Managed IT questions answered for Australian small businesses
Plain answers to the managed IT questions owners, office managers and IT companies ask before they sign up, from pricing per computer to who can see your passwords.
Priced per computer, billed monthly or annually.
Most doubts about managed IT come down to cost, control and security.
We would rather you decide with clear answers than sign up with doubts.
Owners and office managers with no IT person on staff tend to ask the same things. What will this cost per computer? What goes on our computers? Who can see our data?
Security sits underneath most of it. Ransomware, an insurer asking questions, a tender form or a board that wants to know where you stand.
This page answers what we can answer with facts. If your question is not here, ask us about your setup and we will answer it for your business.
Photo by USAID Africa Bureau on Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
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What managed IT with us covers, in five parts
Most questions make more sense once you know what the service includes. Pick a part to see what it does on your computers.
Care
We monitor every computer, install and check Windows updates, and run automatic fixes for common problems. You get a list of installed programs on each computer. A technician can connect remotely and fix a computer without a visit. Our computer monitoring page has the detail.
Security
Every computer gets a security score showing what lowers it, from antivirus and firewall to disk encryption and backup readiness. Threat alerts, suspicious sign-in detection and ransomware early warning tell you about problems early. Our cyber security page explains each check in plain words.
Compliance
See how your business measures up to the Australian Government's Essential Eight and what to fix next, and check how ready you are for the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme. The check shows where you stand. It does not certify compliance.
Help desk
Staff ask for help in the portal, attach files and follow every reply. Your help desk can sit on your own web address, and you approve staff who ask to join. Staff can also run ready-made fixes, such as clearing a stuck printer.
Portal
One place for your computers, reports, records and guides. Records hold invoices, estimates, agreements with next charge dates and booked technician visits. The knowledge base has step-by-step guides written for your business, and technicians keep your IT documentation there too.
What happens after you ask: discover, design, deliver, support
Getting started follows the same four steps for every business, delivered remotely Australia wide.
Discover
Tell us about your computers. You choose a plan, how many computers it covers, and whether you pay monthly or annually.
Design
Sign up as a business, or as an IT company. Decide whether your help desk sits on your own web address and which staff can join.
Deliver
Our agent goes on each computer. The portal then fills in by itself, so you see your computers without typing in a list.
Support
From then on you see every computer, ask for help in the portal and get told about problems. Change the number of computers as you grow.
Your managed IT FAQ, grouped by what you need to decide
Read them in order or jump to your group: Plans and billing, Getting started, Security and compliance, Help desk, Data and privacy, and IT companies.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How is managed IT priced?
- Per computer, billed monthly or annually. What each plan includes and what it costs is set out in the plan comparison on our pricing page, so you can match a plan to the number of computers you have.
- Is there a setup fee?
- Where our pricing page lists a setup fee, it is a one-off charge on monthly billing. It is waived when you choose annual billing.
- Do your prices include GST?
- Each amount on our pricing page, and again at sign-up, says whether GST is included. Check that note beside the total before you sign up.
- Is there a free trial?
- No, we do not offer a free trial. If you want to know how the service would fit your computers before you start, talk to us about your setup first.
- Can we change the number of computers later?
- Yes. Your plan is priced per computer, so you can change the number of computers it covers as your business grows or changes.
- What sits outside a standard plan?
- Text message alerts are an optional extra. Higher plans add the full tool library, tools made for your business and priority handling of help requests. Work outside your plan is invoiced and shown in your records in the portal.
- Where do we see invoices, estimates and agreements?
- In the records part of the portal. It holds invoices and payments for work outside your plan, estimates you have been sent, agreements with the date regular charges are next due, and booked technician visits.
- How do we get started?
- Choose a plan, how many computers it covers, and monthly or annual billing. Then sign up as a business, or as an IT company if you look after other businesses.
- What goes on our computers?
- Once it is on, the portal fills in by itself with each computer's health, security and installed programs.
- What reports will we get?
- Ready-made reports on your computers, support and security. You can also build your own reports in the portal when you need to show something specific to your board, an insurer or a tender.
Have a question we have not answered here? Ask us.
Tell us how many computers you have and how your business runs, and we will answer for your setup.