Sales and Marketing
Proposals, campaigns and client content drafted from your positioning, pricing and past wins. One professional services firm cut its contractor cost by 45% and broke even within two months.
Our Expertise
AI Advisory and Implementation
We get your people, processes and AI properly working together, so your business has the capacity for growth.
Working with businesses in New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. The people in your first meeting do the work.
Book a CallClients across New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore
The Challenge
Growth Limited by Your Team's Capacity
Demand is there, but your best people are at capacity. It's a good problem to have, and it's the one we help you solve.
Demand Outgrows the Team
More work is coming in than your people can take on without longer weeks or more hires.
A Few People Hold the Knowledge
The same people answer the questions and check the work. When they're busy or away, the work waits.
Information Is Spread Across Tools
Pricing, procedures and client history sit in systems that don't talk to each other, so finding context takes longer than the task.
Everyone Uses AI Differently
Some people use AI every day in their own tools; others don't trust it. There's no shared setup and no agreed rules.
We start with how the work is done today and fix the process before any AI goes in.
What We Build
The Work We Build AI Into
We start with the work that takes your team's time and build AI into it one workflow at a time.
Finance and Reporting
Month-end commentary, multi-entity reporting and investor packs drawn from Xero and your own systems, with a person checking every figure before anything goes out to the board or investors.
Operations Data
Inspection forms, job sheets and site notes turned into data your systems can use. Quantem's inspection forms went from 40 to 60 minutes each to between 90 and 150 seconds.
Research and Insight
Research, due diligence and technical know-how your whole team can search, with each answer traced to its source, so the few people who know aren't the bottleneck any more.
How It Works
Start With AI Foundations, Then Build Area by Area
Most clients start with AI Foundations, then build one area of the business at a time. Each stage has a fixed fee.
AI Foundations
3 to 4 weeks
Where new clients start: something working within weeks, without a big programme.
- Your processes mapped into a roadmap
- An AI platform set up with your company's context
- A usage policy and your first workflows in use
Implementation Sprints
3 to 6 weeks each
Each sprint builds the workflows for one area of the business, following the roadmap.
- Discovery and scope in week one
- The process fixed before AI goes in
- Workflows tested, each with an owner
Ongoing Support
After go-live
Others build and leave. We stay to tune each workflow as your team uses it.
- 2 to 3 months of tuning after go-live
- Then optional managed AI services
- Your setup kept current as the tools change
Our Approach
People and Process First
We start with how your business runs, then the knowledge and data behind it. Technology comes last.
Explore How We WorkPeople: who does the work and who owns it
We start with the people doing the work: where their time goes, what they need and who will own each workflow once it's live. A foundations workshop brings the leadership team and the wider team up to speed on the new setup, and a person stays in charge of every output that matters.
Process: fixed before AI goes in
We map how the work gets done across the business, including the handovers, approvals and exceptions. Then we fix the process before any AI goes in, using Lean Six Sigma where it helps, so there's a baseline to measure the change against.
Knowledge: what your business knows, in one place
Pricing, procedures, client history and templates usually sit with a few people or across scattered files. We bring them into one company context the AI can read, held in your own systems, so every workflow follows the way your business works.
Technology: chosen last, connected to your systems
Claude, ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot, whichever fits your environment, connected to the systems you already run on. We build integrations where a workflow needs them and test everything with the people who'll use it until it's right.
In Practice
Results That Bring Clients Back
Once the first workflows prove their value, most clients move on to the next area of the business.
- 74%Of clients have bought a second engagement
- 2Months to break even on one professional services build
- 80%Faster field data processing for Bridge It NZ
Industrial OperationsInspection Forms in Seconds
Inspection forms took 40-60 minutes each to type up. AI now reads and checks them, and a coordinator reviews every form.
Read the Case Study
ConstructionField Data Processed 80% Faster
Site knowledge sat with a few people. Voice capture and documented procedures now move field data to the office 80% faster.
Read the Case Study
Field Services2 to 3 Hours Back Each Week
Field staff now record jobs by voice for the admin team, and AI tools give office staff 2-3 hours back each week.
Read the Case Study
In Their Words
We have moved from ad-hoc ‘shadow AI’ usage to a secure, enterprise-grade AI foundation that respects our strict healthcare data privacy requirements in Hong Kong… We now possess a clear, data-driven roadmap and an internal culture that is rapidly pivoting from AI curiosity to practical, secure application.
Ben Carton, Managing DirectorMeet the Senior ELab Team
The Humans Behind Your AI
Operators who learn your business from the inside. The people in your first meeting do the work.
Meet the Senior Team
Antoni TisotManaging Director and Founder Head of Innovation at Downer New Zealand, and previously at Y Combinator-backed EquipmentShare.
Franco SioquimCTO and Co-Founder Founding engineer at San Francisco AI startups including Vapi, and technical lead at EquipmentShare.
Tushar SinghHead of AI and Data Machine learning and data specialist. Previously Head of Customer Analytics at Capgemini Invent, London.
Natalia MungallHead of Delivery Programme and delivery leadership at Vodafone, Mitre 10, Fulton Hogan and KiwiRail.
Practical Questions
Scope, Cost and Working Together
What does an AI consultant do?
An AI consultant works out where AI should go first in a business and plans the change. We do that and then build it, with the same people from the first meeting to go-live.
What does it cost?
AI Foundations and each implementation sprint have a fixed fee, agreed before work starts. The fee depends on the workflows, the systems involved and the support you want after delivery. Read the consulting cost guide.
How long does an engagement take?
AI Foundations runs 3 to 4 weeks, with your first workflows in use by the end. Implementation sprints usually run 3 to 6 weeks each, one area of the business at a time.
Which AI tools do you work with?
Claude, ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot, whichever fits your environment. The tools change fast, so we set up your company context and workflows to work across whichever tools your team uses.
How do you handle governance and privacy?
AI Foundations includes an AI usage policy and data handling rules. Each workflow has an owner, quality checks and a point where a person reviews the output before it's used.
What if we're still exploring?
You don't need to choose a tool or have a project mapped out. A first call or the free AI readiness assessment gives you a starting point. The assessment is a self-check; a roadmap comes from AI Foundations.
A Good Place to Start
Bring the Work You Want to Improve
Thirty minutes on how your business runs and what you'd like to improve. No preparation or project brief needed.
Book a Call hello@elab.co.nz