Who this is for
In a smaller business, technology decisions usually land on the owner, the office manager or whoever is thought to be good with computers. The decisions are costly to get wrong, and the people selling the options are rarely neutral. Our IT consulting for small business gives you an independent view before you sign anything: what you have, what you need, what it should replace and in what order.
It is useful in situations like these:
- An accounting practice with an ageing office server and a software vendor urging a move to the cloud.
- A builder choosing between job management products and unsure which will work with the accounting software.
- A wholesaler that has outgrown spreadsheets and has been quoted for a large system it may not need.
- A clinic paying for overlapping subscriptions that nobody can list.
- A growing business about to hire and wondering whether its systems will cope.
- An owner who has been handed a supplier's proposal and wants someone on their side of the table to read it.
You receive written advice with the reasoning shown. We also build software and manage systems, as our work page shows, so we say plainly when an off-the-shelf product, or changing nothing yet, is the better answer.
The problems it solves
- A large quote on the desk and no way of judging whether it is fair
- Subscriptions that renew automatically for tools nobody remembers choosing
- Two systems bought separately that turn out not to exchange data
- A server or program past its supported life, with no plan for what replaces it
- Technology costs that arrive as surprises instead of a planned line in the budget
- Knowledge of the whole set-up held in one person's head
What is included
Take one of these on its own or combine them into a single engagement.
Technology audit
An inventory of your hardware, software, subscriptions, accounts and integrations, and who looks after each, with the risks and the waste marked. Each is labelled keep, fix, replace or retire.
Technology roadmap
A plan in priority order: what to fix now, what to plan for, what to leave alone, and what each step depends on.
Vendor and software selection
Requirements written from how you work, a shortlist, structured demonstrations and a side-by-side comparison you can defend to your co-owners. Products are scored on fit, data ownership, integrations, support and exit, not on the sales presentation.
Proposal and contract review
A second read of a supplier's quote or contract: gaps in scope, lock-in, who owns the data, exit terms and anything left unsaid.
Budgeting approach
A method for planning technology spending: one-off costs kept apart from recurring ones, the whole-of-life cost counted, and replacement planned ahead. The figures come from quotes you obtain, not from us.
Decision support
Advice by the hour when a technology question comes up and you want a considered second opinion before deciding.
What you hold at the end
- A technology audit report with an inventory of systems, subscriptions and accounts
- A risk register: unsupported software, single points of failure, missing backups and access gaps
- A technology roadmap in priority order, with dependencies
- A short summary for owners: main findings and first decisions
- A requirements document and vendor comparison for each software selection
- The questions put to each vendor and our notes from the demonstrations
- A budgeting worksheet with one-off and recurring cost lines and a replacement cycle, ready for your own figures
- A walkthrough session for owners and managers
- All working documents in editable formats, yours to keep and to share with any provider
Technologies we advise on and why
We favour widely used products, because a small business needs support it can find from more than one provider.
Data export and open formats
We check that your records can be exported in a common format, such as CSV, whenever you choose, so changing supplier never means starting again.
Google Cloud, AWS and Azure
The major cloud platforms, where servers, storage and databases are rented instead of owned. We compare them against what you already use and what your software requires.
Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace
The common suites for email, files and calendars. Choosing one and using it fully often removes the need for several separate tools.
Xero and MYOB
Accounting platforms widely used by Australian small businesses. We check that any new system can exchange data with the one you run.
APIs
The official connection points that let systems share data. A product without a usable API tends to become an island, so we check before recommending it.
MFA, SSO and encryption
Multi-factor authentication, single sign-on and encryption form the security baseline we look for in any product we put on a shortlist.
How a consulting engagement runs
| Stage | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1. Discovery call | A free first conversation about the decision in front of you, the systems involved and what a good outcome would look like. |
| 2. Plan and quote | A written scope: the questions we will answer, what we will review, who we need to speak to and what you will receive. It is priced by the hour or as a fixed scope and agreed before work starts. |
| 3. Build and test | We speak to the people who use the systems, inspect what is in place and build the audit and roadmap in stages. You see drafts as we go, and each recommendation is tested against your constraints and the way your staff work. |
| 4. Launch and train | We present the final documents in a walkthrough with the decision makers, answer questions and make sure whoever will run the roadmap understands each step. |
| 5. Ongoing support | Roadmap reviews as your business changes, and hourly advice as decisions arise. If you want us to deliver part of the roadmap, that is quoted separately and is never a condition of the advice. |
Engagement options
| Option | Suits | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly advice | A single question, a proposal to review or a vendor meeting to attend | We agree the hourly rate and an upper limit on hours in writing, and report the hours used. |
| Fixed scope | A technology audit, a roadmap or one software selection | The questions, the deliverables and the price are set out in a written quote before we begin. |
| Staged pricing | A larger program, such as an audit followed by a roadmap and several selections | Each stage is quoted and approved on its own, so you can stop after any stage and keep everything produced so far. |
Security and confidentiality during an engagement
An audit shows us invoices, contracts, account lists and how staff and customer records are stored. We treat all of it as confidential.
- Least access. Read-only access or a screen-share where possible, no passwords sent by email, and any temporary account removed when the engagement ends.
- Your documents. Contracts and invoices are used for the engagement only, and working copies are returned or deleted at the end, as you prefer.
- Personal information. We look at where records are stored and who can open them, not at the records themselves.
- What the audit checks. Patching, multi-factor authentication, administrator rights and backups are compared with the Australian Signals Directorate's Essential Eight. The OAIC's small business page sets out which smaller businesses the Privacy Act 1988 covers, and the report flags that question for you to settle.
Support after the report
After the walkthrough you can come back with questions about anything in the documents: email hello@comingwave.com.au or use our contact page, and we reply within one business day.
A roadmap dates as the business changes, so revisit it when something significant shifts: a new site, a round of hiring, a product reaching end of support or a supplier changing its terms. If you would like the systems on the roadmap looked after day to day, that is managed IT support.
Industries it suits
Professional services
Choosing practice management and document systems, and planning the move off an office file server.
Trades and construction
Comparing job management products and checking they work with the accounting file before the crew is asked to change.
Hospitality
Sorting out overlapping point-of-sale, booking, rostering and ordering subscriptions across venues.
Import and export
Deciding whether stock, orders and shipping documents belong in one system or in several connected ones.
Australian guidance we work from
The Australian Government's business.gov.au describes a digital strategy as a plan to use digital technologies in your business. Its steps include setting your digital goals, choosing your digital channels and tools, deciding how you will measure success, ensuring cyber security and allocating budget and resources. A roadmap from us covers the same ground in more depth for your particular systems.
On choosing software, business.gov.au's page on digital tools for business advises making a list of your must-have and optional features before researching the tools available, and working out the total cost of ownership for each tool, which it explains as the upfront cost plus running costs over the tool's life span. Our selection work and our budgeting approach follow that order.
On security, the Australian Signals Directorate's guidance on choosing secure and verifiable technologies says customers are responsible for evaluating the suitability, security and risks associated with acquiring and operating a digital product or service. Its guidance on end of support explains that a product at end of support no longer receives security updates or technical support from the manufacturer. For that reason our audits record the support status of every system, and the roadmap schedules replacements before support runs out.
IT consulting questions
How can your advice be independent if you also build software?
We do build software and manage systems, and we say so at the start. The advice is a separate engagement with its own documents, written so that any provider can act on them. You are free to take the roadmap elsewhere, and where an existing product fits your needs we recommend it over a custom build.
Should we choose hourly advice or a fixed scope?
Hourly advice suits a single question, such as reviewing a proposal or sitting in on a vendor meeting. A fixed scope suits a defined piece of work, such as an audit or a roadmap, where you want to know the full cost before starting. Both are agreed in writing first.
What do you need from us for a technology audit?
Time with the people who use and look after the systems, recent invoices for software and IT services, any supplier contracts, and read-only access or a screen-share. We ask for the least access that lets us do the job.
Will you give us a budget figure?
We give you the structure and the method. The figures come from supplier quotes, which we help you request and compare on like-for-like terms.
Can you attend vendor demonstrations with us?
Yes. We prepare scenarios from your real work so each vendor shows the same tasks, ask the technical questions about data ownership, integrations and exit, and write up notes afterwards. For questions about joining systems together, see business systems and integrations.
We already have an IT provider. Why would we need a consultant?
Your provider keeps things running and knows your set-up well. A consultant answers a different question: whether the set-up is still the right one, and what a proposal in front of you should include. We can share our findings with your provider if you wish.
What if the right answer is to change nothing?
Then the report says so, with the reasons and the events that would change the answer, such as a product reaching end of support. To start the conversation, send us an enquiry.
