JK Moving’s evolution in the data centre industry came as a response to regional trends, a combination of high degrees of company flexibility, and an exceptional example of ‘right place, right time’.
As its existing clients started transitioning into the data centre world, JK wanted to ensure that the data centre market received the logistics and relocation services it needed. To answer this need, the company launched JK Technology Services, which offers staff augmentation to act as an extension of its clients’ staff, offering asset verification, Smart Hands, equipment migration, rack configuration design, and port/patch matrix development.
Not only is it the largest independently owned and operated moving and storage company in the US, but JK Moving has also expanded its service reach globally across multiple industries, including into those that are technology-driven.
From a single truck to the largest of its kind in America
Kuhn founded JK Moving Services 40 years ago in May 1982, while he was still in high school. At the tender age of just 16 years old, in the 10th grade at Fairfax, Virginia, he started the company from scratch.
“I had an introduction into the moving and storage industry through my uncle, who had a small, local moving company nearby. I started off by sweeping floors in his warehouse and cleaning trucks, so I got my first introduction to the industry through him. Then, when I turned 16 and got my driver's licence, I founded JK Moving Services,” Kuhn explained.
Kuhn started out with one truck, assisting local residential moves in the Washington DC metropolitan area. Over time, this grew into larger fleets, and the company moved into residential long-distance moves and international relocations, before expanding into office moving, last-mile logistics and all forms of commercial moving.
The company branched out into data centre servicing after establishing itself within the telecoms sector, just before the data centre industry really took off.
“As our existing clients started transitioning into the data centre world, we entered the industry as a support mechanism for our existing clients.”
It is at this point that the fortuitousness of ‘right time, right place’ came into play for both Kuhn and the company.
“As the telecom industry started to slow, the data centre industry started to pick up. So it was a very natural transition for us – whether moving a server rack for telecom or moving a server rack for data storage, we’re committed to serving the logistics and relocation needs of both markets to ensure risk mitigation and business continuity,” Kuhn added.
Talent management – laying the foundations for ongoing growth
Across four decades, the company has followed a consistent pace of growth, which is a notable feat in an ever-changing market. For Kuhn – as is the case with countless businesses and almost every industry – talent acquisition and retention have always been vital.
“The biggest challenge of my role 40 years ago continues to be the biggest challenge of my role today, and that's talent management,” he stated.
“Finding, retaining, training and developing top talent; making sure that everyone is following our core values, and understands and lives up to our brand promise; and that everyone helps maintain the company culture – that's critical for our success.”
As someone who has successfully navigated various talent shortages for 40 years, Kuhn advises that talent management be implemented holistically, as a consistent influencing factor.
“Managing and maintaining top talent is an everyday focus. It's truly a daily, hourly focus of our executive team. We have a very robust HR department. We have five full-time recruiters that are constantly focused on developing our talent, retaining our talent, training our talent, and finding new talent to bring into the organisation for growth.”
“We've looked to solve the challenge of recruiting and retaining top talent for our data centre clients by offering staff augmentation with top-tier, trained professionals.”
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