Question 1

How much does managed IT support cost per user in Australia?

Accepted Answer

Most Australian managed IT providers charge between $100 and $250 per user per month for a full managed service. CX365 support starts at $125 per user per month ex GST for business hours cover, with cyber security, connectivity and site costs on top. Use the calculator on this page to get a ballpark for your team size, or book a clarity call for an exact figure.

Question 2

What does CX365 cost?

Accepted Answer

It depends on four things: how many people you have, what support hours you want, what cyber security maturity level you need, and whether you take internet and phones from us. Support is $125 per user per month for 9 to 5 cover, $150 for extended hours, or $200 for 24/7. Cyber is priced separately by tier. Sites are $200 each. Servers are $300 each. Internet is $20 per user and phones are $30 per user. All prices are ex GST.

Question 3

How do the support tiers and the cyber tiers fit together?

Accepted Answer

They are two separate choices and they move independently. You pick a cyber security maturity level, which is Ignite, Secure or Fortress. You separately pick how many hours a day you want the phone answered, which is 9 to 5, extended, or 24/7. A business on Ignite can have 24/7 support. A business on Fortress can run 9 to 5. Most providers bundle these together so you have to buy a bigger cyber package to get longer hours. We do not, because your security posture and your support hours answer two completely different questions about your business.

Question 4

Why do you publish your pricing when most IT providers don't?

Accepted Answer

Because you should be able to work out roughly what you will pay before you sit through a sales call. Hidden pricing is usually hiding something. We would rather you self-select out on this page than waste an hour of your time and ours.

Question 5

Is there a minimum number of users?

Accepted Answer

CX365 is built for teams of 10 and up. Under 10 people, most businesses either manage IT themselves or use someone ad hoc, and a full managed service is hard to justify. We have a separate product called CX365 Core for smaller businesses.

Question 6

What if we have fewer than 10 users?

Accepted Answer

Look at CX365 Core. It is an infrastructure bundle for micro businesses, covering internet, phones, endpoint protection, patching, Microsoft 365 and a website. It does not include a managed helpdesk or the full cyber programme. Once you pass 10 people you move up to CX365.

Question 7

Are your prices ex GST?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every price on this page is ex GST.

Question 8

Is it cheaper if we pay annually?

Accepted Answer

Payment frequency does not change the price. Contract length does. A three-year term locks your rate for three years, so you are protected from any increase we make in that time. Given we review rates periodically, that is worth more than it looks on day one.

Question 9

Do you discount for larger teams?

Accepted Answer

No. Our published rate is the same whether you have 15 people or 150. Larger businesses need more resource per head, not less, because they generate more tickets, more devices, more sites and more compliance obligations. What does change as you grow is what you get for the rate. Onsite visits are included from 30 users and step up to fortnightly at 60, weekly at 90, twice weekly with a named engineer at 120, and three days a week at 150 and above. That is the volume benefit, and it is worth considerably more than a few dollars off a line item.

Question 10

Can we negotiate on price?

Accepted Answer

No, and we would rather explain why than just say no. We publish our pricing, which means everyone pays the same and nobody is rewarded for pushing hardest. A provider who drops twenty percent when challenged was either overcharging before, or is about to reduce what they deliver to make the numbers work. What is genuinely flexible is scope. You choose which services you take and which cyber maturity level you need. The rate for each of those is fixed.

Question 11

What is the CX365 Blueprint?

Accepted Answer

The CX365 Blueprint is how we work out what your business actually needs before anyone talks about a total. On the clarity call we go through your headcount, your sites, your software, your obligations and where things currently hurt, then calculate the right support capacity, cyber maturity level, onsite cadence and connectivity for a business your size. We build the plan live on screen with you and you see every number as it is built. Most IT quotes start with your budget and shrink the service to fit. This does the opposite.

Question 12

Are there setup or onboarding fees?

Accepted Answer

No. Onboarding is included when you sign up.

Question 13

What is included in the monthly fee?

Accepted Answer

Helpdesk support for your people, patching and updates across every device, security monitoring, lifecycle management so hardware gets replaced before it fails, Intune policy work, cyber policy and documentation, and a technology roadmap with regular reviews. Onsite visits are included too, once you reach the headcount that unlocks them.

Question 14

What is not included?

Accepted Answer

Ad-hoc project work like an office fitout or a major migration, hardware purchases outside the standard stack, Microsoft licence add-ons like Copilot, Project and Visio, and marketing services. Those are quoted separately.

Question 15

Why is there no hourly rate for support?

Accepted Answer

Because hourly rates punish you for asking for help. If every call costs money, your staff stop calling and small problems become big ones. The support fee funds a real allocation of helpdesk time, so there is no unbilled labour and no surprise invoice at the end of the month.

Question 16

What is the difference between Ignite, Secure and Fortress?

Accepted Answer

Cyber security maturity, and nothing else. Ignite delivers Essential Eight Maturity Level 1. Secure delivers Maturity Level 2. Fortress delivers Maturity Level 3 with additional monitoring and advisory. That is the only difference between them. Support hours, onsite frequency and everything else are chosen separately, so the tier you sit on reflects your security obligations rather than your budget for a helpdesk.

Question 17

Can we start on Ignite and move up later?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Most clients start on Ignite. Moving up is a change to your cyber posture and your monthly rate, not a migration.

Question 18

Do we have to move up a cyber tier to get more support hours?

Accepted Answer

No, and this is one of the more useful things about how we are set up. Support hours are a separate choice from your cyber tier. If you need the phone answered until 7pm, you move up the support ladder, not the cyber one. You are never paying for Maturity Level 3 controls you do not need just to get someone answering at 6pm.

Question 19

Do you charge extra for onsite visits?

Accepted Answer

Not once you reach 30 users. From 30 people, onsite is included in the support fee and scheduled visits start. Below 30, onsite is charged at an hourly rate. Most providers bill every site visit on top of the monthly fee no matter how big you get. We stop doing that at 30 people, and after that the visits get more frequent as you grow rather than more expensive.

Question 20

When do we get scheduled onsite visits?

Accepted Answer

Onsite frequency is driven by how many people you have, not by which tier you are on:

30 users: monthly scheduled visit.
60 users: fortnightly.
90 users: weekly.
120 users: twice weekly, with a named engineer assigned to your account.
150+ users: three days a week, same named engineer.

Question 21

What if we are under 30 users and need someone onsite?

Accepted Answer

We send someone and it is charged at an hourly rate of $200 ex GST. There is a 2.5 hour minimum for a next business day visit and a 4 hour minimum for same day, so booking ahead costs you less. Under 30 people, onsite need is genuinely occasional, and bundling it into the monthly fee would mean every small business paying every month for something most of them use once or twice a year. At 30 users it becomes regular enough to schedule, so it goes into the fee and you stop seeing it on an invoice.

Question 22

Is there a minimum charge for an onsite visit?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A next business day visit has a 2.5 hour minimum. A same day visit has a 4 hour minimum. Same day means pulling an engineer off other work at short notice, which is why it carries the higher minimum. If you can wait until tomorrow, it costs you less.

Question 23

When does onsite stop being charged separately?

Accepted Answer

At 30 users. That is the point where a monthly scheduled visit is included in your support fee at no extra cost. From there it steps up as you grow: fortnightly at 60, weekly at 90, twice weekly with a named engineer at 120, and three days a week at 150 and above.

Question 24

Do you cover regional and interstate offices?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Onsite is delivered Australia-wide through our field services network, so a Melbourne head office and a regional branch get the same service.

Question 25

What does a named engineer mean at 120 users and above?

Accepted Answer

It means the same person every visit. At 120 users you get two onsite days a week, and at 150 and above it is three days a week, with a named engineer assigned to your account rather than whoever is available that day. The frequency matters, but the continuity matters more. They know your floor plan, your practice software, which partner never reboots, and what went wrong last time. You stop explaining your environment from scratch every visit.

Question 26

Do you offer after-hours support?

Accepted Answer

Yes. It is one of the three support levels rather than an add-on. Extended Support covers 8am to 7pm at $150 per user per month. 24/7 Support covers round the clock at $200 per user per month. Both are available on any cyber tier. Public holidays are charged at $280 ex GST per hour.

Question 27

Can we decline the cyber security component?

Accepted Answer

No. Cyber security is a mandatory minimum on every CX365 plan. We will not run a managed environment without it, because an unprotected client is a risk to their own business and to ours. You can choose how far above the minimum you go. You cannot choose to sit below it.

Question 28

What is the Essential Eight?

Accepted Answer

The Essential Eight is a set of eight baseline cyber security controls published by the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC). It covers things like application control, patching applications and operating systems, restricting administrative privileges, multi-factor authentication and regular backups. Each control is measured across four maturity levels, from Level 0 up to Level 3.

Question 29

What maturity level do we need?

Accepted Answer

Maturity Level 1 is the baseline for most small and medium businesses and covers the majority of common attacks. Level 2 suits firms holding sensitive client data or facing contractual security requirements, which describes most legal, accounting, financial and medical practices. Level 3 is for organisations facing targeted attacks or strict regulatory obligations.

Question 30

Are you accredited?

Accepted Answer

Yes. CX IT Services holds SMB1001:2026 Gold Certification and follows Level 2 of the Essential Eight framework across our service delivery.

Question 31

Do you certify us at a maturity level?

Accepted Answer

We implement and maintain the controls that align your environment to the maturity level of your tier, and we document it. Formal certification against a framework is a separate assessment carried out by an assessor.

Question 32

Will this satisfy our cyber insurance requirements?

Accepted Answer

It usually helps significantly, because insurers increasingly ask about multi-factor authentication, patching, backups and administrative access, which are exactly the controls the Essential Eight covers. Every policy asks different questions, so bring your insurer's questionnaire to the clarity call and we will go through it against what your tier delivers.

Question 33

What is SMB1001?

Accepted Answer

SMB1001 is an Australian cyber security standard designed specifically for small and medium businesses. It sets out a tiered, practical certification path, which suits firms that need to demonstrate security maturity to clients or insurers without the cost of a full ISO 27001 programme.

Question 34

Do we have to sign a long contract?

Accepted Answer

We offer month-to-month, 12-month and 3-year terms. Longer commitments attract a discount — a 3-year term locks your rate with no annual increase and no re-rate. Your seat count still moves month to month regardless of which term you choose. Book a clarity call to find out which option suits you best.

Question 35

Does a three-year term lock our headcount?

Accepted Answer

No. The term is the agreement, not the seat count. Your headcount moves every month regardless of what you have signed. Hire someone and they appear on the next invoice. Someone leaves and they come off it. This includes Microsoft licensing, because we run month to month with Microsoft rather than putting you on an annual commitment you cannot unwind.

Question 36

Does the price lock cover Microsoft licensing?

Accepted Answer

No. Microsoft sets licence prices and we pass them through close to cost, so we cannot lock something we do not control. Everything else is locked: support, cyber security, internet, phones, sites and servers.

Question 37

If we sign for three years and grow, do we still get the extra onsite support?

Accepted Answer

Yes, at your locked rate. If you sign at 25 users and grow past 30, your monthly onsite visit starts. Past 60 it becomes fortnightly, past 90 weekly. Growing into the agreement is the point of it.

Question 38

What happens if our staff numbers change?

Accepted Answer

Your bill changes with them. We run month to month on seat counts, so if someone leaves you stop paying for them the following month, and if you hire you add them. No minimum quantity locked in until a renewal date.

Question 39

Do you lock us into Microsoft annual commitments?

Accepted Answer

No, and this is deliberate. Microsoft annual commitments lock you to a minimum seat count for twelve months whether you use them or not. We run month to month so your licensing flexes with your actual headcount.

Question 40

What is your notice period?

Accepted Answer

30 days written notice. In practice it usually extends to around 60 days once you factor in offboarding your environment and onboarding your new provider. The handover process takes time to do properly, and rushing it creates gaps, so plan for the full 60 days.

Question 41

What happens to our data if we leave?

Accepted Answer

We pass over full documentation to your new IT provider as part of the offboarding process. Once offboarding is complete, we reset and delete all records from our systems. Backups are deleted 30 days after the termination date. Nothing is held after that point.

Question 42

Why is internet priced per user?

Accepted Answer

Because bandwidth requirements scale with headcount. A 40-person firm is not running on a 100/40 connection. They need symmetrical business fibre, which typically costs $500 to $800 a month in Australia. Pricing per user means your connection steps up as you grow, without a capital upgrade project every time you outgrow it.

Question 43

That sounds expensive. Isn't NBN cheaper?

Accepted Answer

A residential-grade NBN plan is cheaper, and it is not the same product. Business fibre gives you symmetrical upload, a service level agreement, and a connection built for thirty people on video calls at once. The router and firewall are included, supplied and managed by us. If you compare the total against buying a business-grade service, hardware and management separately, we are usually line ball or better.

Question 44

Can we keep our existing internet provider?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Internet is an add-on, not a requirement. Most clients move it across eventually because a single point of contact for the network is easier when something breaks, but you are not forced to.

Question 45

Why are phones priced per user if not everyone makes calls?

Accepted Answer

Because a phone system is sized on concurrent calls, not handsets. As your headcount grows, so does the number of calls happening at once, and so does the capacity you need behind the system. Pricing per user means that capacity grows automatically and nobody has to re-quote you when you hire.

Question 46

Are calls included?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Unlimited channels and calls are included in the $30 per user per month.

Question 47

Can we keep our existing phone numbers?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Numbers port across as part of the move.

Question 48

What does the location fee cover?

Accepted Answer

$200 per site per month covers the network at that site: switching, Wi-Fi access points, printer management and the ongoing management of all of it. We supply the hardware as part of the fee.

Question 49

Do we pay the location fee for every office?

Accepted Answer

Yes, $200 per site. It applies to every location, including small branches. A five-person branch office still needs a full connection and a full set of network gear, which costs the same as it does at a bigger site. The flat site fee is what makes small sites viable rather than something we have to quote around.

Question 50

Do we have to buy new network hardware?

Accepted Answer

No, and that is the point of the location fee. When you come on board we replace your existing network gear with our standard stack. There is an initial hardware payment upfront to cover the equipment, and from there the monthly site fee covers all ongoing management, monitoring, security and future replacements or upgrades when gear reaches end of life. You are not writing a second cheque down the road.

Question 51

What happens when the hardware fails or gets old?

Accepted Answer

We replace it, for as long as you are a client. A switch dies, we replace it. An access point reaches end of life, we replace it. There is no second capital bill and no depreciation schedule for equipment you are already paying us to manage. Most providers sell you a stack, manage it for six years, then quote you to buy the whole lot again. You never buy the same hardware twice with us.

Question 52

Exactly which hardware is replaced?

Accepted Answer

Network switches, Wi-Fi access points, and cabling, for as long as that site is on a location fee. Your router and firewall are covered too, though those come with the internet service rather than the location fee.

Question 53

What is not covered by the hardware replacement?

Accepted Answer

Printers are not replaced. We manage them under the location fee, we do not buy you new ones. Replacement also excludes accidental damage, theft and misuse, so if someone drops an access point off a ladder or a site gets broken into, that is an insurance matter. Structural recabling during an office fitout is project work rather than a replacement.

Question 54

What if we have a server?

Accepted Answer

Onsite servers are $300 per server per month. That covers endpoint protection, maintenance and patching, and a file-based backup. Image-based backup for full server recovery is available as a higher option.

Question 55

Do we still need a server?

Accepted Answer

Often not. A lot of professional services firms are running a server out of habit rather than need, and the practice software they were keeping it for now runs in the cloud. We go through this on the clarity call, because taking a server out is usually the fastest saving available.

Question 56

Do you mark up Microsoft licensing?

Accepted Answer

Not heavily. Clients compare licence costs against other providers and they should be able to. We keep licensing close to market and take our margin in the services we deliver around it: the vCIO work, lifecycle management, cyber policy, Intune policy implementation and everything else that turns a licence into a working environment.

Question 57

Which Microsoft licences do we need?

Accepted Answer

We put every user with a device on Microsoft 365 Business Premium. It includes the full Office suite, advanced security features, Intune device management and Azure AD Premium, which are all things we need to run the environment properly. Email-only users should also be on Business Premium for the security benefits, though in some cases Business Basic can work. Best to discuss on a clarity call.

Question 58

Can we bring our own Microsoft licences?

Accepted Answer

You can, but it generally makes more sense to move them over to us. We implement automations and security processes across the tenant that depend on us being the licence administrator. Running split management between two parties introduces delays and gaps. If you have an existing annual commitment we will work around it until it expires.

Question 59

What about Copilot, Project and Visio?

Accepted Answer

Available as add-ons on any plan, priced on quote.

Question 60

We already have an IT provider. How hard is it to switch?

Accepted Answer

Easier than most people expect, and we do the heavy lifting. The usual sequence is a discovery of what you currently have, a transition plan, then a staged cutover so nothing goes dark. Onboarding is included when you sign up.

Question 61

How long does onboarding take?

Accepted Answer

Up to four weeks, depending on the size of your environment and how cooperative your incumbent IT provider is with the handover. We start with a Technology Discovery Session, which forms the basis of the onboarding plan. The details are worked out on the clarity call.

Question 62

Will our staff notice the change?

Accepted Answer

They will notice the phone gets answered faster. Beyond that, the goal of onboarding is that day-to-day work carries on while the environment gets rebuilt underneath it.

Question 63

You are more expensive than our current provider. Why?

Accepted Answer

Usually because our price includes things your current provider bills separately. Onsite visits, cyber security, patching, lifecycle management and roadmap work are all in the monthly fee. Add up twelve months of your current invoices, including every project and every site visit, and compare that against twelve months of ours. That is the only comparison that means anything.

Question 64

Can we buy just the cyber security and keep our current IT provider?

Accepted Answer

No. Cyber security is not a product you bolt onto someone else's environment. The Essential Eight controls sit inside patching, administrative privileges, application control and backups, which means whoever holds the keys to the environment has to own the security posture too. Splitting it creates a gap where each provider assumes the other has it covered.

	9 to 5 $125/user	Extended $150/user	24/7 $200/user
Ignite (ML1)	✓	✓	✓
Secure (ML2)	✓	✓	✓
Fortress (ML3)	✓	✓	✓

What Managed IT Costs with CX365

Cyber security is mandatory, not optional

Ignite

Secure

Fortress

Support hours and cyber security are two independent choices

Choose your support level

Any cyber tier works with any support level

What is included in the support fee

Onsite support that scales with you

Under 30 users

Cadence Meetings grow with you too

$300 per server per month

$200 per office location per month

You never buy the same hardware twice

Covered while the site is on a location fee

Not covered

$20 per user per month

$30 per user per month

Microsoft 365 licensing

Included: Microsoft 365 Business Premium

Optional licence add-ons

Optional extras

CX365 Growth

Build your estimate

Team

Infrastructure

Connectivity

CX365 Growth

Your estimate

We are confident in this model

The Proposal Review

See your real numbers on a clarity call

Frequently asked questions

Pricing basics

What you actually get

Onsite support

Cyber security

Contracts and commitment

Internet and phones

Sites, servers and hardware

Microsoft licensing

Switching to CX

Common objections

Other services

Still not sure?