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Insights: AI, Automation & Technology Strategy
Practical, experience-backed articles on AI implementation, workflow automation, platform optimisation, and technology strategy for growing Australian businesses. Every article is written by a practitioner: the same person who builds the systems also writes about them.
Latest insights
AI Readiness Assessment Checklist for Australian Businesses
An AI readiness assessment evaluates four dimensions: data quality and accessibility, process maturity, team capability, and infrastructure readiness. Most Australian businesses sc…
How to Estimate Automation ROI: A Practical Framework
Automation ROI is calculated by comparing the cost of automation (build + maintain) against the value of time saved, errors eliminated, and throughput gained. A well-scoped automat…
5 Signs Your CRM Needs a Rescue
The five signs your CRM needs rescue: workflows failing silently, pipeline reporting you can't trust, lead response times exceeding 24 hours, team members maintaining shadow spread…
Fractional CTO vs Full-Time CTO: When to Choose Each
Choose a fractional CTO when your business is $2M–$20M revenue, needs strategic technical leadership but not 5 days/week, and wants to avoid the $350k–$500k annual cost of a full-t…
Tech Stack Audit: How to Find $30k+ in Annual Savings
A tech stack audit inventories every SaaS tool, integration, and manual workaround in your business, then identifies redundancy, underutilisation, and broken data flows. The averag…
What Is a Fractional CTO? A Complete Guide for Growing Businesses
A fractional CTO is a senior technology leader who works with your business part-time (typically 1–3 days per week) providing strategic direction, architecture decisions, and team …
RevOps Explained: What Revenue Operations Actually Means for Your Business
Revenue Operations (RevOps) aligns sales, marketing, and customer success under a single operational framework. The goal is eliminating data silos, automating handoffs, and creatin…
AI Agents Explained: What Australian Businesses Need to Know in 2026
AI agents are software systems that can plan, reason, and take actions to accomplish goals with minimal human supervision. Unlike chatbots, agents can use tools, access databases, …
No-Code vs Custom Code: When to Choose Each in 2026
Choose no-code for internal tools, MVPs, and workflows where speed-to-market matters more than customisation. Choose custom code when you need complex business logic, high performa…
MCP Explained: What Model Context Protocol Means for Your Business
Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that lets AI agents connect to external tools, databases, and APIs through a universal interface. Think of it as USB for AI: one pr…
Platform Migration Checklist: How to Switch Without Downtime
A successful platform migration requires four phases: discovery (2 weeks), parallel build (4–8 weeks), controlled cutover (1 week), and stabilisation (2 weeks). The key to zero-dow…
API-First Architecture: Why It Matters for Growing Businesses
API-first architecture means designing your systems around APIs (application programming interfaces) before building user interfaces. This approach enables faster integration, easi…
AEO Explained: Answer Engine Optimisation for Business Websites
Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) is the practice of structuring website content so AI answer engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews) can extract, attribute, and cite you…
Build vs Buy: A Decision Framework for Business Technology
Build when the capability is your competitive advantage, when no off-the-shelf solution fits your workflow, or when platform lock-in is an unacceptable risk. Buy when the function …
Data Hygiene Guide: Getting Your Data AI-Ready
Data hygiene is the practice of ensuring your business data is accurate, consistent, complete, and accessible. It's the prerequisite for AI implementation, reliable automation, and…
Related resources
Move from articles into proof, definitions, and working examples.
Expert
Nick Hugh
Nick Hugh, Founder & Principal Consultant at Marshall Tech
Updated 26 Feb 2026
Open resourceCase study
Adapt Health: Fractional CTO & AI Integration
Adapt Health needed senior technical leadership to guide new product development and integrate AI and automation into their health technology platform. Marshall Tech provided fractional CTO services, architecting new features, building custom AI workflows, and establishing technical processes that allowed the team to scale efficiently.
Updated 26 Feb 2026
Open resourceGlossary
AEO
Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) is the practice of structuring content so AI-powered search engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews) can extract, understand, and cite it. AEO prioritises factual density, structured data, and direct answers.
Open resourceGlossary
AI Agent
An AI agent is an autonomous software system that uses large language models to perceive its environment, make decisions, and take actions to achieve goals. Unlike chatbots, agents can execute multi-step workflows, use tools, and learn from feedback.
Open resourceGlossary
CRM Rescue
CRM rescue is the process of diagnosing and fixing failed or underperforming CRM implementations. Common issues include poor data quality, low user adoption, broken integrations, and misaligned workflows that prevent the CRM from delivering expected ROI.
Open resourceGlossary
HubSpot
HubSpot is a CRM and marketing automation platform used by SMEs and mid-market businesses. It offers marketing, sales, and service hubs with native integrations, making it a popular choice for businesses wanting an all-in-one revenue platform.
Open resource