October 18th, 2013, By Don Catalano
Office relocation into a new market is never a simple process, but can be extremely rewarding for business. Done right, it can streamline your operations and reduce your costs, put you 
in a position to take advantage of new opportunities or both. Done wrong, it can be an expensive distraction that interrupts operations and harms client relationships.
The benefits of an office relocation to your company’s operations have to be weighed against the impact of the capital expenditure. However, while this may be the most important consideration in the move from a CFO’s perspective, it’s also the easiest one to calculate. Calculating the internal rate of return of the capital expenditure against the long-term cost savings or projected increase in revenues will enable your company to quickly determine if the move is a smart financial investment.
Moving an office isn’t an easy process, nor is it an inexpensive one. The process of preparing can take months and consume both money and valuable person-hours. However, a move is also an opportunity to start anew. Your company can purge old files, eliminate unnecessary equipment, and update obsolete materials and systems. Taking advantage of the move to do this can make you able to be more efficient in less space.
An office relocation brings new opportunities. Geographic proximity gives your company that opportunity to be a “hometown” provider to the surrounding businesses. However, it also carries the risk of interrupting relationships that you have with your clients in the market that you’re exiting. One way to mitigate this is to maintain satellite presence in your previous market to provide client service. Barring that, you may want to adjust your operations budget to allow for additional travel during the transition period.
Opening an office in a new market also opens your company to a new pool of talent that it may not have been able to tap previously. As you go into that market, try to leverage local assistance to prepare you for local differences. While the world continues to shrink, there are distinctions between the way that employees work and the way that business is conducted in different markets. A star employee in New York City may be very different from one in New Orleans. Clients in San Francisco will probably relate to your team very differently than your clients in San Antonio, as well.
Ultimately, the biggest consideration for an office relocation is that, no matter how much you prepare, your business is setting out on a new venture. While new ventures are fraught with risk, those risks are also the best way to grow and build success.