A three step guide to moving your business

Moving day arrives ? don?t lose focus when the end is in sight

So finally, after three years of planning and many sleepless nights, we are now settled into our new offices. Those final few days are when all of the meetings, plans and contingencies are tested. It?s also the time to make sure that all of your team are briefed and happy with the roles they are expected to play. Here are my final thoughts on what to bear in mind when the big day finally arrives.

1) Give yourself the maximum time possible, with the minimum disruption ? we chose the Easter weekend to move the business. While we missed out on precious family time it did give us two additional non-working days in which to complete the move. This meant that we could move the business lock, stock and barrel while still providing a ?business as usual? service for our customers from 8.00am on the Tuesday morning.

2) Everything needs a plan B ? it?s essential to have a contingency plan for data and phones etc. We made a promise to our customers that we would be open for business immediately and it was imperative that we were able to deliver on that. If everything is planned to perfection then things should be fine but we all know that technology can be temperamental. We had invested in a new digital phone system but ensured that we still had analogue lines in place in case anything went wrong with the go live.

3) Ensure that all staff are on-board ? I?ve talked about this before, and it applies throughout the process. However it?s important not to forget this in the final stages. I was so touched at the amount of effort that all of our staff put in during the move, with some of the team working until midnight on Easter Monday and being back at their new desks first thing on Tuesday.

4) Commit yourself to endless planning ? this is key to ensuring that everyone knows exactly what they need to do during the physical move. There were moments when I questioned the amount of planning that was going into the process. My advice would be to never ask yourself that question! Please don?t underestimate the importance of remembering every last detail. If you?re not the right person for that role then bring in an expert who is and who will challenge you every step of the way.

5) Timetable everything ? when it comes to the actual move, make sure that you have a timetable and that you stick to it. We over-estimated how much time would be involved in each area which meant that we were able to exceed our completion times rather than needing to find additional time that we didn?t have. Fortunately, this gave us time at the end for a last minute dash to the supermarket to make sure there were plenty of tea and biscuits for Tuesday morning!

Debra Jamieson is a director at UK Point of Sale

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