G’day. If you’re reading this, you’re probably new to Smartmates in some way. Maybe you’re a business thinking about working with us. Maybe you just joined the team. Maybe you’re simply curious. Whatever the reason, welcome.

This page covers who we are, what we do, how we do it and the language we use every day. By the end of it you’ll know exactly what Smartmates is and whether we’re the right fit for you.

Smartmates is a specialist Zoho consulting firm. We help businesses across Australia and New Zealand design, build, fix and get more out of their Zoho systems.

We are not generalists. We are not a software reseller. We live inside Zoho every single day, and we are very good at it. In fact we are the best at it. Zoho has named us their Partner of the Year every year from 2022 to today. Four years in a row, and the only partner in Australia and New Zealand to achieve that.

Our story starts in Bali. When the world shut down, our founder missed the last flight home to Melbourne and decided to stay, spending a year chasing sunsets on the island. In April 2021 he founded Smartmates. Bali is home to some of the most gifted engineers and technical minds in the world, and we were fortunate enough to find them early. That team went on to become the best Zoho practice in Australia and New Zealand. We have always believed that talent knows no borders, and our trophy cabinet is the proof.

Today we are a team of 23 staff, mostly based at Villa Love, our home in Bali, with our Australian headquarters at Level 6, 34 Queen St, Melbourne VIC 3000.

Zoho Partner of the Year is awarded annually by Zoho at their Inspire Conference. It is not a paid badge, not a volume award and you cannot apply for it. Zoho assesses all their consulting partners across revenue performance, client satisfaction, certified expertise and overall delivery quality, then names the best one.

Smartmates won it in 2022. Then 2023. Then 2024. Then 2025, at Zoho Inspire in Sydney.

No other partner in Australia or New Zealand has done that.

We also hold Zoho Premium Partner status, the highest partner tier available in the region. It is a standing credential that sits alongside the annual award. Together they represent the strongest Zoho credential you can hold in Australia.

If you are a client, it means Zoho itself has assessed our work four years running and said yes, these are the people we would recommend. If you are joining the team, it means you are working somewhere that takes quality seriously enough that the most important name in Zoho keeps coming back to us.

This is what makes Smartmates genuinely different. The model was built from the ground up to prevent the things that make working with consultants frustrating. Vague invoices. Junior handoffs. Scope creep. Disappearing acts.

Here is how every client engagement works.

Step 1 — Initial Enquiry

Get in touch and we will reach out by phone to understand your high-level requirements. Some clients prefer email, so we follow up whichever way suits you best.

Step 2 — The Planning Session

Before any money changes hands, every new client gets a free Planning Session. It is typically a 45-minute video call attended by a Project Manager and an Engineer, supported by Sales. It is a working session, not a sales pitch.

We map your current Zoho setup, understand what you are trying to achieve, document pain points and gather everything we need to build an accurate estimate. This includes integrations, reporting needs, timeline and budget expectations. You do not need to prepare much beyond being willing to talk through your business. We do the heavy lifting. There is no obligation and no cost. If you decide not to proceed, you walk away with everything we documented.

Step 3 — The Project Plan Estimate

After the Planning Session, we build a Project Plan Estimate. This is a full written document covering scope of work, deliverables, estimated hours, timeline, cost breakdown, quality assurance methodology, project management scope and terms.

Most firms charge thousands for this level of scoping. We do it for free, because you should know exactly what you are signing up for before you sign. The estimate is built by the engineers who will actually do the work. It is not a sales document dressed as a plan.

Turnaround is generally three to four business days from the Planning Session.

Step 4 — The First Top Up

When you are ready to proceed, we issue the Project Plan Estimate for approval and signature. Once signed, we invoice.

Our minimum initial engagement is 10 consulting hours and prepaid hours are valid for 12 months. For new clients, the First Top Up rate is $99 per hour plus GST, capped at the first 25 hours. Ongoing work after that is $129 per hour plus GST.

Topping up means prepaying a block of consulting hours. We draw down against that balance as work is completed. No retainers, no lock-in contracts, no fixed-price arrangements. Your money sits in your account until we have done the work to earn it.

Step 5 — Delivery

Every engagement has a dedicated Project Manager from day one. Experienced, Zoho-certified and accountable for the outcome. Engineering work is done by certified Zoho specialists.

QA happens in two rounds. We test in our own sandbox once the work is built, then run a further round on the live system once deployed. After our internal QA, you run your own user acceptance testing. Issues raised get fixed and re-tested. You sign off. We go live. We stay available.

Weekly updates keep you informed throughout — what has been done, what is next and where the budget sits.

Step 6 — The Smartmates Statement

Every week while we are actively working on your project, you receive a Smartmates Statement. This is a line-by-line record of every engineer, every task, every time block and every date, exported directly from our project management system. Every line is marked Approved before it goes to you.

You have three business days to review and ask questions. If there is no response in that window, we take it as confirmation and deduct the hours from your balance.

This is not a standard invoice. It is a complete record of where every minute of your money went. It keeps us honest and keeps you informed. If you cannot show a client exactly what you did with their time, you probably should not be charging for it.

Every company has its own language. Here are the terms you will hear regularly and what they mean.

Planning Session. The free initial meeting with a new prospect. A working session, not a sales pitch. We never call it a discovery call.

Project Plan Estimate (PPE). The written scoping document produced after the Planning Session. We never call it a quote, because a quote implies a fixed price and we do not operate that way.

First Top Up.The introductory rate for new clients: $99 per hour plus GST, capped at the first 25 hours. After that it is $129 per hour. Same billing process, same transparency, just a better rate to start the relationship.

Smartmates Balance. Your remaining prepaid hours at any point. Project managers track this closely and flag it before it becomes a problem. Prepaid hours are valid for 12 months. No minimum monthly spend and no retainer required.

Smartmates Statement. The billing document. Weekly while we are actively working, fortnightly otherwise. A complete itemised record of every engineer, task, time block and date. Clients have three business days to review.

Top Up. When your balance runs low, you top up. Prepay another block of hours and keep going.

Zoho Partner of the Year, Four Years in a Row. Not a slogan. It is specific, verifiable and carries Zoho’s own credibility. You will see it in our signatures, our proposals, our ads and everywhere we introduce ourselves.

Zoho Premium Partner. Our partner tier. The highest available in Australia and New Zealand.

The Senior Team. The people who work on your project. Experienced, certified and accountable. The most common complaint about consulting firms is that the senior person you met in the pitch disappears after you sign. At Smartmates the people you meet in the Planning Session are the people who do the work.

Free Project Plan. The external shorthand for the PPE. Used in advertising and on the website. Specific enough to communicate this is a real scoped document, simple enough for anyone to understand immediately.

Quality Assurance (QA). Every project includes a QA phase listed as a separate line item in the PPE with its own hours. Bug testing, sandbox testing, live verification, client UAT and final sign-off. Planned from the beginning and delivered as a defined part of the project, not squeezed in at the end when the budget is tight.

There are a lot of Zoho partners out there. Here is the honest version of why Smartmates is different.

Most consulting firms are structured in a way that creates misalignment between what is good for the client and what is good for the firm. They win the work with a senior team, deliver it with juniors, pad invoices with vague line items and make it hard to leave because the relationship is deliberately opaque.

The Smartmates model was built to remove those incentives entirely. Time-based billing with itemised statements means we cannot hide anything. Senior teams on every project means no bait and switch. Free Project Plan Estimates mean you only commit once you fully understand what you are getting. No lock-in contracts mean you stay because the work is good, not because you are trapped.

We did not build Smartmates by assembling a conventional team in a conventional office. We built it by finding the best people and building something together from the ground up. Our engineers are certified, experienced and deeply specialised. The culture of the team — the commitment to craft, the care for clients, the pride in the work — is something we grew together, and it shows in the results.

Four Zoho Partner of the Year awards. Over 50 five-star reviews. A client list spanning industries and company sizes. The results are there if you want to look.

Get in touch and we will book a Planning Session. It is free, there is no obligation, and you will come out of it with a clear picture of what your Zoho project would actually involve. Three senior people from our team will attend. We will ask a lot of questions. We will build you a Project Plan Estimate at no charge.

If the estimate makes sense and you want to proceed, the First Top Up is $99 per hour plus GST. We get to work. You get weekly updates and a statement showing exactly where the team has spent the time you have paid for.

If you are already on Zoho and it is not working the way it should, that is actually where we do some of our best work. Messy data, broken workflows, a previous implementation that missed the mark. We have seen it all and we know how to fix it. The Planning Session is still the right place to start.

Call us on 1300 199 964 or visit smartmates.com.au/zoho to book your free Planning Session.

Welcome to the team.

The Smartmates model is not just a sales pitch. It is how we actually operate every day. The Planning Session, the Project Plan Estimate, the Smartmates Statement, the review window. These are real processes and they matter. Learn them, understand them and use the right names for them.

Our clients trust us because we are transparent. The Smartmates Statement is the clearest expression of that. Every minute spent on a client’s project is accounted for and shown to them. That means the quality of your work and your time logging both matter, not to catch anyone out, but because the client deserves to see exactly what they are paying for.

The culture here is genuinely good. People take pride in their work. There is no blame culture, no internal politics and no tolerance for overselling or cutting corners. If you are not sure whether something is okay to do, ask yourself: would I be comfortable if this showed up on the client’s next Smartmates Statement? If yes, go ahead. If not, think again.

A tight team with big ambitions, a model that works and a track record that speaks for itself. We care about the work, we care about the clients, and we are building something that is genuinely going to be the best Zoho practice in the world. 🥳

Ready to get started? Book your free Planning Session below.