bcom ICT publishes free, plain-English IT guides for Australian businesses: how to choose an IT provider, what IT support costs, managed IT versus pay-as-you-go, comparisons of Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, cloud and PBX phone systems, NAS and cloud backup, and UniFi and Aruba WiFi, plus checklists for office moves, business NBN and computer replacement. Call 07 3041 8993.
Been hacked, or think you might have been?
Disconnect the affected machines from the network, but don’t switch them off, and don’t delete anything. Shutting down destroys evidence that helps work out what happened. Then follow the steps in order.
What to do in the first hourBefore you sign with anyone
Three guides that make a quote easier to judge, and a provider easier to question.
How to choose an IT provider
Eight questions worth asking any managed IT provider before you sign, including us. What a good answer sounds like, and which answers should end the conversation.
Read the guideWhat IT support actually costs
Hourly rates, call-out fees and how managed IT gets priced on the Gold Coast, with the numbers a quote should contain and the ones it usually leaves out.
Read the guideManaged IT or pay-as-you-go?
What each model costs across a year rather than a month, whose incentives each one rewards, and which businesses are genuinely better off paying by the job.
Read the guideHonest comparisons
Each one written by someone who installs both options, and each willing to conclude that the cheaper one, or the one you already have, is the right call.
Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace?
Where each genuinely wins for a small Australian business, and why the answer usually comes down to the software you already run rather than email.
Read the comparisonCloud phone system, or keep the PBX?
When a working PBX is worth keeping, when it is costing you more than it looks, and what a cloud system changes on the day you move.
Read the comparisonNAS or cloud backup?
What a box in the office protects you from, what it does not, and why most businesses that can afford either should be running both.
Read the comparisonUniFi or Aruba Instant On?
Business WiFi compared by someone who installs both: where each suits, what each costs to run, and which one to pick when nobody on staff wants to manage it.
Read the comparisonFor the change you can see coming
Moves, connections and hardware, where the cost of getting it wrong arrives months after the decision.
Office move IT checklist
Everything that has to happen before moving day, in order and by lead time. Carrier orders are the item that sinks most moves, and they need starting weeks earlier than people expect.
Read the guideBusiness NBN, explained plainly
Connection types, business-grade versus residential plans, and what to check before you sign a contract that will outlast the lease.
Read the guideWhen is a business computer past it?
How to judge replacement on what a machine costs you while it still works, rather than waiting for the day it stops.
Read the guideEvery guide carries its own review date, and prices and figures are checked against their sources before that date is bumped. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
Questions Gold Coast businesses ask us
Are the bcom ICT guides written to sell you something?
They are written to be useful whether or not you hire us. The provider guide tells you to ask every question in it of bcom ICT as well, and several of the comparisons conclude that the cheaper option or the one you already have is the right call. A guide that only ever arrived at our services would not be worth reading.
Where should a business start when choosing an IT provider?
Start with how to choose an IT provider, which sets out the questions that separate a good provider from a confident one. Then read what IT support costs, so a quote can be judged against realistic numbers, and managed IT versus pay-as-you-go to decide which model you are buying before comparing anyone's price.
Is advice on which technology to choose free?
The guides are free to read, and so is the first conversation with bcom ICT and the systems review that usually follows it. You get a plain-English view of what suits your business, and you keep it whether or not you engage us. Call 07 3041 8993.
Do the guides apply outside the Gold Coast?
Almost all of it does. The comparisons, the provider questions and the planning checklists apply to any Australian business. The Gold Coast detail is mostly in the costs guide, where on-site rates reflect attending locally, and in the NBN guide where local connection types come up.
Related
Rather just ask?
Guides only go so far. Tell us what you are weighing up and we will give you a straight answer, including when the answer is that you don’t need us.