Putti builds custom AI agents for New Zealand businesses. We're an Auckland software team in Takapuna, building custom software since 2010. We build agents that do real work inside your business, wired into the systems you already run like Xero, MYOB, your CRM or ERP, not another chatbot bolted on the side.
Many AI pitches are just an offer to license someone else's tool. We do it differently. We build agents around your business processes. They connect to the systems you already run and handle the repetitive work, so you keep your setup and your people spend their time on the decisions that matter.
Here's who does this in New Zealand, when it's worth building custom, and how it actually fits what you already have.
What is a custom AI agent, really?
An AI agent isn't a smarter search box. It reads a request, decides the next step, calls the right system, and finishes a task, with a person signing off where it counts.
A custom one is built for you. It knows your process, your rules and your data. That's the difference between "we added AI" and "our approval loop got three days shorter." The gap between those two sentences is the whole point.
Should you build a custom AI agent or use an off-the-shelf tool?
Both are honest answers to "we're doing AI." They cost very different amounts, and they solve different problems. Use off-the-shelf when the task is simple, generic and low-risk. Build custom when the process is core to your business, connects to your existing systems, or when a wrong action has a real cost.
Off-the-shelf looks cheaper on day one. Lower upfront cost, fast to switch on. The catch shows up later, once you're locked in and the per-seat fees, add-ons and usage charges start stacking up. Custom work takes more planning at the start, but you own it, and a phased build spreads the cost while the savings compound. If you're not sure which side you're on, that's a conversation, not a purchase. We'll tell you when off-the-shelf is the smarter spend, even if that means you don't need us.
How do you add AI to Xero, MYOB, your CRM or ERP without replacing them?
This is the question we hear most, and the answer is reassuring: you don't replace them. A custom agent connects to your existing systems through their APIs. The AI sits on top of the stack you already trust. No rip and replace. No data migration project dressed up as an AI project.
Your accounting stays in Xero or MYOB. Your customers stay in your CRM. The agent reaches into them, does the work, and hands the exceptions back to a human.
What can an AI agent actually do for a NZ business?
Start with the jobs that are repetitive and heavy on rules. That's where an agent makes the biggest difference.
In finance and admin, that's invoice and document processing, reconciliations and quote generation. On the customer side, an agent can triage enquiries, draft responses and route the hard ones to a person. In operations it pulls data across systems, chases the missing piece and keeps the record straight. And come reporting time, it turns scattered numbers into the same summary every week, without the Friday scramble.
The real value isn't one person saving time. It's your whole business running more smoothly, with jobs done the same way every time.
What makes an AI agent project fail?
The failures rarely start in the code. They start earlier.
- No spec. "We'll figure it out as we go" is the most expensive plan there is.
- AI treated as magic. It predicts plausible answers. It doesn't know your business. Skip the human approval and it will confidently get something wrong.
- A prototype used as a foundation. No-code and vibe-coding are great up to a point. Push them into production and they buckle on scale, security and billing.
- No guardrails. An agent that can act needs limits you decide, not defaults someone else shipped.
The Putti view
We've built, and sometimes rescued, software for New Zealand businesses since 2010. We've delivered more than 100 projects and none have failed. That's not luck. We plan properly, involve our engineers early, and keep the important work in-house.
AI doesn't change that. It raises the stakes. An agent that can take action is only as safe as the thinking behind it, so we build the thinking first, the process, the guardrails, the approval, and then let the AI do the fast part.
If you're weighing this up, how to start using AI and is my business ready for AI are good places to begin. If you'd rather add AI to what you already run than replace it, adding AI to existing software covers how that works, and what AI costs a New Zealand business gives you honest ranges.
If you want an agent that's accountable to a team you can actually call, that's us. Tell us the process worth automating and we'll be honest about whether custom work or an off-the-shelf tool is the right call. Get in touch