Tips on hiring a capable and successful server mover
by Shawn Simon on Tuesday, March 04 16:18
We are the sought out server movers for many reasons, but one of the most important reasons is such a simple statement our clients say about our server packing methods. Our clients offer feedback, and always seem to say You package and move servers the right way , or This is the right way to move servers. So we have written this short article offering tips on hiring a capable and successful server mover.
Servers have predefined set of standards that are available to read or are common knowledge regarding what and how to handle them.
Manufacturers go through great lengths to inform buyers on what is good for their IT equipment and what is bad for their IT equipment. They know the correct methods and variables involved in production, and getting their product to the consumer. We like to think they take pretty good precautions protecting the equipment from when it leaves their door and travels to a company for installation.
When your company is physically moving a data center, there are a few questions and red flag answers to be aware of.
Don t be afraid to ask the vendor:
1. Who will be touching my equipment?
- At the origin
- During transit
- At the destination
2. If you are chosen to be our vendor will you sub-contract out services that we hired you for? If you are hiring a vendor based on their supposed expertise, and then they just shop out the work to someone you don t know, how is that a benefit to your project?
3. If you were to a choose server mover, who will be on and off site working on your project? Will the vendor you select execute your project using:
- Sub-contractors
- Temp. Workers
- Day laborers
- Outsourced help
- Uniformed staff
- Dedicated workers who actually work for the vendor
4. How do you package servers and IT equipment?
5. How is my equipment protected during transport to protect against theft?
NCWS, LLC has been servicing our industry for over a decade and continues to observe poor vendor procedures from vendors calling themselves server movers. We have been called upon to step in many times because clients have had to fire their server moving vendor on the spot.
It is so important to hire the correct vendor for the job, and to hire them in the order of protecting your business, clients, stock holders, data, software, and the list goes on.
Some examples of poor IT moving experiences (our clients have had with other vendors), so hopefully you won t have to experience them for yourself.
1. A vendor showed to a client place of business with a Ford 150, and was planning to stack the servers and IT equipment in the back of the truck to perform the relocation.
2. A vendor showed to perform a data center relocation for a client, and the actual plan was to wrap the clients production equipment in blankets and stack them in a bin to perform the relocation (total of over 1400 miles to be driven).
3. A vendor showed to a clients business to move their server room equipment. The vendors plan of action was to put the equipment in used boxes and use newspaper to pack.
4. A vendor showed to perform a data center relocation with pallets, shrink wrap, and temporary workers hired from a day labor agency. The intent of the hired server moving company was to literally just slap the equipment on top of each other, on a pallet, and shrink wrap it nice and tight (no pretty bow here). This client fired the server moving vendor on the spot for a few reasons:
- A stock holder happened to be in the building and took witness to this. To say the least, it didn t go over very well.
- The equipment had a physical value of over $230,000.000
- The software and data on the drives were pretty much priceless