I made automation work for the big end of town. Then I wondered why it didn't exist for everyone else.
The most concrete thing I did at ASIC was take a 51-step company onboarding process and cut it down to seven. Nobody else had sat down and asked if all those steps were necessary. So I did.
I did that kind of work for Westpac, ANZ, CBA, IAG, and others. Enterprise systems. Zero room for error. It was good work, but here's what stuck with me: every time a big organisation wanted to modernise, they had the budget, the teams, and the patience. Meanwhile, the local tradie running his trade from a ute was still fielding phone calls after hours, losing leads because nobody answered.
I thought: if I can automate complex enterprise workflows, why couldn't someone put an AI system on their website that answers questions when they're asleep?
The answer was it's too expensive or too complicated. So I built one myself. Phoenix AI is the tool I wish existed when I was still consulting — a way for any Australian business to add 24/7 intelligent customer support without the enterprise price tag or the data-export compromise.