Direct Answer
Set up IT for a new office in this order: order the internet line as early as possible, plan the network and security basics, prepare devices and accounts before day one, then add printers and meeting room equipment. Internet lines and hardware orders carry the longest lead times, so book both as soon as the lease is signed. A central device management platform such as deeploi applies the same setup and security standards to every location.
Key Takeaways
Order the internet line the day the lease is signed and get a written installation date from the provider.
Assign one owner for the IT move and work in phases rather than reacting to whatever is urgent.
Manage devices centrally so every location inherits the same security and setup standards without manual checks.
Connect your HR system to your IT platform so onboarding and offboarding run on their own.
Run a full test a few days before move-in, and document the result as the template for your next location.
What does the IT setup for a new office look like, in the right order?
The sequence is simple: assess what you need, book the internet line, plan the network, set your security baseline, prepare devices and accounts, add shared hardware, then test everything before anyone moves in. Each step builds on the one before it.
Why the order matters: the connection and the network have the longest waiting times and the least flexibility. Devices and accounts need a working network to finish their setup. Printers, screens and room booking systems are the finishing layer, and you can add them in week two without anyone noticing. Teams that start with furniture and screens and leave the line until last are the ones still working from mobile hotspots on day one.
Start with a short needs assessment
Before you order anything, write down the basics: how many people will sit there, how many are actually in on a typical day if your team is hybrid, how many meeting rooms you need, and whether any role needs special equipment. Then ask what genuinely has to happen on site. Most IT work, from account setup to troubleshooting, can be handled remotely, which changes what you buy and who you need in the building.
What do you need for internet and the office network?
Book the line the moment the lease is signed, and ask the provider for a realistic installation date in writing rather than assuming it will be quick. Availability varies a lot by address. In the US, 83.9% of small business establishments had access to terrestrial broadband at 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload in 2024, while only 51.2% could get 1,000 Mbps download and 100 Mbps upload (US Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy). Check what your specific building supports before you promise the team anything.
A backup connection, usually a mobile router, is cheap insurance for a cloud-based team. For Wi-Fi, keep it boring and correct:
- Use WPA3 where your hardware supports it, or WPA2-AES as the minimum.
- Change the router's default admin password and store it in your password manager.
- Turn on automatic firmware updates for routers and access points.
- Run a separate guest network for visitors. Among UK businesses surveyed in 2025, 38% had separate networks for staff and visitors, up from 33% in the previous survey (UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and Home Office).
How do you prepare devices and accounts before day one?
Order laptops early and have accounts, email and software access ready before the first person walks in. Access delays are common: in Tailscale's 2025 survey, 35% of respondents said giving new employees access to the systems and applications their role needs usually took more than a day (Tailscale). For a new office, that delay multiplies across everyone starting at once.
You can buy or lease hardware through a procurement partner so that ordering, configuration and management sit on one platform instead of three inboxes. That approach is the point of partner-based hardware procurement for SMEs, and it is also what keeps your inventory accurate as the second location grows.
Central device management is what makes two offices behave like one. Policies, software and security settings are defined once and applied to every enrolled device, wherever it is. Worth knowing about the limits: with deeploi, Zero-Touch provisioning works for macOS devices through Apple Business Manager, while Windows devices are enrolled after delivery. The practical return on automated device management shows up most clearly from the second location onward.
How do you keep security and compliance consistent across locations?
Set one baseline and enforce it automatically: disk encryption (BitLocker on Windows, FileVault on macOS), screen lock policies, device protection, automatic patching and multifactor authentication (MFA, a second login step such as a code or app confirmation). Microsoft reported that modern multifactor authentication reduces the risk of identity compromise by more than 99% (Microsoft), and adoption is still climbing: 47% of the UK businesses in the same government survey used two-factor authentication for networks or applications, up from 40%.
Patching deserves its own line in the plan. In Verizon's 2026 breach analysis, vulnerability exploitation was the initial entry point in 31% of breaches (Verizon). Manual update checks do not scale past one site, which is why policy-based enforcement matters more with each office you open.
Compliance gets easier too. When every location follows the same documented standard, GDPR questions, NIS2 requirements and customer security questionnaires draw on one set of evidence instead of five different local arrangements.
What IT tasks can you automate instead of repeating manually?
The repetitive work is predictable: creating accounts, installing software, assigning access rights and removing all of it when someone leaves. Many organizations still do this by hand. Among more than 500 US IT and security leaders surveyed by Cerby, 59% said their organizations still provisioned access, offboarded users, or both using tickets or follow-up emails (Cerby). BetterCloud's 2025 survey found 34% had automated user onboarding and 40% had automated offboarding in their SaaS environment, while 60% of IT teams said they had too much manual work to take on strategic projects (BetterCloud).
The highest-value connection is between your HR system and your IT platform. When a new hire in Personio or HiBob automatically triggers account creation, software access and device setup, nobody has to remember the sequence. When a leaving date is entered, the reverse happens on schedule. When you compare alternatives to a traditional IT provider, look for HR integration, role-based setup profiles, one central view of devices and accounts, automated offboarding, and real human support with a defined response time. The questions worth asking an IT partner apply just as much to a platform.
Printers, meeting rooms, and day-one details
Now the finishing layer. Decide whether you actually need a printer before you buy one, because many teams discover they print twice a month. For meeting rooms, agree on one standard: the same screen, the same cable or dongle, the same camera and microphone in every room so nobody improvises before a client call. Add a room booking system only if double bookings are a real problem.
Then test. A few days before move-in, check the connection, walk the floor for Wi-Fi coverage, log in on a couple of devices, start a video call in each meeting room, and print something. Fixing a dead socket is easy on a quiet Thursday and miserable on morning one. If your new office is in Berlin, our guide to IT providers in Berlin shows what to look for.
The IT checklist for a new office
Frequently asked questions
How far in advance should I start planning IT for a new office?
Start as soon as the lease is signed. Internet lines and hardware orders have the longest lead times, and both vary by address and supplier, so ask for real delivery dates instead of assuming a standard number of weeks.
Do I need a dedicated IT person at every location?
Usually not. Central management and remote support cover account setup, software, policies and most troubleshooting. Only physical work, such as cabling, hardware swaps or signing for deliveries, needs someone in the building.
How do I make sure both offices have the same IT standards?
Define the standard once in a device management platform and let it apply automatically. Policy-based enforcement and automated onboarding workflows remove the manual steps where inconsistency creeps in.
What is the minimum IT setup for a small second office?
A secure internet connection with Wi-Fi and a guest network, managed devices with encryption and MFA, and one clear contact for IT support. Everything else can follow once people are working.
Do we need a backup internet connection?
It depends on how much the office depends on being online. For most cloud-based teams, a simple backup connection, such as a mobile router, is cheap insurance against one outage stopping the whole office.
