The workplace evolution and growing with your clients

Business Moves Group was established in 1984 in Reading, where our headquarters remain to this day. There’s a very good reason why the company was located in Reading – the 80s saw an influx of tech companies to the Thames Valley, the UK’s very own Silicon Valley.

It was the perfect location thanks to its proximity to Heathrow. Many of the large, international tech companies set up a UK base in the Thames Valley as it allowed their executives an easy location to visit while still being close to London. UK tech companies began to migrate to the Thames Valley in order to be close to their international partners and competitors.

BMG was founded to support the tech companies making office moves into the area, and have been involved in some capacity with most of the companies that still reside in the region. Although we now work with clients across a variety of sectors, our continued work with tech companies makes for an interesting insight into how important it is to evolve and grow with clients over time.

40 years of workplace evolution

From the tech boom of the 80s, the dotcom Internet wave in the 90s and the advanced tech we know see, the industry has often been at the forefront of workplace innovation. Even before Facebook and Google became renowned for their “cool” offices, tech companies in the 90s were leading the way with fun and innovative workspaces.

However, what is considered a great office space can quickly change. One of my earliest clients when I joined BMG around 20 years ago was a well known telecommunications company. The cubicles they had for employees worked for them at the time, but as we look back now the idea of being cooped up in individual cubicles seems absurd.

Funnily enough, the project manager I worked with then, Gareth Mainwaring, was also the project manager for a different telecommunications client we are currently working with. Twelve months ago their offices would have been considered quite modern, but now they are adapting to even more collaborative spaces in the wake of the pandemic.

Workplaces constantly evolve

I find it useful to look back at our work with tech companies as it demonstrates that workplaces have always and will always evolve, regardless of other factors. Yes, the pandemic has brought about change. But change has been occurring for decades and will continue to occur long after Covid.

So, with that in mind, we have to think about how we adapt our services to meet the needs of our clients. In the 80s the focus was on moving equipment safely and securely – it was expensive technology. Of course, that’s still important now, but it’s also much more about the people.

Had we continued to offer the same services as when we set up, we’d have been left behind. Thanks to adapting our services and understanding the evolving needs of our clients, we’ve been able to continue supporting them, evolving with them and growing with them.

Workplace evolution is what keeps us on our toes and we love rising to the challenge.

By Rachel Houghton, MD at Business Moves Group.