A short advisory brief

What I'd Bring to MIC

Prepared by Demi Thathsara for the Digital Business Advisor application. In the spirit of the role: practical, specific ideas for helping small businesses, and MIC.

📅  Book a 30 / 45 / 60-min chat →

Why now is the right moment

MIC has just relocated to Cremorne, refreshed its brand, and leaned its content strategy hard into AI readiness for small business. At the same time, the federal Digital Solutions framework has, for the first time, elevated AI and emerging technologies to a named priority advisory area, alongside selling online, business software, digital marketing, and cybersecurity.

That's a meaningful shift. Most digital advisors come from a marketing background and can speak about AI. I've spent the last two years actually building AI and automation systems in production (see policy.coralshades.ai and ai.raava.au), so I can help clients move from curiosity to a working result, and help MIC build credible AI advisory capability at the exact moment the sector is asking for it.

Stream 1 — Value for MIC's clients

Mapping directly to the five digital capability areas:

1. AI & emerging technologies (my strongest area)

  • A repeatable "AI starter" advisory format for SMEs: assess where AI realistically helps this business, pick 1 to 2 high-leverage tools, and leave them with a one-page action plan they can act on the same week.
  • Practical workshop content owners can use immediately: AI for customer enquiries and bookings, AI-assisted content and email, Google NotebookLM for knowledge, lightweight automation (n8n / Zapier / Make) to remove repetitive admin.
  • A "safe AI for small business" angle: what to use, what not to paste into a chatbot, where client data goes. This bridges naturally into the cybersecurity topic area.

2. Digital marketing & selling online

  • Hands-on help with Meta Ads, SEO, content and lead-generation funnels, grounded in having driven a real 20% e-commerce revenue lift, not slideware.
  • Templates and teardown sessions: a landing page that converts, a 30-day content cadence, a simple funnel from ad to offer to follow-up.

3. Business software & digital capability

  • Help owners choose and actually adopt the right CRM, scheduling, e-commerce and reporting tools for their size, and avoid over-buying.
  • Simple Looker Studio / analytics dashboards so owners can see what's working without manual reporting.

4. Cybersecurity & data privacy

  • My IT major is Computer Network Security, so I can run accessible sessions on the basics: passwords / MFA, backups, scam awareness, and what privacy obligations small businesses actually have.

5. Translating complexity into plain language

  • The thread through all of it: explaining digital concepts so owners feel supported rather than overwhelmed. That's the skill I'd most want to be judged on.

Stream 2 — Value for MIC's own operations

A few observations from the outside, offered as ideas, not criticism. An advisor who has actually implemented these for clients can help MIC practise what it teaches.

Client intake & advisory tracking. High-volume 1:1 advisory plus program KPI reporting is a lot to manage manually. A light intake-to-CRM setup with automated scheduling and reminders reduces admin and makes funder reporting far easier, exactly the kind of automation MIC advises clients to adopt.

Marketing automation & lead nurture. With several subdomains and an active blog, there's room for a simple lead-nurture engine: capture, segment, automated welcome and re-engagement sequences. This turns content traffic into booked advisory sessions more reliably.

An AI-assisted content engine. MIC's blog is already AI-focused. A structured workflow (research, draft, human edit, repurpose into LinkedIn, email and workshop material) could roughly double content output without doubling effort, and I can show clients the same workflow.

Website housekeeping. A couple of minor, low-risk modernisations on the Webflow site, the kind of detail a digitally fluent advisor notices.

How I'd want to start

If I joined, my first 30 days would be about listening before changing: sitting in on advisory sessions, understanding the Digital Solutions reporting requirements, and learning the client base, then proposing one client-facing AI advisory format and one internal automation to pilot. Small, practical, measurable. The way I'd advise any small business to start.

Note: all examples drawn from my own work are described in general terms. Some of my engagements are covered by confidentiality obligations, which I respect carefully, itself a relevant habit when advising businesses on data and privacy.

Demi Thathsara  ·  +61 422 594 415  ·  wihithat@gmail.com  ·  cal.com/demi-at-raava  ·  mic.raava.au