Smart Systems.
Stronger Teams.
NovoPro is Newcastle's fractional Chief AI Officer for small and medium businesses. We work out where AI will make or save you money, put the guardrails in place, get it built, and report back in hours and dollars. In person across the Hunter, online everywhere else.
Why NovoPro, and why now
AI is already in your business. The question is who owns it.
Most Newcastle and Hunter businesses don't need an AI department. They need one experienced person to work out where AI makes or saves money, put sensible guardrails in place, get it built, and report back in plain numbers. That's what NovoPro does.
of Australian SMEs now report using AI in some form, so your competitors are already experimenting.
Source: National AI Centre, AI adoption insights Dec 2025 to Feb 2026
of Australian workers say they have used AI in ways that go against workplace policy. Your team is probably using it already, with or without guardrails.
Source: KPMG and University of Melbourne, Trust in AI 2025
of organisations surveyed had abandoned most of their AI initiatives, up from 17% a year earlier. Picking the right task and owning the result is where projects live or die.
Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence, 2025 (North America and Europe)
The track record behind the advice
Before any automation is recommended, we map how the work actually flows. We have done it a thousand times over.
The equivalent value of repetitive admin removed by the automation team Kes led, in 18 months, inside one organisation.
Role-based training on real work, so people leave the room with something they will use on Monday.
We sequence quick wins first. You should be able to name a result in hours or dollars within the first month or two, not after a year-long program.
“It's changed the conversation from 'we think this is roughly right' to 'here are the numbers.'”
What we do
Four ways to put AI to work in your business.
Start anywhere. The Fractional CAIO role is the ongoing seat; the other three are what it delivers, and each works as a standalone project too. Click a card for the full picture.
Fractional CAIO
A part-time Chief AI Officer who owns your AI roadmap, governance and results, month after month.
- A ranked roadmap for where AI makes or saves you money
- An AI policy, tool register and sign-off rules your insurer and board will ask about
- One improvement delivered each month, reported in hours and dollars
AI Training & Adoption
Get your whole team confidently using AI, safely, with guardrails in place.
- In person across Newcastle and the Hunter, or online
- Company-wide Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot rollout connected to your systems
- A plain English usage policy so staff know what's safe to share
Automation Opportunity Audits
We find the repetitive work eating your team's week, then hand you a costed plan to remove it.
- Structured scoring of every process on value and complexity
- Your top 3 to 7 opportunities, quantified in hours and dollars
- A roadmap you can build with us or take in-house
Smart System Implementations
AI-enabled software, connected systems and an AI Operating System that lets you ask your business a question.
- AI-enabled SaaS set up properly (ServiceM8, HubSpot, Xero and more)
- AI assistants and voice agents connected to your data
- AIOS: one place to ask your business a question in plain English
Process Improvement & Lean Six Sigma
Process mapping, bottleneck removal and SOPs that make the gains stick.
AI Policy & Governance
A plain English AI usage policy, a register of tools in use, and sign-off rules.
Systems Integration & Data
CRM, accounting and job management tools connected so data flows once.
Workflow Automation Builds
Make, Zapier and custom automations, AI agents and chatbots.
UX & Service Design
Customer journey mapping, UX audits and digital experience redesign.
Leadership, Culture & Change
Coaching, change readiness and team performance so change holds.
Strategic Planning & Execution
Planning facilitation, operational roadmaps and accountability.
Second Opinion on AI Quotes
Been quoted for an AI system? A buy, build, wait or stop call before you sign.
Problem First
The fix isn't always AI.
Sometimes it's a conversation.
Right now everyone is an AI expert. That makes it hard to tell who can actually help you. So here is how we work: we start with the problem, not the technology. Every business problem sits in one of four places, and until you know which one, you are guessing.
Sometimes the answer is automation or AI. Often it is training, a process that needs redesigning, or a system you already pay for that was never set up properly. We will tell you which, even when the answer means a smaller job for us.
People
Who does the work, and what they can do.
Key person dependency, no two people doing it the same way, a tool nobody was ever trained on.
Process
The steps, their order, and whether they still make sense.
Rework, double entry, approvals that add days and no value, steps that solve a problem you fixed years ago.
Technology
The systems, how they are set up, and whether they talk.
Good software used at a fraction of its capability, spreadsheets bridging two systems, reports rebuilt by hand.
Policy
The rules, or the absence of them.
A mandated step nobody can justify, no standard so everyone improvises, or staff using AI with no guidance.
Never automate a broken process. You just get the wrong answer faster, and pay more for it.
We fix the process first, then work out whether it still needs automating. Often it does not, and that saves you the money you were about to spend.
Why NovoPro
We don't sell AI.
We sell results.
There's no shortage of AI hype. What's rare is a partner who understands your business, speaks plainly, and delivers outcomes you can actually measure.
Deep multi-discipline expertise
Rare blend of AI, process improvement, UX and leadership capability, all under one roof.
Human-centred, jargon-free
We translate complex tech into plain English and build solutions your team will actually use.
High-ROI, fast implementation
We prioritise what moves the needle first. Expect measurable results in weeks, not months.
Enterprise methods, SMB sensibility
Methods refined from enterprise consulting, Lean Six Sigma and automation strategy, right-sized for your business.
Clear comms and change management
We don't just build and disappear. We make sure your team is ready, confident and on board.
Partnership with Vertica AI
For custom software and engineering needs, we partner with Vertica AI to extend our capabilities.
The person behind NovoPro
Hi, I’m Kesley.
I spent years inside a large organisation working out why processes break, long before anyone was talking about AI. Process improvement, human-centred design, and eventually building an automation capability from the ground up.
In 18 months, the team I led automated the equivalent of more than $1.2 million in staff hours. What I remember more clearly is what it meant for people: between one and four days a week per team of repetitive, error-prone admin gone, depending on the size of the opportunity, and replaced with work that was actually worth their time.
I left the University because I could see what was coming. AI and automation are moving fast, and most small and medium businesses have nobody in their corner to help them navigate it. The skills I had spent a career building were exactly the ones those businesses needed to stay relevant and competitive.
So that is what NovoPro does, and I do it personally. You deal with me, not an account manager. When a project needs specialist engineering, I bring in trusted delivery partners rather than pretend otherwise, and you will always know who is doing what.
I am based in Newcastle, I will turn up in person, and if the honest answer is that you do not need me yet, I will tell you.
Kesley Kernes
Founder and Principal Consultant
- MBA
- Postgraduate Certificate, Business Coaching
- Postgraduate Certificate, Strategic Management
- Lean Six Sigma Black Belt
Technology we work across
Independent of any one vendor. Fluent in most of them.
We don't resell licences, so the recommendation is yours to take or leave. These are the tools we configure, connect and build on most often for businesses across Newcastle and the Hunter.
Not on the list? If your business runs on it, we have probably connected to it. All product names and marks belong to their respective owners and are shown to indicate compatibility, not endorsement.
Who We Work With
Built for Australian SMBs across every industry.
Newcastle and the Hunter Valley
AI consulting for the Hunter, from someone who lives here.
Most AI consultancies pitching Newcastle businesses are in Sydney or Melbourne, or nowhere in particular. NovoPro is Novocastrian. That matters when the job involves understanding how a Maitland trade business, a Lake Macquarie clinic or a Newcastle professional services firm really runs.
Based in Newcastle
NovoPro is run from Newcastle, NSW. Discovery sessions, workshops and training can happen at your premises anywhere in the Hunter.
In the room, not on a ticket
You work directly with the founder. For a lot of Hunter businesses the first session is a walk around the office or the depot, watching how the work actually gets done.
Built on local work
Our published results come from Newcastle organisations, including the University of Newcastle's I2N innovation hub, and our current clients span clinics, trades and professional services across the region.
Same time zone, same week
Questions get answered in Australian business hours by the person who did the work. Online delivery is available for businesses outside the region.
Results
Real businesses. Real outcomes.
See how we've helped businesses across Australia unlock time, cut costs and scale smarter.
Testimonials
In our clients' words.
Kesley brought together data that had been scattered across different systems and spreadsheets for years and turned it into something we could actually see and trust. For the first time, I have current, reliable figures I can put in front of our management and executive team to show real progress, and that same data has strengthened our grant applications. Kes also led a full rejuvenation of our KEE SharePoint, replacing a folder structure that had become unworkable with one the team actually understands, so nothing gets lost or duplicated anymore. It's changed the conversation from 'we think this is roughly right' to 'here are the numbers,' and made day-to-day work easier too.
The data behind my entrepreneurial courses used to be spread across all sorts of places, which made it hard to get a full picture of what students were achieving. Kes brought all of that into a single location, including every dollar of prize money our students have won for their ideas and ventures. Now I can track that in one place and use live, accurate data to promote the courses going forward. I'm genuinely happy with how it's all come together.
Kesley completely transformed how we manage our data across our programs and our I2N events. Event registrations no longer land in a patchwork of spreadsheets. They flow straight from Eventbrite into Airtable, and everything else sits in one place too: participant details, course progress and survey results. The dashboards Kes built mean I can see attendance, progress and feedback at a glance. When it's time to apply for funding or report to senior management, I've got real numbers in seconds rather than hours of manual counting. What made the difference was that Kesley took the time to understand how we actually run our programs before building anything, so what we ended up with fits the way we work rather than forcing us to work around it. He has made a genuine difference to how we run and report, and I'd recommend him to any team drowning in spreadsheets.
FAQ
Questions? We've got answers.
Let's Talk
Ready to unlock your next level of productivity?
Let's design the AI & automation strategy that works for your business. Book a free 30-minute consultation. No pitch, no pressure.