A software practice · Est. 2010
Software built to last.
I'm Neil Brown. I build and sustain line-of-business applications, ERP integrations, and data platforms for Australian mid-market businesses. Fifteen years in; most engagements run into years, not months.
What I do
Five things, often combined.
Real engagements usually cross two or three.
- 01
Bespoke line-of-business applications.
Custom platforms that businesses run their operations on. A flight-operations system sustained over a decade. An audio production studio's in-house ERP at 270,000 lines of code. A plant-checkin mobile app with QR scanning for a plumbing contractor. Stacks chosen to fit the problem — .NET 4.5 through .NET 9, Blazor WASM, React, SvelteKit, TypeScript PWAs, native mobile. Built to last; extended across the years.
- 02
System integrations.
Connecting what doesn't connect. Nineteen vendor billing feeds reconciled into one monthly invoice for a managed-services client. Bi-directional ERP ↔ AlayaCare ↔ MDS sync for a multi-location aged-care operation. Xero, Stripe, Halo PSA, Microsoft Graph, Westpac ABA EFT, DEAR, WooCommerce, and a long tail of billing and compliance APIs.
- 03
Data migration and reporting.
Close to two thousand SQL scripts across client folders — ETL, migration, reconciliation, reporting. An HCM-to-Procura care-plan migration with row-by-row reconciliation. An Azure data platform feeding Power BI views. SSIS, Azure SQL, SQL Server end-to-end.
- 04
Legacy modernisation.
I sustain .NET 4.5 code and ship greenfield .NET 9. Older WinForms and WebForms systems still in production; modern Blazor, Azure Functions, and microservices work next door. Modernisation when it earns its keep, not as a standing offer.
- 05
Jiwa ERP — customisation and plugins.
I've built 124+ Jiwa plugins across eight client suites. Plugin development, form injection, Crystal Reports embedded in stored procedures, REST API work, licensing. Most Jiwa engagements run alongside a client's in-house IT lead or services partner — we share the delivery, I lead on the ERP surface. A genuine specialism, sustained across a decade-plus of sector-specific work.
Selected work
Three engagements from the current practice.
- 322,000 lines of C# · 866 files · still shipping
A custom flight-ops platform, sustained for a decade.
A bespoke stack for a Tasmanian general aviation operator — flight training, charter, scheduled regional flights, wilderness scenic tourism — across a thirteen-aircraft mixed fleet and their own aerodrome near Hobart. 322,000 lines of C# across 866 files. Still shipping new features.
Read the case study - 19 vendor feeds · verified to the cent
Nineteen billing feeds, one reconciled invoice.
A Tasmanian-owned managed IT services provider — two offices, around twenty-five staff, a book that runs from a state-level sporting franchise to a statewide aged-care group. Nineteen external vendor billing systems reconciled into a single Jiwa-driven monthly invoice. Halo PSA stays in sync. Verified to the cent.
Read the case study - 27 Jiwa plugins · three branches · still active
Matrix pricing across three branches.
A Tasmanian industrial-trade supplier of nearly four decades — welding equipment, industrial gases, PPE, workwear — running three branches across Hobart, Launceston, and Burnie. Customer-specific pricing matrices, default-supplier automation, a gas-supplier data feed, and daily branch-level sales reporting. Still active.
Read the case study
How I work
Four principles, drawn from fifteen years of doing it.
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Root cause over surface fix.
When something breaks in production, I want to know what actually caused it — not paper it over with a null-check.
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Honest trade-offs.
I'll separate real concerns from “just confirming it was thought through”, and name my confidence level rather than hide it.
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Long engagements, in partnership.
The clients I've had the longest are the ones where I still know the code in year five — usually alongside a client-side IT lead, and with a small subcontractor bench when scope calls for it.
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AI-augmented, craft-led.
I build with AI, not on top of it. Clients get the productivity dividend whether or not they ever mention the word AI.
About, briefly
A solo-led specialist software practice — fifteen years in, most engagements measured in years. Based in Hobart, working with Australian mid-market businesses. Delivery usually runs alongside a client-side IT lead or services partner.
In clients' words
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Proven Innovation have totally blown me away. We've designed some very customised systems for our production business. I can't say enough about the service, attention to detail, and skill. Amazing!
Abe Udy Abe's Audio -
Proven Innovation have a great ability to understand needs, design solutions and to listen to client requirements. They relish in a challenge, are solution and outcome focussed, and are responsive when there are improvements and/or maintenance needed.
Nic D'Alessandro Simsation -
Proven Innovation are unique in the IT industry, they can actually communicate and understand what a client wants! I would recommend Proven Innovation (and I frequently do) as an essential part of your IT solutions.
David Turrell CMA -
The product Proven Innovation has built for us is fantastic — but what I love about Proven Innovation is their attention to detail and their ever increasing ability to think ‘out of the box’!
Michelle Folder Manager Business Development, Hobart City Mission
Contact
Email.
I reply within a business day. Tell me the shape of the problem, rough scope, and any timeline — I'll come back with a read on fit and the first steps.