What IT does a new business in Scotland need from day one?

Why get IT right before you open?

The first few months of a business are when shortcuts get taken. The founder's personal Gmail becomes the company inbox, a partner's old laptop becomes the accounts machine, and the website domain is registered on someone's personal card. Every one of those is harder to unpick once you have customers, staff and data.

Attackers don't wait until you're established either. The government's Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2026 found 42% of micro businesses had a breach or attack in the past year. A new business with no MFA and shared passwords is an easy target, and a hijacked mailbox sending fake invoices to your first customers is a hard way to start.

Here's what to set up, in order.

Domain and email: what should you register first?

Register your domain before you print anything. For most Scottish businesses that means a .co.uk, plus the .com if it's available, both registered in the company's name, with the login held by a director rather than a web designer or friend. Losing control of your domain means losing your email and website.

Use your domain for email from the first day (you@yourbusiness.co.uk, not a free webmail address). Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC records on the domain so other mail servers trust your email and it's harder for criminals to impersonate you. Skip the basic POP or IMAP email that comes free with web hosting: it has weak filtering, no shared calendars and no easy way to grow.

Which Microsoft 365 plan should a new business choose?

Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace both work. Most Scottish businesses we see choose Microsoft 365 because customers, suppliers and accountants already use Word, Excel and Teams. On Microsoft's UK site in September 2026, on an annual commitment paid yearly and excluding VAT, the business plans cost:

• Business Basic, £5.40 per user per month: email, Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint, with web and mobile Office apps only.
• Business Standard, £10.80: adds the desktop Office apps.
• Business Premium, £16.90: adds Intune device management, Defender for Business and conditional access (rules that control who can sign in, and from which devices).

For a new business handling customer data, Business Premium is usually the right starting point, because it includes the device management and security tools you'd otherwise buy separately. If budget is tight, start on Standard and upgrade the people who handle money and data first. Our article on Microsoft 365 licence costs explains annual versus monthly billing, which can add 20% if you get it wrong.

What devices should you buy?

Buy business-grade laptops running Windows 11 Pro (or managed Macs), not consumer models from a supermarket shelf. Business models have longer warranties, better repair options and support the management tools you need. Keep to one or two models so support, spares and set-up stay simple.

Every device should be enrolled in device management (Microsoft Intune, included in Business Premium) from the start. That lets you apply encryption, updates and security settings automatically, and wipe company data remotely if a laptop is lost or someone leaves. If staff use their own phones for email, put company data in a managed app rather than giving the whole phone access.

What's the minimum security baseline?

Four things from day one: MFA (a second check when people sign in) on every account, a password manager so nobody reuses passwords, business-grade endpoint protection against viruses and ransomware on every device, and updates set to install automatically. Keep admin rights to one or two named people, with separate admin accounts.

Two UK-specific costs to budget for. If you process personal data, which almost every business does, you probably need to pay the ICO data protection fee: £52 a year for most micro businesses (tier 1), less £5 if you pay by direct debit. And consider Cyber Essentials early. Self-assessment costs £320 plus VAT for organisations with up to nine staff, and it's a requirement for many public sector and larger private contracts. It's far easier to certify a clean new set-up than to retrofit an old one.

How early should you order broadband?

As early as you can, ideally the moment you've signed for premises. Broadband is the thing most likely to delay a new office opening, especially outside the Central Belt.

Ofcom's 2025 Connected Nations report shows full fibre available to 71% of Scottish residential properties, but coverage is patchier in rural areas and on some business parks, and Scotland has the lowest 4G geographic coverage in the UK. Check availability at the exact address before you sign a lease if connectivity matters to you.

What phone system does a new business need?

Don't order an analogue phone line. Openreach closes the analogue network on 31 January 2027 and new analogue lines are no longer sold. A cloud phone system gives each person a number that rings on a desk phone, laptop and mobile, with voicemail, call groups and reporting. Fully hosted systems start from about £10 per user per month for a single handset. If you already have a number you want to keep, it can usually be ported.

Many new businesses run everything on mobiles at first, which works, but think about how customers reach you when someone leaves or is on holiday. A main number that rings a group avoids that.

What about backup?

Microsoft 365 keeps its service running, but it isn't a full backup of your data. Deleted files, a ransomware attack or a leaver who wipes their mailbox can all outlast Microsoft's short retention windows. Add a separate Microsoft 365 backup that covers mail, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams, and test a restore once everything's set up.

What does day-one IT cost?

Example: a five-person professional services business opening an office in Glasgow. These are illustrations, not quotes.

At the lower end (Business Standard, basic support), that's around £200 a month plus devices. With Business Premium and comprehensive managed support, it's nearer £700–£800. Support is the biggest variable, so compare what's included, not just the price. Business Gateway, Scotland's publicly funded business support service, can also help with wider start-up planning.

What we see with new businesses

The most common day-one mistake we untangle isn't a missing product. It's ownership: domains in a web designer's account, Microsoft 365 set up on someone's personal card, and one shared admin login. Indigo has completed more than 100 Microsoft 365 migrations, and the ones that take longest are nearly always these. Setting up accounts in the company's name from the start avoids it.

How Indigo does this. Indigo Unified Communications sets up Microsoft 365, devices, security, connectivity and phones for new businesses from our Glasgow and Livingston offices, with onboarding usually taking about two weeks. We confirm broadband availability and price within 2 working days and can have 4G/5G connectivity live in 2–3 working days while a fixed line is installed. For most new businesses we recommend our Gold package, which adds 24/7 monitoring, security training and a dedicated account manager, and grows with you. IT support packages →

What to do next

1. Register your domain in the company's name and set up Microsoft 365 on it before anything else.
2. Check broadband options at your address on our availability checker as soon as you have premises.
3. Turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA) for every account on day one, and pay your ICO data protection fee.
4. Choose a cloud phone system rather than an analogue line; the PSTN switch-off explained sets out why.
5. Talk to us about managed IT support before you buy devices, so everything is set up once, properly.