Working from home IT checklist

21st May 2025

What do you or your employees need to successfully be able to work from anywhere?

Working from home is becoming more popular with both business owners and employees: the first can save the cost of paying for a physical location and the second can enjoy a more relaxed work schedule, without a gruelling commute.

If you are considering a move to working from home, either for yourself individually or for multiple people in your business, here are the features that you need to consider before you leave the office:

Internet: for most office jobs, decent internet speeds are a must. If your Wi-Fi struggles to support video conferencing or the transfer of larger files, it may not be suitable. Consider Wi-Fi extenders or moving your work location in the home, to see if that helps.

Cyber security: the same level of protection you find at the office should be applied to work from home setups. This means multi-factor authentication, VPNs, EDR, everything. If you can’t comply with the same standards, it is best not to risk losing important business data.

Hardware: most people will need a laptop or computer of decent quality, one or more monitors to allow users to work on multiple programs at once, and other equipment like a keyboard, mouse, headset for calls, etc.

Office setup: this includes things like a chair (ideally ergonomic to support long hours of work), a desk (consider standing desks to counteract the negative impacts of being sat for too long), and, depending on your needs, a printer and scanner.

Tools: various applications, from the Microsoft 365 suite, to whichever video conferencing app your business uses, to cloud storage options like OneDrive that allow you to collaborate remotely. Bottom line, anything you use in the office, needs to be accessible outside of it.

Backups: either using external hard drives or cloud backups, ensure work isn’t being saved just to a computer at someone’s home – it can easily be lost, stolen or damaged.

Hopefully with this handy list you’ll be able to transition to working from home easily! If you’d like more information on the benefits of remote working, talk to Interfuture Systems.