We built hello247 to make AI useful for Australian businesses.

It started with a conversation.

Wes Jackson runs an accounting practice on the South Coast of New South Wales, working with businesses across Australia.

As AI became harder to ignore, Wes started hearing the same question from his clients again and again:

“Everyone’s talking about AI. But who can actually show me how to use it in my business?”

They weren’t looking to become AI experts. They wanted practical answers.

• Could it save some admin?
• Could it help answer customers?
• Could it follow up enquiries?
• Could it make the business easier to run?

And, importantly, where do you even start?

Wes put the question to one of his clients, Brian Atkins.

Brian had spent years working in IT and construction and was already using AI inside his own construction and kit home businesses — handling customer enquiries, assisting with design work and finding ways to automate everyday tasks.

The two started talking. And it became pretty obvious that there was a gap.

There were thousands of AI tools appearing, plenty of people talking about AI, and no shortage of big promises.

What was missing was someone who could make it simple and genuinely useful for an ordinary Australian business.

So we started with a problem almost every business understands.

The phone rings and nobody answers.

Maybe you’re on a job. Maybe you’re with another customer. Maybe it’s lunchtime, after hours or your receptionist is already on another call.

Whatever the reason, the result is often the same. The customer doesn’t leave a voicemail. They call someone else.

For a small business, one missed call can be worth hundreds or thousands of dollars. Yet most businesses have no idea how much work they’re losing this way.

That became the first problem we wanted to solve. And that’s how hello247 started.

First, we answered the phone.

We built an AI receptionist that could answer calls 24 hours a day, speak naturally with customers, answer common questions, capture enquiries and make sure the business knew who had called and what they needed.

Not to replace the people already working in the business. To support them.

Because your receptionist shouldn’t have to answer two calls at once. Your plumber shouldn’t have to climb down a ladder to answer the phone. And a business owner shouldn’t have to choose between looking after the customer in front of them and answering the next one.

But the more businesses we spoke to, the more we realised missed calls were only part of the problem.

So hello247 grew.

The same businesses missing calls were often missing website enquiries. Their websites weren’t being updated. They weren’t sure whether their SEO was working. And now they were being told they needed to worry about showing up in ChatGPT, Google AI results and other AI search platforms as well.

For many small businesses, their phone, website and search presence are three of the most important ways a new customer finds them. Yet they’re often three completely separate things, managed by different people — or sometimes nobody at all.

We thought there was a better way.

Today, hello247 brings those pieces together.

• We can answer your calls.
• We can put an AI assistant on your website to help visitors and capture enquiries.
• We can monitor your website and SEO.
• And we can identify changes that may help your business become easier to find as traditional Google search increasingly overlaps with AI-powered search.

All from one platform, backed by real people here in Australia.

You don’t need to understand AI.

That’s probably the most important thing we’ve learned.

Most business owners don’t want another piece of software to learn. They don’t want 15 AI subscriptions. And they certainly don’t want to spend their weekends learning how to write prompts.

They just want things to work better.

That’s how we think AI should be used.

• Find the repetitive jobs.
• Find where customers are slipping through the cracks.
• Find the things consuming your team’s time.

Then use AI where it genuinely helps — and leave people doing the things people are better at.

Who is behind it

hello247 was started by two people, and you can read about both of them: Wes Jackson, who runs the accounting practice where the question came from, and Brian Atkins, who builds it.

Australian owned. Australian supported.

hello247 is an Australian-owned and operated business.

Your phone number is Australian. Your data is stored in Australia. And when you need help, you’re dealing with people here in Australia.

We’re also deliberately hands-on. We don’t just give you a login and leave you to figure everything out yourself. We learn how your business works, configure the system around it and help improve it as we go.