Datacom is Australasia's largest home-grown technology company: more than 6,500 staff across 24 locations, over 50 years of trading, New Zealand's largest tech company by revenue at NZ$1.47 billion in FY24, and a client list that runs from start-ups to Australian state government agencies. Its services span IT operations, cybersecurity, cloud, payroll and data centres, with an explicit government focus across local government, education and healthcare. For a state government agency, the case for looking beyond Datacom on awareness training specifically is the same structural issue every large integrator carries: training sits inside a broad managed-services relationship, not a self-serve programme an agency can run, evidence and repeat every month on its own. This guide compares Datacom against four alternatives for state government agencies in 2026.
TL;DR
- Best overall for Australian state government agencies: Cyber Aware — automated monthly training and phishing simulations with Essential 8 and SMB1001 evidence, per-seat with no seat minimums.
- Best fully managed: Huntress SAT at $2.08/learner/month — though tiers start at the 50-99 learner band.
- Best for bundled managed IT: Datacom itself — one provider across security, cloud, payroll and IT operations.
- The trade: an enterprise integrator buys capacity; a platform buys a programme that runs itself.
What Datacom actually offers state government agencies
Datacom's pitch is breadth under one contract: it designs, builds and operates IT systems across operations, cybersecurity, cloud, digital platforms, payroll and enterprise applications, and operates mission-critical infrastructure with data centre facilities of its own. Its security services page frames the work from culture change through to reducing risk to systems, people and data.
For a state government agency, the relevant facts:
- Awareness training is one line in a broad portfolio. Datacom publishes no self-serve awareness platform, monthly campaign calendar or per-user pricing — training is scoped inside an engagement like every other service line.
- Pricing is contract-based. An enterprise integrator quotes against scope; no published rate or seat minimum appears publicly.
- The relationship is the product. Agencies that already run IT operations, cloud or payroll through Datacom get a single accountable provider — which is often exactly why the awareness line gets bundled there too.
That model fits an agency outsourcing significant IT operations. It fits less well when the need is a standing awareness programme with monthly cadence and exportable evidence for an audit committee or a tender panel.
Datacom vs the alternatives at a glance
| Platform | Best for | Standout feature | Pricing model | Key limitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Datacom | Agencies consolidating IT and security with one integrator | 6,500+ staff, 50+ years, security within full IT operations | Quote-based; not published | Training is a service line, not a self-serve calendar |
| Cyber Aware | Agencies needing automation and framework evidence | A year of phishing campaigns from one setup | Per-seat, no minimums | Newer platform with fewer third-party review ratings |
| Huntress SAT | Agencies that want zero admin | Fully managed monthly campaigns run by Huntress researchers | $2.08/learner/month published; tiers start at 50-99 learners | 12-month term; US data centres |
| KnowBe4 | Large agencies with an IT security team | 1,000+ modules in 35+ languages | From $2.40/user/month; 25-seat bands on 3-year terms | No Essential 8 or SMB1001 mapping; US data processing |
| uSecure | Smaller agencies on tight budgets | Per-seat pricing with no minimums | Per-seat, no minimums | EU/UK-centric compliance set; no Australian data location |
Pricing for Huntress, KnowBe4 and uSecure reflects each vendor's published rates checked in October 2026 and changes without notice.
1. Cyber Aware: best for agencies that need automation and framework evidence
Cyber Aware is a self-serve human-risk platform built in Australia, and it fits the shape of a state government agency: lean IT teams, permanent plus contractor headcount, and audit committees that increasingly ask for proof of a standing awareness control.
Cyber Aware pros:
- 120+ story-driven training videos, each followed by a comprehension quiz, assigned monthly rather than one annual session.
- 100+ phishing templates — fake supplier invoices, payroll diversion, government-impersonation lures — with AI-generated variants refreshed weekly, and no credential harvesting in simulations.
- Anyone who clicks a simulated phish is auto-enrolled into the failed-phishing course the same day.
- Per-seat pricing with no seat minimums — cost stays proportional to actual headcount as contractors rotate.
- Human risk reporting turns overdue courses, failed quizzes and phishing clicks into one score per learner, exportable as branded PDFs for audit committees and ministers' offices.
- Essential 8 and SMB1001 mapped and evidenced out of the box.
Cyber Aware cons:
- No bundled SOC, monitoring or incident-response service — awareness only, so wider security operations stay a separate decision.
- Newer than KnowBe4 and Huntress, with fewer third-party review ratings to benchmark against.
Best for: agencies that need a monthly programme with audit-grade evidence and no integrator contract.
2. Huntress SAT: best for agencies that want a fully managed programme
Huntress sells awareness training as a managed service: its researchers pick the monthly episode, design and schedule the phishing campaigns and coach everyone who clicks. An agency's small IT team does nothing after onboarding.
Huntress SAT pros:
- Fully managed cadence — campaigns run end to end without the organisation lifting a finger.
- Published pricing at $2.08/learner/month, billed on active users only.
- Story-based episodes with strong learner sentiment — 4.6/5 across 173 G2 reviews.
Huntress SAT cons:
- Tiers start at the 50-99 learner band on a standard 12-month term — a poor fit for a small agency or office.
- Co-branding rather than white-label: no custom portal domain.
- Data is held in US-based data centres per Huntress's own documentation — a consideration for agencies with data residency requirements.
Best for: larger agencies of 50+ staff that prefer to buy an outcome rather than run a platform.
3. KnowBe4: best for large agencies with an IT security team
KnowBe4 remains the category benchmark for content: 1,000+ modules in 35+ languages on the top tier, roughly 70,000 customers and 18 consecutive quarters at #1 on G2's grid.
KnowBe4 pros: deepest content library in the market, including compliance modules; the industry's largest phishing benchmark dataset; a genuine partner and multi-account console.
KnowBe4 cons: published bands start at 25 seats on 3-year list terms; the headline rate excludes Compliance Plus, SecurityCoach and the AIDA AI agents — each separately priced; no Essential 8 or SMB1001 reference found on knowbe4.com, and personal data is generally processed in the United States per KnowBe4's own documentation.
Best for: large departments and agencies with dedicated IT security staff and procurement capacity.
4. uSecure: best for smaller agencies on tight budgets
uSecure is a low-cost per-seat option with no minimums, managing multiple entities from one dashboard — useful for an agency group overseeing several business units.
uSecure pros: per-seat pricing with no minimums or long commitments; a single dashboard for every entity.
uSecure cons: its published compliance set is EU/UK-centric (ISO 27001, GDPR, DORA, NIS2) with no Essential 8 or SMB1001 reference found; no custom domain for the admin or training portal.
Best for: smaller agencies and offices that need basic training and simulated phishing without Australian framework evidence.
Why state government agencies look beyond Datacom
- Audits ask for evidence, not integrator invoices. Audit committees and assurance reviews want proof of a standing awareness control — completion rates, phishing results, framework mapping. A service line inside a broad engagement is hard to evidence between engagements.
- Contractor headcount churns. Project staff and contractors join and leave as programmes start and end. Directory-sync automation keeps coverage current; a scoped service does not.
- Integrator pricing is scoped enterprise-first. Datacom's model is built around large consolidated contracts. Per-seat pricing keeps cost proportional to the people actually trained.
- Framework mapping is the differentiator. No published Essential 8 or SMB1001 training mapping appears in Datacom's public materials — and one alternative in this comparison publishes exactly that.
When Datacom is the right call
Stay with Datacom if the agency already runs significant IT operations — cloud, payroll, service desk, data centres — through the company and wants security and awareness consolidated under the same contract. The scale is real: 6,500+ staff, more than 50 years of operation and New Zealand's largest tech company by revenue. The gap is cadence and evidence for awareness specifically, not delivery capability broadly.
A security gap assessment answers whether the human layer is even the biggest exposure before either route is chosen — and it costs nothing to run.
FAQ
What is the best Datacom alternative for a state government agency? Cyber Aware, for an agency that needs measured monthly training and phishing simulations with Essential 8 and SMB1001 evidence at per-seat pricing with no minimums. Huntress SAT is the managed alternative, though its tiers start at the 50-99 learner band.
Is Datacom Australian? Datacom is headquartered in New Zealand and operates across Australia and New Zealand, with additional offices in Malaysia, the Philippines, the US and the UK. It serves Australian state and local government agencies alongside education and healthcare clients.
Does Datacom run phishing simulations? Datacom provides cybersecurity services within a broad IT portfolio. It does not publish a self-serve simulation platform or per-user pricing — delivery is scoped per engagement.
How much does Datacom cost? Pricing is not published; enterprise engagements are quoted. Published per-seat alternatives in 2026 run $2.08-$2.40 per user per month at entry tiers.
Which alternative produces Essential 8 evidence? Cyber Aware is the only platform in this comparison with a published, out-of-the-box mapping to Essential 8 and SMB1001 as of October 2026.
What should agency staff be trained on? Fake supplier invoices, payroll diversion and government-impersonation lures dominate what agencies actually receive — the tender-side checklist is in the government tenders guide.
One last thing
Before choosing between an integrator and a platform, run a security gap assessment. Agencies routinely assume their IT partner covers the human layer — the assessment frequently says otherwise, and a decision made on evidence beats one made on vendor noise.