporate movers may forget this in their haste to finish the move as fast as possible. But it’s not only about how fast the move is, it’s also about how strategic it should be. We’ll find the best time in terms of efficiency and speed for you to move into your new location.
Consider telecommuting. If the job function is operational and ministerial—meaning it doesn’t require collaboration and can be done on a computer—then you might want to let employees perform their work from home. If you’re not sure if this will work, you can experiment. Do a couple of test runs with your employees – once a week, perhaps. Set clear ground rules and expectations. Many companies that offer telecommuting options will hold set daily meetings over Skype or other remote conferencing platforms.
Set up temporary work stations. Some corporate movers think their job starts and ends with the moving. At D.J. McGauley & Associates, we think your business is as much of our concern as your move is. After all, what’s the use of a bright, shiny new office if you lose your valued clients along the way? If what it takes to keep your productivity at an all time high is to put up temporary work stations, then we’ll help you set one up.
Keep everyone informed. Sometimes it’s easy to forget to bring those who are not directly involved in the corporate moving process into the loop. To keep people’s minds off the move, however, it’s important that they stay informed. Time spent fearing the unknown will occupy much of an employee’s time and end up distracting even the most focused staff member.
These are just a few tips to get you on your way to a productive and efficient corporate relocation. Moving your office doesn’t mean that you should put a hold on your office activities. We’ll do what it takes to make sure you stay at the top of your game. Call us for more tips, advice and free corporate relocation quotes.
The Lowdown on Modern Office Design on a Limited Budget
As many companies try to balance the costs of their corporate relocation, office design often takes a back seat to other priorities and a strict budget. At D.J. McGauley & Associates, we understand that the expenses of a corporate relocation can easily balloon up to disproportionate heights, so we make it a point to give fair prices and helpful budget breakdowns without sacrificing the quality and efficiency of your move or your newly designed office space.
In our years of experience, we have nailed down the best and ways to make your office space design both modern and practical. Here are just a few tips and tricks:
Go for bold accents. Offices with neutral colors are a thing of the past. Choose office furniture and even office supplies in bold colors, with the psychology of color in mind. Purple means success, green represents renewal, yellow signifies warmth, and so on. Why settle for drab and boring when you can go for exciting color accents that make your office stand out?
Go clean and professional. If bold colors do not suit your corporate image, you will likely choose to stick to monochrome. This can be accomplished without inducing a sterile or boring “feel” simply by choosing paint and purchasing office furniture from gradients within the same color block—from walls to computers to chairs. For example, a neutral grey selection – from charcoal to a light grey with a slight tinge of blue. Then add accent pieces in black or white. This scheme will make your office look clean and high-profile without any dullness.
Decorate the office. It doesn’t have to be all work, now does it? Skip the overdone inspirational posters and instead display some great art work in the office, and you’d get some heads nodding in approval. Keep in mind that fewer large pieces almost always make a bigger visual impact than many smaller pieces placed on every available wall surface.
Is most of your business local? Make sure to do some research to find a new and upcoming local artist.
Go for partitions that free up space. There are many partitions of different styles that will give the impression that there’s bigger space in the office than there actually is, without sacrificing privacy. Luckily for you, we have the ability to secure office partitions, office equipment and systems furniture to fit virtually any budget!
Corporate Space Planning & Relocation Advice 