About Hit IT
Hit IT keeps Christchurch businesses working. We look after the computers, email and IT systems your team relies on, and when something breaks, we get it sorted.
I'm Phil Hopkins. I've been building and fixing computers since I was 13, and when you call Hit IT, you'll be talking to me.
- 300+ businesses since 2009
- Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider
The day nobody could get back to work
In February 2011, I was about to drive into town. A client's server sat in an underground room in the middle of the city, and I had work to do on it.
And then the phone rang. Another client, from a rest home, wanted to call past and grab a laptop. So I stayed home in Burnside and waited for him.
We were together when the earthquake hit.
The part of town I'd been heading for was cordoned off. Across Christchurch, the internet was down and servers were down, or stuck inside buildings nobody could get back into. Many businesses ran their email and files off one server in the back office. Once everyone was safe, they needed to work, and they couldn't.
My phone didn't stop. My own clients called, then their clients, then businesses I'd never worked for, all trying to get back to work.
So we found ways. I set people up to work from home. Where a server was stuck in a building, I brought its backup to life on another machine so the business could keep going. As soon as Microsoft let businesses move their email into the cloud, I moved clients across, so one broken server couldn't take a whole business down.
It was hectic. But everyone sort of banded together, and it was a good community feeling, getting it all sorted.
That year changed my business. The owner of the QuickServ franchise I'd bought into left for Australia, and I carried on under the new name: Hit IT. The businesses I'd helped through the quakes sent their friends my way.
The quake showed me what matters for your IT: a setup where no single machine can stop you working, and someone close at hand who knows how your business runs.
Thankfully, most days the problem is smaller than a quake. A laptop that won't start, or someone who's locked out of their email. When you call about it, you'll hear "Let's get that sorted for you." And if it's the laptop, your email and files are usually still online, so you can keep working from your phone while I fix it.
For clients on a support plan, I've got software running in the background that watches their IT setup, so some problems are already sorted before anyone has to pick up the phone.
Phil Hopkins, Hit IT
Small on purpose
Hit IT is me, an off-sider, and a handful of specialists I bring in for phones, electrical and networking. We have technicians for the clients we look after outside Christchurch. With a small team, fewer people hold the keys to your systems.
A lot of the businesses that come to me have been through the same thing with a bigger IT company: a great sales pitch, then a technician who didn't understand their business at all. One had been waiting about four months for a job to get done.
I explain things in plain English, so you know what's being done and why. I stick to a few product lines I know inside out, because I'll only sell you something I know well and can vouch for. Ask me about a cheap second-hand laptop and I'll talk you out of it. The battery's worn, and in a couple of months you'd be telling me it's no good.
And you're not locked in. If you ever decide to leave, your documentation goes with you, and there's no extra charge for it.
Want IT support you don't have to think twice about calling?
Who you're working with
TEMP · placeholder testimonial, not consented
A personal interest in seeing that problem through
This is a firm who persist with solving a problem and take a personal interest in seeing that problem through.
The experience behind Hit IT
I've worked in IT for over 25 years. As a student, I worked at Vadals, an internet cafe in Cathedral Square.
Later I became IT manager at First Windows and Doors. I didn't think I'd get the job, because I thought I was too young. I got it, and moved their systems from DOS to Windows, including the software that works out every cut and calculation for their aluminium frames. They're still a client today.
I have a Bachelor of Business Computing from Christchurch Polytechnic (now Ara).
One seed-industry client has me speak at their conference each year: an hour on what's changing in IT (such as how you can use Copilot in Excel), then questions, and the rest of the day fixing computers one-on-one.
Outside work
Most of my spare time goes to my kids: twin girls and a son. He gets taken on plenty of adventures, because he needs a bit of time with Dad.
To unwind, you'll find me in the sauna, talking to whoever's next to me. It's that community feeling again.
People are usually surprised to hear I used to be a car dealer.
The Special Children's Christmas Party
Hit IT has sponsored the party in Canterbury since 2021. It's for children facing challenges, whether that's a disability, an illness or a hard time at home. With three kids of my own, it's something I'm kind of passionate about, and my way of making a little bit of a difference.
If you'd like your IT person to know your business before something goes wrong, this is where to start.