Priority
How is urgency determined? Does the process consider the number of affected staff and the work that is blocked?
PCFIXIT Business IT Solutions · Gold Coast
How to compare managed IT providers
Compare what a provider takes responsibility for, how they prove the work is happening and how they handle problems. A monthly fee or a long list of tools does not answer those questions on its own.
Use the questions below when reviewing a proposal or assessing your current IT support. Ask each provider to respond against the same users, devices, services and support requirements.
Proactive or reactive?
What happens when nobody has logged a ticket?
Reactive support responds to a request or failure. Proactive management includes agreed work between incidents: monitoring, maintenance, review and follow-up. A managed service still needs to respond well when something goes wrong.
| Area | Question to ask | Useful evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Patching | Who follows up failed updates and unsupported software? | A report showing coverage, exceptions and actions. |
| Backups | Who investigates failed jobs and checks recovery? | Documented coverage and restore-test findings. |
| Security alerts | Who receives alerts and can authorise a response? | An escalation process with responsibilities. |
| Staff changes | How are accounts created and departing access removed? | A documented request and approval process. |
| Planning | How are recurring problems and ageing equipment reviewed? | A prioritised action list with owners. |
Define the scope
Compare like for like
Give each provider the same inventory and requirements. Otherwise, a cheaper proposal may simply cover less.
- Supported users, computers, locations and cloud services.
- Helpdesk coverage and the process for urgent requests.
- Remote versus onsite work, travel and attendance charges.
- Microsoft 365 licensing and administration responsibilities.
- Security services, monitoring and response boundaries.
- Backup coverage, retention, restore assistance and testing.
- Projects, migrations, hardware and other exclusions.
- Onboarding fees, contract terms, renewal and exit arrangements.
Support promises
Separate response from resolution
An acknowledgement, an engineer starting work and a completed repair are different milestones. Ask how each is defined and reported.
Coverage
Which hours and locations are covered? Is after-hours assistance included, optional or separately charged?
Escalation
What happens when a request needs specialist skills, a vendor response or replacement equipment?
Security and recovery
Ask what is covered and what remains your responsibility
A product name does not explain its configuration, monitoring or response process. Ask who handles exceptions and what your business must approve.
For backup, discuss the data that matters, acceptable downtime and how recovery is tested. For security, ask about administrative access, authentication, patching, email protection and incident escalation. See our cybersecurity overview and backup and recovery guide.
Evidence and accountability
Request examples you can evaluate
Ask for a sample service report, an onboarding outline and an explanation of how unresolved risks are tracked. References or case studies should describe comparable work without exposing another client’s confidential information.
A useful report helps you understand what is covered, what failed, what was done and which decisions remain. A page of green indicators without context may not answer those questions.
Transition and exit
Keep control of business-owned services
Clarify domain and cloud-account ownership, administrative access, documentation and how information will be returned at the end of the arrangement.
Identify subscriptions, equipment and tools that belong to the provider. Check how they will be replaced or removed and how existing contract dates affect the transition. Read our provider-switching guide.
Your questions
Frequently asked questions
Does a monthly fee mean the support is proactive?
No. Review the tasks, responsibilities and reporting included. A monthly fee can cover different service models.
Should we choose the cheapest managed IT quote?
Compare equivalent scope first, then consider service suitability, exclusions, reporting and accountability alongside the price.
What should we ask about cybersecurity?
Ask which systems are covered, how controls are maintained, who monitors alerts, who responds and which responsibilities remain with your business.
How does PCFIXIT approach managed IT?
PCFIXIT provides ProactivCare for agreed users and systems, with support, maintenance and selected security and backup services defined in the proposal and service agreement.
Related services and next steps
PCFIXIT is based at Ste 4, 25 Township Drive, Burleigh Heads QLD 4220. Office visits are by appointment. View our service areas.
Use this in your next meeting
A practical managed IT provider scorecard
For each area, record one of three outcomes: documented, unclear or excluded. Ask for the document or example that supports the answer. Compare the same users, devices and locations across proposals.
- Support: covered hours, request channels, priority definitions and escalation owner.
- Maintenance: update coverage, failed-update follow-up and unsupported systems.
- Microsoft 365: account administration, joiners and leavers, privileged access and licence responsibility.
- Security: covered systems, alert monitoring, response authority and exclusions.
- Recovery: protected data, retention, restore checks and recovery responsibilities.
- Commercial scope: onboarding, projects, onsite work, subscriptions and exit arrangements.
Who is responsible for Microsoft 365 security and backup?
Ask for named responsibilities in the proposal. Record who approves access, configures controls, follows up alerts, checks backup failures and authorises a restore. A licence or backup product name does not establish who performs those tasks.
Use our Microsoft 365 service overview, Microsoft 365 backup guide and cybersecurity overview to frame the discussion.
What should we bring to an initial discussion?
Bring an approximate user and device count, your locations, critical applications, current support concerns and known renewal dates. You do not need to send passwords or confidential client records to start a conversation.
Choose the model first
A support plan and an IT provider are two separate decisions
Decide which responsibilities your business wants to retain and which it wants a provider to take on. Then compare providers against that same scope. A prepaid block of hours and a managed service can have similar monthly spending but different responsibilities.
Read our comparison of ad hoc, prepaid and managed IT support for a side-by-side guide to funding, maintenance, security and reporting.
Ask each provider to complete the same written brief
Include user and device counts, locations, key applications, required coverage, business-critical data and known renewal dates. Ask for a separate list of initial remediation, recurring services and optional projects. Keep assumptions and exclusions alongside the quoted price.
If you decide to move, follow our handover acceptance checklist before closing out the existing arrangement.
Talk to PCFIXIT
Review your support requirements.
Bring your current concerns and the services you need covered. PCFIXIT can discuss a suitable scope and the next steps.