Introduction: IT beyond the lab bench
Behind every scientific breakthrough is a business that can actually run day to day, and that includes reliable, well-managed IT systems.
For life sciences startups moving from research into commercial reality, IT isn’t a “nice to have”. It’s part of what keeps the wheels turning: onboarding new hires quickly, protecting valuable data, answering investor questions with confidence, and staying on the right side of customer and regulatory requirements.
Get the foundations right early on and you avoid the usual growth pain of: messy permissions, shadow IT, security gaps, and fire-fighting at exactly the wrong time (often just as fundraising, partnering, or audits kick off).
This guide covers the key components of a solid, sensible IT foundation, built for the way life sciences businesses actually work.
Three foundational IT pillars of a life sciences startups
Life sciences startups have a few realities that shape everything: rapid growth, sensitive IP, and higher expectations around governance and auditability. In practice, a strong foundation comes down to three pillars.
1) Scalability: built for growth
Scalability simply means your systems can grow with you without constant disruption.
- Why it matters: many life sciences startups go from a handful of people to 20, 50, or more in a short space of time. You need IT that can support fast onboarding, increasing data volumes, new sites, and collaboration with external partners without everything breaking whenever you hire or move.
2) Compliance: ready for scrutiny
Compliance is about being able to demonstrate that systems and data are managed properly, not just saying “we think it’s fine”.
- Why it matters: whether it’s customer security questionnaires, investor due diligence, or regulatory expectations (including GxP-style Good Practice environments), you need an IT setup that can produce answers, evidence, and consistency. Being “almost compliant” tends to be an expensive and stressful experience.
3) Security: protecting your core assets
Security is about reducing the chance of an incident — and limiting the impact if one happens.
- Why it matters: life sciences businesses hold valuable intellectual property and often confidential or sensitive information. A clear baseline (for example Cyber Essentials / Cyber Essentials Plus, or aligning with ISO 27001 principles) gives you a practical standard you can work to and something credible you can share with customers as a differentiator and investors for peace of mind.
What a strong IT foundation actually looks like
A good IT foundation isn’t a long shopping list of technologies and tools. It’s a small set of building blocks that solve common startup problems in a controlled, repeatable way.
Here are the patterns we see most often in startups, and what “good” looks like.
1) Device sprawl (and no visibility)
Teams end up with a mix of laptops, lab PCs, shared machines, and personal devices — with no consistent control.
- What to put in place: Standardised device management
Set up structured onboarding and management so devices enrol automatically, receive the right security settings and updates, and stay supported over time. This reduces admin burden, improves productivity, and gives you visibility when you need it.
2) Protecting sensitive IP and preventing unauthorised access
This is where small gaps become big problems: weak logins, unencrypted devices, and insecure email.
- What to put in place: Foundational security controls
A sensible baseline typically includes multi-factor authentication, device encryption, hardened email security, and strong endpoint protection. It’s the difference between “we hope we’re safe” and “we’ve reduced the obvious risks”.
3) “Everyone is an admin” and collaboration chaos
Early stage teams often share logins, over-permission data access, and create folders and Teams sites ad hoc. It works… until it really doesn’t.
- What to put in place: Role-based access and clean user setup
Give people access based on job role, separate admin accounts from day-to-day accounts, and design file/SharePoint/Teams structures so information is findable and permissions make sense. This keeps collaboration smooth without losing control.
4) Compliance questions you can’t answer
The hardest moment is when a customer, investor, or auditor asks: “Show me how you control access, prove devices are encrypted, demonstrate retention policies…”
- What to put in place: A clear compliance-ready framework
Align to practical standards (Cyber Essentials is a strong starting point) and implement policy-driven controls that can be evidenced. The goal is simple: you can answer questions confidently and consistently, without scrambling.
5) Scaling moments that break IT
Funding rounds, office moves, new labs, rapid hiring, these are great problems to have, but they can expose weak foundations.
- What to put in place: Cloud-first infrastructure designed to scale
Using platforms like Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Azure gives you a scalable backbone while supporting business continuity, remote collaboration, and controlled access to data across sites and partners.
The payoff: Why this matters commercially
Putting the right foundations in place isn’t about “better IT”. It’s about making the business easier to run.
- Less friction day-to-day
Scientists and operational teams spend less time battling access issues, broken devices, and confusing file structures and more time on the work that actually moves the business forward. - Confidence in due diligence
When investors or partners ask the tough questions, you can show clear standards, sensible controls, and evidence which builds trust quickly. - Reduced risk, better continuity
Strong security baselines reduce the likelihood and impact of incidents, and good system design helps you keep operating even when something goes wrong.
Conclusion: Build calm foundations early
A strong IT foundation isn’t an expense to minimise it’s part of making your startup investable, scalable, and resilient.
If you focus on scalability, compliance, and security from the start, you avoid the “growth chaos” that catches so many promising teams. You’ll be able to handle rapid hiring, new sites, and fundraising milestones without IT becoming a bottleneck.
With the right foundations in place, your team can stay focused on the mission: progressing the science.
Key benefits of Managed IT for life sciences startups
There are many advantages for a life sciences startup in partnering with a Managed Service Provider for a Managed IT support.
Fully Managed IT Support: So your not the escalation point for everything.
- Managed IT Support
- Helpdesk support, and a team of 20 certified experts helping support your business, so you can concentrate on the science
- Proactive monitoring and patching
- Device standardisation
- Process driven (onboarding/offboarding)
Benefit: Fewer interruptions for you and fewer IT fires that interrupt your day.
Improved cybersecurity: This is typically the quickest risk reduction for a startup.
- MFA everywhere
- Conditional Access policies (basic rules to block risky logins)
- Email security (antispam and anti-phishing policies)
- Defined sharing controls in SharePoint, OneDrive
- Audit logging and alerts
- Cyber Essentials & Cyber Essentials Plus
- Phishing simulation and awareness training
- Staff security training
Benefit: You are much harder to compromise.
Device Protection and Management: Especially important for hybrid working and travellers.
- Basic hardening: Encryption, screen locks, updates
- Endpoint security and DNS Filering
- Remote wipe of lost/stolen kit
- Mobile Device Management & Mobile Application Management
Benefit: A stolen laptop/phone is an inconvenience, not a disaster.
Backup and Recovery: A lot of business assume Microsoft “backs everythng up”. It’s more accurate to say Microsoft provides a resilient platform. You still need proper backups.
- Microsoft 365 Backup of Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams data
- Backup monitoring
- Verified recovery process, regularly tested
Benefit: You can confidently restore data when you need to.
A light-touch “virtual IT Manager” of full vCIO service: This it the bit founders really feel.
- Expert advice from an experienced team
- A technology roadmap aligned to you business goals
- Focus on business growth
- Monthly check-ins/quarterly Strategic business reviews: risks, priorities, projects planning, budget planning
- Vendor and licensing management
- Full vCIO service as required
Benefit: IT becomes predictable and planned, not reactive.
Don’t wait for IT to become the constraint
If any of the scenarios above feel familiar: messy access, compliance questions, or security concerns, it may be time to bring in a partner who understands how life sciences startups operate. Call Kriston Technology today on 01993 880 980 and schedule a free discovery call.
Kriston Technology is a leading Managed Service Provider offering comprehensive IT, data and cyber security services to life sciences and STEM businesses across Oxford, the M40 corridor, and London. Established in 1998, and based out of Long Hanborough, our team of certified experts specialises in helping STEM businesses implement effective IT and cyber security solutions to protect your digital assets and enable business growth by providing best-in-class solutions tailored to your individual requirements. With a commitment to clear no-jargon communication and exceptional customer service, we help empower the businesses we serve.
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