Mac Sweeny
The state of play
How I would work through the decision
The starting point is your work, rather than a particular tool.
- 01
Show the workflow
Bring a real example, the tools involved and where you get stuck.
- 02
Choose an approach
Compare a simpler process, an existing tool and a separately scoped build.
- 03
Review what happened
Try the agreed next step and use the result to guide the next decision.
A useful next step has an owner, a clear purpose and a way to check whether it helped.
What AI consulting in Australia actually looks like
Quick answer
An AI consultant helps you decide what to do with AI, in what order, and what to skip, before you spend money building anything. The Australian market splits in two: large firms running transformation programmes for enterprise at five and six figures, and independents doing 1:1 advisory for owners and operators. I am in the second group, based in Brisbane, working with businesses across the country over video. AI Consulting is A$1,195 per month + GST, with a call each fortnight, clarity on what to build in Claude or ChatGPT and practical guidance on how to do it. No lock-in.
Australian demand for this barely existed a year ago. Monthly search volume for "ai consulting" in Australia sat between 10 and 20 for most of 2025 and now runs around 440. "ai consultant sydney" went from nothing to 90 a month in nine months. That is not a fad curve, it is a market catching up: owners have finished playing with ChatGPT on their phone and want to know what to do with it inside the business.
What most Australian businesses get offered, though, is building. The agency side of this market grew faster than the advisory side, so an owner who asks a simple question gets a proposal for a custom build with a monthly retainer attached. That is a fine outcome if the build is the right call. It is an expensive one if the honest answer was an off-the-shelf subscription and two hours of training for the team.
I do not sell the software I recommend and I do not take a cut from the tools you end up using, so there is nothing pulling my advice in one direction. The advisory service helps you make the decision. Implementation is available as separately scoped development. If you want something built afterwards, that is a separate engagement with its own scope, price and contract, and I will say so out loud rather than steering you there.
What you walk away with
No discovery phase, no slide deck, no proposal at the end. One conversation and a written plan you can hand to your team on Monday.
Australian context
Advice built around how businesses here actually run: small teams, Australian privacy expectations, clients who still email PDFs, and a spend that has to justify itself inside the quarter.
Independent by design
I do not resell Claude seats, ChatGPT licences, automation hosting or anyone else's build hours. That means I can give you the boring answer, which is often that the tool you already pay for does the job.
A sequence, not a wish list
Anyone can rattle off twenty AI ideas. The useful part is knowing which one to do first, which three come after it, and which ones will quietly eat six months. You get that order in writing.
Common questions
Do you work with businesses right across Australia?
Yes. Sessions run over video, so it makes no difference whether you are in Perth, Hobart, regional New South Wales or ten minutes from me in Brisbane. I work Australian business hours, so nobody is booking a 6am call to suit a consultant in another hemisphere.
Do you meet clients in person?
Our calls are online. I’m based in Brisbane and we agree a time that works across our time zones.
How much does AI consulting cost in Australia?
AI Consulting is A$1,195 per month + GST, with a call each fortnight, clarity on what to build in Claude or ChatGPT and practical guidance on how to do it. No lock-in. Custom development is A$150/hour + GST, with a separate project scope, estimated hours and terms before work starts.
Is this worth it for a small Australian business?
Small and medium businesses are most of who I work with. The big consultancies have minimum engagement sizes that rule out anyone under a certain scale, so smaller operators get left with agency build quotes and guesswork. One session is usually enough to give an owner three or four things worth doing, in order, plus a list of what to leave alone this year.
Official resources
Explore the tools and check current details with the people who make them.
