How to Set Up IT for a New Business: A Complete Guide

Starting a new business is exhilarating. There are products to develop, clients to win, premises to find, and a thousand decisions to make — all at once, all with limited resources, and all against the clock. In the rush to get everything off the ground, IT infrastructure often ends up as an afterthought: something cobbled together from personal laptops, free email accounts, and whatever the cheapest option happens to be at the time.

This is a mistake that costs UK businesses millions of pounds every year. Poor IT decisions made in the first few months of a company's life have a habit of compounding over time, creating technical debt that becomes progressively more expensive and disruptive to address. Getting your IT right from the outset doesn't have to be complicated or expensive, but it does require some forethought and a basic understanding of what modern business IT looks like.

This guide walks you through everything you need to consider when setting up IT for a new business in the UK, from choosing the right devices to securing your data and planning for growth.

Start With the Fundamentals: Internet and Connectivity

Before anything else, you need reliable internet access. This sounds obvious, but the decisions you make here will affect every aspect of your IT experience. For a UK business in 2026, the minimum acceptable broadband speed for an office of five to ten people is around 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload, though faster is always better — particularly if you'll be using cloud-based applications, video conferencing, or transferring large files.

If you're moving into a dedicated office, check what connectivity options are available at the premises before signing a lease. Full-fibre (FTTP) connections are now available to around 65% of UK premises and offer symmetrical speeds of up to 1 Gbps. If full fibre isn't available, FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) typically delivers speeds of 40–80 Mbps, which may be adequate for a small team but can become a bottleneck as you grow.

For businesses where internet reliability is critical — which, honestly, is most businesses in 2026 — consider installing a secondary connection from a different provider as a failover. A 4G or 5G mobile broadband connection can serve as an affordable backup that keeps you online if your primary connection fails. Many modern business routers support automatic failover between connections, making this almost seamless.

Choosing Your Productivity Platform

The single most important IT decision you'll make for your new business is choosing your cloud productivity platform. For the vast majority of UK businesses, this means choosing between Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. Both are excellent platforms, and either will serve you well, but they have different strengths that make each better suited to different types of business.

For most UK businesses, Microsoft 365 is the stronger choice. The desktop versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint remain the standard in UK business, and clients, suppliers, and partners will expect you to be able to work with these formats natively. Microsoft Teams has become the dominant collaboration platform, and the security features available in Microsoft 365 Business Premium are significantly more comprehensive than those in Google Workspace at a comparable price point.

That said, Google Workspace is an excellent choice for businesses that operate primarily in web browsers, that value simplicity over feature depth, or that have a team already familiar with the Google ecosystem. It's also worth noting that Google Workspace tends to be slightly cheaper per user at the entry level.

Whichever platform you choose, set it up properly from day one. This means registering your business domain name (e.g., yourcompany.co.uk), configuring business email addresses, and setting up basic security measures like multi-factor authentication before any employee starts using the system.

Devices: Laptops, Desktops, and Mobile

The devices your team uses are the tools they'll interact with every single day, so it's worth investing in quality — but that doesn't mean spending a fortune. Here's a practical guide to choosing business devices in 2026.

Laptops vs desktops. For most new businesses, laptops are the better choice. They offer flexibility for hybrid working, can be used in meetings and at client sites, and eliminate the need for a separate device if employees work from home. Modern business laptops are powerful enough for all but the most demanding applications, and when used at a desk, can be connected to an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse for a comfortable desktop experience.

Specification guidance. For general business use — email, Office applications, web browsing, and video conferencing — a laptop with an Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 processor, 16 GB of RAM, and a 256 GB SSD is more than adequate. For roles involving heavier workloads — design, video editing, software development, or data analysis — step up to an i7/Ryzen 7 with 32 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD.

Role Type	Recommended Spec	Budget (per device)	Refresh Cycle
General office / admin	i5, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD	£500–£700	4–5 years
Management / sales	i5, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, lightweight	£700–£1,000	3–4 years
Creative / technical	i7, 32 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, dedicated GPU	£1,000–£1,500	3–4 years
Reception / shared	i3, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD (desktop OK)	£350–£500	5–6 years

Windows vs Mac. Windows dominates the UK business market and is the better choice for most organisations due to wider software compatibility, lower hardware costs, easier integration with Microsoft 365, and simpler remote management. Macs are excellent devices but introduce complexity in mixed environments and are significantly more expensive. Unless your business has a specific reason to use Macs — such as creative work in an Apple-centric industry — Windows is the pragmatic choice.

Mobile devices. If employees need business mobile phones, consider whether they genuinely need company-provided devices or whether a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy with mobile device management (MDM) software would be more cost-effective. Microsoft Intune, included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium, can manage and secure both company-owned and personal devices.

Security From Day One

Cybersecurity is not something you can bolt on later — it needs to be built into your IT setup from the very beginning. The good news is that the most impactful security measures are straightforward to implement and relatively inexpensive. The bad news is that failing to implement them leaves your new business dangerously exposed to threats that are growing more sophisticated and prevalent every year.

Here are the essential security measures every new business should implement from day one:

Multi-factor authentication (MFA). This is the single most effective security measure you can implement. MFA requires users to verify their identity using a second factor — typically a code from a mobile app — in addition to their password. It blocks the vast majority of credential-based attacks and should be mandatory for every user on every system that supports it. Microsoft 365 includes MFA at no additional cost.

Endpoint protection. Every device needs antivirus and anti-malware protection. Microsoft Defender for Business, included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium, provides excellent protection that's centrally managed and automatically updated. For businesses on tighter budgets, the built-in Windows Security (Windows Defender) provides a good baseline, though it lacks the centralised management capabilities that make enterprise solutions more practical.

Email security. Configure your email platform's built-in protection features, including spam filtering, phishing detection, and malicious attachment scanning. For Microsoft 365, this means enabling Exchange Online Protection and, for Business Premium users, the additional Safe Attachments and Safe Links features.

Backup. Despite the cloud hosting your data, you still need a backup strategy. Microsoft and Google's terms of service make clear that they are not responsible for backing up your data. A third-party backup solution for your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace data is essential — products like Datto SaaS Protection or Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 provide automated daily backups of your email, files, and collaboration data.

Encryption. Enable device encryption on all laptops and mobile devices. Windows BitLocker (included in Windows 10/11 Pro) and macOS FileVault both provide full-disk encryption that protects your data if a device is lost or stolen. This should be enabled as part of the initial device setup and is a requirement for Cyber Essentials certification.

Networking and Wi-Fi

If you're setting up a physical office, your internal network needs careful consideration. A poorly configured network is one of the most common causes of frustration in small businesses — slow file transfers, dropped video calls, printers that won't connect, and Wi-Fi dead spots are all symptoms of inadequate network infrastructure.

For a small office of up to ten people, a single business-grade wireless access point (such as a Ubiquiti UniFi or Cisco Meraki) combined with a properly configured router/firewall is usually sufficient. Avoid consumer-grade Wi-Fi routers — they lack the reliability, security features, and management capabilities that a business environment demands.

Set up separate Wi-Fi networks for your business devices and for guests. Guest Wi-Fi should be isolated from your business network so that visitors' devices can't access your internal resources. This is a basic security measure that's surprisingly often overlooked.

If your office has Ethernet cabling, use it for desktop workstations and any devices that need the most reliable connection — video conferencing rooms, network printers, and servers. Wired connections are consistently faster and more reliable than wireless, and they reduce the load on your Wi-Fi network.

Printing and Peripherals

Printing remains a necessary evil for most businesses, though the volume of printing has declined dramatically with the shift to digital workflows. For a new business, a single multifunction device (print, scan, copy) is usually sufficient. Choose a business-grade device from a reputable manufacturer — HP, Brother, and Xerox all offer reliable small business options. Avoid consumer inkjet printers; they're cheap to buy but expensive to run and unreliable under business workloads.

Consider a managed print service if you anticipate moderate to heavy print volumes. These services provide the device, toner, and maintenance for a fixed monthly fee, which simplifies budgeting and eliminates the hassle of managing consumables and repairs yourself.

Line-of-Business Applications

Beyond your core productivity platform, you'll likely need specialist applications for your specific industry or business function. Accounting software (Xero and QuickBooks are the dominant choices for UK SMEs), customer relationship management (HubSpot offers a generous free tier), and project management tools (Monday.com, Asana, or Microsoft Planner) are common requirements.

When choosing these applications, prioritise cloud-hosted, subscription-based solutions over locally installed software. Cloud applications are accessible from anywhere, automatically updated, and don't require server infrastructure. They also typically offer better integration with other cloud platforms, reducing the need for manual data transfer between systems.

Budgeting: What Does All This Cost?

One of the most common questions from new business owners is simply: how much should I budget for IT? The answer depends on your team size, your industry, and your growth plans, but here are some realistic figures for a UK business starting with five to ten employees.

In total, a new business with five to ten employees should expect to invest approximately £5,000–£10,000 in upfront IT costs (devices, networking equipment, and initial setup) plus £5,000–£12,000 per year in ongoing costs (software subscriptions, broadband, backup, and managed IT support). These figures may seem significant, but they represent a fraction of the cost of the disruption, data loss, and security incidents that result from inadequate IT investment.

When to Engage Professional IT Support

Many new businesses try to manage their IT internally, either through the founder's own technical knowledge or by delegating to whichever team member seems most comfortable with technology. This approach can work in the very earliest stages — when there are only two or three people and the IT environment is simple — but it becomes impractical surprisingly quickly.

The trigger for engaging professional IT support is usually one of two things: either something goes wrong that the team can't resolve (a security incident, a significant outage, or data loss), or the accumulated time spent on IT issues by non-IT staff becomes a visible drag on productivity. Both of these triggers represent the point at which the cost of not having professional support exceeds the cost of having it.

A managed IT support provider charges a predictable monthly fee per user and provides helpdesk support, proactive monitoring, security management, backup management, and strategic advice. For a new business, this represents both a more reliable and a more cost-effective approach than trying to manage IT internally or engaging ad-hoc support on a break-fix basis.

Planning for Growth

The IT decisions you make today should account for where your business will be in two to three years, not just where it is now. Cloud-based platforms are inherently scalable — adding a new user to Microsoft 365 takes minutes, not days — but other aspects of your IT infrastructure need more forethought.

Your network infrastructure should be specified for your anticipated team size, not just your current one. Installing a network that can support 20 users when you currently have five costs little more than one designed for five, but upgrading later involves disruption, additional cabling, and potentially new equipment.

Your choice of line-of-business applications should consider scalability. An accounting package that works perfectly for a five-person company may be woefully inadequate for a 50-person company. Understanding the growth path of your chosen applications — including the cost of upgrading to more capable tiers — helps you avoid painful migrations down the line.

Your security posture should be designed for your future risk profile. As your business grows, you become a more attractive target for cyber criminals. The security measures that were adequate when you had three employees and no sensitive client data may be insufficient when you have thirty employees and a database full of personal information. Building a strong security foundation from the outset makes it far easier to scale your defences as your risk profile evolves.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Having helped hundreds of UK businesses set up their IT from scratch, we've seen the same mistakes repeated time and again. Here are the most costly ones to avoid:

Using personal email accounts for business. Sending business emails from a Gmail or Outlook.com address immediately undermines your credibility with clients and partners. It also means your business communications are tied to personal accounts that you don't fully control and can't manage centrally. Set up proper business email from day one.

Skipping backups because 'everything's in the cloud.' Cloud platforms like Microsoft 365 protect against infrastructure failure, but they don't protect against accidental deletion, malicious insider activity, or ransomware. A separate backup of your cloud data is essential.

Buying the cheapest devices. Budget laptops cost less upfront but typically last two to three years instead of four to five, run more slowly, break more often, and frustrate your team. The total cost of ownership of a quality business laptop is actually lower than that of a cheap consumer device.

Ignoring security until something happens. Implementing security measures after a breach is dramatically more expensive and disruptive than implementing them proactively. The cost of Cyber Essentials certification, MFA deployment, and basic security hygiene is trivial compared to the cost of a ransomware attack or a data breach notification to the ICO.

Not documenting anything. From day one, maintain a record of your IT assets, your accounts, your passwords (in a proper password manager), and your configurations. This documentation is invaluable when troubleshooting problems, onboarding new staff, or transitioning to a new IT provider.