You're not alone: 90% of businesses find their expensive IT solutions do not deliver what was promised, and in many cases, become a big waste of money. The sad truth is that IT people are usually their own worst enemy. As you've probably noticed, they have trouble translating technical concepts into the real world, and they struggle to explain themselves in plain English. What results is confusion for everybody... about what is to be done, how long it will take, and how much it should cost.

Through my 25+ years of business and IT industry experience (with big and small companies), I have developed a very unique set of skills that allow me to work effectively with both business people and the folks in IT.

As your trusted adviser, I filter and condense the IT chatter down to a single, clear stream of actionable information, solid recommendations, and ongoing project management as required.

I am skilled in communicating your needs to the IT folks in a way that they can relate to and clearly understand. I help ensure their promises are realistic, and their actions are aligned to your business objectives. I monitor their progress to ensure those promises stay on-track, until the job is done.

Your first 30 minutes is free. We can talk on the phone, or online (eg. Skype). I'll ask you about your current challenges and needs, and give you some quick, actionable tips on the call. If I can help you further, I'll tell you. If I can't, I'll tell you, and try to refer someone who can. 

If we decide to work together, I charge in blocks of 8 hours (ie. days), paid in advance. Many clients find 8 hours covers their needs for an entire month of progress. 

I keep a record of hours spent and invoice you again once the 8 hours is up. I will always let you know when you are nearing the the end of each block of my time, so you can plan ahead.

To ensure consistency of service to all my clients, I ask that you consume each block of my time within 3 months of purchase.

I've been interested in computers and business since 1980. At the tender age of 5, I wrote my first lines of code on a Commodore Vic-20, and I've been a bit of a nerd like that ever since. My dad always ran his own businesses, so even as a kid in school, I knew that I would start my own companies. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have made a very good firefighter, in any case.

I've had the privilege of a great education, but as we all know that counts for little in the real world. I worked for years at a senior software engineer level, then as an software architect, on projects for large multinationals. I hired and lead a high-end team for a well-known payments gateway,  and through our efforts we turned around a highly toxic customer relationship with a major customer. The project had been floundering and mis-managed for months before I showed up. We started from scratch, and in just over a year, delivered the $1M project on-time and within budget. That project unlocked a further $20M more business for our company, and I was promoted to engineering management, with five teams underneath me. My teams were known for delivering on-time, and above expectations. By then, my primary customers were American Express and Mastercard.

After a few years, I eventually made the leap into the wonderful world of startups, including a highly innovative Financial Services business (circa 2012), where I architected and hand-coded an end-to-end Fact Find and SOA Presentation system that was entirely online. Our advisers never left the office, and we cut the time to contract signing from an average of 60+ days down to less than two weeks!

I later worked as the CTO and product manager for an online CPD (learning) startup. This gave me further exposure to the compliance realities of mortgage broking and financial services. It also took me to one of my favourite cities in the world: Manila (in the Philippines). I set up and operated an office in Manila for our business, with 30 staff, including web developers, customer support, sales and eLearning. Through my years in Asia, I've gained a broad appreciation for doing business at scale (there are 20M+ people just in Metro Manila alone... the Philippines has 100M+ total). I now have a strong network and solid expertise in offshoring, particularly in the Philippines, and I've helped several other Australian businesses navigate the strangely similar, but actually very different business environments that you find in Asia.

I didn't get rich from startups (yet), but I sure learned a lot along the way. The biggest lesson I've learned is that an idea is only valuable if you can communicate it effectively (and sell it!)

Today as an advisor, I focus on  helping business visionaries execute fast, predictably, and cost-effectively. As a favourite mentor of mine once said: IT should never be a cost center... it should be directly linked to increasing your sales. I've helped businesses across many industries now, including marketers, online educators, and even a cryptocurrency do exactly that. Because I can communicate your needs to IT in a way that they truly understand.

I'd love to talk further with you about how we can get that job done for you.