A good Perth IT provider can answer six things in writing: what the fixed fee includes, how fast they respond and how they measure it, who answers the phone, who watches your security at 2am, what onsite visits cost, and what happens if you leave. For a business with 50 computers, expect a fixed monthly fee per user or computer, not hourly billing. Ours starts from $140 a month plus $250 per site, excluding GST.
Pay as you go (break-fix). You call when something breaks and pay by the hour. It suits a very small business with few computers. The cost is unpredictable and nobody is watching until you call.
Managed IT, for a fixed monthly fee. A provider looks after support, security, devices and planning for a set fee. It suits most businesses of 10 to 250 computers, because the cost is known and problems are fixed before you notice them. See how managed IT works.
Co-managed IT. You keep an IT person or team, and a provider adds the depth they cannot cover: after hours, security, projects and leave cover. It suits businesses with 50 or more computers and an internal IT lead. Read our co-managed IT page.
Put the same ten questions to every provider you speak to, and ask for the answers in writing. The third column is how we answer them.
| Question to ask | What a good answer sounds like | How Perigon One answers |
|---|---|---|
| 1. What is in the fixed fee, and what is extra? | Support, onsite, security, projects and strategy named in writing, with exclusions listed. | One fixed fee covers support, onsite and after hours help, cybersecurity, projects and planning. Licences are at cost. |
| 2. How fast do you respond, and how do you measure it? | An average and a guaranteed time for each priority, reported monthly, with a credit if missed. | 15 minute average first response. Guaranteed response: Critical 1 hour (24/7), High 2 hours, Medium 4 hours, Low 8 hours. A response means an engineer working on it, not an automatic reply. |
| 3. Who answers the phone? | Someone who can fix most things, with a senior engineer for the rest. | Level 1 picks up. Anything not fixed in the first half hour goes to a senior engineer. Our engineers have 7 to 30 years of experience. |
| 4. Who watches security out of hours? | A named 24/7 security operations centre, not “we monitor alerts”. | A 24/7 managed SOC on every computer we manage. |
| 5. How do you charge for onsite visits? | Included, or priced up front. | Unlimited onsite across Perth metro, with no call-out or travel fees, plus regular visits to remote sites. |
| 6. How do you count users? | Rules that stop you paying for shared mailboxes and email-only accounts. | Email-only accounts, shared mailboxes and crew without a device are not counted. We reconcile licences every month. |
| 7. What does the contract lock in? | Term, notice, exit fee and minimum numbers, all stated. | No lock-in contract, no exit fee, no onboarding fee and no locked-in user numbers. |
| 8. Who owns the data and documentation? | You do, and you can see them at any time. | Your data stays in your own Microsoft 365. You can read your documentation at any time and take a full copy free. |
| 9. What do you report on, and when do we plan? | A monthly report and review, and a yearly roadmap and budget. | A monthly report and review, a quarterly strategy review and an annual roadmap and budget. |
| 10. Can I speak to a client like us? | Names, and a reference of your size and industry. | Yes. We look after about 60 clients and about 2,000 devices, and several have been with us for more than ten years. |
Managed IT in Perth is usually priced per user or per computer, plus a fee per site. Ours is $140 per user or computer a month plus $250 per site, excluding GST, with no onboarding fee. Be wary of a very low base fee with extras billed on top, and of any quote you cannot compare line by line.
See what drives the price on our managed IT cost page, or estimate yours with the IT cost calculator.
If you have fewer than 10 computers, pay as you go may cost you less. If you need hundreds of seats and a large 24/7 service desk for a single enterprise, a bigger provider may suit you better. If you only want a one off project, we can quote it, but our strength is the long term relationship.
Onsite visits, someone who knows your office and a help desk in your time zone make a difference when something goes wrong. Our head office is at 51 Kewdale Road, Welshpool, 15 minutes from the Perth CBD, with offices in Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne. See our local IT support in Welshpool.
Switching is easier than most businesses expect. See why businesses switch to Perigon One.
Managed IT in Perth is usually priced per user or per computer, plus a fee per site. Perigon One starts from $140 per user or computer a month plus $250 per site, excluding GST, with no onboarding fee. The price moves with how many users or computers you have, how many sites, and what is included, so ask every provider for the same list in writing. Our cost page and calculator show a worked example.
For most businesses with 10 to 250 computers, yes. A fixed fee makes the cost predictable, and the provider has a reason to fix problems before they reach you. Pay as you go can cost less for a very small business with few computers, but nobody is watching your systems until you call, and the bill grows with every problem.
The services covered and not covered, response times for each priority and how they are measured, security monitoring and who does it, onsite visits and what they cost, the term, notice and any exit fee, who owns your data and documentation, and what you get at handover. Anything vague here becomes a cost later.
Ask for a monthly report with the number of requests, how many were resolved, the average first response and how many met their target. If your provider cannot show these, you are relying on how it feels. A good provider also holds a regular review with you and plans next year’s projects and budget.
It depends on computers more than staff. One IT person doing general support can look after 50 to 100 computers, but they cannot cover leave, after hours, security and projects alone. Many businesses of 50 or more computers keep an IT lead and add a provider. We call that co-managed IT.
Plan the handover with the outgoing provider, move administrator access and documentation first, then move users in groups rather than all at once. We do not charge an overlap fee when we take over from an outgoing provider. Our switching page walks through the steps.
