Admiral Movers Asks: What do Businesses Forget During a Montgomery Office Move?

Montgomery, AL, January 16, 2013 --(PR.com)-- Admiral Movers explains the do's and don'ts when companies move offices.

Your average household move is a breeze compared to moving your business office. Although there are similar steps, your Montgomery office move requires additional administrative planning and protocols to protect your business and any vital information stored on the premises—such as customer and employee records. Business owners tend to neglect the serious privacy, legal, and monetary issues associated with moving offices that can end up costing them much more than money. Let’s take a closer look at some of the things businesses often forget when they move their offices.

Appointing a Move Manager
To make a move as efficient as possible it’s important for businesses to have one person in charge. Whether this is yourself, a manager on-staff, or an employee, someone from your company must oversee the move. Even if your mover has an appointed manager, this manager oversees the Montgomery moving company and its processes, but who is monitoring the move on your side to verify that your employees are in compliance or that the moving company is doing what it says it does?

Planning Well Ahead of the Move Date
Planning in advance is the best pathway to a successful Montgomery office move. In addition to giving yourself time to research the new location and review the floor plan to ensure it’s the right fit for your physical assets, it is just as important to research movers to make sure you choose one that is also an experienced records manager. This will ensure secure chain of custody procedures are followed for your records. Office moves that are planned too quickly often leave out vital steps and open the door to legal, theft, and compliance issues when it comes to proper records management.

Ignoring Privacy Risks
Safeguarding personal information is not only the right thing to do; your company, management, directors, and stockholders have a duty to protect sensitive data. Your company records all have some sort of personal information that if breached can carry severe penalties and loss of good will. Customer and patient records, for example, must be protected under HIPAA and FACTA laws. Since these contain personal information about customers, they must be treated as any other assets before, during, and after your office move—throughout the secure chain of custody. Ignoring privacy risks will make your business vulnerable to identity theft or a personal information breach during your Montgomery office move—all of which can cause costly legal problems for your company.

Forgetting About Downtime
Depending on the size and nature of your business, you will have a certain amount of downtime between leaving the old location and entering the new one. It is imperative that you plan ahead for the downtime with employees and customers. While records are in transit, determine how the business will run without all equipment and records on-site. Provide your company and employees with enough scheduled downtime for the move and any possible bumps in the road that may lie ahead—such as electricity being unavailable at the new site on time.

Hiring the Wrong Mover
The Montgomery moving company you hire for your office move will either open the door to privacy and legal risks or protect you from them. You should provide yourself enough time to research your mover and make sure that:
· They have strict employee policies for office moves, including how equipment and records are managed
· They provide a secure chain of custody moving process
· Employees are not temporary workers and all go through extensive background and drug testing
· They have extensive knowledge of all privacy laws and regulations, and will ensure your company and the movers are in compliance

Complicating the Move
An office move requires a great deal of help. Multiple contractors and individuals are typically involved in the process. Adding too many hands to the pot produces litigation risks, especially if the companies you hire do not work to comply with state and federal regulations. Rather than hire a separate record moving service, combine the office move with your record move with the help of a hybrid Montgomery moving company. These companies offer secure, confidential moving services that help relocate your entire office—including records—without the need for additional vendors.

Learn more about the right way to handle a Montgomery office move by visiting www.AdmiralMovers.com or check out www.AdmiralRecordsManagement.com to see why a secure chain of custody procedure is critical during any office relocation.