Hybrid working IT comes down to four things: secure access from anywhere, files that stay in sync without anyone emailing attachments to themselves, a phone system that doesn’t care whether someone’s at their desk or at the kitchen table, and devices that are properly managed rather than just handed over. None of that is complicated or expensive to get right. Most of the headaches we see come from businesses letting staff patch it together themselves with personal logins, shared passwords and whatever cloud app someone happened to sign up for.
It’s worth getting right, because hybrid working isn’t a temporary arrangement anymore. More than a quarter of working adults across Great Britain, 28 percent between January and March 2025, now work a hybrid pattern, according to the Office for National Statistics. For a business of ten to seventy five people, that’s not a handful of exceptions, it’s most of a team splitting their week between home and the office. If your IT was built on the assumption that everyone’s in one place, hybrid working tends to expose that fairly quickly, usually at the worst possible moment.
What changes when your team goes hybrid
An office only setup can get away with things a hybrid one can’t. A shared drive on a local server is fine when everyone’s plugged into the same network, and a hopeless one when half the team is working from home. A phone system tied to a desk handset works until that desk is empty three days a week. Here’s the practical difference:
| Office only | Hybrid | |
|---|---|---|
| File access | Local server or shared drive | Cloud storage (SharePoint, OneDrive, Google Workspace) with proper permissions |
| Login security | Password alone is often tolerated | Multi factor authentication should be standard, not optional |
| Phone system | Physical handsets tied to a desk | VoIP, so calls follow the person, not the desk |
| Device management | Devices rarely leave the building | Devices need remote management and endpoint protection wherever they are |
| Meetings | Mostly in person | Video calling that’s reliable enough nobody dreads using it |
The parts worth getting right
Secure access from anywhere. This means multi factor authentication on every account that matters, not just email, and a proper way for staff to reach company systems, whether that’s a VPN or cloud applications with sensible access controls. The old approach of “just use your personal laptop and remote into the office PC” is exactly the kind of setup that looks fine until it isn’t.
Files that actually sync. If people are still emailing spreadsheets to themselves, or two versions of the same document exist because someone worked on it at home and someone else edited the office copy, that’s not a hybrid working problem, it’s a file storage problem that hybrid working has made impossible to ignore. Proper cloud storage with clear folder structures and permissions solves this in an afternoon, not a project.
A phone system that follows the person. VoIP means a call to the office number can ring on a laptop, a mobile app, or a desk phone, wherever the person actually is. For a small business trying not to lose calls or look disorganised to clients, this tends to matter more than businesses expect until they’ve switched.
Devices that are managed, not just issued. A laptop that leaves the building needs endpoint protection, the ability to be locked or wiped if it’s lost, and someone keeping an eye on whether it’s actually up to date. This applies just as much to a personal phone checking work email as it does to a company laptop.
Communication that actually works. Reliable video calling and a shared calendar that’s genuinely kept up to date matter more once people can’t just see who’s at their desk. It sounds minor. It’s usually the thing that determines whether hybrid working feels organised or chaotic.
Where this tends to go wrong
The businesses we end up helping after the fact usually have one of the same handful of problems: staff using personal devices with no policy covering them, no multi factor authentication because it was seen as a hassle to roll out, several people sharing one login because nobody set up individual accounts properly, or an IT policy that was written years ago for a team that worked in one building and hasn’t been looked at since. We’ve written more on that specific problem, including how to put together a policy your staff will actually read and follow, rather than one that sits in a drawer.
A short checklist before you commit to hybrid
Before rolling hybrid working out properly, it’s worth being able to say yes to each of these: every account that matters has multi factor authentication switched on, files live in cloud storage rather than a mix of local drives and email attachments, there’s a written, current IT policy covering personal devices, calls can reach the right person wherever they’re working, and someone, whether that’s an internal person or an outsourced IT support provider, is actually responsible for keeping devices updated and secure. If any of those is a no, that’s the sensible place to start.
Frequently asked questions
Do we still need a VPN if we already use cloud based apps like Microsoft 365?
Often less than businesses assume. If most of what your team uses is already cloud based with proper access controls and multi factor authentication, a VPN adds less value than it used to. It still matters for reaching older, on site systems that were never built to be accessed remotely.
Is setting up IT for hybrid working expensive?
Not usually. Most of what’s above, multi factor authentication, moving files to cloud storage, a written policy, costs more in time than money. VoIP phone systems and proper device management have an ongoing cost, but it’s generally modest for a business of this size and tends to be cheaper than the disruption of getting it wrong.
How do we manage security if staff use their own laptops and phones?
With a clear policy and some basic technical controls, rather than by ignoring the question. That can mean requiring a passcode and encryption on any personal device used for work, being able to remove company data if someone leaves, and keeping personal devices off systems that hold anything sensitive. It’s a conversation worth having before it becomes a problem, not after.
If your business is somewhere between “we’ve muddled through” and “we’re not sure our setup would survive a proper audit,” it’s worth a conversation before it becomes a bigger fix than it needed to be. 127 Solutions supports growing businesses across Cheshire, Wirral, Chester and Liverpool with exactly this kind of setup, and we’re always happy to talk through what a sensible hybrid IT setup would actually look like for your team. Get in touch.
