Built for small and medium businesses
PracticalAutomation
Smart Technology. Practical Outcomes.
Helping SMBs work smarter, save more, and grow. No jargon, no bloated projects, no enterprise price tags. Just technology that earns its keep.
Clear advice. Practical solutions. Measurable results.
Sound familiar?
Two problems. One practical answer.
Most businesses come to me in one of two situations. Both end the same way: with a plan that fits your business and your budget.
"We know we should be doing something with AI. We just don't know what."
You keep hearing that AI will change everything, but nobody has shown you what it actually looks like for a business your size. I'll help you cut through the noise, find the two or three things that would genuinely save you time or money, and turn them into a plan you can act on.
"We have a real problem to fix, but the last quote we got was eye watering."
You asked for help with an IT or operational headache and got back a proposal priced for a company ten times your size. Most SMB problems don't need enterprise solutions. They need someone to understand the problem properly and build the right sized fix.
What I stand for
Three promises, kept on every project
See the Possibilities
We help you discover how AI and IT can transform your business, explained in plain English, grounded in how you actually work day to day.
Solve What Matters
We build practical solutions that solve your biggest challenges, not the most fashionable ones. If something isn't worth fixing, I'll tell you.
Affordable and Achievable
Solutions that deliver real value without enterprise price tags. Scoped to what you need, built at a pace and a cost that make sense for an SMB.
"Understand the problem first. Then, and only then, build the solution."
Why work with me
I've spent my career in two worlds: account management and computer science. One taught me to sit with businesses, listen properly, and understand what's really getting in their way. The other taught me how to build the thing that fixes it.
Now I bring that same approach directly to SMBs: understand first, then solve, with answers that are right sized for your business rather than shrunk down versions of enterprise projects. Read the full story.
Ready to find your direction?
Start with a free 30 minute call, or tell me a little about your business and I'll send you some tailored thinking by email. No pressure, no obligation, no jargon.
How it works
A simple process, in the right order
We've spent years learning that the most expensive mistake in technology is solving the wrong problem well. So everything starts with understanding, and nothing gets built until the plan makes sense to you.
Have a conversation
We start with a free 30 minute call. You talk, we listen. Tell us what's frustrating you, what's slow, what's costing money, or simply what you're curious about. No preparation needed and nothing to sign.
Understand the real problem
The thing you first mention is often a symptom of something else. We dig into how your business actually runs before recommending anything, because a solution built on a misunderstanding is just an expensive new problem.
Get a plan that's actually achievable
You receive a clear, plain English plan: what we'd do, why, roughly what it takes, and what you'll get out of it. Sized for your business, not scaled down from a corporate playbook. If the honest answer is "you don't need us for this," that's what the plan will say.
Build it together
Once you're happy, we get to work. You'll always know what's happening and why, in language that makes sense. We measure the result against what we set out to achieve, because the point was never the technology. It was the outcome.
"This isn't a process we invented for a website. It's how we've always worked: listen first, understand properly, then build."
Years in account management taught us that businesses rarely need to be sold to. They need to be understood. A background in computer science means that once the problem is clear, we can actually build the answer rather than hand you off to someone else.
Services
Two ways in. One way of working.
Whether you're exploring what's possible or fixing something specific, the approach is the same: understand first, then build something practical.
Get started with AI
For businesses that want to understand what AI could realistically do for them, and need help turning that into a plan.
- A plain English walkthrough of what AI can and can't do for a business like yours
- A review of where your time and money actually go, to find the opportunities worth taking
- A shortlist of practical ideas, ranked by effort and payoff
- A realistic roadmap: what to try first, what to skip, and what to revisit later
- Help building the first solution, so the plan doesn't sit in a drawer
Fix it without the enterprise price tag
For businesses with an IT or operational problem who've been quoted something unworkable in the past.
- A fresh look at the problem, and an honest view on whether the big quote was justified
- A right sized alternative that fits how your business actually works
- Practical fixes for slow, manual, or error prone processes
- Straightforward improvements to the systems and tools you already have
- A result you can measure: time saved, costs cut, or headaches gone
Flexible by design. Every engagement is a package built around what you actually need, from a single fix to ongoing support. We'll agree the shape of it together once we understand the problem, so you're never paying for more than the job requires.
Get in touch
Let's talk about your business
Fill this in and I'll get back to you to arrange your free 30 minute call. A few lines is all it takes, we'll do the real talking on the call.
30 minutes, completely free. A relaxed conversation about your business, not a sales pitch.
Plain English, guaranteed. If I ever use a term you don't recognise, ask me to explain it. I will, happily.
Honest advice, always. If I don't think you need me, I'll say so and point you in the right direction anyway.
Thanks, message received
I'll be in touch shortly to arrange your free 30 minute call. Speak soon.
Stay informed
Not ready to talk? That's fine.
Tell me a little about your business and what's on your mind, and you'll hear from me by email with some tailored thinking on your situation. Useful, specific to you, and with no obligation to take it further.
Tailored, not templated. What you receive is based on what you tell me here, not a generic newsletter.
No pressure. If the timing's not right, keep the ideas and come back whenever suits you.
Thanks, you're in
You'll hear from me by email with some tailored thinking on your situation. Keep an eye on your inbox.
About
Hello, we're the team behind Practical Automation
We've built our practice on one habit: understanding the real challenge a business faces before building the solution that fixes it.
That habit comes from an unusual combination. Our background sits across account management and computer science. Account management taught us to listen: to sit with businesses of every shape and size, understand what's actually getting in their way, and earn the trust to help. Computer science gave us the other half: the ability to take what we've understood and build something that genuinely solves it.
Over the years we've seen the same pattern again and again. Technology projects don't usually fail because the technology is bad. They fail because nobody took the time to properly understand the problem first. And for smaller businesses there's a second trap: the solutions on offer are so often built and priced for enterprises, so a perfectly fixable problem starts to look impossibly expensive.
Practical Automation exists to close both of those gaps. We work directly with SMBs to find out what would genuinely make a difference, whether that's your first real step into AI or fixing an operational headache you've been living with for years. Then we build a right sized answer: practical, affordable, and measured against the outcome we agreed at the start.
No jargon, no scare tactics, no proposals designed to impress a procurement department. Just a straight conversation about your business, and technology that pays for itself.
If that sounds like the kind of help you've been looking for, we'd love to hear from you.