The Client
Evolve Accountants and Business Advisors are based in Subiaco, WA, and have been helping small to medium-sized businesses thrive since 2006. They have a team of six staff, and deliver Virtual CFO, bookkeeping, compliance and taxation, corporate and secretarial, cloud accounting, and superannuation services.
Their Challenges
The team were working with on-premises servers, and were frustrated with the time and effort it took to get updates and maintain backups with a manual process. “Someone used to have to come out all the time, there was just a lot of downtime basically,” says Russell Pelusey, their Director.
This was impacting the business’ bottom line and causing headaches for staff. Russell says “We’re accountants, so we sell time. If the server is down or people can’t work for whatever reason, then it costs us a lot of money.” Tired of server and backup issues and a software change that wasn’t working out, the team were ready to find an MSP they could rely on.
A Return to Trusted IT Services
When Evolve started working with Perth Support, it wasn’t their first time meeting Lyndon (the business’ Founder and CEO). They had worked with his previous business to access IT services, and were loyal customers until that company was acquired by a larger MSP. When Perth Support opened, Lyndon reached out again and the Evolve team were immediately on board to resume the partnership.
The reason? Russell reflects, “You were dealing with the people that were running the business. They were very personable, and what they said they would do is what would happen. Things weren’t getting passed down the chain. It was dealing with someone I knew would deliver a good service.”
Today, Evolve have been Perth Support clients since 2015 – which is a testament to the strong relationship they’ve built, and the high level of service the team delivers time and time again. Perth Support provide managed IT services spanning strategic guidance, procurement, Microsoft 365 management, secure web hosting, data backups, and more. They also support the business with cyber security and compliance – including choosing and implementing a new firewall, and delivering security awareness training and phishing simulations to educate staff.
A Seamless Transition to the Cloud
A shift to the cloud was a key project Perth Support rolled out for the Evolve team. This ensured they could reduce downtime and say goodbye to clunky manual server maintenance. As a result of this cloud migration, processes were streamlined and the team could reinvest time back into what mattered – helping clients.
This change also ensured the business could adapt to support hybrid work, which was critical during the COVID-19 pandemic. “When that happened, staff just picked up their computers and screens and went home and worked from there. There was very little missed business, it was all systems go and that made a massive difference. It’s been pretty seamless, with COVID and then back to the office again,” says Russell.
Rapid, Reliable Support
Throughout the partnership, Evolve have been able to rely on rapid, reliable support from a friendly team. This improves productivity, ensuring they can swiftly move past roadblocks.
Russell says, “You can call straight through and get an answer right away. Or you email, and within an hour you get a really good, quick reply. For us, you need answers for clients, and you need to get some work done – so it’s good to have that timely service.” Reflecting on the Perth Support crew’s approachable nature and good communication skills, he comments “Everyone is easy to talk to, quite personable and social, and they can explain things to you in non-IT speak which is good.”
The MSP was also able to get Evolve out of a tough spot when their photocopier stopped working following an office move. “The photocopier company had a few goes at fixing it, because they have IT people as well. With the move, they charged us a few hundred dollars, and it was all supposed to be working. The other day Perth Support got a new starter, Hoang, and Lyndon rang up and said I’ll send him over. With his help, it was back up and running and we haven’t had any problems since.”
Streamlined Technology Solutions
Perth Support also keeps Evolve’s IT experience seamless by handling Microsoft 365 management and procurement needs. This allows the team to focus on their work, and have peace of mind knowing Perth Support will handle the tech.
Reflecting on their Microsoft 365 management, Russell explains “If we onboard a new employee, we just send the details through to Perth Support and everything is set up and looked after. We don’t do any of that – it’s good because you don’t have to worry about any of those subscriptions.”
The MSP’s procurement service provides a similarly smooth, stress-free process. “Any new computers or laptops, we order through Perth Support. The laptop arrives and it’s already configured to our network. It goes to them and they configure it, and when it arrives here we literally just have to turn it on, put in the login name and password, and away you go.”
A Dependable MSP
Since working with Perth Support, Evolve has been able to rely on IT that doesn’t put more work on their plate. This includes solutions that improve productivity, efficiency, and security for the team so they can focus on what matters and avoid costly downtime. Looking back at the long-lasting partnership, Russell says, “They’ve been great for us, they’ve done everything we needed to do, so it’s been good.”