Mastering the feat hand in hand
The move to a new building is already a challenge at private level and needs to be well planned. If, in addition to around 150 employees with 250 boxes, 5,000 gigabytes of RAM have to be moved to server hardware, particularly good planning is required. The relocation of GIB to the new high-tech center The SUMMIT in Siegen was a feat of strength that was outstandingly successful thanks to good teamwork.
Siegen, Thursday, 21 March 2019 at 4 pm: the proverbial hammer falls in the Technology Center, GIB's domicile for many years. All employees have packed their work equipment in boxes, labeled them appropriately, packed their favourite cup and notebook and now have to leave the building so that the moving team can get started. Around 50 GIB volunteers have volunteered to support the move this weekend and help out where the responsibilities of the moving company end. Their task: to ensure that everyone can go to their new workplace and continue working on Monday morning. "The fact that this has worked so smoothly is due to the unbelievable commitment of our colleagues. Here everyone really worked hand in hand, that was really great," sums up Peter Luckenbach, Director Finance & Central Management ifm solutions, who co-organised the move of GIB. "On Monday, everyone could go to their new workplace, open their notebook and pick up the telephone handset in order to be able to continue the usual day-to-day business. And, of course, unpack the boxes in between. "That also worked super. With only a few minor exceptions, every box arrived at the right office," continues Peter Luckenbach. In addition to boxes of files, staplers and paper clips, the technical side of a software company's move is of course an important and special challenge. Stefan Theis, manager of GIB IT-Services, also draws a positive conclusion: "Moving with our own data center hardware and almost 400 remote connections to our customers is a special technical challenge that required a lot of preparation and work in the evening and at the weekend. But we are very satisfied with the move and I am very proud of my team, which showed great flexibility during the hot phase. On the IT side, preparations for the move had already started three quarters of a year in advance. This was the only way to ensure that everything would run smoothly on the move weekend and that possible customer support requirements as well as the daily tasks of colleagues could be handled with virtually no restrictions. But: there is still a lot to be done. "In principle, it's like a private move - when the physical move is over, there are still many things that can and must only be done gradually. Only that the magnitude is different," says Peter Luckenbach, "but we are definitely pleased that we can now work together in this great building and continue to grow. And SUMMIT offers the ideal conditions for this. With a total of 450 workstations, its own canteen, its own fitness room and its own computer centre, which is equipped and secured with an oxygen reduction system and its own emergency power supply. "We have very good prerequisites here for our internal systems and are therefore ideally equipped for the future," says Stefan Theis.
And when can we welcome you to SUMMIT?
By Janine Wolski
