When Break-Fix is Too Thin and a Full IT Hire is Too Much
Outsourced IT for Melbourne Businesses with 30–100 Staff
The In-Between Where Most Melbourne SMEs Get Stuck
You’ve outgrown break-fix — calling someone every time something breaks costs more than you think and leaves your team waiting hours for help. But you’re not big enough to justify a full-time IT hire at $90–$150K, plus super, plus annual leave, plus the recruitment risk if they leave six months in.
Outsourced IT is the in-between. A full team behind your business — helpdesk, monitoring, security, vCIO — for less than the loaded cost of one mid-level IT employee. Predictable monthly fee, no recruitment risk, no single point of failure.
How Outsourced IT Actually Works
Three steps. Show you the cost picture honestly. Transition from your current arrangement without disruption. Manage proactively so you stop paying for fires.
01
Cost Analysis
Free side-by-side comparison: what your current IT actually costs (break-fix invoices + downtime + lost productivity) vs in-house hire (loaded salary + recruitment + sick days) vs outsourced. Honest numbers, your specific staff count, no obligation.
02
Transition
Three-to-six-week transition. Document everything currently in place, take over from your current provider or break-fix vendor, deploy monitoring and helpdesk access. We do the heavy lifting; your team experiences zero downtime.
03
Manage
Day-to-day management. 24/7 monitoring. Helpdesk for staff. Security uplift. Quarterly business reviews. vCIO strategy. Vendor management. One bill, one accountability point, one team that knows your business.
Eight Things Outsourced IT Does That In-House Often Misses
The honest comparison. The places where outsourced beats in-house for businesses in the 30–100 staff range.
1
24/7 Cover, Not 9-to-5
In-house IT goes home at 6pm. We monitor, alert and respond around the clock. Your overnight backup failure gets fixed before staff arrive in the morning.
2
Depth Across Every Stack
No single IT hire is expert in M365, networking, security, cloud, on-prem and end-user support. We have specialists in each — you tap the right one for each issue.
3
Cyber Security Specialists
A general IT hire isn’t a security expert. We have dedicated cyber capability — Essential Eight uplift, Conditional Access, EDR tuning, incident response.
4
vCIO Strategic Layer
Quarterly reviews tying technology to business goals. Roadmap, budget, vendor management. The strategic layer no in-house mid-level hire delivers.
5
Vendor Management
Microsoft, internet, telephony, line-of-business apps — we manage the vendor stack so you stop being the meat in the sandwich when something needs three companies to coordinate.
6
Holiday and Sick Cover
Your in-house IT person takes leave. They get sick. They have personal stuff. With us, there’s always cover — no single point of failure, no scrambling for backup.
7
Scales Without Drama
Headcount goes from 50 to 80? No new hire needed, no recruitment cycle, no on-boarding lag. We scale with you. If you scale back, the contract scales back too.
8
Predictable Monthly Cost
Flat fee. No surprise invoices, no “we billed extra hours this month”, no hardware mark-ups. Easier to budget than an in-house hire whose costs include super, leave, training and exit risk.
What It Looks Like at Your Staff Size
Indicative comparison by staff count. Real numbers depend on your specific environment, but these ratios hold true for most Melbourne SMEs.
30 Staff
30 Staff
In-house IT often costs ~$90K loaded. We deliver equivalent service for around half that, with broader expertise.
50 Staff
50 Staff
In-house IT becomes one mid-level person plus help desk software and tools. We replace that with a full team for similar total cost.
75 Staff
75 Staff
You may consider an in-house IT manager. Co-managed with us — one in-house plus our team behind them — usually delivers more capability for the same money.
100 Staff
100 Staff
Full co-managed model. One or two in-house staff handling user-facing work, our specialists covering security, network, M365 and strategy. Best of both worlds.
An Honest Cost Comparison
Most businesses underestimate the loaded cost of an in-house IT hire. The salary is the headline number; the real cost is salary + super + leave + training + tools + recruitment risk + cover during sick leave + the productivity loss when they leave and the role sits empty for three months.
We’ll do a free side-by-side comparison: what your current arrangement costs vs in-house vs outsourced. Honest numbers, your specific situation, no obligation.
Continuity Through Holidays, Sick Days and Resignations
What happens when your in-house IT person takes annual leave? Or gets sick? Or resigns and the role takes three months to backfill? With one person handling everything, your business is one absence away from chaos.
With us, there’s always cover. Thirteen specialists, documented environments, no single point of failure. Your IT keeps running regardless of any individual’s schedule.
Strategic vCIO Without the $300K Salary
An in-house IT manager can keep the lights on, but most aren’t setting strategic technology direction — that’s a CIO’s job, and CIOs cost $250–$350K loaded.
Our outsourced model includes vCIO quarterly reviews. Technology roadmap, budget planning, vendor strategy, security posture, M&A IT due diligence when needed. The strategic layer most SMEs can’t justify hiring full-time.
Why Mid-Market Melbourne SMEs Outsource
Cost Savings
Most clients save 20–40% vs equivalent in-house arrangements once loaded costs are counted properly. Predictable monthly fee makes budgeting easier.
No Recruitment Risk
No 8-week hire cycle, no two-month notice period, no risk of paying $30K to a recruiter for someone who leaves at six months.
24/7 Cover
Monitoring, alerting and after-hours response built in. Overnight failures get fixed before staff arrive.
Depth Across Stacks
M365, networking, security, cloud, end-user support — specialists in each. No more hoping your IT hire knows what they’re doing in unfamiliar areas.
Scales With You
Headcount up or down, the contract scales. No new hire to ramp up. No redundancy risk if you contract.
Predictable Monthly Cost
One flat fee. No surprise invoices, no “extra hours” charges, no hardware mark-ups, no consulting day rates buried in monthly bills.
Want a closer look at managed IT pricing?
See indicative monthly pricing for our service tiers, what’s included, what’s out of scope, and how it compares to in-house cost.
Get a Free Cost Comparison for Your Business
Call 1300 028 324 or fill out the form. We’ll do a free side-by-side cost comparison: your current arrangement vs in-house hire vs outsourced. Honest numbers, your specific staff count, no obligation.
Related Essential Eight Resources
Read our comprehensive Essential Eight guide for a detailed breakdown of all eight controls and how to implement them in your organisation.
Our IT audit service assesses your current maturity level across all eight strategies, and our Security Operations Centre monitors for the threats these controls help prevent.
TechAssist integrates Essential Eight compliance into our cyber security services and managed IT plans. For strategic guidance on your compliance journey, our Virtual CIO service builds a prioritised roadmap tailored to your business.
Talk to Us About Your IT Cost Picture
Contact TechAssist today for a no-obligation Essential Eight assessment. We’ll evaluate your current maturity level and build a practical roadmap to compliance.