When it comes to building a new office space or just moving to a different office space, we know there are so very many considerations in this process. Often our clients are consumed with answering a million questions to contractors, interior decorators, utilities, internal staff, & product salespeople. However, there is one person that often gets left out of the loop far too long and the result can cause lots of complications and expenses.
Anytime you are moving or even considering moving your office there are many decisions that need your IT consultant to weigh in on. One reason we should be brought in very early in the process is that your location will often dictate the performance and costs of your bandwidth. That inexpensive office on the edge of town might become way more expensive when you factor in the costs and performance of the bandwidth available. We can help research those costs to help you make a sound decision. In addition to location considerations, the designing of your facility must include input from your IT consultant.
Construction companies are great for constructing buildings, but we often see the expensive results of only consulting with your construction company when designing your facility. Just a partial list of questions that need to be addressed include:
- Should you have one data closet or several?
- If several should you use fiber cable between the closets or just Cat6 Ethernet?
- Where are the best locations for security cameras?
- How many wall plates per office and how many jacks per plate?
- What color should those wall plates be?
- What color should the jacks be in those wall plates?
- Will you utilize your current phone system or will you install a new one?
- Will your phone system use analog cable or will it use Ethernet?
- Where will you locate shared devices such as printers, point of sale devices, data capture devices, etc., as they will need to be connected to the network?
These are all questions that are relative to most offices. In addition, there are several other decisions to be made based on the industry and type of office being constructed, as a veterinarians office will have many different decisions to be made as compared to a credit union!
All of these decisions made early in the game will make the process of getting your building connected and online much easier. In addition, delaying this process will not only make your life more difficult, it will add costs as change orders are what often make construction costs balloon. In general, there is a direct correlation between how late the decision is made and how much extra it will cost. All of these are sound reasons to call us early in the process, to soothe your pocketbook and your nerves!
