Most AI consultants advise.I build the systems.
I'm James Webb, an AI consultant in Brisbane. I founded LINK in 2012 and grew it into nine businesses running on systems I built - custom models, lead engines, automation and the dashboards that read it all. The same work, for clients, is what this page is for.
Most of it starts in the same place: your numbers are in Xero, the rest of the business is in four other systems, and nobody can see the whole picture. AI earns its place inside that - and where it does not, you will be told so.
James Webb
Founder, LINK.com.au
Proof in clients' businesses, not just ours.
AI is judged by what it quietly takes off a person's desk. Since 2012 this work has been done inside more than a hundred client businesses, and inside every one of LINK.com.au's own.
100+
client businesses worked with - rebuilt, with overall profitability dramatically improved while simultaneously cutting costs.
$100,000s
hundreds of thousands of dollars of software subscriptions replaced across those clients, with systems they own outright.
9
LINK.com.au businesses running on the same systems - we did it to ourselves first.
For clients, where the automation earned its place.
Commercial tiling contractor
Not an AI project - a fit project. simPRO did a great deal they had no use for and never what they needed; one custom system for staff, jobs, scheduling and quoting replaced it, and the revenue leaking between quote and invoice was the bigger win than the $55,000 saved.
Full write-up, on the custom software page →
Large online retailer
Stock, orders and customers in three products joined by the standard web integration. Their own back end - inventory, customers and the storefront as one system - took the glue out of the operation.
Full write-up, on the custom software page →
Multi-service online business
The automation case: leads and jobs route themselves to the right person, follow-ups and abandoned carts run on their own, customers are cross-referred between services. The inbox stopped being the system of record, and the same team takes on more work.
Full write-up, on the custom software page →
Some of our work, built front end to back end.
Some clients need only the back end rebuilt; some need only a new front end. A full business transformation rethinks everything, then redesigns the front end too - and these three got the whole job. Visit them, and check the engineering facts, before we have spoken.
Visit feum.comFEUM
FinanceMember app and owner's Command centre, with every buy and transfer behind an explicit approval and a double-entry ledger underneath.
See the build →
Visit recruited.com.auRecruited
RecruitmentCRM and ATS in one workspace for Australian agencies: a Today screen, a pipeline that flags stalled candidates, and search that shows its working.
See the build →
Visit eventman.com.auEventman
EventsEnquiry to last round for mobile bars, caterers and hire: an event board, crew and rosters, checklists that re-date themselves, and the money owed.
See the build →
Every capture shows demonstration data. The clients are not named; the products are public.
AI consulting services, three ways in. Buy any of them on their own.
Connect it, then show me the numbers
Xero joined to the systems the rest of the business runs on - job management, CRM, payroll, POS - and the result presented as one panel that answers how the business is actually going. We implement the right tools rather than rebuilding what exists, and LINK's accountants help you read it.
Your numbers are in five places and none of them agree.
Dashboards & management reporting →Build the system
Custom AI backends, internal tools, CRMs, lead engines, scoring and routing, document and data pipelines. Built on a real database with your process as the model. Where an open-source model is the right answer it gets deployed and run properly rather than rented by the token.
You know the problem and want something that works.
Custom software →Strategy and roadmap
Where AI genuinely fits in your business and where it does not, what to automate first, build versus buy, what it costs to run, and the governance around anything customer-facing. A roadmap you could hand to another developer, not a deck.
You know AI matters and want an honest map before spending.
The whole-business version →Not sure AI is the question? Most of this is plain systems work - a systems review, business automation or, for the ongoing seat, a fractional CTO.
Three things an AI consultant should tell you and usually doesn't.
Most businesses do not need a custom AI system
They need their existing tools connected properly and two or three processes automated. That is a smaller, cheaper job and you will be told so in the first conversation.
AI is not the interesting part
The data model underneath it is. An AI layer over messy, badly-structured data produces confident nonsense faster. Most of a good build is the boring part, and skipping it is why so many AI projects quietly get switched off.
A human approves anything customer-facing
Content, replies, quotes, anything a customer sees. Not because the models are bad, but because your name is on the output and nobody outsources their reputation to a probability distribution.
And on our own side, the systems LINK runs on.
Built in-house, running nine businesses right now. Several are public - go and use them before we have spoken.
Custom models, built not bought
Purpose-built models running the CRM, lead management, automation, team and customer management across LINK.
$40,000 a year of software replaced
The CRM, lead management and automation layers were subscriptions before they were built in-house.
rank.™ and rankbot
The automated SEO engine behind LINK Marketing's plans: tracking, on-page fixes, content scheduling, competitor monitoring, unattended.
InstantScan
A server-side scorer that runs ten on-page checks on any URL - and the same code runs clients' monthly sweeps on a cron.
The Rescue assessment engine
A six-question scoring tool for directors under pressure, scored server-side so it cannot be gamed, delivered three ways at once.
Nine sites, one stack
Every LINK business rebuilt onto one modern stack with its own lead capture, attribution and structured data - rankings kept.
Calculators and qualifiers
Fee estimators, a valuation model, borrowing and retirement calculators, a brand health check - each a lead engine wearing a useful tool as a coat.
Lead routing and delivery
Every enquiry scored, routed to the right desk and attributed to its campaign - including the one that sends this page's enquiries straight to James.
It costs less than it used to, and you own it at the end.
Custom software has a reputation earned in a different decade. The tooling has changed what one experienced builder can ship, and the comparison worth making is not against zero - it is against the per-seat subscriptions charged forever. Across LINK's own businesses, building instead of renting took about $40,000 a year out of the software bill.
What gets built is yours: the code, the database, the logic of how your business works - handed over, not licensed back. And where an off-the-shelf tool genuinely does the job - Xero's own reporting, Fathom - you will be told to buy it rather than sold a worse version of it.
Here for AI in your SEO and marketing?
That is a different job from building a system, and it is already productised. LINK Marketing runs it on the tooling above - rank.™ from $250 a month, and AI search visibility: being cited by AI assistants and AI Overviews, not just ranked.
Not sure AI is even the question? Ask anyway.
Tell me what's not working. If the honest answer is a connection, a product you can buy, or nothing custom at all, that is what you'll hear.
Common questions.
What does AI consulting actually mean here?
Three things, and you can buy any of them on their own. Building systems - custom AI backends, CRMs, lead engines, internal tools, automation. Strategy - an honest roadmap of where AI fits in your business and where it does not. And growth - using AI to be found in AI search and to run content and follow-up at a scale you could not staff. What it does not mean is a workshop, a maturity assessment or a slide deck.
What makes you different from every other AI consultant right now?
Most are reselling somebody else's tool or advising on work they have never done. LINK's own nine businesses run on systems built in-house - an automated SEO engine, custom models behind the CRM and lead management, scoring and routing, a stack of calculators and lead engines - and you can go and use several of them right now. Outside LINK, the client builds on this page are running in their businesses. That is a different conversation from a capability statement.
Do you build custom models, or wire up someone else's product?
Custom, where it matters. The models running LINK's CRM, lead management, automation, team management and customer management were built for those specific jobs rather than bought and configured. Where a hosted model genuinely is the right tool for part of a build it gets used, and the cost, privacy and control trade-off gets made with you rather than for you.
Can this replace software we currently pay for?
Often, and that is frequently what pays for the build. LINK's own CRM, lead management and automation layers were subscriptions before they were built in-house - about $40,000 a year of them across nine businesses. Whether it stacks up for you is a maths question, and the discovery answers it honestly: if your current stack is cheaper than replacing it, you will be told that.
How much does it cost?
No published price, because a two-week integration and a six-month platform build are not the same product. It starts with a technical discovery: what you run today, where the friction actually is, and whether a build is justified. You get a scoped quote and a written recommendation out of that, including the recommendation to do nothing if that is the right call.
Will my data be safe?
It is the first thing scoped, not the last. Where data cannot leave your infrastructure, the system is built so it does not - which is one of the strongest arguments for a self-hosted open-source model. Where hosted models are used, what goes to them and what never does is decided explicitly and written down.
Can you work with our existing developer or IT team?
Yes, and often that is the cheapest way to do it: the strategy and architecture come from here, your team builds it, and the roadmap is written to be handed over. Where there is no internal team, the build runs here end to end.
Is AI going to replace my SEO or my marketing team?
No, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling something. What it changes is the leverage: the repetitive hours get done by a machine and the people spend theirs on the decisions. That is exactly how rank.™ works and why productised SEO can start at $250 a month - not because a person was removed, but because their time moved to where it was worth more.
Do you work outside Brisbane?
Yes. Building and running AI systems is mostly remote work, so clients are Australia-wide. LINK is in Fortitude Valley, so if you want an AI consultant in Brisbane, discovery happens in person where it is useful.
Are you an AI agency?
Not in the usual sense. An AI agency typically configures someone else's product and keeps you on a monthly retainer to run it. Here the work is consulting and building: work out where AI earns its place, then build the system and hand it over for you to own. If an existing product already does the job, I will tell you to buy that instead.
Tell me what's not working.
This goes straight to my inbox - not a sales team, not a queue. If the honest answer is that you do not need a custom build, that is the answer you will get, including when the answer is rank.™ at $250 a month rather than anything custom.