How to pack and move IT and AV equipment effectively

By Keith Tiltman, director London and the South

One of the key elements to any office relocation is packing and moving your IT and AV equipment so it safely reaches your new destination. This equipment may be the most fragile and expensive of all the items involved in an office move and must be treated with extra care. Ensuring your removal team is trained and understands these risks is important; here at Business Moves Group, our teams are prepared for all eventualities.

Prepare the equipment

There are various elements to this first step to guarantee a successful office move. We begin by carrying out an organisation-wide audit of all the IT and AV equipment that is currently owned by the client, so they can see exactly what they have, how much of it they have, and decide where it is going.

There may be decisions around outdated technology that they don’t wish to bring with them to the new location. Business Moves Group works with various charity partners and businesses that work to either resell or donate these items for the client if necessary. You can read more about this work on our waste management and CSR page.

Following the organisational audit, we follow up with each individual employee to carry out personal audits for their IT desk set-up. Everyone has their own way they like their desk set up, whether that’s if they use a secondary monitor or not, down to what side they want their mouse placed. We use this information in the later stages of the project to ensure a smooth process.

Pack it up

All equipment is given a thorough clean before the items are packed away for the moving process. It can sometimes be months since items like keyboards and mouses have been disinfected and given a polish. We don’t want to take any dirt or germs with us, so the equipment is cleaned, screens wiped, and keyboards treated with an air-jet to get into all those nooks and crannies.

The material we use to pack the items depends on how far the equipment will be travelling. Items are placed in hard cases with antistatic wrapping to keep them protected from being damaged. If the items are travelling abroad or a significant distance, or are particularly valuable, GPS-tracked cases are also integrated into the moving project, so the client and our teams are always able to keep track of where the items are at all times.

Move it

We use GPS-tracked vehicles in our moves, so the client is always able to see where their equipment is and keep track on when it is due to arrive at their new location. With the aid of specialist packing, items can be transported safely and securely.

Once at the new location, the previous audits for each employee’s working set-up are consulted to create the requested IT set-up at each desk, matching their needs. Once all the equipment has been organised at each unit, extensive cable management takes place to ensure tidy workspaces for all the employees, whilst keeping them easily accessible for any changes once we’ve gone.

To finish off, we do a “ping test” to ensure everything works. This involves testing each piece of IT and AV equipment to ensure the client does not arrive at their new office with a keyboard that doesn’t sync or a monitor that won’t turn on. If anything fails to work following the move, we will work with your IT department until all these kinks are ironed out.

Relocation specialists

That completes this guide on how to pack and move IT and AV equipment effectively. To find out how BMG can help your business transport your equipment safely and efficiently, visit our IT moves and AV moves services pages or get in touch to find out more about our service offering.