When faced with a relocation project, you can choose to dedicate someone from within your organisation to manage this daunting task full-time. If you are fortunate enough to have someone available who is capable of executing the whole project from start to finish, and who can also be spared when it comes to contributing to your day-to-day business, then that is just perfect.
But don’t be mistaken by the idea that someone can add a project like this to his or her regular job. Many have tried and failed, endangering the deadline of the whole project.
So it’s best to consider involving an external expert: the relocation manager will run the whole project for you from start to finish. He will coordinate all contacts with e.g. contractors, suppliers, utility companies and the internal IT-department.
He will advise and support management and be the designated contact for all parties concerned during the whole period of the project. The project doesn’t end after relocation itself has physically taken place, and the relocation manager naturally will coordinate and take care of all the tasks left to be done then. At the end of the project he will officially conclude and account for the project, after which transfer will take place to the organisation’s internal facility manager or department.
What does relocating generally entail?
It is safe to state that relocation is not an organisation’s core business. Relocation is usually a result of factors like growth or reduction in size, mergers, local planning decisions or simply the desire to improve the organisation’s location.
To organize a project like this efficiently, much more has to be done than to make sure that the movers will arrive at the correct time and place. There are things to think of and choices to make concerning for example:
- data infrastructure (installation/expansion)
- telecom and utilities (cutoff/hookup/installation/expansion)
- critical automation systems
- 24/7 business
- design and decorating preferences and choices
- fire safety
- security
- renovation or new construction
- regular and appropriate communication: external and internal
- the physical move itself
- follow-up care
When should it be completed?
When dealing with a relocation project, there will always be a deadline that has to be met! Usually this doesn’t leave you with too much time on your hands… and that is only to be expected because the project in itself will frustrate any organisation’s routine. Despite the fact that the benefits of the new location and situation will usually motivate everyone in the end.