Solving today's business challenges. Direction for what's next.
I'm Ali Robertson. I help business owners and leaders find the right way forward when systems aren't working, costs are rising or the business needs to evolve. Bringing strategy, technology and marketing together to set a clear path their people can carry out.
Where it usually starts
Costs have crept up.
You're paying for more than you use, and nobody can say which parts you could stop paying for without something breaking.
The business model is shifting.
What has earned your money for years is going away, and you want to know what replaces it before it goes.
Your systems don't agree.
The same numbers live in three places and get typed in twice, or an integration keeps failing and the last attempt to fix it stalled. You want it found, fixed and reliable.
The person who built it has left.
Systems nobody fully understands, a project that stopped when they did, and knowledge that went out the door with them. You want a map of what's there and someone to pick it up.
The organisation is changing shape.
A merger, a split or a restructure means people and systems from different places have to work as one, without losing what each side did well.
Something new is possible.
The tools have changed, and you want to know which changes are worth making in your business.
I deliver a clear path.
A long term strategy: where you are, where you're going and the way there. I validate the hard part myself, and hand the rest to your team or your IT provider.
- Durable. A path forward for the next 5-10 years.
- Buildable. From an experienced operator at all levels.
- Honest. Frank, clear-eyed, and meaningful feedback.
- Simple. It just makes sense, and seems obvious.
He has been very helpful in guiding me through the launch of my digital business and [I] am grateful for his support.
What you can count on
Improve your capability
- Your people can run it. It's written down and built on standard platforms, so your own team can look after it and change it.
- The plan carries on without me. It's written so your organisation can follow it whether I'm there or not.
Avoid lock-in
- It's yours. I advise you to own the domain, the Microsoft 365 tenant, the code and the admin accounts, and I work with the access you give me.
- Nothing is hidden. Someone else could take it over.
- You can leave. If you take it elsewhere, I'll help hand it over.
- No vendor money. No commissions, referral fees or licence margins, so the advice is about what's right for you, and it often costs less.
Work
An integration nobody understood
A global environmental services company had an ERP integration spanning several systems, with about $100 million a year going through it. It wasn't working, and its source code and documents had been lost through several mergers and acquisitions. I decompiled it and found it had grown from Excel to an Access database to SharePoint. I fixed it, documented it and recommended a migration path.
When the key engineer left
A key engineer for multiple foundational operational systems left on short notice. They had been entrenched for many years, with much tacit knowledge. I took over, documented everything, developed durable procedures, designed replacement team roles, and handed over to them.
A business model that had to change
A business faced a fundamental shift away from a core profit-driving activity. I converted the tools they used for that job into a continuously delivered SaaS product, turned their customers into a SaaS client base, and delivered technical foundations for a profitable, global, award winning product.
Licences nobody was using
A large business was paying for Microsoft licences it wasn't using. I analysed and automated its licensing, and the changes save about $1 million a year.
A start-up's brand
I designed the brand and website for a web presentation start-up. Y Combinator accepted it, Google bought it and it became Google Slides.
Invoicing for hospital suppliers
I developed the key marketing ideas for a shared invoicing service for hospital suppliers. Major suppliers and governments across the country adopted it.
Off virtual desktops
A network installer ran on virtual desktops, so its crews couldn't reach their documents out on the job. I moved it to Microsoft 365 and cloud accounting, and rebuilt its website. Recurring IT costs fell 80 percent.
A restaurant without a till
A restaurant in Melbourne's inner west lost its point of sale. In one day I replaced it, rebuilt the network and launched a new website.
Who I am
I've worked in technology for twenty years. I was a director of Kingfisher International, an advanced manufacturer, through its sale to an overseas buyer. At Sope I led a software product that runs from ten seats to a hundred thousand. I'm solution architect at VACCA, an Aboriginal community-controlled organisation.
I work by myself on the direction, the architecture and the hardest fixes. When a job needs a delivery team or a managed service, I bring in consultancies and providers I've worked with for years, and they bring me in when a project of theirs is stuck. My scripts, and the Microsoft communities I help run, are at ali.id.au, and my work is on GitHub and LinkedIn.
He has been very helpful in guiding me through the launch of my digital business and [I] am grateful for his support.
When it comes to tackling complex challenges, Ali is your go-to person. He thrives on problem-solving and never backs down from a tough challenge. But you know what sets him apart? His willingness to share his wisdom and insights. Ali's not just a problem solver; he's a knowledge sharer.
Ali's creativeness was instrumental in the development of our corporate website design. Ali [brought] to the table visionary ideas and forward thinking as to how the website should function and look.
Ali came into our organisation and got to work in a very proactive way in making improvements - seeing what needed to be done and getting on with it very efficiently and effectively.