IT strategy & consulting in Remuera
Most growing businesses need IT leadership long before they need a full-time IT manager. We act as your virtual IT manager: setting a budget, planning the next three years, dealing with vendors and giving you straight answers when an insurer, auditor or client asks hard questions.
Onsite technicians cover Remuera. Most problems are fixed remotely first; when a job needs hands, a technician comes to you.
IT strategy & consulting for Remuera businesses
Remuera Road's village centres host financial advisers, lawyers, real estate agencies, dental and medical rooms and boutique retail, with a strong base of owner-run professional practices. Many firms have long-standing clients and small, stable teams.
Practices that have been in place a while often carry ageing equipment: an old server in a cupboard, a backup drive nobody checks and email set up years ago by a family member. Client confidentiality is central to these businesses, so modernising usually means moving files to secure cloud storage, adding multi-factor sign-in and replacing the backup with one that is monitored.
A virtual IT manager fills that gap without adding a salary. We meet with you regularly, learn how the business works and where it is heading, and turn that into a practical plan: what to replace and when, which systems to keep, where security needs strengthening and what all of it will cost. The plan is written in plain English, not a slide deck full of jargon, and it is revisited as things change.
Remuera offices are visited by our Auckland technicians for upgrades, migrations and faults, and staff get remote help for everyday issues. Bigger changes are planned and quoted in writing first.
What's included
Vendor management
We deal with internet, phone and software suppliers for you, chase faults and review renewals before they roll over.
Current state review
A written assessment of your systems, security, licences and contracts, with the risks ranked and explained in business terms.
Three-year roadmap
What to replace, upgrade or retire over the next three years, in order, with the reasons and the expected cost of each step.
Yearly IT budget
A budget for hardware, software, services and projects, so IT spending is planned before the financial year rather than discovered during it.
Insurance and security questionnaires
Accurate answers to cyber insurance, client and tender questionnaires, with a list of anything to fix before you submit.
Software selection
Help choosing new business systems, from requirements and demos to checking integration, data export and contract terms.
Is it right for your Remuera office?
A virtual IT manager suits businesses that:
- Are growing and making bigger IT decisions than before
- Have IT spending that varies wildly from year to year
- Are choosing a new core business system
- Face insurance, client or tender questions about security
- Want someone to manage vendors and contracts on their behalf
- Have a director spending hours each week on IT decisions
How getting started works
- Free IT health check. We look at your devices, accounts, backups and network and tell you what we find, in plain English.
- Clear proposal. A written monthly price per user and a list of any fixes, with nothing hidden.
- Handover. We collect admin access and documentation from your current provider and keep your team working.
- Day-one fixes. Security gaps, failed backups and urgent risks are dealt with first.
IT strategy & consulting in Remuera: questions
We still have an old server in the office. Do we need to replace it?
Not necessarily with another server. Many small practices are better served by moving files and email to Microsoft 365 and retiring the server. We look at what it actually runs, then recommend and quote the simplest option.
How do we know our backups would actually work?
Only a test restore proves it. As part of managed IT we monitor backups and regularly restore sample files to check they come back intact, and we tell you if anything fails.
Will you push us towards particular products?
We recommend what suits your business and explain why. Where we supply hardware or software, the price is quoted separately so you can compare it with buying elsewhere.
Is this the same as managed IT?
No. Managed IT keeps things running day to day. Strategy and consulting is about planning and decisions. The Complete plan includes a yearly budget and replacement plan; deeper consulting can be added on any plan or bought on its own.
Do we need a managed IT plan to use this?
No. Some businesses have their own IT person or another arrangement for daily support and use us only for strategy. We are happy to work that way.
How is consulting charged?
Small pieces of advice are billed at our hourly rate of $109 plus GST. A full review and roadmap, or an ongoing virtual IT manager arrangement, is quoted in writing first with a fixed scope.
More IT services in Remuera
- Managed IT
- IT support
- Cyber security
- Microsoft 365
- Networks & Wi-Fi
- Internet & phones
- Backup & disaster recovery
- Cloud & servers
- Email security & deliverability
- CCTV & access control
- Printers, copiers & scanning
- Laptops, PCs & devices
- Office moves & fit-outs
- Co-managed IT
- Security awareness training