How to Choose a Good Project Manager for Your Data Center Relocation

by Stephanie Faris on Monday, January 26 6:00

If you re planning to move servers in the near future, one of the first things you ll need to do is designate someone to manage processes associated with that move. A person may naturally come to mind as the best person to oversee that move, but is that person the best choice? Managing a technology move has its own unique set of job requirements, which may not be met simply by having knowledge of the hardware being relocated.

As you prepare for your upcoming IT relocation, you should carefully consider the person you plan to put in charge of everything. Here are some criteria to use as you select an employee to handle your data center move.

Reliability

The senior staff member handling your move should be one of your most reliable employees. This is someone you know you can count on to show up for move meetings, delegate tasks as needed, and be on site the day of the move to ensure everything flows smoothly. If no one from your IT staff fits the bill, choose someone from your management team. A manager can get up to speed on the technology aspects of things, but an IT staff member who will be a no-show when you need him will do more harm than good.

Schedule Availability

One of the most important criteria in selecting a project manager to handle your server relocation is availability. The upcoming move will likely require multiple meetings each month, with those meetings increasing in frequency as the big date draws closer. Your chosen project manager should be able to set other tasks aside and focus on move matters when the need arises. For that reason, choosing an employee who regularly must respond to emergencies may be a bad idea.

Works Well Under Pressure

Move day will be intense, as server movers arrive on site to transport all equipment to moving trucks. If a server relocation is happening in conjunction with a user move, this chaos will be multiplied. A move project manager will likely be pummeled with questions from all directions on move day and must be able to handle this mounting pressure with ease. Consider a project manager who is accustomed to working under pressure and can juggle multiple priorities at once.

Communicates Well with Others

A move project manager must communicate with all stakeholders throughout the move planning period. This includes often serving as a liaison between a business s management team and the server moving company chosen to handle the relocation. It s important to choose a project manager who is comfortable communicating with executives at all levels, as well as outside vendors, and can facilitate this communication without leaving out important details.

A server move can be a stressful experience, but with the right project manager in place, it can be made much easier. By choosing the right person for the assignment, a business can successfully deploy a server move without worrying that important details will be forgotten.