# InnovateX Solutions

> Security-first AI and technology leadership for Australian businesses, from a Brisbane practitioner who builds secure platforms for Queensland Government.

InnovateX Solutions (InnovateX Tech Solutions Pty Ltd ATF Johnson Family Trust, ABN 82 428 980 675) is an Australian-owned ICT consultancy based in Brisbane, Queensland, working remotely with clients across Australia. It was founded by Todd Johnson. It is SMB1001 Gold certified and an approved supplier on the Queensland Government ICTSS.2403 ICT Professional Services panel and Local Buy LB308 and LB334. It does not provide managed IT.

## Services and prices
- [AI Implementation Partnership](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/services/ai-implementation-partnership/): fractional Chief AI Officer leadership with training, coaching and implementation support. A$14,500 a month excluding GST, 30 days' notice, for businesses with A$10m to A$200m revenue.
- [Fractional CIO and CTO](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/services/fractional-cio-cto/): retainers from A$2,500 a month (about 4 hours), Partner from A$4,500 (about 8 hours), Embedded from A$8,500 (16 hours or more). Rolling monthly, 30 days' notice. All prices exclude GST.
- [Fractional Chief AI Officer](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/services/fractional-chief-ai-officer/): the advisory version of the partnership, same retainer tiers.
- [Delivery work](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/services/): automation and AI, application development, cloud engineering, data and BI.
- [Government and councils](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/government/): architecture, cloud engineering, security uplift and contractors through ICTSS.2403, LB308 and LB334.

## About and free tools
- [About InnovateX Solutions](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/about/): founder Todd Johnson, credentials, team and how engagements run.
- [Board AI Literacy Index](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/board-ai-literacy/): a free, private 14-question assessment of board AI literacy and governance, with a 90-day plan by email.
- [Next Move](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/check/): five questions about how an organisation makes technology and AI decisions, with a recommended starting point.
- [AI readiness assessment](https://aireadiness.innovatexsolutions.com.au/): for IT teams preparing to deploy AI tools.
- [Free AI advisor skills](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/skills/) and the [LinkedIn strategist skill](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/lp/linkedin-strategist/): skills for Claude, ChatGPT and other assistants, delivered by email.
- [Case studies](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/case-studies/)

## Method
- [The 6S method](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/how-we-work/): Safeguard, Spot, Select, Shape, Systemise, Scale.

## Proof
- [A secure Google Workspace for a growing advisory firm, ready for AI](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/case-studies/thirdway-advisory-secure-workspace-smb1001-bronze/): InnovateX Solutions reviewed Thirdway Advisory's Google Workspace environment, remediated the priority findings, drafted the security policies and supported the firm to SMB1001:2026 Bronze certification in July 2026. The business is now set up for new staff and for AI tools.
- [Azure cloud platform engineering and DevOps for PROTECTED information](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/case-studies/azure-cloud-platform-engineering-devops-transformation/): InnovateX Solutions embedded a Principal Cloud DevOps Engineer in a Queensland Government department. The engineer built a registry of more than 20 compliant infrastructure-as-code modules and deployed production infrastructure for six concurrent projects, working alongside the agency's own team.
- [Enterprise architecture leadership for a Queensland Government department](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/case-studies/enterprise-architecture-leadership-for-queensland-government-department/): InnovateX Solutions embedded a Principal Solution Architect in a Queensland Government department to lead architecture across six-plus concurrent programs, creating reusable reference architectures and the requirements later engineering work was built against.
- [Enterprise video conferencing design for a new way of working](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/case-studies/enterprise-video-conferencing-solution-design/): InnovateX Solutions designed, configured and deployed video conferencing across every meeting space for a Queensland Government client in four weeks, standardising on Microsoft Teams Rooms with hardware matched to each room type.

## Guides
- [Fractional Chief AI Officer vs an AI consultancy](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/compare/fractional-chief-ai-officer-vs-ai-consultancy/): An AI consultancy usually delivers a defined project, such as a strategy report or a build. A fractional Chief AI Officer is accountable for your AI agenda over time, from deciding where to invest through adoption and governance. InnovateX Solutions offers the role as a retainer from A$2,500 a month, or as the AI Implementation Partnership at A$14,500 a month with training and implementation support included.
- [Fractional CIO vs managed IT provider vs full-time CIO](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/compare/fractional-cio-vs-managed-it-vs-full-time-cio/): A managed IT provider runs day-to-day support. A fractional CIO sets direction, owns the roadmap and oversees vendors part-time, from A$2,500 a month at InnovateX Solutions. A full-time CIO does the same work as an employee. The first two often work together, with the provider running support and the fractional CIO setting direction.
- [Does Your Business Need a Fractional Chief AI Officer?](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/does-your-business-need-a-fractional-chief-ai-officer/): Assess who owns your AI agenda, when fractional leadership fits, and how a Chief AI Officer works with your executives through delivery and adoption.
- [Brisbane 2032: getting your business ready to supply and deliver](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/brisbane-2032-supplier-readiness/): My notes from the Lord Mayor’s breakfast, and where I would start with AI, supplier submissions and the processes a business needs to deliver larger contracts.
- [My Fortuna One 2026 notes on AI and business](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/fortuna-one-ai-business-learnings-2026/): I recorded 12 Fortuna One sessions. What I kept, what I questioned, and how I used ChatGPT and Codex to turn the recordings into something useful.
- [Day in the Life: Daniel, Council Planner](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/day-in-the-life-council-planner/): A council planner reads four hundred submissions the fast way, with AI that clusters concerns, links every finding to its clause, and leaves an FOI-ready audit trail.
- [Day in the Life: Aroha, Not-for-Profit Operations Lead](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/day-in-the-life-nonprofit-operations-lead/): A not-for-profit ops lead lands a grant early, updates donors and rosters volunteers on a tiny team, with AI tools set up to be dependable rather than just clever.
- [Day in the Life: Tom, Café Owner](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/day-in-the-life-cafe-owner/): A two-person café runs inventory, supplier orders, bookings and socials like a ten-person one, because every system talks to every other and AI works from what is real.
- [An AI decided to hack a company. Nobody told it to.](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/hugging-face-autonomous-ai-breach/): OpenAI's models broke out of a safety test and hacked Hugging Face on their own, with the guardrails switched off. The real story is how much freedom we're handing AI, and how little control sits behind it.
- [The Privacy Act just expanded. Does it cover your business now?](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/privacy-act-expansion-2026/): From 1 July 2026 the AML/CTF reforms pulled tens of thousands of small businesses under the Privacy Act. What changed, whether it now covers you, and what to do before December.
- [Day in the Life: Hana, Deputy Principal](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/day-in-the-life-school-deputy-principal/): A deputy principal gets through report season with AI drafting in each teacher's voice, while student data stays inside the school's systems and the decisions stay human.
- [What is ISO 42001, why it matters, and does it apply to me?](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/what-is-iso-42001/): ISO 42001 is the first certifiable AI management standard. What it covers, why it matters for Australian businesses and how to tell if it applies to you.
- [Day in the Life: Sam, Logistics Operations Manager](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/day-in-the-life-logistics-manager/): A logistics manager gets through the busiest day of the quarter on AI forecasting and routing that holds up, re-plans a breakdown, and never quietly hands him a stale answer.
- [What is ISO 27001, why it matters, and does it apply to me?](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/what-is-iso-27001/): ISO 27001 is the international standard for information security management. What it covers, the 2022 update, and how to tell whether your business needs it.
- [Day in the Life: Eleanor, Law-Firm Partner](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/day-in-the-life-law-firm-partner/): A law-firm partner reviews contracts and research at speed with AI that checks every citation, refuses to invent case law, and keeps client matters inside privilege.
- [What the ASD is telling Australian businesses about AI in 2026](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/asd-ai-guidance-2026/): A plain-English read of the ASD's 2026 AI guidance, from frontier models to agentic AI: what it says, what changed, and what your business should do about it.
- [Day in the Life: Marcus, Hospital Ward Clerk](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/day-in-the-life-hospital-ward-clerk/): A hospital ward clerk runs handovers, bed flow and rosters with AI that only sees what it is cleared to, every action logged and patient data kept where it belongs.
- [ASD is retiring the Essential Eight, not your security investment](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/essential-eight-retirement-what-it-means-for-boards/): ASD is retiring the Essential Eight by 2028 for a new Essentials series. What changes, what carries over and what boards should do with the runway.
- [Should you hire a CIO or CTO to lead your IT MSP?](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/should-you-hire-a-cio-or-cto-to-lead-your-it-msp/): Hiring a full-time CTO or CIO to direct your MSP is the right call for some businesses. For others it's an expensive solution to a problem that didn't need one.
- [Day in the Life: Priya, Sole-Trader Electrician](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/day-in-the-life-electrician/): A sole-trader electrician gets through quoting, booking, compliance and invoicing with AI wired into the tools she already runs, and still makes it home for dinner.
- [Fractional IT leadership and managed services are not competing products](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/fractional-it-leadership-vs-managed-services/): Managed services and fractional IT leadership solve different problems, and treating them as the same leads businesses to the wrong decision.
- [Measuring Claude Enterprise Adoption at 30, 60, 90 Days](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/measuring-claude-enterprise-adoption-30-60-90-days/): The 30-60-90 scorecard for Claude Enterprise rollouts: activation depth at day 30, workflow integration and licence right-sizing at day 60, business-outcome attribution at day 90.
- [Meta's AI gave away 20,000 Instagram accounts. Every login was authorised.](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/ai-agent-governance-meta-instagram-breach/): Meta's AI support bot handed over 20,000 Instagram accounts and no alarm fired. What the breach teaches every business about AI agent governance.
- [Signs your business has outgrown its IT leadership](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/signs-your-business-has-outgrown-its-it-leadership/): Seven signs mid-market businesses use to recognise when their IT structure has stopped scaling with them, and what the options look like when it has.
- [Claude Enterprise on Google Workspace: A 90-Day Rollout Plan](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/claude-enterprise-on-google-workspace-rollout-plan/): A phased 90-day plan for activating Claude Enterprise alongside Google Workspace: Google SSO and SCIM, pilot with Drive and Gmail context, Gemini coexistence rules, broad rollout.
- [Claude Enterprise on Microsoft 365: A 90-Day Rollout Plan](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/claude-enterprise-on-microsoft-365-rollout-plan/): A phased 90-day plan for activating Claude Enterprise alongside Microsoft 365: Entra ID and SCIM, pilot with SharePoint and Teams context, Copilot coexistence rules, broad rollout.
- [Claude Enterprise Governance: Policies to Write Before Rollout](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/claude-enterprise-governance-policies-before-rollout/): The four policies every Australian organisation needs in writing before activating Claude Enterprise, mapped to the frameworks you already run.
- [Claude Enterprise Security and Data Residency in 2026](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/claude-enterprise-security-and-data-residency/): How Claude Enterprise's security posture maps to Essential Eight, SMB1001, ISO 27001, and ISO 42001 for Australian organisations heading into a rollout.
- [Fractional Chief AI Officer: what it is, when SMBs need one, and where it fits next to your CIO](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/fractional-chief-ai-officer-australian-smbs/): A Fractional Chief AI Officer is senior AI leadership on a monthly retainer. Who needs one, when, and how the role fits beside your CIO or CTO.
- [Claude Enterprise vs Copilot vs Gemini: A 2026 Buyer's Guide](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/claude-enterprise-vs-copilot-vs-gemini/): Comparing Claude Enterprise, Microsoft Copilot, and Google Gemini for Australian organisations: when each one earns its place, and when it does not.
- [APRA just told boards their AI literacy isn't good enough](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/apra-ai-letter-boards-literacy-gap/): APRA's 30 April 2026 letter to industry put boards on notice. AI literacy is the new control gap, and enforcement is signalled. Here's what every regulated board needs to read into it.
- [Start With the Core: Why Governance Is the First Thing You Implement (Not the Last)](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/xaf-governance-first-not-last/): Most architecture practices put governance in last, and it rarely arrives. Why XAF Connected Architecture puts its Governance Core in first.
- [Is Your Microsoft 365 Tenant Ready for AI? A Pre-Copilot Checklist](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/is-your-microsoft-365-tenant-ready-for-ai-a-pre-copilot-checklist/): Copilot sees everything each user can see. Check your Microsoft 365 security, data classification and permissions before you buy Copilot licences.
- [What Is XAF Connected Architecture? A Practical Alternative to Framework Overload](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/xaf-what-is-connected-architecture/): Frameworks like TOGAF and Zachman describe what architecture should produce. XAF Connected Architecture covers how to connect the domains in practice.
- [Who Can Access What? Getting Microsoft 365 Permissions Right](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/who-can-access-what-getting-microsoft-365-permissions-right/): Files shared with everyone, old project sites and external links with no expiry. How to find and fix oversharing in Microsoft 365 before Copilot finds it.
- [Your Architecture Domains Are Busy. They're Just Not Connected.](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/xaf-architecture-domains-busy-not-connected/): Your architects are busy and the domains still don't connect. Why architecture keeps missing integration issues, and why it usually isn't a talent problem.
- [How to Classify and Protect Your Business Data in Microsoft 365](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/how-to-classify-and-protect-your-business-data-in-microsoft-365/): If you’re running Microsoft 365 and haven’t set up data classification yet, every document in your tenant is treated the same, whether it’s a staff lunch menu or a client’s financial records.
- [Is Your Microsoft 365 Tenant Actually Secure? Here's How to Check](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/is-your-microsoft-365-tenant-actually-secure-heres-how-to-check/): InnovateX Solutions helps Brisbane businesses find out what’s actually going on inside their Microsoft 365 tenants, before someone else does.
- [Introducing XAF Connected Architecture: A Practical Framework for Architecture That Actually Ships](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/introducing-xaf-connected-architecture/): Every organisation we work with faces the same problem: enterprise architecture that looks great on paper but doesn’t actually work in practice.
- [SMB1001 Certification: Your Business's Security Roadmap from Startup to Enterprise](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/smb1001-certification-your-businesss-security-roadmap-from-startup-to-enterprise/): What is SMB1001 certification? SMB1001 is the industry’s recognised framework for managed service provider cyber security, offering five progressive certificati.
- [Tips to keep kids safe online that actually work](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/tips-keep-kids-safe-online-that-actually-work-innovatex/): Keeping kids safe online feels overwhelming. Five practical rules from a Brisbane-based ICT firm that work in real life.
- [InnovateX Solutions joins the Local Buy ICT panel for local government and councils](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/innovatex-solutions-joins-local-buy-ict-panel-expanding-our-reach-to-local-government-and-councils-brisbane-it-consulting/): We're thrilled to announce that InnovateX Solutions has been successfully added to the Local Buy procurement panel LB308 for ICT Solutions, Products, Services &.
- [InnovateX Solutions Gold Cyber Certified](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/smb1001-gold-certification-innovatex-solutions/): InnovateX Solutions has achieved SMB1001 Gold Certification, validating our security practices and letting us certify our managed services clients up to Gold level.
- [InnovateX Solutions Named Registered Reseller](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/logitech-registered-reseller/): InnovateX Solutions is excited to announce our new status as a registered reseller for Logitech, a global leader in video conferencing solutions and personal wo.
- [Exciting Partnership: InnovateX Solutions Now Reselling Ubiquiti UniFi Networking and Security Products](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/now-reselling-ubiquiti-unifi/): InnovateX Solutions is now a registered Ubiquiti UniFi reseller, so we can scope, supply, install, and manage UniFi networking and security gear for Australian SMBs, non-profits, and government clients.
- [Why Medium Fast-Growing Companies Should Consider Virtual CTO Services](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/smb-virtual-cto-services/): For medium-sized, fast-growing companies, keeping technology aligned with rapid business growth is a constant challenge.
- [InnovateX Solutions joins the Queensland Government ICT Services panel](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/insights/queensland-government-ict-services-panel/): InnovateX Solutions has been approved to join the Queensland Government's ICTSS.2403 ICT Professional Services Panel, effective 24 February 2025.
- [Glossary](https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/glossary/)

## Contact
- Book a 30-minute call: https://innovatexsolutions.com.au/book/
- info@innovatexsolutions.com.au, 07 2000 5636, Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm AEST