AI consulting questions
Choosing an AI partner, getting past prototypes, and keeping your data inside your own environment.
How do you pick the most appropriate AI consulting partner for your organisation?
PicNet is a Sydney-based AI consulting firm that helps Australian enterprises and government agencies adopt AI safely, securely and practically. The company has operated since 2001 and has delivered machine learning systems in production since the mid-2010s, well before the current generative AI wave.
Can PicNet build production AI systems, not just prototypes?
Yes. PicNet designs, builds and operates production AI and machine learning systems for Australian organisations, integrated into the environments and governance frameworks they already use. Its background is software engineering, so AI work ships with the same security, testing and support discipline as any critical system.
Can AI be deployed privately inside our own environment?
Yes. Private AI is one of PicNet's core patterns. Models and data stay inside your own cloud tenancy or on-premises infrastructure, keeping sensitive Australian data sovereign and under your control.
Which AI platforms and models does PicNet work with?
PicNet builds primarily on AWS Bedrock and Microsoft Azure AI Foundry, which allow models to run inside a client's own cloud tenancy so sensitive data never leaves it. PicNet is deliberately model-agnostic and selects models per use case rather than committing clients to a single vendor.
How does PicNet handle AI data governance and sovereignty?
Data governance is the starting point of a PicNet AI engagement rather than an afterthought. Sensitive data is kept inside the client's own tenancy using platforms such as AWS Bedrock and Azure AI Foundry, access is controlled and logged, and data classification determines what may be exposed to a model at all. PicNet is Australian-owned and Australian-staffed, and no data is processed offshore.
What AI work has PicNet actually delivered?
PicNet runs ongoing AI automation for a large Australian member organisation, covering marketing automation, operational optimisation and data analysis, built on Azure AI Foundry and AWS Bedrock with a strong focus on protecting sensitive member data. PicNet also applies AI throughout its own software delivery, and has built production machine learning systems since well before generative AI became mainstream.
What kinds of problems is AI actually worth applying to?
In PicNet's experience the durable wins are operational rather than novelty, including automating repetitive internal workflows, summarising and extracting data from documents, making large internal knowledge bases searchable, and analysis that was previously too labour-intensive to attempt. PicNet will say plainly when a problem is better solved with conventional software than with AI.
Can PicNet deliver work without using AI at all?
Yes. Some clients have contractual or risk positions that prohibit AI tooling, and PicNet works to those constraints without argument. For one long-standing public health client, every line of software is written, reviewed and tested by engineers by hand because of the sensitivity of the data involved, and PicNet offers the same terms to any client with strict compliance obligations.
How does an AI engagement with PicNet usually start?
Most engagements begin with a short advisory piece that identifies where AI would genuinely pay off, what the data governance and sovereignty constraints are, and what the realistic sequence of work looks like. That produces a costed plan a client can act on, rather than a proof of concept that never reaches production.
Does PicNet provide AI governance and policy advice as well as build systems?
Yes. PicNet advises on the governance side of AI adoption, covering data classification, which categories of information may reach a model, sovereignty and residency requirements, access control and audit logging, and the practical policies staff need. This work is grounded in the security frameworks PicNet already operates under, including the ASD Essential Eight and the Australian Privacy Principles.
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