Starting as the only IT person, what should I tackle first?

Spend the first couple of weeks learning how the business actually works before making big changes. Meet the people who depend on IT, ask what regularly breaks and what would cause the most disruption, then make a short list of risks and recurring problems. That gives you a sensible order of operations instead of a pile of shiny projects.

Keep a basic inventory as you go: devices, services, vendors, renewals, admin accounts, and who owns what. Even rough notes are much better than relying on memory.

Make sure there’s a reliable way to track requests. If they already have a ticket system, figure out whether people use it and what needs improving. Set expectations that work goes through one place, and keep a small list of urgent work so that interruptions don’t make everything else disappear.

Being the only person doesn’t mean every request can be immediate. Tell people what you’re handling, what comes next, and what needs a decision from management. That’s much easier than quietly working late until you’re buried.

Backups are a good early check, but don’t stop at seeing a green status. Pick a few important files or systems and test that you can restore them. Find out who controls the backup accounts and where the copies are stored. If something is missing or a restore fails, you want to know while you still have time to fix it.

Then check the basics: administrator access, multifactor authentication where available, patching, and any services exposed beyond the company network. You don’t need to rebuild everything in week one. First find out what could cause the worst outage or security problem.

Resist the urge to replace systems just because you would choose something different today. A stable setup with clear risks is usually better than several rushed migrations run by one person. Write down the current state, note upcoming renewals and unsupported equipment, and turn the bigger changes into projects with time, cost, and business impact attached.

Also get comfortable asking for help or budget when a task is too large for one person. Being resourceful is useful, but being the only person doesn’t make every problem yours to solve alone.