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IT support for organisations, public bodies and schools

Arke Technologies provides IT support to mid-sized and large organisations, government bodies and schools across South Africa from Johannesburg. We run a help desk for your people, fix problems remotely or onsite, and maintain your devices, servers, networks and business systems, under one service-level agreement with monthly reporting.

Request an IT assessmentSee what we support

What is IT support?

IT support is the service that keeps an organisation's technology working for the people who use it: answering questions, fixing faults, setting up accounts and devices, and maintaining the systems behind them so fewer faults happen. Other names for it include tech support (often searched as techsupport), computer support and, in government, ICT support services.

Good IT support and services do two jobs. The reactive job is the help desk and IT support people see: a call, a ticket, a fix. The preventive job is IT maintenance: patching, monitoring, backups and lifecycle planning that users rarely notice. A provider that only does the first is a repair service; one that does both is running your systems.

Our IT support is part of our managed IT services, delivered by our own team, on our own tooling, under one contract.

A support agent in a headset points to a detail on her screen during a call.

What our IT support covers

  • Accounts and collaboration

    Microsoft 365 IT support across Entra ID, Exchange Online, SharePoint, Teams and Intune, and Google IT support for Google Workspace, including Vault and Chrome device management.

  • Servers and systems

    IT systems support for Windows Server 2016 to 2022, Active Directory, Hyper-V and VMware, and Linux servers on Ubuntu, AlmaLinux and Debian.

  • Networks

    LAN and WAN, firewalls, VPNs and Wi-Fi, configured, monitored and hardened.

  • Business applications

    SAP Business One, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Sage and Xero, supported alongside the vendor's own support where your licence includes it.

  • Cloud

    AWS IT support, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, run to the same standards as your on-premises servers.

A service-desk agent in a headset works at a desktop computer in a bright open-plan office.

First, second and third line: how IT support is organised

IT support works in three lines, so simple requests are handled quickly and hard problems reach the right skills. Our practice is ITIL-aligned across incident, request, problem and change management; the front line is described under IT service desk and helpdesk.

LineWhat it handlesWho does it
First lineCalls and tickets, password resets, access requests, how-to and technical questions, known fixesService desk technicians, working from a library of standard repairs
2nd line IT supportFaults first line cannot fix: device, account, email, network and application problemsIT support specialists with deeper platform skills
Third lineServers, networks, security, cloud and integrations; root causes and recurring problemsSpecialist engineering, with every change under change control

Every ticket has one owner at a time, and escalating it does not take it off the SLA.

Remote access for IT support, and onsite IT support when it is needed

Much of IT support can be done remotely, which is usually faster for the user. Our remote access for IT support runs on our own platform, built on open-source RustDesk and hosted on our own servers in Johannesburg, and every session is approved and logged. Standard repairs fix common faults; riskier ones need a recorded human approval first. More in remote IT support.

Onsite IT support covers what remote work cannot: hardware swaps, new-office set-ups, network faults at the rack. Our office is in Greenstone Hill, Edenvale, on the East Rand, and we work with organisations across South Africa. See IT services in Johannesburg and IT services in Cape Town.

Three support agents in headsets work at their desks in a quiet office.

IT maintenance and support: the preventive half

IT maintenance is the work that cuts the number of tickets raised. Under our IT maintenance and support, these tasks run on a schedule agreed with you and are reported monthly:

  • Updates. Operating-system, application, driver and firmware updates from Microsoft, Apple, HP, Intel and other makers, in agreed maintenance windows.
  • Monitoring. Each computer checked every 15 minutes, with faults logged as tickets automatically.
  • Backups. Jobs monitored, and restores tested on a schedule.
  • Security hygiene. Endpoint protection, multi-factor authentication, and accounts updated for joiners, movers and leavers.
  • Lifecycle. Warranty and end-of-support dates tracked, so replacements are budgeted rather than emergencies.
  • Licences. Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace licences, monthly or annual, reconciled against actual users.

Manufacturer support or IT support: who to call

Searches for HP IT support, Apple IT support or Microsoft IT support usually come from someone with a fault who is unsure whether the maker or their IT provider should fix it. It depends on what is broken.

If the problem is…The maker's support (HP, Apple, Microsoft, Google, AWS, SAP, IBM)Your IT support provider
A hardware fault under warrantyRepairs or replaces its own productDiagnoses the fault and logs the case with the maker
A bug in the product itselfFixes the productReports it, applies the workaround and deploys the fix
Your accounts, settings, data or securityOut of scopeOwns it
A problem spanning several productsEach maker sees only its own partTraces it end to end

Makers know their own product and see nothing around it. IT support for companies exists to own the whole environment, including the joins between products.

Who does the work: IT support specialists

An IT support specialist, also called a computer support specialist or an IT support tech, takes the call and fixes the fault. The role's duties and responsibilities: log and prioritise tickets, diagnose hardware, software, account and network problems, resolve or escalate them, set up users and devices, and document every fix.

We hire technicians for experience, education and certifications, in step with the contracts we sign. Entry-level certifications, the Google IT support certificate among them, show the fundamentals; certification for a computer support specialist on your systems should also cover the platforms you run, such as Microsoft 365 or Windows Server. Everyone with access to your systems is bound by confidentiality and our security controls.

A row of support agents in headsets at a long desk beside tall office windows.

What IT support costs

  • R180–R400

    published managed IT rates per user per month (matnet.co.za, September 2026)

  • R550–R750

    published hourly rates for IT project work, ex VAT (matnet.co.za, September 2026)

  • R21,054

    average monthly pay for a Johannesburg IT support technician (Indeed, September 2026)

Managed IT support services are usually priced per user per month, and ad hoc work by the hour; above the published range, some providers list R450 (MiBOT, September 2026). We price IT support per user (seat) per month, set after an assessment and billed monthly in advance by debit order; project work outside the SLA is quoted before it starts. See managed IT pricing. The price depends on:

  • the number of users, devices and servers;

  • the estate's complexity: business applications, several sites, hybrid cloud;

  • onsite requirements and distance;

  • the hours of cover; out-of-hours and weekend cover is available by agreement and set in your SLA;

  • security, compliance and reporting needs.

Last reviewed: September 2026.

Governance, compliance and procurement

  • SLA. Scope, response and resolution targets, exclusions, onsite policy, price per seat and term. Incidents are prioritised from P1 (a critical outage) to P4 (a low-impact request), with targets matched to the business impact of downtime and agreed with you.
  • Reporting. A named service lead and a monthly service review and report on tickets, SLA performance, security, patching and backups, with documented escalation and change control. Feedback on a technician, whether a complaint or a thank-you letter to IT support, reaches the service lead and the review.
  • Compliance. Every remote session approved and logged; an Information Officer designated under PAIA and POPIA; audit-ready documentation for PFMA and MFMA bodies; evidence for King IV Principle 12 oversight; controls aligned with ISO/IEC 27001 and CIS Controls.
  • Procurement. Level 1 B-BBEE contributor (sworn affidavit available on request), which gives buyers 135% procurement recognition. Company documents, our CSD supplier number and tax compliance status on request; SBD forms completed when a bid requires them. Buy through a proposal and SLA, a purchase order or a tender response.
  • Continuity. Your data, credentials and documentation are yours; if you change provider, we hand over runbooks, credentials and asset records. Teams with their own IT staff can share the load through co-managed IT.

How to choose an IT support company

The best IT support companies are easy to hold to account. Before you sign with any IT support company, including us, ask for the items below; our guide to choosing an IT company in South Africa covers the rest.

  • a sample SLA and a sample monthly report;
  • how remote access is controlled and logged;
  • who owns credentials and documentation at exit;
  • procurement documents: B-BBEE status, CSD registration and tax compliance.

How we start

  1. Discovery

    Your users, devices, servers, networks, applications and suppliers, documented.

  2. Assessment

    The estate tested against a security, backup, licensing and support baseline.

  3. Proposal

    A price per user per month, and a separate quote for any project work.

  4. SLA and onboarding

    Terms agreed in writing, monitoring installed, support taken over on an agreed date.

  5. Monthly service review

    A report and a meeting to agree what changes next.

Frequently asked questions

What is IT support? Show answer

IT support is the service that keeps an organisation's technology working for its users: answering questions, fixing faults, setting up accounts and devices, and maintaining the systems behind them. It covers reactive help through a help desk and preventive IT maintenance such as patching, monitoring and backups. Arke delivers both under one SLA.

How much does IT support make in South Africa? Show answer

IT support technicians in Johannesburg earn about R21,054 a month on average (Indeed, September 2026). Pay generally rises with experience, certifications and platform skills such as Microsoft 365 or Windows Server. For an employer, the wage is only part of the cost of in-house support: leave cover, training and tools come on top.

What does a computer support technician do? Show answer

A computer support technician diagnoses and fixes problems with computers, peripherals, accounts and networks, sets up new users and devices, and documents each fix. Technicians usually work first or second line, escalating complex server, network or security problems to specialist engineers. Ours work from a library of standard repairs, to an SLA.

What is the difference between 1st and 2nd line IT support? Show answer

First-line IT support takes the call, logs the ticket and resolves common requests such as password resets. Second-line (2nd line) IT support handles the faults first line cannot fix, such as device, email, network and application problems, using deeper platform skills. Third line covers servers, security and the root causes of recurring faults.

Do you support Apple Macs as well as Windows? Show answer

Yes. We provide Apple IT support for Mac fleets through macOS management and Apple Business Manager, alongside Windows 10 and 11, Windows Server and Linux. Hardware faults under warranty still go to the maker, as they would for HP or any other brand; we diagnose the fault first, so the warranty claim starts with the evidence.

IT support you can hold to account

Tell us what you run and where. We will assess it, then put an SLA and a monthly fee in writing.

Request an IT assessment