The IT decisions you make when starting a business are harder to undo than almost any other. Choose the wrong email platform and migrating later costs time and money. Set up a flat network without security and retrofitting it disrupts operations. Start without backups and one hardware failure or ransomware attack ends the business. Here's what to get right from day one.
Step 1 - Business Email on a Proper Domain
The first IT decision for any new Perth business: your email platform. Do not use Gmail or Outlook personal accounts for business. You need a professional business email - yourname@yourbusiness.com.au - on a platform built for business use.
Microsoft 365 Business Basic ($9/user/month) gives you Exchange Online email, Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive. It is the right choice for most Perth businesses from day one, because:
- You own your email domain and data - if you ever change providers, you take it with you
- It scales from 1 to 300 users without re-platforming
- The security tools (MFA, Conditional Access, Defender) are either included or available
- It integrates with almost every Australian business application
Avoid free or cheap ISP-hosted email. It has no mobile sync, no spam protection, and migrating away later is painful. Pay the $9/month and do it properly from the start.
Step 2 - A Business Domain and DNS
Register a .com.au domain - it requires an Australian Business Number (ABN) and signals legitimacy to Australian customers. Use a reputable registrar: Crazy Domains, VentraIP, or GoDaddy. Register both the .com.au and .com variants if you can.
Once you have your domain, configure DNS correctly before you start sending email:
- SPF record - tells receiving mail servers which servers are allowed to send email from your domain
- DKIM record - cryptographically signs outgoing email so recipients can verify it is genuine
- DMARC record - tells receiving servers what to do with email that fails SPF or DKIM checks
Without these records, your email is more likely to land in spam, and criminals can send fake email that appears to come from your domain. If you use Microsoft 365, these records are set up as part of the domain verification process.
Step 3 - Devices
Buy business-grade devices, not consumer hardware. The distinction matters:
- Business laptops (Dell Latitude, HP EliteBook, Lenovo ThinkPad) are built for 8+ hours of daily use, have better keyboards, longer warranty options, and support business management tools. Consumer laptops (Dell Inspiron, HP Pavilion) are not designed for commercial workloads.
- Windows 11 Pro - not Home. Pro supports BitLocker encryption, domain join, and enterprise management features. The Home edition lacks these.
- Avoid the cheapest option - a $500 laptop that fails in 18 months costs more in lost productivity than a $1,200 business unit that runs for 4 years.
For a new Perth business, a reasonable per-device budget is $1,200–$1,800 for a business laptop. This is a capital expense that should appear in your business plan.
Step 4 - Cloud-First File Storage
Do not store business files on local hard drives or USB drives. From day one, all business files should be in cloud storage - OneDrive for personal work files and SharePoint for shared team files (both included with Microsoft 365).
Cloud-first file storage means:
- Files are accessible from any device, anywhere
- Files are automatically backed up - no separate backup needed for cloud-stored data
- Version history protects against accidental overwrites
- If a laptop is lost, stolen, or fails, no data is lost
Step 5 - Security Basics Before You Launch
These are non-negotiable before your business goes live:
Multi-factor authentication on everything
Enable MFA on your Microsoft 365 account, your domain registrar, your accounting software (Xero, MYOB), your banking, and any other platform you use. This takes 15 minutes and prevents the majority of account takeover attacks.
Endpoint protection
Microsoft 365 Business Premium includes Microsoft Defender for Business - a proper endpoint detection and response (EDR) tool. If you are on a lower plan, install a reputable business endpoint protection product. Do not rely on Windows Defender alone on unmanaged devices.
Encrypted devices
Enable BitLocker on Windows laptops before you store any business data on them. If a laptop is stolen without encryption, all data on the drive is readable without a password.
A password manager
Every staff member needs a password manager from day one. Bitwarden (free for individuals, affordable for teams), 1Password, or Keeper. Do not let staff reuse passwords or store them in spreadsheets.
Step 6 - Internet and Network
For a new Perth office:
- Get an NBN Business plan - not residential. Business plans have faster fault resolution SLAs and symmetrical speeds (important for video calls and cloud uploads).
- Buy a business-grade router/firewall - not the ISP-supplied modem. A FortiGate 40F or Sophos XGS 87 gives you proper network security, content filtering, and VPN capability.
- Separate guest WiFi from your business network - if clients visit your office, they should never be on the same network as your computers.
- Consider a 4G/5G backup connection if your business cannot afford to be offline - a failover SIM router activates automatically if the NBN drops.
Step 7 - Accounting Software and Integrations
Set up accounting software before you issue your first invoice. Xero is the most common choice for Perth small businesses - it integrates with almost everything, your accountant almost certainly uses it, and the bank reconciliation saves hours every month. MYOB is a solid alternative if your accountant prefers it.
Connect your accounting software to your bank feed from day one so every transaction is captured automatically.
What to Avoid When Starting Out
- Free consumer tools for business - free Gmail, free Dropbox, WhatsApp for team communication. These create data sovereignty and security problems you will pay to clean up later.
- Mixing personal and business devices - personal phones and laptops used for business data create risk and complicate things when staff leave.
- Skipping IT support - the cost of an IT provider catching problems early is far less than the cost of a breach or data loss incident when you have no support relationship in place.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the first IT decision a new Perth business should make?
Business email on a proper domain, not a personal Gmail or Outlook account. Setting up something like Microsoft 365 from day one means you own your domain and data, and it avoids a painful migration later once clients and suppliers already have your address on file.
Do I really need business-grade laptops for a small startup?
It's worth the extra cost if the business depends on the devices daily. Consumer laptops aren't built for 8+ hours of daily commercial use, and a cheap device that fails within a couple of years often ends up costing more in lost time than a business-grade one that lasts several years longer.
What security basics should be in place before a new business goes live?
Multi-factor authentication on every account, a password manager for staff, endpoint protection on devices, and disk encryption on laptops. None of this takes long to set up, and doing it from day one is far easier than retrofitting it once the business is operating and staff are used to working without it.
Should a new business use free tools like Gmail or Dropbox to save money early on?
It's tempting when budgets are tight, but free consumer tools tend to create data ownership and security issues that cost more to untangle later than the small monthly saving was worth. Paying for a proper business platform from the start is usually the cheaper option once you account for the migration down the track.
We help new Perth businesses set up their IT properly from day one - Microsoft 365, devices, security, and networking done right the first time.
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Book a Free ConsultationFor related reading, see our guides to IT Support for Small Business in Perth and How Much Does Managed IT Cost in Perth?.