DataCenterMoving.com - Making You the Super Hero of Your Move!

This is the first part in a series of posts to help you understand the elements for a successful business move focusing on the information technology (IT) components.

Moving your business is not like moving your home, although many have made this mistake.Perhaps you’ve been searching for a sample checklist or Microsoft Project Plan to help with examples to get you get started?

Survive or Thrive?

Can you accomplish a business move on your own? The answer depends on a few factors including your experience with prior moves, your availability to manage a move and do your regular job, and your organization’s tolerance for mistakes that cost money, time, and reputation. It’s safe to say that a self-managed move could present real risks to your career should the move go badly.

Understand the Move Scope

Documenting the move scope is the beginning of an important process to minimize the risk to your business. At a minimum, you should include these elements:

• Has the move date been decided?
• Has the destination been chosen?
• Do you know your budget?
• Do you know who is responsible for which elements?
• Have you prepared a move plan?
• Have you prepared a risk and contingency plan?
• Have you socialized the impacts of downtime to your business?
• Do you have a move timeline established?
• Have you identified all long-lead items including telecommunications circuits (voice and data)?
• Do you need a forward operating base at the destination prior to the move?

It’s important to document both what you know about the move and what you don’t know. This will be an ongoing process as you learn more about the elements of a successful move.

The next post will cover the Anatomy of a Move and illustrate the phases for important activities.

Corporate Relocations

Common pitfalls to avoid include:        

Presuming that a move over the weekend represents the best time to move.

This common misconception demonstrates a failure to understand that the weekend represents the time when the most number of resources to your company will be unavailable. Techniques that keep your mission-critical systems available can mask your downtime and allow you to move during the week when both internal and external resources can best help.

Constructing a plan where everything has to go right to succeed.

Most organizations don’t complete a risk and contingency plan. They may have a detailed and complicated move plan with the single flaw that everything has to work correctly. That’s an unlikely event. Contingencies such as extra equipment, extra staffing, redundant data and voice communications, and on-hand tools and supplies can spell the difference between success and failure.
 

Involving every possible person in the move.

Everyone thinks they are a decision maker. Approach the move as a democratic process and be prepared for the outcome of a slow and frustrating experience. Instead, identify a clear hierarchy and responsibility matrix. Who is responsible for the move?

Which executives will provide the necessary top cover to help you cut through the organizational co-efficient of drag and save valuable time?Remember that not everyone wants the move to go smoothly. Identify these potential saboteurs early and plan to deal with them swiftly using your executive resources.

Failure to keep E-Mail running.

With today’s techniques and technologies, there is no excuse for your e-mail to be significantly impacted during your move – even if you are moving it!  Some of the most embarrassing moves have resulted from organizations who bounce their e-mail for days because something went wrong with their move. Construct a plan that accounts for an e-mail system that continues to function during your move.
 

Neglecting backup and restore.

When was the last time you tested your restore process? Have you kept up with systematic backup of your equipment? Finding out too late that you don’t have these critical functions tested will ensure a risky and problem-filled move. You must budget adequate time for testing these functions. Have maintenance completed on tape devices before you move them. Ignore this lesson at the risk of jeopardizing your organization’s ability to resume operations after the move.

Data Center Relocation

Do you need a roadmap for your upcoming datacenter or IT (Information Technology) move?

By now, you have many questions:

• How much is this going to cost?
• Can we move our infrastructure alone?
• What are the best practices?
• Is our moving date feasible?
• Can someone help with site selection?
• Will you lose your job if the move goes badly?
• What are the top mistakes made when relocating?Perhaps the most daunting challenge for an organization is moving their datacenter and associated IT (Information Technology) infrastructure. 

Where do you start? Most IT staffs are already stretched thin, lack the experience of a complex move, and have not kept up on critical documentation essential to executing a successful relocation.

Request our free data center moving guide now to avoid costly mistakes.

Data Center Relocation