Straight IT Advice for NZ Business Owners

You don't need a consultant to tell you whether to upgrade Windows. You need one when you're staring down a decision that costs real money or shapes the next three years of your business — a system replacement, a cyber incident, a buyout, an audit, or just the nagging feeling that your IT spend isn't matching the value.

Tryzee gives Matamata, Waikato, and NZ-wide business owners independent IT advice without the dress-up. We don't resell anything we recommend. We don't take vendor commissions. We charge for our time and tell you the truth.

When Do You Actually Need an IT Consultant?

You probably don't need a consultant if you just want someone to fix a printer. You probably do need one if any of these sound familiar:

  • "Our current IT provider keeps saying yes but nothing ever quite gets fixed."
  • "Our software vendor is pushing us to upgrade — is it actually worth it?"
  • "We've outgrown our current systems but we don't know what's next."
  • "Our cyber insurer is asking 50 questions we don't know how to answer."
  • "We're acquiring another business and the IT side is a mess."
  • "We need an independent second opinion before we spend $80k on a new system."
  • "Our owner / founder runs IT in his spare time and that's no longer working."

Areas We Advise On

IT Strategy & Roadmap

The 12–36 month plan for your IT investment. What needs to happen first, what can wait, what the budget shape should look like. Outcome: a one-page roadmap your board, accountant, and team can all read.

Vendor & Tool Selection

You're choosing between three systems and the vendors all say theirs is best. We've run procurements like this dozens of times. We help you write a usable requirements list, score the options honestly, talk to real reference customers, and avoid the 9-figure-implementation traps.

Security Assessment & Cyber Insurance Prep

Where you stand against the controls that actually matter (MFA, backups, EDR, patching, training), and what to do next. Particularly valuable before cyber insurance renewal or after a near-miss.

Cloud Strategy

Are you cloud-ready? Should you move? Which workloads? Microsoft, Google, AWS, or hybrid? We give you an honest read on your environment and the cost/benefit of each path.

IT Provider Review

Independent assessment of your current managed services provider. Are you getting value? Are the SLAs reasonable? Where are the gaps? We do this without an agenda to replace them — sometimes the right answer is "they're doing fine, here's how to use them better."

Mergers, Acquisitions & Restructures

IT due diligence before you buy, integration planning after the deal, and untangling systems during a sell-off or spin-out. Often the difference between a smooth transition and a six-month integration disaster.

Virtual CIO / Fractional Tech Leader

For businesses too small for a full-time CIO but too big to fly blind. A few hours a month of senior IT leadership — board updates, strategy, oversight of suppliers, sounding board for the owner.

How an Engagement Works

Step 1: Scoping Call (Free)

We talk for 30–45 minutes about what you're trying to figure out. By the end of the call we'll either send you a proposal or tell you honestly that consulting isn't what you need.

Step 2: Discovery

Depending on the question, this is 1–5 days of interviews with your team, reviews of your current setup, talks with your vendors, and document gathering.

Step 3: Findings & Recommendations

You get a clear, written report — usually 10–20 pages, no consulting jargon. Findings, recommendations, options, costs, risks, and a sequenced action plan.

Step 4: Walk-Through & Q&A

We present the findings to whoever needs to be in the room — owner, board, leadership team, accountant — and answer every question. The deliverable belongs to you.

Step 5: Optional Implementation Support

We can help you implement (separate engagement), hand off to your existing IT provider, or just check in periodically to make sure the plan stays on track. Your choice.

Deliverables — What You Actually Get

Consulting outputs vary by engagement, but typically include:

  • Written report with executive summary and detailed findings
  • Risk register prioritised by impact and likelihood
  • 3-year IT investment roadmap with rough costs and timing
  • Specific vendor / product recommendations (with reasoning)
  • Requirements documents you can hand to suppliers
  • Reference contacts for any major recommendation we make

Independence Matters — Why Vendor-Neutral

Most of the "IT consulting" you'll see in NZ is sold by businesses that also resell hardware, licences, or implementation services. That means the recommendation and the sales pitch are the same conversation. We don't do that. We don't resell software, we don't take vendor referral fees, and we don't have channel-partner quotas to hit. Our income comes from advising you well enough that you tell other business owners about us.

Who We Work With

  • NZ SMEs from 5 to 150 staff — typical sweet spot 15–80
  • Family businesses planning a generational transition
  • Professional services firms (legal, accounting, real estate, advisory)
  • Trades, construction, and primary-industry businesses
  • Not-for-profits and community organisations
  • Owners who've inherited a tangled IT setup from a predecessor

Frequently Asked Questions

How is consulting different from "IT support"?

Support fixes today's problems. Consulting answers tomorrow's questions. They're related but they're not the same skill, and they shouldn't be the same conversation. We do both — but we keep them separate so you know what you're paying for.

How much does a consulting engagement cost?

Small focused engagements (e.g. tool selection between 2–3 specific products) — typically $2,500–$6,000. Strategy and roadmap engagements — $5,000–$15,000. Virtual CIO retainers — from $1,500/month. We always quote upfront in writing.

Can you work with our existing IT provider?

Yes, and we do regularly. We're often hired specifically to give the existing provider an independent benchmark. We talk to them respectfully and the goal is to make the whole picture better, not to start a turf war.

Do you do board / leadership presentations?

Yes. We're comfortable presenting to non-technical boards and owners — that's most of who we deal with. We bring the technical depth but explain in plain English.

Are you in Matamata only, or can you travel?

We're based in Matamata and most of our clients are in the Waikato, Bay of Plenty, and Auckland. We're happy to travel for on-site work — most consulting engagements involve 1–3 on-site days plus remote work. Phone and video calls cover the rest.

Book a Free Scoping Call

If there's a technology decision in front of you that you don't want to get wrong, the first conversation is free. We'll either help you, or tell you who could.