Smooth Moves with Albacore

For business owners, relocating a business can be one of the largest projects they undertake. Albacore have managed relocations for many businesses of all sizes over the years and can help to make the move as smooth as possible.

Firstly, the timings are key. It’s important to get Albacore involved at an early stage, even while a business is narrowing down options for new premises. At this stage gaining insight into the available Internet connectivity at the location and any existing infrastructure in the premises is valuable, as they can significantly lengthen or shorten the time to making the new facility ready for occupation.

Fast and reliable Internet access is of key importance to all businesses. Many business locations are underserved by broadband technologies, and the speeds and reliability of broadband technologies are increasingly not suitable for business. Leased line circuits are most often the answer, providing symmetrical guaranteed bandwidth and connectivity to any office location. Leased lines also offer superior reliability and support levels with guaranteed fixes, backed up by an SLA to ensure fast rectification in the event of a fault. To offset costly installation charges there is a longer minimum term on these services. Leased lines have a leadtime of 65 working days (13 weeks) if all goes smoothly. Some do take longer than this, that’s why it is of key importance to understand what is in place currently and place any order early. Albacore can visit to survey prospective locations and our industry knowledge means we can also provide desk-based consultation to advise which services are available.

Getting a new site connected to the outside world via the Internet is of course essential, but connecting the devices of the company together inside the building is also a key consideration – a business can’t use their Internet link if they have no way to connect their systems to it. This is where internal cabling comes in. Albacore work with experienced specialist contractors to provide cabling installation and testing services. Cabling installations require diagramming the new office and any warehouse space, considering the requirements and then deploying network links to those locations. Sufficient outlets should be provisioned to allow 2 network points at each desk, before allowing capacity for printers, any expansion in user numbers, and any requirement for Wi-Fi in the space. Structured cabling can be used to run and extend many types of signal, not just network, so providing spare capacity to boardrooms or meeting rooms is well worth considering. Cabling a facility fully before occupation avoids costly and disruptive expansion of internal networking in the future.

Wi-Fi is becoming more and more prevalent in business environments and the technology is getting faster and more reliable, but the fastest and most reliable connectivity is still achieved by using a wired network link. Where wired access is not possible and for devices that don’t have an ethernet port, Albacore design, implement, manage and support wireless connectivity for all types of office and warehouse spaces.

Voice calling is another key business service where Albacore assist customers. Using Microsoft Teams provides excellent flexibility and usability while also improving internal collaboration between employees. The system can be expanded to include direct customer and supplier communications using voice, chat, meetings and document collaboration through Teams, which evolves and improves these key links of communication. All support and management of the solution is provided by Albacore’s helpdesk and the system is entirely Internet based.

Once all the services have been planned and deployed, the last key aspect of a relocation is moving day. Albacore provide engineers on the ground to move, reconnect and test IT equipment. To avoid the confusion of peripherals, a filing box per user is recommended to be provided to house the contents of desks, and keyboards and mice are packed into these boxes for transportation.

Moving premises is not a good time to renew internal IT systems or change your service provider because there is already a lot to think about, and however well planned, a relocation introduces scope for delays and issues. Any system changes should be bedded in well before a site move, or be scheduled for shortly afterwards. It’s a common misconception that having all new equipment at a new site means users can just sit down at their new desks and can start work. What this approach overlooks is that while hardware might be available, the workings of a business rely on the software, data and processes held within that business. This process can be smoothed significantly by migrating to an Albacore hosted server solution before relocation.

Contact Albacore today to explore how we can assist and support in managing business relocation projects.