Setting Up an Office in Bangkok Part 5

From Location to Productivity

From Macro to Micro

In the previous parts we’ve build up on how a location affects your office productivity as a ‘macro’ factor. Now we are looking into the details of the office layout and see how important it is to get everyone, especially the IT department or your managed IT service provider onboard as soon as possible. This part is mostly about asking the right questions and the answers are very specific to your company as every company does certain tasks differently.

What needs to be done?

It sounds like a silly question but knowing what’s been done on a regular basis and how it’s done is commonly overlooked or simplified that ‘this task will be done in this area’. Sitting down and carefully considering this simple question saves you a lot of time later. Items to be considered here is:

• What task(s) are be done here?
• How much space does it require?
• What equipment and storage space is required?
• How many people/workstations do I want? Answering these questions makes it easier to calculate how much space and what functions like power and network cables you need in an area. Consider also the surrounding ergonomics, means that there is enough space to move in and out and how you want to expand in the near future to avoid costly rearrangements.

What about Maintenance?

Having all neatly tucked away is good but many times it just gets stuffed away, out of sight. Rearranging or troubleshooting can be a costly endeavor when the moving is done unplanned and rushed. Take your time to have the powerlines and network cables properly pulled, marked, tested and most of all documented. Ideally having floorplans to point out what goes where and what route it is using besides using proper conduits so it will be easy to troubleshoot or pull in extra wires when the time comes to expand.

Many times, costs are cut on this item in the thought it doesn’t have to last that long or is not important. From our experience, troubleshooting a chaotic wiring to find an error that silently cutting off on your productivity (your money) will cost you much more (more of your money) than having it done properly in the first place. So, if you’re planning to move but don’t want to think of all the IT details required in it, drop us a line at our contact page and we’re happy to assist you with this task.

What about Wifi?

A lot of offices try to cut wiring costs by stating to want to use only Wifi connections and then trying to get a good coverage for 30 people with some consumer grade equipment and the default ISP router provided. This is learning the hard way and saving again on the wrong end. A proper network consultation will revolve around how many users and how much bandwidth you want to supply along with checking the surrounding wifi networks. A highly stable Wifi network can cost equally or more than a good wiring. Trying to go cheap is more like rolling the dice, it might work out but often it doesn’t. Finding the right Wireless LAN solution for your business can be a time-consuming task. We can work out the details for you. Just contact us and we'll work it out for you.

Picking your ISP

Getting the right internet line for your business is an important decision and is based on your technical requirements. Many consider only bandwidth but getting a proper public IP and potentially a fixed/static IP is worth a lot when your office contains servers which need to be accessed reliably from outside the office. Also mind, that the average router provided from your Internet Service Provider is not intended to be used with many users like 10 or 20 office users which are constantly utilizing the line. Considering a dedicated router which can also handle multiple internet lines (for failover for example) is advised. Need help on deciding what will work for you best? Just drop us a line and we provide you the IT consultation you need. What’s with phones?

A fixed landline number provides more assurance to potential clients compared to no or just a mobile phone number. Yet, a lot of business opt out and use just a mobile number, because of price and flexibility compared to a landline number. With modern VoIP phone systems this can be alleviated. We are providing cloud PBX systems along with local as well as international phone numbers for your business. The advantage over mobile phone numbers is to have a complete configurable Telephone system attached with open/closing times, voicemail and multi-user setup, that does not use up any space in your office.

There is always more

Setting up an office requires a lot of attention to details as you’ve seen in the previous parts and there is always one step more. Like detailing locations for printer, plugs, safety and security systems and many more items. Experienced managers know most of these items and know that every move is a bit different. Benefiting from our experience to smoothing your setup or office move will save you a lot of headaches not just during but also afterwards. Contact us for initial consultation and see what we can do for you.