About Backroom Ops
Who we are
Backroom Ops is a Hamilton-based AI team for owner-led New Zealand businesses: the independents up against bigger players who want to get stuck in with AI without losing control. Our agents do the searching, the follow-up and the admin. A person approves every action that touches your customers, your money or what the public sees.
Public voice and day-to-day contact sit with Emma at Backroom Ops. Diagnostic Meet invites include Jay as principal. You will see Jay on the call; you will not see a personal surname on this site. We keep the brand and the work professional, local, and accountable — Hamilton time zone, NZD and GST where they apply, and a clear paper trail on every live change.
What we do
Most owners start with a free search report. From there we help you get found, then take the admin off your plate.
An AI front desk and back office for owner-led businesses
The Front Desk is an AI clone of the owner that answers calls, texts and emails and books the work, always labelled as AI. The Backroom is a team of single-job agents that do the admin: pricing builders’ variations, logging defects, checking supplier invoices, chasing client documents and keeping renewal dates.
Playbooks cover construction, property, hospitality and finance, including a consent-based referral engine for groups that pair accounting with lending, insurance and wealth. Franchise, accounting and hotel groups can roll it out to every member under one agreement. See how it works →
SEO and AI search (GEO)
Get found on Google and in AI answers from ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, including local SEO in Hamilton. No fake “#1” promises.
Growth operators
Done-for-you SEO and AI search on a fortnightly rhythm: every two weeks a report that opens with what the last change did, and one content change on your site. Connected or approve-first, your choice. NZ$790 / month ex GST.
Agent builds
The agents you have been meaning to build, on the tool you already use: Grok, HyperAgent, OpenClaw, ChatGPT Operator or Claude. Teach you, or done for you. Quoted on the free call.
Teach your team
Half a day where each person sets up AI for their actual job on the tools they already have, and leaves with a one-page how-to. Quoted on the free call.
Free search report
Where you stand today: your site, AI answers, keywords and competitors, and a realistic roadmap. Keep it either way.
Ads review and websites
A weekly review of what your ad spend is actually doing, and converting websites built or fixed on Shopify, Webflow or WordPress.
Custom AI automation
Agent workflows for service teams buried in manual process: onboarding, document chasing, scheduling and reporting. Builds from NZ$3,500 + GST.
Shopify operators
Approval-gated store operations: orders and fulfilment, inventory sync, catalogue tidy-ups, Xero–Shopify reconciliation checks and Merchant Center fixes. NZ$790 / month ex GST.
AI Clone
A consented AI video avatar and cloned voice, so your videos get made while you run the business. Every video is labelled as AI.
How approval gating works
Every material change follows the same loop: we propose in plain English (what, why, before/after), you approve, decline, or ask a question, then we execute and log who signed off and when. AI can draft and check; a named person reviews before anything reaches you. Nothing runs in your business without that gate.
What is never done without sign-off: messages, quotes and invoices to your customers; refunds, payments and anything that touches bank or payment details; price or discount changes; publishing or unpublishing pages, posts or products; app, theme or system changes that alter checkout or customer data; and inventory adjustments that rewrite available stock. If it can move money, stock, or public content, it waits for you.
Built in our own businesses first
We run these agents in our own businesses before we offer them to anyone else. They researched, wrote and published 33 search pages in two days, and eleven scheduled agent jobs run our weekly reporting, search monitoring and research articles, with a person signing off what they produce.
We also run our own Shopify store, thekiwicrate.co.nz, on the same approval-gated process we sell — NZ dollars, GST, and NZT. It is our demo and our stress test. Ask to see the change log on a diagnostic call. (We do not publish personal Gmail addresses on this site; commercial contact is hello@ and emma@.)
We also build and publish Optometrists NZ, a free directory that compares optometry practices across New Zealand on published criteria, and its in-depth Hamilton guide, Hamilton Optometrist. Every listing comes from the practice's own website, and no practice pays to be listed or ranked.
What we are not
We are not a brand or creative agency, and we don’t make placement promises: no fake “#1” and no guaranteed mentions in ChatGPT, Claude or Google AI Overviews. We don’t give legal, accounting or financial advice; your qualified people make those calls. We do not hold your payment credentials, bank logins, or Stripe secret keys. Staff access is scoped to what the work needs, and you can revoke it any time. Our Shopify operators are independent — not Shopify Support, and not affiliated with or endorsed by Shopify Inc.
How to reach us
Email hello@backroomops.co.nz or emma@backroomops.co.nz, or use the full contact page. Prefer a Meet? Book a free 20-minute diagnostic. Pricing for each service is on its page; for Shopify operators, the Founding Operator retainer is NZ$790 per month ex GST, month to month, after the diagnostic.