Ten years of solving complex problems. A lifetime of being one step ahead. Now building a business model that works for everyone.
I'm David, and I've spent 25 years immersed in the Microsoft ecosystem—not as someone who follows trends, but as someone who builds ahead of them.
I'm a technically creative person who could have been an architect, artist, or musician. I happen to know how to code. That combination shapes how I approach problems. I see systems the way an architect sees buildings—not just as technical specifications, but as spaces where people work, adapt, and need things to flow naturally. What helps most is curiosity across unusually wide domains. I connect dots between things that don't obviously relate—pulling insights from one field and applying them somewhere completely different. That cross-domain thinking is what lets me solve problems some others get stuck on. A lot of technical consultants stay within their lane. I've never been good at that.
For 10 years, I ran DataChef as a specialised consultancy. We built deep expertise solving genuinely hard problems: architecting solutions to complex data problems, developing custom Power Platform solutions, developing Dynamics 365 integrations and customisations, customising and extending the Microsoft 365 platform, and building industry solutions for legal practices as a Microsoft ISV.
50+ enterprise implementations. Thousands of hours architecting solutions. Training 150+ professionals on AI and Copilot adoption in the last 3 months alone.
We were good at what we did.
But over those years, I kept seeing the same pattern: mid-sized organisations who desperately needed specialised help but couldn't access it on terms that made sense. The math didn't work for them. And honestly, the traditional consulting model wasn't working great for specialists like me either.
Something shifted recently. I returned to the tools—actually building solutions again, not just managing projects. And customer satisfaction skyrocketed.
I remembered why I started DataChef in the first place: I love solving difficult problems.
Not building PowerPoints about solutions. Not managing offshore teams. Not maximising billable hours.
Actually architecting systems. Writing code. Figuring out creative approaches to constraints. Being a valuable member of the teams I deliver for.
And I realised: the world has changed enough that there's a better way to do this.
Remote work proved geography doesn't matter. AI is amplifying what individual experts can deliver. The tools finally exist to run specialised consulting without traditional overhead.
What if we rebuilt the model from scratch?
This isn't just a rebrand or a new service tier. This is genuinely trying to build something different.
Access deep Microsoft expertise the same way you use cloud services—flexible, on-demand, right-sized to actual needs. No artificial minimums. No consultant overhead. Just expertise when you need it.
A model that lets experts do their best work on their own terms. Choose interesting challenges. Work remotely. Leverage AI to amplify capabilities. Skip the bureaucracy that bogs down traditional consulting.
I genuinely hope this works—for everyone involved.
I've seen businesses struggle to find expertise and not know where to look. I've seen talented specialists trapped in employment models that don't fit how expert work gets done anymore.
If this model succeeds, it could be a better way forward.
I'm genuinely versatile in ways that most technical consultants aren't:
I architect systems the way a building architect designs spaces. Structure, flow, adaptability, how people actually use things.
I can explain complex technical decisions to executives and detailed implementation approaches to developers. Most specialists can only do one or the other.
I don't wait for trends to arrive. When everyone was talking about AI, I was already building Copilot implementations. When others read about Power Platform, I was architecting governance frameworks.
I solve genuinely difficult problems and ship working solutions. Not perfect theoretical designs—practical systems that operate in real organisational constraints.
That combination is rare. And in a flexible, remote, AI-enabled world, it's exactly what mid-sized organisations need access to.
Same foundation. New possibilities.
Built deep expertise delivering specialised Microsoft implementations. 50+ enterprise projects across legal, healthcare, manufacturing, government. Became known for solving complex problems others walked away from.
Restructured around a simple principle: organisations should access expertise flexibly, and specialists should work on their terms.
Same technical standards. Same obsessive attention to doing things properly. Completely reimagined delivery model.
We're bringing forward everything we learned over 10 years—but building a business model designed for how work actually happens in 2025.
You learn where the complexity actually lives. You learn which problems are architectural vs. configurational. You learn how to balance security with usability. You learn what works in real organisational constraints vs. theoretical best practices.
You also learn that Microsoft releases hundreds of updates quarterly, and 90% don't matter—but knowing which 10% do requires deep immersion.
That's what you're accessing: A decade of pattern recognition, thousands of hours solving edge cases, and genuine expertise in areas most consultants only dabble in.
Every engagement starts with honest assessment. If we can't deliver genuine value, we'll tell you. If someone else is better suited, we'll recommend them.
You work with me, not a project manager translating to offshore developers.
No consultant-speak. No artificial complexity. Just honest assessment and practical recommendations.
Every engagement includes documentation and explanation so you understand the "why" behind decisions. We're not building dependency.
We choose work where we can deliver real value. That selectivity protects your outcomes.
We're a Microsoft Partner operating within Australia's Microsoft ecosystem. Based in Brisbane and Gold Coast, serving organisations nationally and across the ditch back home in Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Our solutions are built on current best practices, security frameworks, and Microsoft's evolving platform capabilities. We stay current so you don't have to.
I'm not trying to sell you something you don't need. I'm trying to solve problems I'm genuinely good at solving.
If you're stuck with a Microsoft challenge that needs real depth, let's talk. 15 minutes. No obligation. Just an honest assessment of whether I can help.
"I've spent 10 years building expertise that businesses need but couldn't access on terms that made sense. Now we're fixing that. I'm genuinely excited about what's possible—for customers and specialists alike."