The COVID-19 pandemic forced organizations to relook at their office spaces. Companies, big and small, realigned their physical office requirements and adopted completely remote work or hybrid work strategies. Downsizing, work from home, and social distancing restrictions meant that suddenly, a large physical presence was not conducive to profitability and employees' health and safety. And maintaining expensive commercial real estate became a financial liability. As a result, moving offices became inevitable—and for some it was necessary for survival.
Property developers Accumulate Capital claim that 37% of corporate decision-makers said they plan to relocate to smaller commercial spaces. However, 57% of businesses said they will still rely on physical spaces to network and collaborate with partners and clients.
Moving offices is no small task! It's a complex activity—orchestrating a successful move without loss to documents and physical assets is a challenge that gets more complex as the size and structure of the organization increases! Protecting employee morale and tackling their reluctance to new adjustments in an already insecure work environment is an added problem.
Consider 'moving your office' as a project
A smooth transition to a new location is possible only with careful planning and systematic execution. Approach it professionally and designate a project manager responsible for budget, task planning, decision-making, and employee communication. Even if you use a relocation service, ensure that all coordination and communication is routed through the project manager.
Audit your information assets
Downsizing or moving is a time to audit all your information assets. If you are moving to smaller or pre-furnished premises, you may have lesser storage space for filing cabinets. Check retention schedules and discard documents that are past their expiry dates. Remember to go through local and industry regulations about retention, archival, and deletion of records. Plan to carry only as much paper as there is space for in the new office! What do you do with the rest? Scan them, invest in a robust electronic document management system, preferably with cloud storage, and send the physical documents off to an affordable off-site storage facility. Alternatively, take a look at the Scan to Zero services we offer.
Digitize documents for ease of moving
Use this opportunity to digitize all business documents, employee records, and customer documents. It is best to outsource the task to a professional document scanning company. MES provides end-to-end document scanning services to make bulk scanning projects hassle-free for your organization.
- Our experienced staff members take care of secure transportation of your documents to our scanning facility.
- We use the latest scanning hardware, including production-grade scanners for high-volume scanning. That's how we complete projects rapidly without affecting your operations.
- We export the scanned images in any digital format you require for integration into your existing business systems, giving your staff instant access to the information.
- We also provide document management software and its integration with other backend systems.
- We ensure your new digital documents are stored securely, with strict access control and well-planned local storage with adequate cloud backups.
Digitization brings many benefits to the organization:
- It ensures the longevity and security of documents. Once documents are digitized, you can use the digital copies for everyday operations and store the original paper documents in offsite storage areas.
- Digital files and electronic document management systems have enhanced data security features such as data encryption, firewalls, and password protection features to provide access control.
- Digital documents are accessible by employees anytime, from anywhere, enabling remote employees and making your office a future-ready, hybrid workplace!
- Digital files are easily retrievable via the search functionality of the document management system. They also make audits smoother as they meet regulatory compliances.
- Digitization leads to a clutter-free workplace. Fewer papers are flying around the office, and there is a reduced need for filing cabinets.
- A paperless system improves the environmental footprint of your business.
Now that you are ready to move into your new office with thoroughly audited information assets and an electronic repository of digitized documents, it's time to announce and celebrate your move!
Communicate clearly with your employees, customers and vendors
Communication is the key to employee co-operation during the move. Employee morale in a downsized environment is low. Clearly communicate the need and reason to relocate to your employees. Ensure they understand that the move is a positive action and will reposition the business for the better. Request their co-operation to make it a success. Then, take the project forward with everyone on the same page!
Reposition the company to set the right perspective about the move
Communicate with your existing customers before and during the move.
Communication to media and customers should reposition the company as a forward-looking and technology-friendly partner. Prove it by making customer and vendor processes paperless. It also helps to articulate the benefits of the new digitized processes (such as data integrity and security) to customers, vendors, and partners.
How MES makes your office move efficient and hassle-free
Choose MES as your scanning and document management partner for complete peace of mind! Outsource your document digitization to us before you move to your new office.
We transform your paper-based processes into digitized workflows and improve your business processes to save time and money.
Make your office move hassle-free with our comprehensive document digitization services, and get ready to reap the benefits of a paperless office that supports remote workers and prepares your organization for a futuristic hybrid working model.
Contact MES and get a free quote for our scanning and document management services.