Our Top Tips for Starting a Small to Medium Business (SMB) in IT

Featured article by Rebecca Lee, Independent Technology Author

If you’re planning to start a small to medium business in IT or have recently launched one, there are a few tips we have for you to make the process as seamless as possible. 

It isn’t a secret that the world of business can be a little complicated, whether you’re equipped with a degree in the field or not, and so, we have somewhat of a guide containing some essentials for making your IT business’s launch as smooth as possible. 

To start, you’ll always want to kick things off with some sort of plan in place, and also work on doing your research — and if you’ve found your way to our article, then you’re on the right track! From here, you’ll want to be calculated about where your business is located, how it operates and who your clients are. 

Those points in mind, let’s take a look below at some of our top tips for starting a small to medium business in the IT field.

Trademarking and Brand Protection

For our readers who have a brand name that is imperative your business’s success, then you need to work on registering it as soon as possible. 

You’ll be able to head over to IP Australia and work on registering your business’s name so that no other competing brands can take it. Here you’ll also be able to find if someone else has your brand’s name registered and be able to go back to the drawing board when it comes to finding a brand name. 

Keep in mind that you’ll also want to protect your brand’s logos, tagline and other intellectual property as soon as possible. This will give you the assurance that these ‘things’ are yours and you’re able to move forward without the stress of thinking about if another business is going to take these. 

In line with these tips also work on getting your domain name secured, your business’s packaging and stationery prepared and more.

Investing in Security and Asset or Data Protection

When it comes to businesses in the IT field, you will likely already know that there are some rather stringent regulations which dictate the secure storage of your client data. 

That in mind, our second biggest tip here is to make sure you’re investing in your own IT infrastructure that keeps all of your operations secure and protects your client and customer data from hacks or theft. 

You may also want to look into liability insurance during this phase too, in that you will want to rest assured that you have the insurance funding to protect you should one of your clients sue for a data hack, for example.  

To end, researching and developing an asset or data protection strategy should fall high on your list of to-dos.

Get Everything in Writing 

In every business sector, not only IT, it’s imperative to get everything in writing and have agreements assessed by legal professionals. 

You will want to make sure that whether you’re working in the real world, online or anywhere else, that your agreements are clearly written out and signed by all parties involved to avoid as many misinterpretations as possible. 

On from here, getting lawyers like LegalVision NZ Business Lawyers to analyse and provide feedback on these agreements before they are finalised and agreed to is another crucial tip from us. 

Keep in mind that it is far more affordable and less financially damaging to have your agreements assessed for issues and potential disputes in the early days, rather than waiting for a major issue to occur down the line.

Ensure Your Business Structure is Correct

Another key tip from us is ensuring that you are incorporating or forming your business in a way that is correct with regards to what you’ll be doing — and how many employees you have, etc. 

For example, the businesses in IT that are classed as SMBs you’re not going to want to form your business as a Sole Trader business. An SMB with more employees than just one or two is better off looking at the Partnership or Company structure. 

That noted, be sure to assess how you predict your business to operate and work on choosing a structure that supports your brand the best, both legally and with regards to taxation and assets, etc.

Have Clear Payment and Fee Collection Processes

To end our list of top tips for SMBs in IT, we will highlight the importance of payment and fee collection. 

This is one of the processes you’ll want to develop in the early days of your business and work to make it as clear to your clients and customers as soon as possible. What this means is outline how and when invoices should be paid, what the procedure is should an invoice not be paid on time and the effect these late payments or non-payments have on your IT services offered. 

Making sure that these processes are as clear as possible will clear up any confusion for your clients, but also protect you should there be issues down the line with clients and customers failing to pay their bills on time.