Group Training & Labour Hire IT Support Adelaide

You employ them. Someone else hosts them.

Apprentices, trainees and placed workers spend their days on other people's sites — but the payroll, the WHS duty, the training records and the mentoring all stay with you. That means systems built for a workforce that is never in your building, and records you can produce for people you rarely see. Otaris builds exactly that.

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In short

What does IT support for a group training organisation involve?

Otaris supports group training organisations and labour hire businesses across South Australia — cloud systems a field mentor can reach from a job site, management of company data on personal phones, protection for payroll and WHS records, onboarding and offboarding that keeps up with intakes and placements, and telephony that follows the team. All under Essential Eight controls, from one provider. Adelaide-based since 2006.

Payroll and tax file numbers · a workforce off-site · WHS records

Eight questions to ask the IT provider you already have

You are the employer of record for people who work somewhere else, on devices you may not own, whose bank details and tax file numbers you hold. That combination — a large transient workforce, real payroll authority and no office to walk into — makes identity and access the whole game. Almost every loss in this sector starts with an account, not a virus.

So don't take our word for anything. These eight questions come straight from the Essential Eight — the standard published by the Australian Signals Directorate, which we didn't write and don't own. Each one can only be answered with a document. Ask them, and notice which answers arrive as a report and which arrive as a reassurance.

01
Patch applications
The payroll platform and the mobile timesheet app — which were patched last month?
A real answer looks like: A dated patch report per application, with exceptions named.
02
Patch operating systems
Field officers' laptops that never come into the office — how many are behind on updates right now, and how would you know?
A real answer looks like: A device compliance report showing every field device, its last check-in, and its patch status.
03
Multi-factor authentication
A workforce that signs in from anywhere — how many accounts can do that with only a password?
A real answer looks like: A conditional access report listing every account, its factor, and every exclusion by name.
04
Restrict admin privileges
Who can change an employee's bank details before a pay run, and does a second person have to approve it?
A real answer looks like: A named list of who can edit bank details, and whether dual approval is enforced in the payroll system.
05
Application control
A field officer installs a free scanning app to capture a paper timesheet. Does it run?
A real answer looks like: The application control policy, its enforcement mode, and last month's blocked-execution log.
06
Restrict Office macros
The award interpretation workbook runs on macros. What permits it and blocks an emailed one?
A real answer looks like: The macro policy showing default-block, with the award file's trusted location documented.
07
User application hardening
The browsers used for single touch payroll, apprenticeship portals and host client systems — what has been hardened?
A real answer looks like: The hardening baseline applied and the date of the last drift check.
08
Regular backups
If payroll history were encrypted the day before a pay run, when did you last prove you could restore it in time?
A real answer looks like: A restore test report with a date and a measured duration you can compare to your pay cycle.

And one more, just for your industry

When a placement ends, how many days pass before that person's access is actually gone — and can you show me the last ten?

A real answer looks like: An offboarding log showing the last ten departures, the date access was revoked, and the gap in days.

Asked them? Here's what to do with the answers.

A provider doing the work sends a report. One who isn't sends a sentence. If the answers came back vague, that is itself an answer — and you now know which questions to ask again in writing.

To check the same ground against the government standard yourself, the scorecard further down this page takes about two minutes. You keep the result, and there is no form to fill in.

Or ask us — we do this every week.

Book a free consultation

The obligation stays with you

A group training organisation carries an unusual shape of risk. You employ people who work somewhere else, under someone else's supervision, on sites you do not control. The host gets the labour; you keep the payroll, the safety duty, the training obligation and the paperwork that proves all three.

That makes information the core of the business rather than a support function. Competency evidence, training plans, timesheets, incident reports and mentoring notes are what you are funded against and what you are judged on. They cannot live in an individual's inbox or a folder on one laptop.

Meanwhile the workforce turns over constantly, works from personal phones, and needs access on day one of an intake. Every account you open has to be closed again later — and offboarding is invariably the half that gets forgotten.

“If your records only exist in someone's inbox, you do not really have them.”

The IT challenges we solve for group training and labour hire

Your workforce is never in your office

Apprentices, trainees and placed workers are on someone else's site every day. Field mentors visit them there. The systems have to reach people who will never sit at a company desk — and do it from a phone, on a job site, with one bar of signal.

You are the employer, not the host

The placement sits with the host; the employment obligation stays with you. Payroll, WHS, training records, mentoring notes and incident reporting are all yours to hold and produce, for people you do not see daily.

Personal phones doing company work

Field staff and apprentices use their own devices because that is what is in their pocket. Banning it does not work; ignoring it is worse. Mobile device management separates work data from personal, and lets you remove only your half.

Records that decide funding and disputes

Training plans, competency evidence, timesheets and incident reports underpin both funding and any dispute that follows. If they are scattered across email and paper, you have them in theory only.

Payroll data is the target

You hold tax file numbers, bank details and personal information for a large, rotating workforce. That is a rich file to steal and a costly one to lose. Essential Eight controls are what stand between the two.

Constant onboarding and offboarding

Intakes arrive together and placements end unevenly. Every one is an account created and, eventually, an account that must actually be closed. Done by hand, the closing half is the one that slips.

Getting your organisation sorted is simple

Schedule a call

Talk to someone who has supported field-based, high-churn workforces. No sales pitch — a conversation about where your admin and your risk really sit.

We assess your setup and build a roadmap

We review how field staff work, how devices are managed, where records live and how people are onboarded, check you against the Essential Eight, and give you a plan.

We manage it, so you can place people

Cloud, devices, security, telephony and everyday support under one provider — with one point of accountability instead of vendors pointing at each other.

Book a free consultation

Everything a field-based workforce needs, under one partner

Work from anywhere, properly

Files and systems in the cloud so a mentor in the field has the same access as head office.

BYO mobile device management

Company data controlled on personal phones, and removable without touching anything personal.

Cybersecurity & Essential Eight uplift

MFA, application control and Zero Trust across computers and mobiles alike.

Automated onboarding & offboarding

Access granted on day one of an intake and genuinely closed when a placement ends.

Records retention & recovery

Training, payroll and WHS records backed up and provably recoverable.

Telephony that follows the team

One number that reaches the right person whether they are at a desk, in a ute or on site.

A local team field-based employers trust

Otaris has been looking after Australian businesses since 2006 — that's 20+ years in IT. We're Adelaide-based with Australia-wide coverage, and we explain everything in plain language. You'll never be handed off to an overseas call centre.

TAPS, a South Australian group training organisation placing apprentices and trainees across SA and the Northern Territory

Client story — TAPS, Beverley SA (20 staff · serving SA & the Northern Territory)

TAPS is a group training organisation placing apprentices and trainees across South Australia and the Northern Territory. It came to Otaris with an ageing server and a fragmented setup spread across multiple vendors. We consolidated it under one partner: files moved to the cloud, identity and cybersecurity modernised to the Essential Eight, telephony virtualised onto 3CX, the network refreshed, and Zero Trust applied across both company computers and staff BYO mobiles.

The team now genuinely works from anywhere — which matters when your people spend their days on host employers' sites rather than yours — with one provider accountable for cloud, security, devices and phones.

Read the TAPS case study

20+ years in IT
Group training organisation supported
Zero Trust across BYO mobiles
Adelaide-based
Essential Eight aligned
One provider for IT and phones

Imagine an intake that just works

Picture twenty new apprentices starting on Monday with accounts already waiting. A field mentor filing a site visit from a phone at the job, not from memory that evening. Training and WHS records in one place you can produce on request. And when a placement ends, access closes the same day — without anyone having to remember.

That's the difference between chasing your own paperwork and running an organisation.

“Strengthening your digital confidence.”

Solutions for your industry

The services we most often deploy for group training & labour hire.

View all solutions

Frequently asked questions

Group training organisations need systems built for a workforce that is never in the office, because apprentices and field mentors spend their days on host employers sites. That means cloud access from a phone, company data controlled on personal devices, protected payroll records, and onboarding that keeps pace with intakes. Otaris supports group training and labour hire across South Australia. Call 1800 456 567 to review your setup.

Through cloud systems reachable from a phone on mobile data, rather than anything that assumes a desk or an office connection. A mentor filing a site visit from the job is more accurate than one writing it up that evening from memory. Otaris moves files and systems to the cloud so field staff have the same access as head office. Call 1800 456 567 to make that work.

Yes, with mobile device management, which separates work data from personal data on the same device. That means you can remove your half when someone leaves without touching their photos or messages, which is what makes the arrangement acceptable to staff. Otaris applies Zero Trust across company computers and BYO mobiles alike. Call 1800 456 567 to set that up.

With multi-factor authentication, restricted access and monitoring, because a group training organisation holds tax file numbers, bank details and personal information for a large rotating workforce. That is a rich file to steal and an expensive one to lose. Otaris implements those controls under the Essential Eight. Call 1800 456 567 for a review.

They should close the same day, automatically. Placements end unevenly and by hand the closing half is always the one forgotten, which leaves accounts open long after the person has gone. Otaris automates offboarding so access ends when the placement does. Call 1800 456 567 to tighten that.

By making onboarding a repeatable process rather than twenty individual jobs, so accounts, access and devices are ready before day one. Intakes arrive together, which makes a manual process fail exactly when it matters most. Otaris automates intake onboarding. Call 1800 456 567 to prepare for your next intake.

In a system the whole organisation can reach, not in an individual mailbox or on one laptop. Competency evidence, training plans and mentoring notes underpin both funding and any dispute that follows, so if only one person can find them you effectively do not have them. Otaris moves those records somewhere retrievable and backed up. Call 1800 456 567 to review yours.

Being a not-for-profit does not reduce the obligation, and holding payroll and personal data for a large workforce arguably increases it. The Essential Eight is the Australian Government framework for exactly this, and it gives you a defensible answer when a funder or host employer asks. Otaris delivers full Maturity Level 1 in its Fortress plan. Call 1800 456 567 for an assessment.

By capturing them at the time, in one system, with a reliable backup behind it. The employment obligation stays with you even though the work happens on a host employer site, so the record is your protection. Otaris makes those records reachable from the field and provably recoverable. Call 1800 456 567 to review your process.

Otaris publishes its plans rather than quoting per enquiry. They run from 139 dollars per user per month with a five-user minimum, and the tier is set by how much Essential Eight security is built in. Field staff and office staff are counted the same way. Call 1800 456 567 for a figure for your organisation.

No name · No email · No follow-up

Check your Essential Eight score

Eight questions, about two minutes. You’ll come out with a plain list of what’s holding up, what isn’t, and what it takes to fix each gap. Some of it you’ll be able to do yourself. Some of it honestly needs a hand — and if you’d rather not deal with any of it, it’s all covered in our support plans.

The list at the end is yours to keep and act on — that part is free, and there is nothing to sign for it. If you would rather we took some or all of it on, ask on chat and we will tell you what is involved.

The Essential Eight is an Australian Government standard, and every small business should be able to measure itself against it without paying for the privilege or handing over their details. There’s no form here, so whether we ever speak is your call.

One question for each of the Essential Eight, all at Maturity Level 1 — the baseline ASD says every small business should meet. About two minutes.

Question 1 of 8Patch applications

Apps

MFA

Admin

Control

Macros

Harden

Backups

answered you are here still to answer· eight groups, one per Essential Eight strategy · click any square to jump to it

Does anyone send you a patch report each month or on request, showing what got updated and what didn't?

Choose one of these four answersor press 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 to answer

Not sure what this question is asking? Ask on chat and we’ll explain what the standard means.

The two questions everybody asks last

What does it cost — and what happens to our week if we switch?

Fair questions, so here are both answers on one page. Our plans are the same three Essential Eight maturity levels you just read about — you aren't choosing between vague bundles, you're choosing how far up the Government's own standard you want to be.

Most popular
Fortress
$139/user/month
Essential Eight · Maturity Level 1
✓ Compliant · all 8 of 8 controls at ML1
Full compliance with the Australian Government's Essential Eight baseline — all eight strategies, implemented, managed and documented so you can prove it.
Where most businesses land: unlimited support for everything, full Essential Eight compliance, and human threat hunters watching around the clock.
- Support, unlimited
  When anything breaks — laptop, printer, server, Wi-Fi, software — your team calls, we fix it. No per-incident fees, no hourly rate, no cap: the 15-minute clock disappears entirely. Because calling costs nothing, nobody hesitates to report the small problems — so they never get the chance to become big ones. Priority goes by business impact: if it's stopping work, it jumps the queue.
- New starter on Monday? Software to install, permissions to change, a printer that needs configuring? All covered, unlimited, no extra charge. Your team asks through the portal or picks up the phone and it's done — a full IT department on call, without the salaries.
- The service desk fixes what breaks; your Account Manager owns where your technology is going. One named person who knows your business — not a rotating cast. At regular reviews they walk you through your Essential Eight Cyber Security Scorecard — what improved, what's exposed, what's worth doing next and what isn't — and when you ring with a half-formed "could we…?", they already know your setup well enough to give you a straight answer.
- Security, complete
  Fortress is where real compliance starts. All eight of the Australian Government's Essential Eight strategies — application control, patching applications and operating systems, macro settings, application hardening, restricted admin privileges, multi-factor authentication and regular backups — implemented, managed and documented. When your insurer, your biggest client or a government tender asks about your security posture, you have a real answer.
- Defender blocks software known to be bad. ThreatLocker works the other way around: nothing runs unless it's on your approved list — in their words, "if it is not allowed, it does not run." Ransomware doesn't run. A dodgy download doesn't run. Approved software is also ringfenced, so your PDF reader can open documents but can't reach into your files or out to the internet. Application control is the first strategy of the Essential Eight — it's a key reason Fortress reaches full compliance.
- Antivirus stops the attacks the world already knows about; EDR is for the ones nobody has seen yet. Huntress watches the behaviour of every computer for the tell-tale signs of an intruder — a foothold hidden in a legitimate program, ransomware warming up, an attacker moving between machines — and real analysts in a 24/7 security operations centre review what it finds. When something is genuinely wrong, they isolate the machine and evict the intruder. Average response: eight minutes. At 2pm or 2am.
Start with Fortress
Knox
$179/user/month
Essential Eight · Maturity Level 2
✓ Compliant · all 8 of 8 controls at ML2
Maturity Level 2 — stronger protection for businesses adversaries deliberately target, and the level expected for government and defence work.
Businesses handling sensitive data or working with government, defence and regulated industries — where compliance isn't optional.
Everything in Fortress, plus
- Compliance & data
  Level 1 stops opportunists. Level 2 is built for adversaries who pick their targets — because of what you do, what you hold, or who your clients are. Application control tightens, patching windows shrink, MFA expands, admin privileges narrow. For government and defence work, ML2 is frequently the entry ticket. We implement every control, keep the documentation current, and stand beside you at audit time.
- If you work with Defence — directly or in the supply chain — DISP security standards aren't negotiable; without them you can't hold the contracts. We implement the required controls, configure your systems to DISP guidelines, maintain the paperwork and walk you through assessment. Already in the sector? You stay eligible without the stress. Trying to enter it? This is the technical foundation to bid.
- Most data leaks aren't hacks — they're a tired employee emailing the wrong attachment to the wrong person. Microsoft Information Protection finds your sensitive data — tax file numbers, credit cards, Medicare numbers — wherever it lives, labels it, and stops it being forwarded, shared or downloaded where it shouldn't be. The label travels with the document. For DISP, ISO 27001 and Privacy Act obligations, it's protection you can demonstrate, not just claim.
- Double the mailbox, and the most Microsoft offers — for businesses where email is the record: contracts, drawings, advice, compliance history. Even your heaviest users won't hit the ceiling.
- Knox doesn't just implement the controls — it documents them. You get the audit-ready evidence pack that DISP assessors, ISO 27001 auditors, cyber insurers and enterprise clients ask for: what's in place, how it's configured, and proof it's maintained and reviewed. When someone asks you to demonstrate your security, you hand them a document instead of scrambling.
- Advanced threat defence
  An attack isn't one event — credentials stolen by email, then files touched, then privileges escalated. If your tools work in silos, nobody sees the pattern. Defender XDR joins every signal — email, devices, identities, cloud apps — into a single picture, so our analysts see the whole attack chain at once and shut down every part of it together.
Start with Knox
Titan
$219/user/month
Essential Eight · Maturity Level 3
✓ Compliant · all 8 of 8 controls at ML3
Maturity Level 3 — the highest level, built to withstand determined, well-resourced, targeted attackers. For those who can't afford "almost."
Chosen by organisations where a breach would be catastrophic — defence primes, health, finance and legal. The standard for those who can't afford "almost."
Everything in Knox, plus
- Maximum protection · Maturity Level 3
  The ceiling of the framework — designed with determined, well-resourced and state-sponsored attackers in mind. Every one of the eight controls implemented at full strength, maintained and validated continuously so you meet the standard every day, not just at audit. Typically held by organisations with classified information, critical infrastructure or high-value intellectual property.
- At Maturity Level 3 the patching window tightens to its strictest: critical vulnerabilities in internet-facing services and key software are fixed within 48 hours of a patch being available — not at the next maintenance window. We track your exposure continuously, so the clock starts the moment a fix exists.
- Application control runs at its strictest setting — only approved software executes, approved applications are ringfenced so they can't be turned against you, and the allowlist itself is validated against Microsoft's recommended block rules. This is the control that stops ransomware and never-before-seen malware from running at all.
- The full Essential Eight user application hardening at Maturity Level 3: web browsers, Microsoft Office and PDF software are blocked from launching other programs or running unvetted web content, risky scripting like Windows PowerShell is locked down and its use logged, and legacy components attackers exploit are removed. It closes the small, technical gaps that sophisticated attackers rely on once the obvious doors are shut.
- Security events from across your environment are collected centrally, protected from tampering, and monitored. If something does happen, there's a complete, trustworthy record to investigate and report from — the difference between "we think we're fine" and being able to prove exactly what occurred.
- The administrative accounts attackers most want are the hardest to get and the most closely watched: access is restricted, granted only when it's genuinely needed, and every privileged action is logged. At ML3, no-one holds permanent keys to everything.
Start with Titan

Minimum 5 users on all plans.Add-ons available on every plan: Microsoft Copilot AI · Azure & AWS virtual servers.

Compare the three plans side by side

And the part you're actually worried about

Nearly every group training and labour hire business we speak to raises the same real objection, and it isn't price — it's the fortnight of chaos they assume comes with changing providers. There isn't one. The work happens before anything changes, and changing providers is our problem to manage, not yours to survive.

04
Behind-the-Scenes Setup
We prepare head office, the field officers' laptops that never come in, and the mobile timesheet app — and we close the accounts of people whose placements ended months ago.
Only current people have access when we start.
05
The Seamless Switchover
We schedule the switch clear of a pay run, and payroll history moves with it. Bank-detail change controls are in place before the first pay is processed on the new setup.
Everyone gets paid, on time, to the right account.
06
Your Team Gets Comfortable
Office staff get the full handover. Field officers get support that works from a phone, in a car park, between visits.
Nobody has to drive to the office to get help.

See all seven steps, start to finish

Build systems that reach a workforce you never see.

Book your free Essential Eight Cyber Security Scorecard and we'll show you exactly where your organisation stands — field access, devices, payroll data and records — and what to fix first. No jargon, no obligation.

A plain-English Essential Eight Cyber Security Scorecard for your organisation
Where you stand on mobile devices, payroll data and record retention
A clear plan for onboarding, offboarding and work from anywhere

Prefer to talk?

Call 1800 456 567

Our office · Level 2, Suite 201, 7 James Place, Adelaide

Group Training & Labour Hire IT Support Adelaide

You employ them. Someone else hosts them.

What does IT support for a group training organisation involve?

Eight questions to ask the IT provider you already have

The payroll platform and the mobile timesheet app — which were patched last month?

Field officers' laptops that never come into the office — how many are behind on updates right now, and how would you know?

A workforce that signs in from anywhere — how many accounts can do that with only a password?

Who can change an employee's bank details before a pay run, and does a second person have to approve it?

A field officer installs a free scanning app to capture a paper timesheet. Does it run?

The award interpretation workbook runs on macros. What permits it and blocks an emailed one?

The browsers used for single touch payroll, apprenticeship portals and host client systems — what has been hardened?

If payroll history were encrypted the day before a pay run, when did you last prove you could restore it in time?

When a placement ends, how many days pass before that person's access is actually gone — and can you show me the last ten?

Asked them? Here's what to do with the answers.

The obligation stays with you

The IT challenges we solve for group training and labour hire

Your workforce is never in your office

You are the employer, not the host

Personal phones doing company work

Records that decide funding and disputes

Payroll data is the target

Constant onboarding and offboarding

Getting your organisation sorted is simple

Schedule a call

We assess your setup and build a roadmap

We manage it, so you can place people

Everything a field-based workforce needs, under one partner

Work from anywhere, properly

BYO mobile device management

Cybersecurity & Essential Eight uplift

Automated onboarding & offboarding

Records retention & recovery

Telephony that follows the team

A local team field-based employers trust

Imagine an intake that just works

Solutions for your industry

Microsoft 365

Cybersecurity

Voice & Video Conferencing

Frequently asked questions

What IT support do group training organisations need?

How do field mentors access systems from a job site?

Can we manage company data on staff personal phones?

How do we protect payroll data and tax file numbers?

What happens to accounts when a placement ends?

How do we handle twenty apprentices starting at once?

Where should training and competency records live?

Do we need the Essential Eight as a not-for-profit training organisation?

How do we keep WHS and incident records defensible?

How much does IT support for a labour hire business cost?

Check your Essential Eight score

Does anyone send you a patch report each month or on request, showing what got updated and what didn't?

What does it cost — and what happens to our week if we switch?

Fortress

Knox

Titan

And the part you're actually worried about

Behind-the-Scenes Setup

The Seamless Switchover

Your Team Gets Comfortable

Build systems that reach a workforce you never see.