# About

> Ali Robertson is a Melbourne-based technical architect, advisor and developer with 20+ years across Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Power Platform and Azure. How to work with him, and how to get in touch.

Source: https://ali.id.au/about/ (last edited 2026-10-18)

I'm Ali Robertson, a technical architect, advisor and developer in Melbourne, Australia. I've spent 20+ years helping organisations get value out of Microsoft technology: Microsoft partners, enterprise, government, small business and not-for-profits. Hands-on across Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Dynamics 365, Dataverse, Power Platform and Azure, with a developer's toolkit of C#, TypeScript and React, SPFx, PowerShell and Python.

I've worked with Aboriginal community-controlled organisations and Indigenous-owned businesses, and I'm passionate about supporting Indigenous business and learning from Indigenous culture.

Outside work I take on a small amount of [advisory and architecture work](#work-with-me) through Clear Path Research.

## History

I started out at a Microsoft partner, consulting on large SharePoint projects, then went independent for several years. At a Microsoft 365 consultancy I proposed and led the build of [Sprocket 365](https://sprocket365.com), an intranet product with 80,000+ daily active users, ranked in the global top 30 intranet products (ClearBox, 2019), and later came back as its site reliability lead. I've been director of digital and innovation at a manufacturer through its sale to an overseas buyer. These days I'm an enterprise solution architect at a community-controlled organisation, working across Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Azure and Copilot.

BSc Information Systems, University of Melbourne. The first intranet I built was my school's, in year 5.

Roles, dates and recommendations are on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alirobe).

## Work with me

Alongside my job and community work, I take on a small amount of independent advisory and architecture work through [Clear Path Research](https://clearpath.cloud/). Where I can help:

* **Making sense of your Microsoft setup:** work through how M365, Azure, Power Platform and Dynamics 365 fit together, and where to focus your effort.
* **Integration and automation:** plan how systems exchange information and how to reduce repetitive work.
* **Architecture and governance:** review a proposed approach, talk through the trade-offs, or help your team put sensible boundaries around information and AI.

[Visit Clear Path Research](https://clearpath.cloud/) for the practice, or [email me](mailto:ali@clearpath.cloud) with what you're trying to achieve, what you have today and where you're stuck. We can work out whether I'm a good fit. I'm in Melbourne and work remotely.

For community questions or a resource to share, use the [contact details below](#contact).

## Contact

You can reach me through any of these:

* [<span class="icon icon-gmail"></span>Email](mailto:ali@ali.id.au)
* [<span class="icon icon-linkedin"></span>LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alirobe)
* [<span class="icon icon-github"></span>GitHub](https://github.com/alirobe)
* [<span class="icon icon-x"></span>Twitter / X](https://x.com/alirobe)

Hiring? The history is above, and [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alirobe) has the full version.

### Time zone

I'm based in Melbourne (UTC+10, or UTC+11 during daylight saving), which means I'm probably asleep when you're awake if you're in the US or Europe. If you're reaching out from a different timezone, throw in as much detail as you can. The more context you give me, the better.

## Support my work

Did I help you out? If you'd like to support my work, feel free. No pressure!

* [Buy me a coffee](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/alirobe)