An IT consultant is engaged to assess a problem and tell you what to do about it - with costs, sequence and trade-offs attached - rather than to run your systems day to day.
You hire one when the cost of getting a decision wrong is bigger than the cost of asking someone who has made that decision before.
The word gets used loosely enough to be almost meaningless. It covers a one-person independent adviser, a big-four engagement team, and a hardware reseller with "consulting" on the letterhead. What is consistent underneath is the deliverable: a recommendation you can act on, not an ongoing service.
Consultant, managed provider, or internal hire?
Businesses regularly buy the wrong one of these three and conclude that IT is a waste of money.
| IT consultant | Managed service provider | Internal hire | |
|---|---|---|---|
| You are buying | A decision | Systems that keep working | Capacity and availability |
| Engagement | Defined scope, then finishes | Ongoing, recurring fee | Permanent |
| Accountable for | The recommendation being right | Uptime, response, security posture | Everything, eventually |
| Breadth of exposure | High - many businesses | High | Limited to your environment |
| Knows your business deeply | Not at first | Over time | Yes |
| Best for | Decisions, audits, disputes, projects | Day-to-day operations | ~40+ staff, or complex in-house systems |
The three are not mutually exclusive and the boundaries blur at the small end - a solo provider frequently does all three roles for a ten-person business. What matters is knowing which one you are buying at any given moment, because the fee models and the accountability are different.
If what you actually want is ongoing senior oversight rather than a one-off answer, that is a virtual CIO engagement, which sits between consulting and a hire.
When to engage one
- Something is reaching end of life. A server, an operating system, a line-of-business application. These decisions lock in cost for years.
- You are moving to the cloud. The expensive mistakes are made at the planning stage - see cloud consulting.
- A client sent a security questionnaire. If nobody in the business can answer it in writing, that is the trigger.
- Costs have drifted. Subscriptions accumulate quietly. An audit almost always pays for itself.
- You are unhappy with your current provider. An independent read tells you whether the problem is the provider, the budget, or expectations that were never agreed.
- You are moving office. Cabling, internet lead times and phone porting have to be planned months out.
What good advice looks like
A useful engagement produces something you could hand to an accountant: the current state, the options, what each costs to buy and to run, what you are risking with each, and a recommendation with a sequence. It should include at least one thing you should stop doing, and at least one recommendation to leave something alone.
Ask how they get paid
The single most useful question is: "do you earn margin, commission or rebates on anything you are recommending, and will licences be in my name or yours?"
Plenty of good providers do resell. The problem is not margin, it is undisclosed margin - you cannot weigh a recommendation without knowing the incentive behind it. Anyone who gets evasive here has answered the question.
For the record: we charge for time, take no vendor margin, and your licences stay on your card.
What it costs
Independent consulting in Australia is normally hourly or fixed-scope. Ours is $180/hr ex GST, one-hour minimum, then 30-minute increments, with no call-out fee in metro Perth. Larger pieces are quoted as fixed scope before starting, so the cost is known.
Against that, weigh what the decision is worth. A wrongly specified server, a migration that has to be redone, or a year of paying for licences nobody uses will each cost multiples of a day of advice. Our pricing page sets out the full rate structure.
Choosing one in Perth
Look for someone who has worked with businesses your size rather than the size you aspire to be - the constraints are completely different. Ask for a reference from a business that did not proceed with their recommendation, which tells you more than a happy customer will. And prefer someone local enough to stand in your office, because a surprising number of IT problems are physical.
IT Consulting Questions, Answered
What businesses ask before engaging someone.
What is an IT consultant?
An IT consultant is engaged to assess a technology problem and recommend what to do about it, rather than to run your systems day to day. The output is a decision and a plan - what to buy, what to change, what to stop doing - usually with costs and a sequence attached. Some consultants also implement what they recommend; the advisory work is the distinct part.
What is the difference between an IT consultant and a managed service provider?
A managed service provider runs your IT continuously for a recurring fee - monitoring, patching, helpdesk, security. An IT consultant is engaged for a defined question or project and finishes. The practical difference is accountability: an MSP is accountable for systems working, a consultant is accountable for the recommendation being right. Many businesses use both, and small businesses often buy them from the same provider.
When should a small business hire an IT consultant?
When the cost of getting a decision wrong is larger than the cost of advice. The common triggers are a system or server reaching end of life, a cloud migration, an office move, failing or fearing a client security questionnaire, IT spend that has grown without anyone owning it, or a dispute with an existing provider where you need an independent read.
How much does an IT consultant cost in Australia?
Independent IT consulting is usually charged hourly or as a fixed-scope assessment. Support Perth charges $180/hr ex GST with a one-hour minimum, then 30-minute increments, and no call-out fee in metro Perth. Fixed-scope assessments are quoted up front so you know the cost before the work starts.
How do I know if an IT consultant is independent?
Ask directly whether they earn margin, commission or rebates on anything they recommend, and whether licences are bought in your name or theirs. Neither answer is automatically disqualifying, but you cannot judge a recommendation without knowing how the person making it gets paid. A consultant who is genuinely independent will answer plainly.
Related
Where to go next, depending on what prompted the question.
Need an independent read on a decision?
Describe what you are weighing up. We will tell you what we would do and what it would cost - including when the honest answer is to leave it alone.
Support Perth IT Pty Ltd · Perth, Western Australia · $180/hr ex GST, one-hour minimum, then 30-minute increments · No call-out fee in metro Perth.