IT Support for Small Business Australia

What we hear

What we hear from SMB owners.

The most common reasons Australian businesses reach out to us.

You are paying for IT you do not understand

Most SMBs are over-paying for software licences they are not using, services that overlap, and vendors who charge by the hour without solving the root cause. A fixed-fee model with a single accountable provider changes that.

What you would pay

Work out your monthly IT cost in a minute.

Pick your team size and how often things go wrong. Prices are per person, in Australian dollars, ex GST.

People on your team12

How often each person needs help

Each request is counted at about 30 minutes, the same rule our pricing page uses.

Estimate, a month, ex GST

$2,910on Flex

Flex$2,910
$150 a person, plus about 6 hrs at $185
Advantage$3,000
$250 a person, help inside your included block
Ultimate$4,800
$400 a person, unlimited remote help in business hours

Every plan carries the same security stack. On-site work and projects are quoted separately. Your figure is confirmed against your setup before you commit.

Build a full quote

What we do

IT support for small business Australia: what we do.

End-to-end IT support for small business Australia wide, built around how SMBs actually operate.

Cybersecurity Fundamentals
MFA, EDR, email security, patching, and backup configured correctly from the start. We implement the ACSC Essential Eight controls at a level that fits your size and budget.
Microsoft 365 and Cloud
Migration, licence management, security hardening, and ongoing administration. We make sure you are on the right licence tier and using what you pay for.
Helpdesk and Daily Support
Your staff call one number and get Australian engineers who know your environment. No call centres, no ticket queues that go unanswered, no passing the buck.
Backup and Disaster Recovery
Encrypted, tested backups with documented recovery procedures. When ransomware hits or hardware fails, you know exactly how fast you will be back online.
SMB1001 Compliance
Australia's purpose-built SMB cybersecurity certification. Bronze through Gold. Increasingly required in government and enterprise procurement panels.
vCIO and IT Strategy
Quarterly roadmap sessions, technology planning, and budget forecasting from a senior engineer who knows your business. Strategy without enterprise pricing.

Managed IT vs break-fix

Break-fix has a hidden cost.

Most SMBs start with a break-fix provider. Call someone when it breaks, pay by the hour, hope they fix it. The problem is that this model gives your IT provider no incentive to prevent problems. Every incident is revenue for them.

Managed IT is the opposite. A fixed monthly fee means our financial incentive is to keep your systems running and your staff productive. When something breaks at 2am, we respond because it is our job, not because you called a premium rate after-hours line.

Proactive monitoring catches issues before they become outages
Patch management keeps systems updated without waiting for you to notice
Security monitoring runs continuously, not just when you call
Fixed costs make IT a predictable business expense
One team who knows your environment, not a new tech every call

The real cost of a cyber incident

The real cost of a cyber incident for an Australian SMB.

Downtime
Ransomware incidents commonly disrupt operations for weeks while systems are rebuilt.
Recovery
ASD puts the average self-reported cost of a cybercrime at $55,400 for a small business and $141,300 for a medium one, up 45% in a year.
Reputation
Customer trust and supplier confidence take significant time to rebuild after a public breach.
Compliance
Notifiable Data Breaches scheme obligations and potential OAIC investigation.

What the 2026 SMB breach data shows

The threat model has changed. Small does not mean safe.

The Verizon 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report studied 22,000+ confirmed breaches across 145 countries. These numbers stand out for Australian SMBs.

96%

of ransomware victims in the DBIR dataset are small or medium businesses. Attackers run a volume model. Smaller operators are the easier mark, not the safer one.

Verizon 2026 DBIR

38%

of SMB breaches started with compromised credentials. MFA on every account that matters is the highest-leverage control left for SMBs.

Verizon 2026 DBIR

48%

of breaches involved a third party globally, up from 15% two years ago. Your supplier list is now part of your attack surface.

Verizon 2026 DBIR

Source: Verizon 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report. Dataset window October 2024 to November 2025. 31,000+ incidents and 22,000+ confirmed breaches across 145 countries.

From the field

What taking over a small business network from a previous provider really involves.

MSP Practice Lead: Microsoft 365 migrations and infrastructure takeovers.

On the tenant migrations, the recurring pattern was not the mailbox move itself, it was everything sitting around it. Shared mailboxes with stale delegations, Teams meetings with calendar invites pointing at the old tenant, SharePoint sites with broken external sharing links, conditional access policies that had been built up over years and nobody could explain. Each cutover was treated as a discovery exercise first, migration second. For the island NFP takeover, the network had grown organically. Mixed vendor switching, undocumented VLANs, a satellite link that was the only path off the island, and a server rack that had not had a backup tested in over a year. The risk profile was unusual because if anything went wrong, the next engineer was a boat ride away.

Tenant cutovers ran on documented runbooks with pre-stage, delta sync, and weekend cutover windows. Conditional access and identity governance were uplifted as part of the move rather than carried across as-is, so each client landed on a cleaner posture than they started with. Users opened Outlook on Monday and kept working. For the island NFP, did a full site audit in person, rebuilt the documentation from the ground up, replaced the end-of-life core switching and firewall, and put proper monitoring and remote access in place so future work does not require a site visit unless it genuinely does. The NFP now has a documented network, tested backups, and a support model that matches the realities of where they operate.

Meet the engineers behind this work The people who would look after you.

Right service for your size

What managed IT looks like at your stage.

A 12-staff professional services firm needs different things to a 120-staff multi-site business. Find the closest match to see what is included and the typical investment, in AUD.

Foundation: 1-10 staff
Starting from scratch or replacing break-fix. Get the basics right: identity, MFA, backup, EDR, Microsoft 365 hygiene. Typical investment $1,200 - $2,800 per month. Recommended target: SMB1001 Bronze readiness.
- Microsoft 365 Business Premium tenant setup and security baseline
- Endpoint Detection and Response on every device
- MFA enforced and Conditional Access basics
- Backup for Microsoft 365 and endpoints
- Helpdesk during business hours
Growing: 10-50 staff
The most common SMB tier. Multiple sites, hybrid work, real compliance pressure starting from clients and insurers. Typical investment $2,800 - $7,500 per month, all-inclusive managed IT, scoped after assessment. Recommended target: SMB1001 Silver or Gold.
- Everything in Foundation, plus quarterly vCIO sessions
- Managed firewall, switching, and Wi-Fi
- Intune device management and Autopilot for new starters
- Phishing simulation and security awareness training
- SMB1001 Silver or Gold uplift roadmap
Scaling: 50-200 staff
Compliance is a commercial requirement, not a nice to have. Government, enterprise and insurance buyers are asking for evidence. Typical investment $7,500 - $20,000+ per month.
- Co-managed model alongside internal IT, or fully outsourced
- Managed EDR/MDR with 24/7 SOC monitoring
- Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
- Conditional Access policy library and PIM for admins
- vCISO engagement and Essential Eight ML2 uplift

Compliance

Compliance is no longer optional for SMBs.

Australian SMBs now face specific legal and commercial obligations.

Cyber Security Act 2024
- Mandatory ransomware payment reporting for entities above the turnover threshold
- Minimum security standards for smart devices sold in Australia
- New role of National Cyber Security Coordinator for incident response
Privacy Act reforms
- Updated data handling obligations for businesses covered by the Act
- Mandatory breach notification to OAIC and affected individuals
- Penalties up to $50 million for serious or repeated breaches
SMB1001 and procurement
- Government and enterprise buyers increasingly require SMB1001
- Cyber insurance providers requiring evidence of controls
- Essential Eight alignment expected in many tenders
Learn about SMB1001 certification

ASD Annual Cyber Threat Report 2025-26

Small business is not a safe zone in the report's numbers.

ASD's 2025-26 report puts the average reported cost of a cybercrime at $55,400 for a small business and $141,300 for a medium business, up 45% in a year. Attackers log in with stolen credentials rather than break in, and AI has made the fake sign-in pages and invoice emails that reach small businesses faster and cheaper to produce than ever.

The full threat figures ASD's 2025-26 numbers and what they mean, in one place.

Who we work with

Everyone in your business benefits.

From the owner to reception, reliable IT makes every role easier.

Business Owner
- Predictable fixed monthly IT costs
- No surprise invoices or emergency call-out fees
- Technology that supports growth, not constrains it
- One provider accountable for everything
- Compliance handled without consuming your time
Operations Manager
- Staff issues resolved quickly without escalating to you
- Systems that work reliably during business hours
- New staff onboarded to technology in hours, not days
- Vendor relationships managed by someone else
- Clear reporting on IT health each month
Finance and Admin
- Single monthly invoice for all IT costs
- Licence spend audited and optimised annually
- No surprise capital expenditure for failed hardware
- Budget-ready IT roadmap for the year ahead
- Compliance documentation ready for insurers
Staff
- Fast helpdesk with real people answering
- Devices that are maintained and not slowing you down
- Password resets and access issues resolved same day
- Systems that work from the office or from home
- Security that protects without getting in the way

Australian regulatory context

What small business leaders ask us about Australian cyber and data protection law.

Every answer is grounded in the live Australian primary source, with a link to our detailed look and to the responsible regulator. Reviewed against OAIC, APRA, ASD, DISR and Home Affairs sources.

Australian regulatory hub Every rule that touches IT and security, in one place.

Are we exposed to the Privacy Act now the small business exemption is changing?

The Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (Tranche 1) is in force. The Government released the Tranche 2 exposure draft on 31 August 2026, and it keeps the exemption for businesses with turnover under $3 million, even though the original review recommended removing it. Many smaller businesses are covered anyway, for example health service providers and businesses that trade in personal information, and clients and insurers increasingly expect Privacy Act standards regardless. Build a personal information inventory, publish a privacy policy, lift APP 11 security to the standard insurers already expect, and rehearse a 30-day breach assessment clock.

Privacy Act readiness for SMBs OAIC small business guidance

What does the new statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy mean for us?

Since 10 June 2025, individuals in Australia can sue any person or organisation that seriously and intentionally or recklessly invades their privacy, whether through intrusion on seclusion or misuse of information. The cause of action is not limited to entities covered by the Australian Privacy Principles. Damages for non-economic loss and punitive damages are capped at the greater of around $478,550 or the maximum amount for defamation non-economic loss. Surveillance, employee records handling, vendor due diligence, and incident response should all be reviewed.

Statutory privacy tort explained OAIC tort guidance

What are the mandatory ransomware payment reporting obligations?

Part 3 of the Cyber Security Act 2024 (Cth) commenced on 30 May 2025. Businesses with annual turnover over $3 million, and all critical infrastructure entities, must report any ransomware or cyber extortion payment to the Australian Signals Directorate within 72 hours of making the payment or becoming aware that a payment has been made on their behalf. Reports are lodged through the ASD ReportCyber portal and sit alongside, not in place of, OAIC notification under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.

Ransomware reporting explained Home Affairs guidance

How does the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme apply to us today?

If you are covered by the Privacy Act, you must assess a suspected eligible data breach within 30 days, and notify the OAIC and affected individuals as soon as practicable once an eligible breach is identified. OAIC received 1,113 notifications across 2024, the highest annual total since the scheme commenced in 2018, and 667 in the first half of 2026 alone. The Tranche 2 exposure draft of August 2026 keeps the small business exemption, so most businesses under $3 million turnover stay outside the scheme unless another rule brings them in.

2026 breach report insights OAIC NDB scheme

What do Australian cyber insurers actually want to see at renewal?

Australian cyber underwriters now consistently require evidence of six operational controls on proposal forms: MFA on all users (especially privileged), EDR or MDR on all endpoints, tested backups including Microsoft 365, a documented and exercised incident response plan, a patch management cadence, and security awareness training. Renewals through 2025 and 2026 are also beginning to ask about the statutory privacy tort exposure and AI governance posture.

Cyber insurance readiness

How should we approach AI governance in Australia?

The Guidance for AI Adoption, published by the National AI Centre in late 2025, replaced the Voluntary AI Safety Standard of September 2024. It condenses the ten voluntary guardrails into six essential practices: decide who is accountable, understand impacts and plan accordingly, measure and manage risks, share essential information, test and monitor, and maintain human control. Existing obligations under the Privacy Act and Australian Consumer Law still apply to AI use. A shadow AI policy is now table stakes.

AI governance explained Guidance for AI Adoption

Is the Essential Eight still the benchmark, or are we waiting for the new ASD framework?

Both, for now. ASD published its successor, the Essentials series, on 15 October 2026. The Essential Eight stays current through the transition, ASD has not set a retirement date yet, and existing ML1 to ML3 work counts as evidence towards the Essentials, though ratings do not convert automatically. Keep going with the Essential Eight work you have planned and map it to the Essentials as you go.

The ASD Essentials series ASD Essentials reading guide

Your first 90 days

From day one to strategy in 90 days.

A clear, repeatable onboarding path. No surprises, no gaps, and you know exactly what is happening at each stage.

Step 1Week 1-2: Discovery and audit
Full environment audit: identity, devices, network, Microsoft 365, backup. Documentation of every account, vendor, licence, and shared credential. Risk register and prioritised remediation plan delivered in writing.
Step 2Day 30: Stabilise and secure
MFA enforced, legacy auth disabled, admin accounts segregated. EDR deployed across every endpoint with monitoring active. Backup verified, tested, and documented with restore runbook. Helpdesk live, staff trained on ticket process.
Step 3Day 60: Hardening and visibility
Conditional Access policy library deployed. Intune compliance baselines and Autopilot configured. Email authentication: SPF, DKIM, DMARC at p=quarantine or stronger. Security awareness training and phishing simulation rolled out.
Step 4Day 90: Strategy and certification path
First vCIO session with 12-month technology roadmap. Essential Eight maturity baseline documented. SMB1001 gap assessment and certification path agreed. Quarterly business review cadence locked in.

Industries

Every industry we serve. One team running it.

The same Brisbane engineers look after every sector, so what we learn on a mine site or in a medical practice makes the next client safer too.

Get help your way

Six ways to reach us. Pick whichever suits you.

Helpdesk hours are Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm AEST. On Advantage and above, emergencies get a response within 1 hour and outages within 2, with 24/7 best-effort escalation.

Questions

What people ask before they call.

What size businesses do you typically work with?

Our core market is Australian businesses with 5 to 200 staff. We work across professional services, trades, retail, healthcare, and other sectors. Our pricing and service model is designed specifically for this range, not scaled down from enterprise or scaled up from consumer.

How is managed IT different from calling an IT person when something breaks?

Break-fix IT means you only engage a provider when something has already failed. Managed IT means a team is proactively monitoring your environment, applying patches, managing backups, and resolving issues before they affect your staff. The business model is also different: managed IT is fixed-fee, so our incentive is to prevent problems, not wait for them.

Do we have to sign a long-term contract?

Managed services run for an initial 3 months, then month to month with no lock-in. Either side can end it with 60 days' written notice. Anything on a fixed vendor commitment, such as Microsoft annual pricing for 12 months, runs to the end of that commitment. We do not believe in locking clients in. We earn your business through performance.

What does managed IT for a small business typically cost?

Our pricing is per-device or per-user depending on the service tier. For a typical 20-person business, managed IT including helpdesk, security monitoring, patching, and backup runs between $2,500 and $5,000 per month. We provide a fixed-scope proposal after an initial assessment so you have no surprises.

Can you take over from our current IT provider?

Yes. Transitions between IT providers are something we handle regularly. We conduct a full environment audit, document everything, and transition on a date that works for your business. The goal is that your staff notice nothing except that things start working better.

Do you support businesses outside Brisbane?

Our helpdesk and remote monitoring services cover all of Australia. We have on-site capability in Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne, and we work with trusted partners in other cities for physical work that requires a local presence.

What SMB cybersecurity solutions do you offer in Australia?

MFA and conditional access on Microsoft 365, endpoint detection and response on every device, email filtering with DMARC enforcement, patching, immutable backup and staff awareness training. The same controls are packaged into our managed plans rather than sold as separate products, and we hold SMB1001 Gold ourselves so the evidence is ready for insurers and tenders.

Which SMB IT plans are available and how do they differ?

Four plans: Real Bytes Flex is pay as you go for small teams, Advantage adds a monthly support allowance, Ultimate covers unlimited support, and Real Bytes One bundles support with the full security and Microsoft 365 stack. All are priced per user per month. The pricing page compares inclusions side by side.

What compliance does an Australian SMB actually need?

Start with SMB1001, the certification built for businesses up to 500 staff and increasingly required by government and enterprise buyers. Align your controls to the Essential Eight, which insurers and tender panels measure against. If you handle health, financial or AML data, the Privacy Act applies regardless of turnover. We map your obligations first and only certify to the tier you need.

Do you provide SMB IT support in Melbourne and Sydney?

Yes. The helpdesk, monitoring and security stack are delivered remotely to every state from Brisbane, in the same time zone as the east coast. We have on-site capability in Melbourne and Sydney for hardware and cabling, and our Melbourne field engineer covers local call-outs.

Next step

Ready to get your IT working properly?

We will assess your current setup and give you an honest picture of where the gaps are, what it will cost to fix them, and what ongoing managed IT looks like for your business.

Get a free IT assessment 07 3114 2808