Dubai Internet City is a free-zone business community for technology companies, from regional offices of global firms to young start-ups. Tech teams move fast: frequent new hires, developers who need more control over their laptops and a growing list of cloud apps. Listonics adds security and structure without slowing the people who build the product. Policy-based access control for distributed teams is documented in Conditional Access.
What your customers ask about your security
Dubai Internet City is a free-zone community for technology companies, regulated by the Dubai Development Authority, and it contains two very different kinds of tenant: regional offices of global firms with their own head-office IT policies, and young companies with none. Both end up facing the same pressure, which is that their customers ask about security before they sign.
That makes evidence the binding constraint here rather than equipment. An enterprise client sends a questionnaire asking who has access to customer data, how accounts are removed, where backups live and when they were last tested. A company with good practice and no documentation answers from memory and loses weeks. A company with an asset register, an access review and a written security baseline answers in a day. The technology is the same; only the paperwork differs.
The second local trait is device policy for engineers. Developers need local administrator rights, virtual machines and containers, and the instinct is to exempt them from management entirely, which leaves the most privileged laptops in the company outside every control. The workable middle is enrolment in Microsoft Intune with compliance policy and encryption enforced, while leaving the developer free inside their own machine.
What a Dubai Internet City office needs
- Laptops enrolled in Microsoft Intune with encryption, endpoint protection and automatic updates.
- Microsoft 365 with MFA and Conditional Access, plus quick joiner and leaver processes.
- A clear policy for developer admin rights, so security does not stop engineers working.
- Office network and Wi-Fi sized for video calls, test devices and a growing team.
- Documentation for customer security reviews: asset register, access records and backup tests.
Where technology companies leak access
- A customer security questionnaire arriving mid-deal with no asset register or access review to answer it from.
- Developers exempted from device policy, so the laptops with the most access are the least managed.
- Contractors and interns still holding accounts in cloud consoles and code repositories months after their project ended.
- Access granted directly to individuals rather than through groups, so nobody can produce a list of who can reach what.
- An office network sized for email now carrying a floor of engineers on video calls all day.
How we work with Dubai Internet City offices
For a Dubai Internet City company the first piece of work is usually evidence rather than equipment. We build the asset register, move access onto groups instead of named individuals, document the security settings and agree how contractor and intern accounts get closed, so the next customer questionnaire is answered from a file rather than from memory. Developer laptops stay enrolled and encrypted while the engineer keeps control inside the machine. Projects are fixed scope; support is a fixed monthly fee.
What a Dubai Internet City engagement costs
Most Dubai Internet City engagements begin with a documentation and access review rather than new hardware, because the gap is nearly always evidence. That delivers an asset list, a joiner and leaver process, a group-based access model and a written record of security settings you can hand to a customer or an auditor. Where work follows, projects are quoted as a fixed scope, Listonics projects run from AED 2,500 to AED 30,000 depending on requirement, and support is a fixed monthly fee with response times in the agreement. See what IT support costs in Dubai for how the monthly side is built.
Running an office in Dubai Internet City? Read our in-depth guide: IT for Tech Companies in Dubai Internet City: Security Without Slowing Engineers (12 min read).
Frequently asked questions
Yes. A small team usually needs Microsoft 365 set up properly, managed laptops and a remote support plan, and the plan grows as you hire.
Yes. We agree who needs admin access and why, keep it separate from everyday accounts where practical, and rely on encryption, endpoint protection and updates to reduce the risk.
Yes, and it is one of the most common reasons technology companies here call us. We answer the technical sections directly, in the format the customer asked for, and tell you plainly which answers are currently weak so you can decide whether to fix them before replying or disclose them honestly. Guessing on a questionnaire is the expensive option.
Yes. Local administrator rights and device management are separate questions. The laptop is enrolled, encrypted, patched and checked for compliance, and the developer keeps the freedom to install and run what they need inside it. What changes is that the company can prove the machine's state and wipe it if it is lost.
From one list rather than from memory. Every contractor and employee is granted access through groups tied to their identity, so removal is a single action that covers email, files, cloud consoles and repositories. Tools that cannot use company identity are recorded on a short manual list checked at every departure.
Written by Srinivasan Ramachandran, Founder, Listonics · Last reviewed October 24, 2026