With the revolution in technology over the past decade or so, having more control of many aspects of life and business has become the norm – and a commercial move should be no different. More precision and control can directly reduce the amount of risk involved in a move, and the outdated approaches of the past do not provide appropriate protection in today’s business climate.

Confidential documents and critical business property are major risk areas for a commercial move. There are so many examples of personal information in the wrong hands with staggering consequences. For instance, in February 2020, a county health system in Texas reported that more than 2,200 patients’ private health records were put at risk when two envelopes containing 143 pages of protected health information were lost.

Risk of lost documents & equipment

With any relocation comes the risk of seeing critical business equipment, furnishings, and documents lost, damaged, or destroyed. Just one office relocation can include millions of dollars in furnishings and critical business equipment. Historically these moves have been done without documented inventory or a digital chain of custody – resulting in significant risk for the relocating business. Fast forward to 2020 and businesses are finally seeing modern approaches in an age-old industry.

For example, during the move of a Jacksonville, Florida USA credit union, it was critical that every aspect of operations be on-line and effective in the new space without disruption for their account holders. The credit union sought a provider to efficiently transition their entire operations, including more than 1,300 employees in multiple locations, into a 23-story high rise over a one-year period. Leadership was focused on finding a partner that could keep private information safe and secure and minimize disruptions for employees, allowing them to continue to focus on customer service. In the old days, this would have been done through a paper and pencil process subject to errors and limitations. However, with today’s modern technology they were able to track all their physical assets while monitoring the progress. Like tracking a package through UPS or FedEx, new tracking systems ensure complete visibility to all business property and there are no questions whether any items are lost, misplaced, or missing.

Risk of business disruption planned vs. unplanned

Many companies plan for more business disruption than necessary because they simply do not know what a thorough and efficient move plan can accomplish in a specific period of time. In many cases, organizations make a guess and disrupt business operations more than needed. Many moving companies exacerbate this by working within the customer’s established window versus advising the customer how much downtime will really be needed to move the business.

In addition, historically commercial moves were planned using manual calculations and the mover’s intuition without precise calculations for labor hours, equipment needed and confident projections for the time needed to complete the move. This lack of precision around resources coupled with guesswork for business disruption leaves far too much to chance.

Fortunately, the limitations of yesterday’s approaches are solved through modern technology. Thanks to recent developments in the commercial moving industry, instead of arbitrarily guessing they might need four weekends to do a large project, digital applications and machine learning give relocating businesses real data to support narrowing the move window to two weekends with confidence. Taking something from guesswork to data driven precision can have a powerful impact on relocating businesses and there are significant cost savings to be had. By reducing planned downtime, all the recovered time can be directed to core business operations and revenue-producing activities.

In addition to minimizing planned downtime, there is an even bigger risk of unexpected business disruption. This could include an entire floor of staff unable to work due to connectivity issues, damaged server equipment, or problems with the phone system. Other examples might include “death by a thousand cuts” situations, where 10 percent of those impacted by a 500-person move become unproductive because something is wrong with their new workspace. Think about that – 50 employees not being able to work is a big deal. This is a major hidden risk and cost that has historically been left unaddressed and the commercial move industry has struggled to make that first day in the new space fully productive, partially due to a lack of modern technology.

With today’s technology, unplanned issues can be identified and resolved long before employees return to work. Digital applications can ensure all items are accounted for and activated properly in the new space. Photo controls can also ensure that spaces are set up consistent with the employee’s wishes. Today’s technology can also catalog shortages and deficiencies throughout the move process and provide communication to the responsible parties, ensuring timely resolution over the weekend rather than unnecessary fire drills Monday morning. Employees can even receive an email welcoming them to their new workspace with a link connecting them to assistance if they experience any challenges in the new space. Modern technology is changing the employee experience in commercial moving.

Risk of untimely space turnover

Another risk often overlooked in the whirlwind of a commercial move is a failure to clear all furniture, fixtures, and equipment in time for space to be turned over to the landlord. There are steep penalties at risk, and many times companies do not plan proactively and end up carrying over space because they did not allow enough time to return it to the proper condition.

New technology is being applied to manage this risk in the modern age of moving. As spaces are cleared, digital applications allow businesses to monitor the systematic inventory and removal process. Customers can receive a constant flow of status updates giving them the confidence that deadlines will be met with advance warning of unexpected challenges. In addition, modern tracking features ensure that any unanticipated confidential documents or data devices are inventoried and protected following customer protocol. Risk of lost confidential documents or devices holding sensitive information can be significant during a space decommission, and todays modern controls are helping companies avoid unnecessary brand risk or financial exposure.

Whatever kind of move a business is making, risk is always part of the equation – but utilizing technology can reduce those risks substantially. The moving industry is catching up to modern trends.