IT Through Every Stage of Your Business

Starting up

The first few weeks set habits that last for years. Accounts get created in someone's personal name, everyone shares one password, and the "server" is a laptop in the corner.

What usually goes wrong

• Email, domain and cloud accounts registered to a founder's personal address
• No MFA, shared logins, and no record of who has access to what
• Consumer-grade Wi-Fi and devices bought one at a time with no standard

What we do

• Set up Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, the domain and email in the company's name
• Turn on MFA and a password manager from day one
• Pick a standard laptop build, a sensible network and a backup, and write it all down

Growing

Every new hire adds a laptop, an account and another person asking "who do I ask about this?". The owner or the most technical employee usually ends up doing IT on the side.

What usually goes wrong

• New starters wait days for a working laptop and access
• Leavers keep access to email and files long after they've gone
• IT work lands on someone whose real job is something else

What we do

• A repeatable onboarding and offboarding checklist, so people are ready on day one and locked out on their last
• A help desk your staff can use, so questions stop landing on the owner
• Licences, devices and vendors tracked in one place

Scaling up

Somewhere between 20 and 100 people, the setup that worked for a small team starts to creak: file shares nobody can find anything in, Wi-Fi that drops in the conference room, and security questions from customers or insurers that need real answers.

What usually goes wrong

• Permissions grow by accident until everyone can see everything
• A cyber-insurance or customer security questionnaire nobody can answer honestly
• Backups that were never tested at the size you are now

What we do

• Clean up file storage and permissions, and set up proper groups and roles
• Put the security basics in writing (MFA, endpoint protection, patching, backups) and work through HIPAA, PCI DSS or CMMC requirements where they apply
• Test a restore, and size backup and network capacity for where you're heading

Moving or opening an office

Office moves and new locations have hard dates: the lease ends, the movers are booked, and the internet has to work on Monday morning.

What usually goes wrong

• The internet circuit is ordered too late and isn't live on moving day
• Network cabling and Wi-Fi coverage are planned after the furniture
• Servers, shared drives and line-of-business software break in the move

What we do

• Plan the IT side of the move with you from the lease stage, including the internet order and cabling
• Design the network and Wi-Fi for the new space, and connect locations securely
• Run the move weekend with a checklist and a fallback, and test everything before staff arrive

Mergers and acquisitions

Bringing two businesses together means two email systems, two sets of accounts, two networks and often two very different ideas of what "secure" means.

What usually goes wrong

• Nobody knows exactly what IT, licences and contracts the other business has
• Email and file migrations that lose mail, calendars or permissions
• Security gaps in the acquired business become your gaps on day one

What we do

• Inventory the other business's systems, accounts, vendors and risks before the deal closes, where you can share it
• Plan and run the email, file and account migrations with a tested rollback
• Bring both sides up to the same security baseline

Modernizing

Ageing servers, an unsupported version of Windows, or a line-of-business application that only runs on one old PC: modernization is usually overdue before anyone schedules it.

What usually goes wrong

• Moving to the cloud because everyone says to, without checking the cost or the apps
• Replacing hardware like-for-like when you need less, or something different
• A cutover with no way back if the new system misbehaves

What we do

• Compare the options (cloud, on-site, or a mix) with real costs, in plain English
• Migrate servers, files and apps in planned steps, using the same methods as our enterprise migrations
• Keep the old system available until the new one has proven itself

Transitions and exits

Selling the business, handing it to the next generation, closing a location or an owner stepping back all have an IT side, and it's easy to leave until last.

What usually goes wrong

• Critical accounts, domains and passwords only one person knows
• No documentation a buyer, successor or new IT provider can rely on
• Data kept, or deleted, without thinking about legal and customer obligations

What we do

• Document the whole environment, and move every account and password into the company's control
• Prepare a clean handover pack for a buyer, successor or new provider
• Plan what data is kept, archived or securely destroyed, and retire devices properly