IT Resilience: Tested by Fire
How a fire nearly took out a business, but their IT never missed a beat
The Day Everything Went Up in Flames
McGrath Quality Accountants, a respected CPA firm in Coffs Harbour, built their business on precision and trust. Led by Kylie Marle, they support individuals and small businesses with expert financial services — and like most firms today, their operations rely heavily on digital systems.
So, when a fire broke out in their office during the early hours of Sunday morning, it wasn’t just the physical space that was at risk, it was their business.
The server, tragically, sat right in the heart of the flames. It melted. Workstations were destroyed. Kylie and her team were suddenly facing a nightmare scenario.
When Tech Fails, the Real Worry Sets In
The equipment loss was obvious. But what really kept Kylie up that night was the thought of the data, all the sensitive client information, accounting records, and compliance files.
Was it all gone? Could they recover? Would the business grind to a halt?
No business owner should ever have to face those kinds of questions alone.
The Call That Changed Everything
That morning, Kylie reached out to her IT partner TCA through their after-hours support line.
Luke from TCA answered. Before jumping into solutions, he did something even more important: he reassured her. He reminded Kylie that all their data was securely backed up in the cloud. Nothing was lost. And better yet TCA would take care of the rest.
It was the kind of calm confidence that only comes from a team that’s done this before.
Backup Is Great. A Reliable Partner? Even Better.
By the next business day, TCA set up a cloud solution for the client to access their data online. They immediately began planning for loan equipment to be deployed once a new premises was confirmed. The recovery process kicked off quickly, and Kylie’s team was already accessing critical business data even though their physical office remained unusable.
It wasn’t just that the data was backed up. It was that the right people were in place to restore it fast, securely, and with no stress on the client.
One Simple Step Made All the Difference
Kylie didn’t have to navigate tech chaos or hunt for vendors. She didn’t have to figure out recovery logistics. She just made one phone call to TCA and everything else followed.
Because they already had a Managed IT Support agreement in place, the response was immediate and complete.
What Could Have Been a Disaster... Wasn’t
Without TCA, the consequences could have been devastating lost data, weeks of downtime, frustrated clients, and financial setbacks.
Instead, McGrath Quality Accountants kept moving forward. No data loss. No breach of client trust. No panic. Just a smart, steady path to recovery.
“It Took One Thing Off My Mind to Worry About”
Kylie summed it up best in a note she sent after the incident:
"TCA has been extremely easy, quick, and great to work with. It took one thing off my mind to worry about knowing that everything was backed up and able to be restored so quickly. Luke is amazing."
Kylie Marle | CPA Accountant, McGrath & Associates
McGrath Quality Accountants has now fully replaced their damaged equipment and are back to business as usual. But one thing is different: they now know without a doubt that their IT partner has their back no matter what.
