Optimizing Your Office Moves and More

The benefits of move management software may not be evident at first – haven’t paper methods gotten us through so far?

In addition, moving is crazy enough – why introduce more new things to complicate matters?

We sympathize.

However, the multitude of advantages that come with move management software are worth it. It can make life significantly easier for everyone involved. Move management effectively streamlines the entire moving process and ensures no critical components are left out.

This article will show why it is vital to have a digital roadmap for your office move.

What is move management software?

Move management software is often a combination of project management, communication, task delegation, and accountability tools all rolled into a platform designed to facilitate corporate relocation.

There are many components to consider and keep track of with a move, like creating seating arrangements, building floor plans, maintaining productivity during the move, getting people settled in, and coordinating the actual move dates (to name just a few).

Move management software makes it easier to keep everything on track as it contains a variety of features to make planning, visualizing, and executing moves as simple as possible. By including floor plans and maps, checklists, cloud documents, and chat functions, move management software provides managers with everything they need to execute a move with as few unexpected obstacles and problems as possible.

Benefits of move management software

The major savings that move management software provides are in time.

And as everyone knows, time is money.

Good moving software allows you to operate with extreme efficiency by streamlining, centralizing, and automating most of the processes.

Below we cover what businesses can look forward to if they plan their corporate relocation using sophisticated move management software.

Centralization

Rather than having multiple documents and shared files scattered between systems to govern the phases of a move, all data is centralized in move management software. Everyone involved in orchestrating the move uses the same single source of collaborative, up-to-date information.

Centralized move data also becomes vital to enabling a unified focus on key objectives.

Automation

Through its automation of many data collection, storage and analysis functions, move management helps saves valuable time for your organization.

Manual treatment of data not only translates into an increased chance of redundancy but also leaves room for errors that can be time-intensive to fix.

A move management system is an evolution in moving management because it transforms back-end organization from a manual liability into an automated competitive advantage.

Timeline-specific planning

Every office move has a timeline and details attached to it. Each piece of the puzzle—from the equipment to service requests—plays an important role in the overall success of the move.

Move management software allows you to put these many moving parts of office relocation on a comprehensive timeline. Not only does this keep moves succinct and regulated, but it also allows for better planning.

With the ability to see the status of various tasks and requests in real-time, you can monitor and immediately respond to where delays occur. Such software will also allow you to use this data to predict upcoming issues. Looking ahead at upcoming next steps and seeing the move in phases can help facilitate a seamless relocation effort.

Contextualization & Coordination

With detailed floor plans and diagrams, office relocations can now have context through move management software. Checklist items can be set to match up with diagrams that provide better instruction to those responsible for each task.

Building checklists into move management software also helps to keep everyone on track and allows easy navigation of what’s already been accomplished, what’s next, and who’s responsible.

A high level of transparency keeps all parties informed, not only improving efficiency and time management but also putting any uncertainties or worries to rest.

Visualization

Move management software turns your floor plan into a powerful reporting tool. You can visualize workplace data in any way you like or need and print customized views of your floor plan that highlight what you need to see in relation to your move.

In this way, you can make data-backed decisions that are best for your business and employees and eliminate guesswork and second-guessing.

Visualization is particularly useful when designing your floor plan arrangements. Using move management software, you can test several configurations of your floor plan before moving and have a comprehensive and detailed picture of your confirmed arrangement.

Sharing and collaborating with leadership and upper management to decide on the best floor plan for the organization becomes easy with the accessible, user-friendly interface. Understanding how your space is being used will allow you to achieve maximum efficiency.

Streamlined communication

Creating a detailed yet clear communications plan is a crucial step of any significant move.

Knowing exactly how and when you’ll communicate essential move information with your team will ensure nothing gets lost in translation and that everyone is on the same page.

With move management software, you can automate move notifications to make sure employees know when and where they’re moving. You can add ‘confirm’ functions to ensure the right people know what’s happening when they’re supposed to.

Centralizing move-related notifications and communications in one place is the best way to field questions, resolve problems, make adjustments on-the-fly, and keep tabs on the move. Best of all, this communication happens within the context of everything else—checklists, floor plans, other chats, and tasks.

Digital integration

Integration is at the heart of move management software. By complementing your existing software and hardware systems, adding move management software improves not only your move experience but also optimizes these pre-existing systems.

Integrations are the key to completing a move efficiently.

Software systems

Many opportunities for integration with other software programs are available, making all systems smoother and more effective.

Combine move management software with service request software to enable the location of the requester or asset to be documented on the floor plan. Sync up the company directory so everyone knows where they sit in the new floor plan. Tie in facility support ticketing, so maintenance teams can tie up loose ends quickly. Integrate new IoT sensors to register real-time activity in both old and new facilities.

Mobile technology

Move management software with an integrated mobile app eliminates the need for paper methods entirely and comes with additional benefits.

The app would help you breeze through the move inventory, work without an Internet connection and also help snap photographs of items involved in the move.

Cloud-based and mobile technologies help meet the increased demand placed on facility managers during a move. While on the move, facility managers and their team can quickly access information, submit requests and make necessary updates—all of which lead to improved efficiencies and greater productivity.

Accountability

At the end of the day, accountability can make or break an office relocation. If someone doesn’t accomplish their tasks, it can hinder others with peripheral responsibilities.

Move management software brings transparency to every move needed to create accountability. As a result, everyone holds true to their duties, and the move progresses swiftly.

More space management resources:

Choosing move management software

As with most software systems, not all moving company software is created equally.

After assessing how a move management system will assist your core teams, it’s time to decide which features are key to the overall success of your business. It’s vital to ensure the system you choose will meet the needs of your organization.

Deciding which move management software is best for you is a decision that involves the consideration of a few different variables.

Here’s a helpful list of action steps to take that will help you choose right:

  • Discuss the requirements of your facilities management team with the vendor
  • Make sure there aren’t any surprise costs in terms of integration
  • Confirm the availability of mobile applications that prioritize the user experience
  • See how the software supports data management and analysis as a resource in making decisions
  • Inquire about the security measures that your vendor uses
  • Ensure that training and support is provided at every stage of the integration and use processes
  • Opt for software that has the ability to have features added to your system as your needs expand, rather than having to buy features upfront that your company doesn’t need

Web-based vs. on-site systems

You will also have to decide between using web-based versus on-site systems.

In short, an on-site system is when you store your move management software on your own server. You’re responsible for investing in the hardware, updating the software, and maintaining the servers.

A web-based system will allow you to access your data on any device with a browser — without the cost of hosting your information. The data lives in a cloud that your drivers or sales team can find using any mobile device with internet access. They can even access the information offline and sync the data when they have service.

When push comes to shove, a web-based system has many advantages over its on-site counterpart. The most important benefit – especially when moving – is the ability to access your data anywhere on any device.

Typically, a web-based system is easier to use and maintain. But make sure you are making a fully informed decision using the actions steps listed above.

Optimizing office moves and more

An investment in the day-to-day operation of your business is only worthwhile if it serves your business long term. While it may not seem so at first, a move management system is a long-term investment.

Data-driven research and automation that a move management system provides will grant you the speed and the organization you need to ensure your moving company is not held back by everyday operations and that your company has resources to grow.

For example, say your organization is moving from a large office building to a smaller one to accommodate for adopting a 50/50 remote and in-office hybrid work model. With its visualization, automation, and communication features, management can use move management software to coordinate employees scheduled to work in-office and ensure they know where they’re supposed to be, how to book desks and shared meeting spaces, etc. long after the move has been completed.

More resources for integrating hybrid work models:

Takeaway

Moving company software provides your team with instant access to the same data and eliminates human errors caused by working on outdated spreadsheets and hard copies that easily get lost.

A move management system allows you to bring efficiency to your move while also optimizing the experience and helps your teamwork to their fullest potential during the move and beyond.