AI consulting for New Zealand businesses that actually ships.
Harkness AI is a Christchurch-based AI consultancy working with businesses across New Zealand and Australia. Most know they need AI but not where to start - we take you from zero to implemented with strategy, custom builds, and ongoing fractional support.
From exploring to implementing
A structured approach that takes your business from exploring AI to actively using it. Want the detail? See the full six-step process and typical timelines.
Find the Use Cases
Identify where AI delivers the biggest ROI
We work with your team to identify the high-impact processes ripe for automation. Walk away with a prioritised roadmap.
- AI readiness and opportunity assessment
- Use case identification for your industry
- AI tool evaluation and recommendations
- Jargon-free briefings for decision makers
- Prioritised implementation roadmap
Build & Implement
Your fractional AI engineer delivers
We develop and implement the solutions as your fractional AI team. You tell us the problem, we deliver the solution.
- Custom AI assistants and chatbots
- Workflow automation and process optimisation
- Full-stack AI-powered web applications
- API integrations and data pipelines
- Testing, deployment, and handover docs
Support & Scale
Embedded ongoing fractional support
We stay embedded to keep your AI initiatives moving - maintaining solutions, spotting new opportunities, and keeping your systems improving as the tech evolves.
- Ongoing AI implementation and optimisation
- Maintenance, monitoring and improvements
- AI tool evaluation and vendor management
- Continuous opportunity identification
- Flexible - scale up or down as needed
Looking for AI training?
Our training practice is separate from consulting and builds: structured programmes with published curricula and stated learning outcomes, where you and your people learn to do it yourselves.
Which engagement is right for you?
Not sure where to start? Here is who each engagement model tends to suit best.
| Best for | Outcome | |
|---|---|---|
| Training (separate practice) | Owners, managers and teams who want to learn to do it themselves | Capability that stays in-house - see the training page |
| Strategy | Leaders who know they need AI but not where to start | A prioritised roadmap of high-ROI use cases |
| Build | Businesses with a clear problem ready to be solved | A delivered AI solution, tested and handed over |
| Embedded AI engineer | Businesses of 20-100 staff with a real build list and no AI function | An engineer from our team inside yours, 1-3 days a week, after a paid scope |
| Support | Teams wanting lighter-touch, ongoing fractional AI support | Continuous improvement and new opportunities |
Weighing an embedded AI engineer against an agency, a full-time hire or a fractional Chief AI Officer? See the Embedded AI Engineer page and comparison.
Looking for your kind of business? See AI for sole traders, AI for coaches and consultants, AI for accountants and AI for construction companies. On Xero? Here is how to connect Claude to Xero.
What this looks like in practice
Real automations built for real NZ businesses, walked through end to end. Every one of these started as the kind of problem a discovery call surfaces.
Out there doing the work
Speaking, teaching, and running AI events across Aotearoa - not just theorising from a desk.
Results from the last 12 months
Setup & TrainingSite Safety - Claude Setup & TrainingCase Study
Set Claude up around the business and trained them to run it - drafting invoices in Xero, booking jobs, handling email, researching new leads and taking notes by voice.
Training & ConnectorsTrap and Trigger - Claude Set Up, Trained and ConnectedCase Study
Started with a hands-on workshop at their Upper Hutt office and a Claude setup for the team, then connected Claude to Site App Pro for health and safety compliance, PayHero timesheets and Google Sheets and Docs.
Platform BuildPaagaa - Referral Tool to Budgeting AppCase Study
Built a referral platform for financial advisers across NZ and Australia, then grew it into Paagaa - an open banking budgeting app where AI writes the plans and code checks every number.
Training & SetupClaude AI Brain WorkshopCase Study
Set up four business owners with their own Claude AI brain - a 24/7 employee with full context of their business - then trained them to automate tasks and keep building on it themselves.
Full write-ups: all case studies, including DigiKōr, the AI podcast learning platform we built for Campfire Studios - a 2026 Aotearoa AI Awards finalist.
Trusted by businesses across New Zealand and Australia
What People Say About Us
Blake has become our go-to for everything AI in our business. He started by helping us set up Claude across the business and training our team to actually use it well, then built out a range of connections between our AI systems and the apps we run day to day, both native integrations and custom ones like our PayHero setup that we had struggled to get working ourselves.
Beyond the technical builds, Blake has been a genuine sounding board. He talks through our ideas with us, gives honest advice on what is worth doing, and steers us away from things that will not pay off. He has built us AI tools for reporting and project tracking that have made a real difference to how we operate.
What stands out is how easy he is to deal with. He keeps us in the loop, hits his timelines, and hands over tools that work along with clear instructions so we can run with them. He knows his stuff and gets things done.
We would happily recommend Blake and Harkness AI to any business looking to get real value out of AI.
Blake is an outstanding collaborator.
He is exceptionally well-suited to work with businesses of any size - whether small startups or large organisations. Blake has a unique ability to identify core challenges and ideas within a company and transform them into effective solutions. His expertise in AI, combined with his excellent people skills, enables him to deliver results that are both highly functional and cost-effective.
I highly recommend working with Blake.
Comments people have left
Just had Blake present at our conference and he was fantastic. Super informative but at a level we could all understand and very engaging. Highly recommend as a speaker for an event.
Blake gave us a great introduction about what is AI. The slides and explanations were clear and easy to understand. The demo using Claude was helpful as well. Highly recommend.
We brought Blake in to run an AI workshop for our team, and it was excellent. He struck a great balance between explaining concepts clearly and keeping things practical, encouraged questions and made the whole session feel very engaging. Highly recommend if you're looking to upskill your team on AI in a way that actually sticks.
Blake ran a couple of sessions for my team. He was fantastic; he made it really simple for the whole team to understand, regardless of their previous AI experience.
Blake built me a custom AI 'brain' that now handles a chunk of my day-to-day admin and research gathering. He took the time to understand how I actually work before building anything, and has been responsive every time I've hit a snag. Great combination of technical skill and genuine patience with a non-technical client. Would recommend him to anyone wanting to put AI to real use in their business. Thanks Blake!
Blake gets it - prompt, professional, knows his stuff. He took us through the easy set ups and built custom connectors and processors for our more niche requirements. Quick, fun and already changing the way we work.
We engaged Harkness AI to build an internal AI-driven quality assurance platform, and Alex has been excellent to work with throughout. He picked up a fairly niche operational problem quickly, turned it into a workable technical design, and delivered in steady increments rather than disappearing for weeks at a time. Communication was clear and honest, including when something turned out harder than first scoped. The platform is now in testing with our team and doing what we asked of it. Easy to recommend if you want practical AI implementation rather than theory.
Blake is amazing, his knowledge of AI is really impressive. He helped us become more confident with AI and showed us how to use it in our business. The training sessions were great, and he's very approachable and always happy to help. He also presented at our networking event and received fantastic feedback from everyone.
Recently completed a half day course with Blake building my Claude Brain. The course was insightful & practical. Running 2 companies I know this is going to help me claw back some time on a lot of the repetitive tasks. Thank you Blake, excellent value and advice.
Blake has become our go-to for everything AI in our business - from setting up Claude and training our team, to building integrations like our PayHero setup that we had struggled with ourselves. He is a genuine sounding board, hits his timelines, and hands over tools that work with clear instructions. We would happily recommend Blake and Harkness AI to any business looking to get real value out of AI.
Blake brought a solid technology & AI perspective to our engagement at BMC. He clearly knows his space and was easy to work with, the conversations he sparked were useful in helping us get clearer on what we actually needed from a systems / AI standpoint. Thanks again.
Blake took the time to understand our vision and explained the technical side in a way that was easy to follow, making the whole process simple and stress-free. He took a complex idea and turned it into something practical, clear and user-friendly. Great work, great communication, and a great experience from start to finish.
Blake is an absolute gem to work with! When I was drowning in the deep end trying to implement our Podcast Portal, Blake threw me a lifeline. He became an A+ collaborator who made the whole experience actually enjoyable.
Blake is an outstanding collaborator. He is exceptionally well-suited to work with businesses of any size - whether small startups or large organisations. Blake has a unique ability to identify core challenges and transform them into effective solutions.
Blake exemplifies what makes a great tech-sector professional: the ability to combine strong technical expertise with excellent soft skills. He pairs high-level technical competence and sharp critical thinking with outstanding collaboration and communication abilities.
You are so good at what you do and so generous with your time and findings!
You are an truly inspirational young guy, and you've got a lot ahead of you! Can't wait to see you transform NZ!!!
Firstly it was lovely collaborating with Blake through my podcast initiative 'The Tech'o'Space Podcast', he surely has set the standard high when it comes to innovation in the IT field.
Just had Blake present at our conference and he was fantastic. Super informative but at a level we could all understand and very engaging. Highly recommend as a speaker for an event.
Blake gave us a great introduction about what is AI. The slides and explanations were clear and easy to understand. The demo using Claude was helpful as well. Highly recommend.
We brought Blake in to run an AI workshop for our team, and it was excellent. He struck a great balance between explaining concepts clearly and keeping things practical, encouraged questions and made the whole session feel very engaging. Highly recommend if you're looking to upskill your team on AI in a way that actually sticks.
Blake ran a couple of sessions for my team. He was fantastic; he made it really simple for the whole team to understand, regardless of their previous AI experience.
Blake built me a custom AI 'brain' that now handles a chunk of my day-to-day admin and research gathering. He took the time to understand how I actually work before building anything, and has been responsive every time I've hit a snag. Great combination of technical skill and genuine patience with a non-technical client. Would recommend him to anyone wanting to put AI to real use in their business. Thanks Blake!
Blake gets it - prompt, professional, knows his stuff. He took us through the easy set ups and built custom connectors and processors for our more niche requirements. Quick, fun and already changing the way we work.
We engaged Harkness AI to build an internal AI-driven quality assurance platform, and Alex has been excellent to work with throughout. He picked up a fairly niche operational problem quickly, turned it into a workable technical design, and delivered in steady increments rather than disappearing for weeks at a time. Communication was clear and honest, including when something turned out harder than first scoped. The platform is now in testing with our team and doing what we asked of it. Easy to recommend if you want practical AI implementation rather than theory.
Blake is amazing, his knowledge of AI is really impressive. He helped us become more confident with AI and showed us how to use it in our business. The training sessions were great, and he's very approachable and always happy to help. He also presented at our networking event and received fantastic feedback from everyone.
Recently completed a half day course with Blake building my Claude Brain. The course was insightful & practical. Running 2 companies I know this is going to help me claw back some time on a lot of the repetitive tasks. Thank you Blake, excellent value and advice.
Blake has become our go-to for everything AI in our business - from setting up Claude and training our team, to building integrations like our PayHero setup that we had struggled with ourselves. He is a genuine sounding board, hits his timelines, and hands over tools that work with clear instructions. We would happily recommend Blake and Harkness AI to any business looking to get real value out of AI.
Blake brought a solid technology & AI perspective to our engagement at BMC. He clearly knows his space and was easy to work with, the conversations he sparked were useful in helping us get clearer on what we actually needed from a systems / AI standpoint. Thanks again.
Blake took the time to understand our vision and explained the technical side in a way that was easy to follow, making the whole process simple and stress-free. He took a complex idea and turned it into something practical, clear and user-friendly. Great work, great communication, and a great experience from start to finish.
Blake is an absolute gem to work with! When I was drowning in the deep end trying to implement our Podcast Portal, Blake threw me a lifeline. He became an A+ collaborator who made the whole experience actually enjoyable.
Blake is an outstanding collaborator. He is exceptionally well-suited to work with businesses of any size - whether small startups or large organisations. Blake has a unique ability to identify core challenges and transform them into effective solutions.
Blake exemplifies what makes a great tech-sector professional: the ability to combine strong technical expertise with excellent soft skills. He pairs high-level technical competence and sharp critical thinking with outstanding collaboration and communication abilities.
You are so good at what you do and so generous with your time and findings!
You are an truly inspirational young guy, and you've got a lot ahead of you! Can't wait to see you transform NZ!!!
Firstly it was lovely collaborating with Blake through my podcast initiative 'The Tech'o'Space Podcast', he surely has set the standard high when it comes to innovation in the IT field.
Frequently Asked
Last updated 18 September 2026 - linked the new pages for sole traders, coaches and consultants, and accountants, and the Claude-to-Xero guide
Stop researching. Start implementing.
Whether you need strategy, development, or ongoing support - we’ll help you find the right path. Every engagement starts with a free strategy call to understand your business and identify the biggest opportunities.