Question 1

How does pricing work?

Accepted Answer

Fixed-fee, fixed-scope. You agree the price up front and it doesn't move — if the build runs over, that's on us. Audits start at A$1,500 and the fee is credited if you proceed.

Question 2

How long does a build take?

Accepted Answer

Weeks, not months. A single-function automation is typically 2–4 weeks; an audit is 1–2 weeks. We move fast because we build AI-native.

Question 3

What is Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE)?

Accepted Answer

Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) are experienced engineers who embed directly with your team to deploy general AI intelligence to your specific processes, tech stack and workflows. Instead of selling you a one-size-fits-all tool, an FDE studies how your business actually runs — then builds and tunes automation around that reality.

Question 4

What does AI automation actually mean for a business like mine?

Accepted Answer

It means a computer doing a repetitive job you currently do by hand — reading an email and pulling the details out of it, turning an enquiry into a quote, chasing a customer who hasn't replied. It isn't a robot and it isn't a new system to learn. Most of the time you won't see it running at all; you'll just notice the job is already done.

Question 5

Is AI automation the same thing as ChatGPT?

Accepted Answer

Related, but not the same. ChatGPT is a chat window you type into and get an answer back. Business automation uses the same underlying technology, but wires it into your business so it runs on its own — no one has to remember to open it, type a question, or copy the answer somewhere. You get the result, not the chat.

Question 6

Is my business too small for AI automation?

Accepted Answer

No. Smaller businesses usually get more out of it, because the work sits with one or two people and there's nowhere for it to go when they're flat out. A team of three where one person quotes every evening is a better candidate than a company of two hundred with a department for it.

Question 7

Do I need to be technical, or have someone in IT?

Accepted Answer

No. If you can use email and your phone, you can use what gets built. It is set up for you, connected to what you already use, and handed over working. There is nothing to install and nothing for you to maintain.

Question 8

Do I have to change the software I already use?

Accepted Answer

Usually not. The point is to make what you already have work harder — your email, your accounting software, your spreadsheets. Connecting those beats asking you to move everything somewhere new. If something genuinely needs replacing you will be told, and told why.

Question 9

Will AI automation replace my staff?

Accepted Answer

Not in the businesses I work with. Small operators aren't overstaffed — they're behind. What automation takes off the pile is the work nobody wanted: re-keying, chasing, copying between systems. The usual result is that the people you already have stop doing the boring half of their job.

Question 10

My team aren't confident with computers. Will they actually use it?

Accepted Answer

That's a design problem, not a training problem. If a system needs a workshop to explain it, it's been built wrong. Good automation sits inside things people already use — email, the phone, a simple form — so mostly there's nothing new to learn. Where there is, it's one page, not a manual.

Question 11

Where should I start with automation?

Accepted Answer

With the job you'd hate to do twice today. Usually that's quoting, job intake or chasing paperwork — one narrow, repetitive task where you can tell within a fortnight whether it worked. Starting narrow is deliberate: it's cheap to prove, and cheap to walk away from if it doesn't suit you.

Question 12

Where does my business data actually go?

Accepted Answer

You should ask every supplier this. Before work starts you get it in writing: which systems the build touches, what it reads, what it writes, and where anything is stored. Where the work can run inside your own accounts rather than ours, it does. Your data is never sold or shared, and it is not used to train anything.

Question 13

What happens when automation gets something wrong?

Accepted Answer

It will occasionally, so it's built expecting to. Anything with money or a commitment attached gets a human check before it goes out, and you can pause or override it at any point. The rule is simple: automation drafts, a person approves — until you've seen enough of it to relax that.

Question 14

Do I have to tell my customers I'm using AI?

Accepted Answer

Sometimes, and the rules are tightening. From 10 December 2026, Australian privacy law requires organisations it covers to state in their privacy policy where a computer makes decisions that could significantly affect someone. Automated pricing or screening can fall under that; routine quoting and scheduling usually doesn't. Whether it applies to you depends on your business — check the OAIC or your own adviser.

Question 15

If I stop working with you, am I stuck?

Accepted Answer

No. You own what gets built — the accounts are in your name, the code and documentation are yours, and it keeps running whether or not we're involved. That's deliberate. If staying is a decision you re-make each year rather than a trap you're in, we have to keep being worth it.

Question 16

What if it breaks, or the software it connects to changes?

Accepted Answer

Things it connects to do change, and eventually something will break. You get documentation covering what was built and how it's wired, so any competent person can pick it up. If you'd rather we kept an eye on it, that's what a care plan is for — but it's optional, and plenty of people don't need one.

Question 17

How do I know the automation actually worked?

Accepted Answer

The number is agreed before starting — hours a week, quotes out the door, days to respond — and where it sits today is written down. Then you check it a month later. If it didn't move, it didn't work, and it's better to find that out on a small job than a big one.

Question 18

Can you work with government and compliance requirements?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We build to WCAG 2.2 AA — the standard Australian government digital services are held to — from the start, and run compliance-aware rollouts for public sector departments.

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