Cylentis AI.Finalist, Government, Education & Not-for-Profit.

Working in enterprise development for the likes of Docker, Chainlink and GitHub, Aaron Bost soaked up the wisdom of some of the best software developers in the game. What he absorbed inspired him to found Cylentis, which embeds artificial intelligence into the operation of a business – and in doing so enhances the work of the people at its heart.

At its core, Cylentis maps how an organisation’s people, processes and systems connect – known in computer science as ontology. It then builds tools that help people across all levels of the team to plan, run operations and make decisions based on the full business picture.

“Before Cylentis I was ideating – after work, devising things in my own time, using my wife’s [online coaching] business as a guinea pig,” Bost says. “That was the first spark which led me to ask, ‘If I can do this in my spare time, imagine what I could do if I put my entire impetus into this?’”

SmartCrete CRC chief executive Clare Tubolets is happy to answer that question.

SmartCrete is an independent Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) that connects Australia’s concrete ecosystem in search of more sustainable design, use and management. Tubolets says engaging Cylentis has been a game-changer for its operational efficiency and program insights.

“Aaron’s strength is his ability to listen, understand a complex organisation and build AI that delivers practical value,” she says. “At SmartCrete, he developed a bespoke system that helps us interrogate large volumes of research project reports and draw out insights to support portfolio management and impact assessment.

“He took the time to understand our work and delivered a tool that exceeded our expectations. Aaron demonstrates what’s possible when technical capability is matched with a deep understanding of the people using it.”

Bost started their interaction as he does with all of his clients – by spending at least a week on-site getting to know every layer of the operation.

“I spend time not just with the business owners who employ me; I sit with general managers, with their direct reports,” he says. “Because everyone in the business is doing something bespoke that adds to the business. I don’t care where you are in Australia, I’m coming to see you.”

Ontology gives AI context for the decisions and work it supports. Bost likens the process to collecting nodes that flesh out a picture, using his own personal make-up to illustrate.

“My name is Aaron, that’s one node,” he says. “You can hear my accent – North American, that’s another piece of information. I’m from Maryland – another piece of information.

“Every piece of information you get is another node. When you transpose this into machine readables, you have an architecture that you can compose around a company – of people, of role – all very much bespoke and intertwined.”

SmartCrete’s initial challenge was streamlining the preparation of board packs for quarterly meetings, which was consuming considerable time and resources.

A deep ontological dive revealed a lack of communication between the various estates in the organisation, and allowed Cylentis to create a substrate that brought them all together.

“The pleasure comes with using the tools to amplify, augment and get rid of redundancies in the business that will empower you to keep making great choices.”Aaron Bost

The same substrate furnishes SmartCrete’s communications team with a weekly pack of material that is shared in newsletters, podcasts and videos, all packed with information that is both fresh and pointed.

It also allows the portfolio director to undertake peer collaboration to ensure, for example, that the key researchers are working on every project that would benefit from their expertise.

“So, from that one problem of needing board packs to be automated, we used the ontology approach, sat with everyone, understood their issues, and devised something much greater which has added huge value for them,” Bost says.

In another example, an already vibrant Canberra hospitality group contracted Cylentis to package up what it was doing and help it become even better.

Soon it had engaged a purchasing agent who ensured items were no longer bought from multiple suppliers at different prices. Food costs came down dramatically, and its marketing was brought in-house with a sharper focus and greater impact.

Bost is loving what Cylentis does, not least the relationships built with clients he sees via catch-ups held weekly, at least, and which are very much underpinned by bidirectional feedback. Roughly every three months he is back on-site. Trust is built that enhances the co-design process.

In his first meeting with clients, Bost asks, “It doesn’t matter if you think it’s impossible, if you could snap your fingers, how would you like AI to work for you right now?”

He says he is committed to empowering people to lift the veil and dream where Cylentis could take them, and humbled by the trust he is afforded to work across entire businesses, from operations to finance to strategy.

“We’re here to empower people,” he says. “At the heart of what is being done, I sit as a strategic advisor – I know what these tools can do, but you’re a master of your business.

“The pleasure comes with using the tools to amplify, augment and get rid of redundancies in the business that will empower you to keep making great choices.”