New office IT setup: a checklist for Singapore businesses
Fit-out timelines slip. Internet line applications do not care. Here is the order things need to happen in, and how early to start.
The single most common failure in an office move is leaving the internet line to the end. Provisioning can take several weeks, longer if the building needs new fiber pulled, and no amount of goodwill compresses it. Start there.
Six to eight weeks out
- Confirm what connectivity the building already has. Some buildings are served by a single provider; some need lead time for in-building work.
- Apply for the line. Order the backup link at the same time if uptime matters to you.
- Agree the floor plan with the fit-out contractor and mark where data points, access points and the comms rack go. Retrofitting cabling after the carpet is down is expensive.
Three to four weeks out
- Specify and order the firewall, switches and access points. Allow for delivery.
- Provision the Microsoft 365 tenant: domain and DNS, mail flow, licenses, user accounts, SharePoint and Teams structure.
- Set the security baseline now rather than later — MFA, Conditional Access, Intune enrollment and device hardening are far easier to apply before staff have their machines than after.
- Order hardware. Laptops with lead times have a habit of arriving the week after you need them.
The week of the move
- Install and configure the firewall, switches and Wi-Fi, with separate corporate and guest networks and authentication tied back to your directory.
- Test the line under load, not just that it connects.
- Set up the phone system, meeting rooms and printers.
- Enrol devices and confirm every machine reports as compliant.
Before day one
Walk the floor and check coverage where people will actually sit, including the corner meeting room everyone forgets. Confirm mail flow, confirm backups are running, and make sure staff know how to reach support on the first morning — because they will need to.
What we would add
Design the network once, properly. Most of the networks we inherit were not designed at all; they grew, one switch and one access point at a time, until nobody could say what was plugged in where. A move is the one chance you get to avoid that.