Question 1

Is IT Support Perth the same company as Computer Mechanics?

Accepted Answer

Yes. IT Support Perth is the managed-IT services division of Computer Mechanics, a Perth IT company operating since 1997. The two names refer to the same business, team and Perth office — Computer Mechanics is the long-established parent brand, and "IT Support Perth" is how we present our managed IT, cloud and cybersecurity services.

Question 2

Who is IT Support Perth?

Accepted Answer

IT Support Perth is a Perth-based managed service provider (MSP) supporting around 250 local businesses with managed IT, cybersecurity, cloud and Microsoft 365 services. We have operated as Computer Mechanics since 1997, hold a 4.9-star rating, and are reachable on (08) 9325 1196.

Question 3

Are you a local Perth IT company?

Accepted Answer

Yes — we are a genuinely local Perth business with a Perth office and Perth-based technicians, serving businesses across the metro area since 1997. We are not a national call centre or an overseas helpdesk.

Question 4

How long has IT Support Perth been in business?

Accepted Answer

Since 1997 — more than 25 years supporting Perth businesses under the Computer Mechanics name, founded by Garry Bloom.

Question 5

What does IT Support Perth do?

Accepted Answer

We provide fully managed IT support, cybersecurity, cloud and Microsoft 365 management, email protection, backup and disaster recovery, firewalls and IT consulting for Perth small and medium businesses. We act as your outsourced IT department, or work alongside an existing in-house team.

Question 6

What is a managed service provider (MSP)?

Accepted Answer

An MSP proactively manages your IT for a predictable monthly fee — monitoring, securing, patching and supporting your systems — rather than only fixing things after they break. As a Perth MSP we keep your technology running so problems are prevented, not just repaired.

Question 7

Which industries do you specialise in?

Accepted Answer

We support businesses across Perth and have dedicated expertise in law firms, accounting firms and healthcare, along with mining and construction. These sectors have specific compliance and software needs that we handle day to day.

Question 8

Do you provide Microsoft 365 and cybersecurity support?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We manage and secure Microsoft 365 (Exchange, SharePoint, Teams and OneDrive) and provide layered cybersecurity aligned to the ASD Essential Eight — including MFA, Conditional Access, email protection and managed backups.

Question 9

Do you support small businesses?

Accepted Answer

Yes — most of our ~250 clients are Perth SMBs from roughly 10 to 100 staff. Our managed IT plans scale to small teams without enterprise overheads.

Question 10

Do you offer 24/7 IT support?

Accepted Answer

We monitor business-critical systems around the clock, while our standard support hours are 9:00am to 5:30pm AWST on business days. Critical issues are prioritised and escalated, and after-hours or emergency support is available by arrangement for businesses that need cover outside normal hours.

Question 11

Do you provide backup and disaster recovery?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We set up and manage automated, regularly tested backups — including immutable cloud backups that ransomware cannot encrypt — plus a documented disaster-recovery plan, so your data and systems can be restored quickly after an outage, hardware failure or cyber-attack.

Question 12

Can IT Support Perth be our outsourced IT department?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We act as a fully outsourced IT department for Perth businesses with no in-house IT — covering helpdesk, security, cloud and IT strategy. We also offer co-managed IT, working alongside an existing internal IT person or team where you already have one.

Question 13

Do you manage Microsoft Intune and company devices?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We manage endpoints with Microsoft Intune — enforcing security policies, app deployment, updates and remote wipe across laptops, desktops and mobiles — so every company device stays compliant and protected whether staff work in the office or remotely.

Question 14

How much does managed IT support cost in Perth?

Accepted Answer

Most Perth SMBs pay a predictable per-user or per-device monthly fee that scales with team size. The price depends on your user count, devices and the security level you need — see our Perth MSP pricing guide for ranges, and we will quote after a free assessment.

Question 15

How fast do you respond to IT issues?

Accepted Answer

Our standard service level is a response within 4 business hours, with critical issues prioritised and escalated ahead of routine requests. A response target is not the same as a resolution time — some IT problems are complex and take longer to fix — but most day-to-day issues are resolved remotely within the same business day.

Question 16

What is the difference between managed IT and break-fix?

Accepted Answer

Break-fix means you pay each time something breaks, with no prevention; managed IT is a fixed monthly service that proactively prevents problems, secures your systems and includes ongoing support. Managed IT is more predictable and almost always cheaper over time — see our managed IT vs break-fix guide.

Question 17

How do I switch to IT Support Perth from another provider?

Accepted Answer

We handle the transition for you: a free assessment, a documented onboarding plan and a smooth handover from your current provider. Most switches are completed with no downtime or disruption to your team.

Question 18

What areas of Perth do you cover?

Accepted Answer

We support businesses across the Perth metro area — from the CBD to Fremantle, Joondalup, Rockingham, Midland and the northern and southern suburbs. See our locations pages for suburb-specific information.

Question 19

Do you provide IT support in the Perth CBD?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We support businesses throughout the Perth CBD and the wider metro area, with fast remote support and on-site visits when needed. See our Perth CBD IT support page for local details.

Question 20

How do I get started with IT Support Perth?

Accepted Answer

Book a free 30-minute IT assessment — no obligation. Call (08) 9325 1196 or use our contact page, and we will review where your technology stands and where it can be improved.

Question 21

Do I have to sign a long-term lock-in contract?

Accepted Answer

No long-term lock-in is required. Managed IT clients are invoiced monthly, and you can give one month’s notice to stop the service. We would rather keep your business by doing good work than by trapping you in a multi-year contract.

Question 22

How does billing work for managed IT clients?

Accepted Answer

Managed IT clients are invoiced monthly for their agreed plan, so the cost is predictable and you are not billed separately for each support call or ticket within scope. The monthly fee covers your ongoing managed support, monitoring and security.

Question 23

Can I use IT Support Perth on an ad-hoc or pay-as-you-go basis?

Accepted Answer

Yes. If you do not want a monthly managed plan, you can buy a block of prepaid support hours up front. We then draw down from that balance as we do the work, rather than invoicing you for each individual job, so you always know what you have left.

Question 24

How do prepaid support hours work?

Accepted Answer

You purchase a block of hours in advance, and we deduct time from that balance as we complete work for you, until the hours are consumed. There is no per-job invoicing while you still have prepaid hours available, which keeps small ad-hoc jobs simple and admin-light.

Question 25

How much notice do I need to give to cancel?

Accepted Answer

One month’s notice ends a managed IT agreement. Note that any unused prepaid support hours are not refunded, so it is worth using your remaining balance before you go.

Question 26

Are there exit or offboarding fees if we leave?

Accepted Answer

For a reasonable, straightforward offboarding there are no exit fees — we want customers to leave happy even if they are moving on. If you ask us to do work that is out of scope, such as providing extensive access handovers or migration tasks, we will quote and bill for that work fairly, but a normal handover is not charged.

Question 27

If we leave, do we keep our data and admin access?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Your data and accounts are yours. We aim for a clean, professional handover to you or your new provider so you keep your data and administrative access. Any out-of-scope work we are specifically asked to do during the transition is quoted separately, but a reasonable offboarding is handled cooperatively.

Question 28

What is your response-time SLA?

Accepted Answer

For regular managed clients our standard service level is a response within 4 business hours. Critical and business-impacting issues are prioritised and escalated ahead of routine requests.

Question 29

Does a 4-hour SLA mean my issue is resolved in 4 hours?

Accepted Answer

No — the 4 business hours is a response target, not a guaranteed resolution time. We aim to be on your issue quickly, but IT problems vary: some are resolved in minutes, while others are genuinely complex and time-consuming to fix properly. Most everyday issues are resolved remotely within the same business day.

Question 30

What are your standard support hours?

Accepted Answer

Our standard support hours are 9:00am to 5:30pm AWST on normal business days. Business-critical systems are monitored around the clock, and after-hours support can be arranged for businesses that need cover outside these hours.

Question 31

Do you provide after-hours or emergency support?

Accepted Answer

Our standard hours are 9:00am to 5:30pm on business days, and after-hours or emergency support is available by arrangement. We monitor critical systems 24/7 so serious issues can be flagged and escalated, and we will agree out-of-hours cover with you based on how critical your systems are.

Question 32

How often do you test our backups?

Accepted Answer

Backup testing frequency is set to your preferences, but our recommendation is to test backups at least once a month. Regular testing is what confirms your backups can actually be restored — an untested backup is only a hope, not a recovery plan.

Question 33

Do you charge per user or per device?

Accepted Answer

We generally charge per user, which keeps pricing simple and predictable as your team grows. Where a business has noticeably more devices than employees, we add a small per-device component to cover the extra administration and management those devices require.

Question 34

What if we have more devices than employees?

Accepted Answer

Our base pricing is per user, but if you run more devices than staff — for example shared workstations, kiosks or multiple machines per person — we apply an add-on to cover the additional admin and management overhead of those extra devices. We will make this clear in your quote.

Question 35

What is included in a managed IT plan?

Accepted Answer

A managed IT plan typically includes proactive monitoring, helpdesk support, security patching, Microsoft 365 management, endpoint security, managed backups and ongoing advice — all for a predictable monthly fee. The exact inclusions depend on the tier you choose and the security level your business needs.

Question 36

Do you offer different service tiers?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We offer different levels of managed IT so you can match the plan to your needs and budget. Core support covers day-to-day IT and security, while higher tiers add services such as co-managed IT, security-awareness training and deeper strategy work. We will recommend the right tier after a free assessment.

Question 37

Can you set up and support our VoIP phone system?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We support VoIP and hosted phone systems for Perth businesses, including 3CX, Breeze Connect and Vocus. We can help you choose, set up and support a modern phone system that works alongside the rest of your IT and supports remote and hybrid staff.

Question 38

Can you host our servers in the cloud?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We can provision and manage cloud servers on Microsoft Azure or AWS sized to your needs, whether you want to move off ageing on-premises hardware or run new workloads in the cloud. We design the environment around your performance, security and budget requirements.

Question 39

Can you move our on-premises server to the cloud?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We help Perth businesses migrate on-premises servers to Azure or AWS, planning the move to minimise downtime and keep your data secure. We will assess whether a full cloud, hybrid or on-premises setup is the best fit before recommending an approach.

Question 40

Do you offer co-managed IT alongside our internal team?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We can work as co-managed IT, supporting and extending your existing in-house IT person or team rather than replacing them — covering areas such as security, after-hours cover, projects or specialist skills. Co-managed support is offered as part of our higher service tiers.

Question 41

Do you provide IT strategy and vCIO services?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Beyond day-to-day support we offer IT strategy and virtual CIO (vCIO) guidance — regular reviews of your technology, security posture, budgeting and roadmap so your IT investment lines up with where your business is heading. This strategic planning is part of our higher service tiers.

Question 42

Do you run phishing simulations and security-awareness training?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We can run simulated phishing campaigns and ongoing security-awareness training so your staff learn to recognise and report scams — people are the most common way attackers get in. This is available as part of our higher service tiers.

Question 43

Can you help us meet our cyber-insurance requirements?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Cyber-insurance policies increasingly require specific controls — such as multi-factor authentication, managed backups, endpoint protection and staff training — before they will cover you. We can implement and document these controls so you can answer your insurer’s questions accurately and qualify for cover.

Question 44

Can you help us implement the Essential Eight?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We help Perth businesses uplift against the ASD Essential Eight — application control, patching, macro settings, application hardening, restricting admin privileges, multi-factor authentication, regular backups and operating-system patching. We assess your current maturity and work through a practical plan to raise it.

Question 45

What happens if we suffer a ransomware attack or data breach?

Accepted Answer

We focus on preventing incidents with layered security, but if one occurs we help you respond and recover — isolating affected systems, restoring from tested, immutable backups that ransomware cannot encrypt, and getting you back to work. Strong backups and the Essential Eight controls are what make a fast, clean recovery possible.

IT Support Perth — Frequently Asked Questions

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