Dan Fowlie helped build through the Salesforce and cloud platform shift at Trineo. Airclerk now helps boards, owners and executive teams navigate the next one: Claude, Copilot, agents and AI-native work. Private briefings, decision sprints and retained advisory for firms that need clear judgement before they commit budget, vendors or architecture.
AI platform advisory helps a board, owner group or executive team decide what Claude, Copilot and agentic workflows mean for their business - which platform bets to make, which workflows are worth taking to production, what happens to margins and staffing, and what governance and evidence will be required - before committing budget, vendors or architecture. Airclerk's advisory is led by Dan Fowlie, who cofounded Trineo, a New Zealand-headquartered Salesforce and cloud implementation partner acquired in 2021.
Vendor demos show what is possible. Internal pilots show what is messy. The harder questions now sit with boards, owners and executive teams:
Airclerk helps leadership teams turn those questions into decisions. Advisory is optional: most firms come to us with a workflow already in mind and go straight to implementation. This service is for the decision that has to come before that, when there is one.
Airclerk's advisory work is led by Dan Fowlie, who cofounded and grew Trineo - a New Zealand-headquartered Salesforce and cloud implementation partner through the SaaS wave, acquired in 2021.
The Salesforce era changed how firms thought about platforms, implementation partners, integration, workflow ownership and recurring client value - and it rewarded the firms that understood where the shift changed their work, not the firms that ran the most pilots. The AI era is doing the same thing again, faster and less settled.
Dan brings the perspective of an operator who has built through one enterprise platform shift and is now building through the next. Behind the advice sits Airclerk's hands-on work implementing Claude and Copilot workflows, governance and process assurance for regulated and professional services firms - so the recommendations are grounded in what production actually takes, not what a vendor deck promises. More on the team is on the About page.
It is usually the right time when:
This is not a prompt engineering course or a generic AI tools workshop. It is for leaders who need an independent, operator-grade view before making material platform, operating model or governance decisions.
Each engagement is sized to a decision, not to hours. The first conversation establishes which one fits - and if none does, we say so.
A private briefing for boards, owners, partners or executive teams who need a sharp, practical view of the AI platform shift: where you are exposed, where the opportunity is real, and what the board should be asking. Includes a prep call, business context review, 90 to 120 minute session and a follow-up memo.
A two-week engagement to help a leadership team make the next AI platform decision: which workflows move toward production, whether to build, buy, partner or wait, and what governance is required. Includes stakeholder interviews, an AI exposure map, a workflow opportunity shortlist, platform implications and a board-ready decision paper.
This is not a workflow engagement. It is for deciding what AI changes about the business before choosing the first implementation path; a first workflow implementation picks up from there if that is the decision.
Ongoing founder-led support for leadership teams making repeated AI decisions. Monthly leadership sessions, review of vendor proposals, board papers and architecture choices, ad hoc founder-to-founder advice and a quarterly strategy memo.
For investors, boards and acquirers assessing AI exposure in a services, software or regulated business: which workflows are exposed to automation, whether AI is a margin opportunity or a revenue threat, and whether management's AI plan is credible. Document review, interviews, a written memo and an optional readout.
When the right next step is implementation, the same team builds it, under a separate fixed-fee engagement.
What the platform shift means for the business, and which call to make.
One workflow designed in detail, built into production on your systems and handed over, under one fixed fee, with post-go-live support written into the scope. Details → · How an engagement runs →
Kept working and improved under a separate agreement, if you want it. Details →
Evidence of what AI-assisted work actually did. Details →
The goal is not to run more pilots. The goal is to identify the work that is worth taking seriously, then build it safely.
Advisory engagements are fixed-price and scoped to the decision being made - not billed by the hour.
For investor, board or acquisition diligence, engagements are scoped based on the business, the timeframe and the decision required. New Zealand work is quoted in NZD + GST; Australian and international work is quoted in the relevant currency for the client and decision context.
The first conversation is a free introduction: what decision you are trying to make, and whether Airclerk is the right fit. If there is a fit, we recommend the smallest useful engagement. If the right answer is an implementation, or nothing yet, we say so.
An implementation engagement answers a workflow question: which workflow goes to production first, and how to get it there safely. Advisory answers the questions before that - what the AI platform shift means for the business, which platform bets to make, and what the board should be asking management. An advisory engagement may lead into a first workflow implementation, scoped and quoted separately. Some conclude the right move is to wait.
Engagements are fixed-price and scoped to the decision being made, not billed by the hour. Private executive briefings start from NZ$9,500 + GST. AI Platform Decision Sprints start from NZ$35,000 + GST. Retained advisory starts from NZ$15,000 per month + GST with a three-month minimum. Diligence engagements are scoped to the business, the timeframe and the decision required. Australian and international work is quoted in the relevant currency for the client and decision context.
Yes, with the bias stated plainly: Airclerk implements Claude, Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT for a living, so we are inclined to like all three. Advisory work regularly concludes that an existing platform, or waiting, is the right answer for a given firm. Airclerk does not resell licences or take undisclosed referral fees from platform vendors.
The people who own the decision: the board, the owners or partners, the chief executive, and the executives responsible for operations, technology and risk. Advisory is not designed for internal innovation teams without decision authority.