Short answer
Check the licence first — it support & services are not licensed in Australia, so check qualifications and public liability insurance instead. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 1,088 Australian it support & services in this directory, only 26.7% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 5.3% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.
IT Support & Services handle managed IT support, networks, cloud and email, cyber security, backups and telecommunications for businesses. This is what to check before you hand someone the keys to your systems, and what the evidence says about the category as a whole.
There is no IT support provider licence — so check something else
IT support is unlicensed. The exceptions are physical: cabling and anything on mains power needs a licensed cabler or electrician, and a provider should say so rather than do it. The real questions are about response times, who holds your administrator passwords, and whether your backups have ever been restored.
No register. Microsoft and other vendor partner directories confirm a provider's status if they claim it. The service agreement is the document that matters.
What 1,088 Australian it support & services actually publish
We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For it support & services:
| What we checked | IT Support & Services | All trades |
|---|---|---|
| Publish an ABN we could confirm | 26.7% | 21.5% |
| Listed phone matches their own website | 56.8% | 59.2% |
| Listed phone contradicts their own website | 5.3% | 7.7% |
| Website responded when we checked | 85.2% | 81% |
| Corroborated by two or more sources | 86.9% | 81.1% |
| Median number of Google reviews | 18 | 39 |
What goes wrong with it support & services
- Administrator access and domain credentials held only by the provider
- Backups that are taken but never tested with a restore
- Response times that are promised verbally and never written down
What to ask before the work starts
- What are the response and resolution times in the agreement?
- Who holds the admin credentials, and do I have my own?
- When did you last test-restore a client's backup?
A IT support provider who answers all three of those without hesitating is telling you something useful. One who is vague about a licence number is telling you something too.
The median matters more than the average
The median IT support provider in this directory has 18 Google reviews. That is the number to hold in your head when you see a perfect five-star rating: five stars from four reviews and 4.6 from three hundred are not comparable, and the second is almost always the safer hire.
It is also why the ranking here weights review volume more heavily than review score. A business cannot buy its position, and a handful of glowing reviews does not move it far.
Where the it support & services are
Sydney (81), Melbourne (75), Brisbane (54), Perth (38), Adelaide (19), Cairns (17). A shortlist for your own area is more useful than a national ranking — the best IT support provider in the country is no help if they are four states away.
Where to check a licence, by state
There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state where the work is happening.
- NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
- VICBuilding and Plumbing Commission, and Energy Safe Victoria for electricalbuilding practitioners and plumbers; electricians are Energy Safe Victoria
- QLDQueensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)building and most trade contractor licences
- WABuilding and Energybuilders, electricians, plumbers and gas fitters
- SAConsumer and Business Servicesbuilding work contractors and supervisors
- TASConsumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)building and occupational licences
- ACTAccess Canberraconstruction occupations licensing
- NTNT Government building practitioner registrationbuilding practitioners and electrical workers
Common questions
- Do it support & services need a licence in Australia?
- No. IT support is unlicensed. The exceptions are physical: cabling and anything on mains power needs a licensed cabler or electrician, and a provider should say so rather than do it. The real questions are about response times, who holds your administrator passwords, and whether your backups have ever been restored.
- How do I check an IT support provider's licence?
- No register. Microsoft and other vendor partner directories confirm a provider's status if they claim it. The service agreement is the document that matters.
- What percentage of Australian it support & services have a verifiable ABN?
- 26.7% of the 1,088 it support & services in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 21.5% across all trades.
- How many reviews should an IT support provider have?
- The median IT support provider here has 18. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.
Compare it support & services near you
1,088 it support & services, ranked on the evidence described above rather than on advertising.
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