Custom AI-powered apps,
built right the first time

Built and shipped from rapid prototype to production,

on fixed-scope, fixed-price terms.

AI-native · ISO 27001 expertise · Built on AWS and .NET

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Zenith Consulting Services

James Pepplinkhouse

Founder & Principal

James Pepplinkhouse is a technology executive and principal of Zenith Consulting Services, with over 25 years building and leading technology across insurance, environmental science, ecommerce, warehousing, stock exchange, SaaS, fintech, and AI-powered automation. He has held CTO and Founder roles across multiple ventures, led technology teams of up to 50, led ISO 27001 implementations, and delivered systems handling multi-million-dollar value for enterprise clients across Australia. He's a practising SaaS founder, currently building and shipping AI-native products in production, so the work is grounded in what's shipping right now, not theory. With a small team of AI-fluent product engineers, Zenith takes on a select number of build projects each year.

What We Build

Custom AI-powered apps: web, mobile, desktop, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Automation that replaces manual work. From rapid prototype to production, fixed scope, fixed price, a clear delivery date, and no retainers or open-ended support tail. Built on AWS, .NET, Rust, and modern web, mobile, and desktop frameworks.

Core Strengths

Custom App Development

Web, mobile, and desktop apps built for production.
Cloud-native SaaS on AWS and .NET.
Fixed-scope, fixed-price delivery with a clear date and no support tail.

AI & Automation

AI-powered product development and agentic systems that replace manual effort, not just tool it.
Custom automation that replaces manual processes end to end.
Rapid prototyping, taken through to production.

Engineering Standards

ISO 27001 expertise, with security built in rather than bolted on.
Architecture and infrastructure for regulated, high-stakes industries.
25+ years of senior engineering judgment behind every build.

Industries Served

Insurance and insurtech (broker management, claims, automation).
Environmental science and contaminated land assessment.
Fund administration and financial services.
Retail and ecommerce.
SaaS and cloud-native products.
Professional services and compliance-driven businesses.

Example Builds

Environmental Consulting SaaS

Designed and built an agentic automation platform for contaminated site assessment, integrating Australian regulatory frameworks (NEPM, state guidelines) with a field app, lab data processing, and fully automated Word, Excel, and PDF reporting. Cut reporting turnaround from days to minutes, with an AI audit running a 550-point checklist across 1,000+ page documents in 10 to 15 minutes.

Microsoft Project Schedule Analyser

Built and shipped Foresight, a desktop app for MS Project schedule analysis (DCMA-14 assessment, Monte Carlo risk simulation, and an AI schedule assistant), running on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Insurance Automation

Built a working prototype for a broker-facing insurtech, proving out a mix of AI with desktop, web, and API automation. Demonstrated end-to-end automation of a manual broking workflow ahead of a full build decision.

Custom AI-powered apps, built right the first time