Member Spotlight – LabSevn

Tell us a bit about yourself and your role

I’m Deon van Vuuren, the Lead Solution Architect at CorefocusX, working mainly across Microsoft technologies and Azure, and I run LabSevn alongside that.

Most of what I do sits around systems, data, and how things actually work in practice. LabSevn came out of seeing the same issue over and over. Businesses have good systems, but they don’t quite fit together.

A big part of the work is not just connecting systems, but making complex setups easier to understand and use. Well-designed architecture shouldn’t feel complicated to the people using it day to day.

Your work

When systems don’t line up, it’s rarely obvious at first. It usually shows up as small inefficiencies. Duplicated data, slightly different numbers in reports, things taking longer than they should. Over time, that adds up.

I tend to approach it quite pragmatically. Keep what works. Fix what doesn’t. Avoid over-engineering it.

A lot of the value is in getting clean, reliable flows between systems and reducing manual effort.

There’s also a focus on clarity. If people don’t understand how systems fit together, they won’t trust them. Part of the job is making that visible, whether that’s through documentation, simple workflows, or clear architecture diagrams.

AI is becoming part of that, but not in a “replace everything” way. It’s more useful around documents, emails, or anything that needs a bit of interpretation. In many cases, straightforward automation is still the better option.

I enjoy the problem-solving side of it. Taking something that’s a bit chaotic and getting it into a state where people can actually rely on it.

Products & innovation

ApWyse is something I’ve been building alongside client work. It’s an accounts payable automation tool for Xero. It pulls in invoices, extracts the data, routes approvals, and posts everything through with the right level of detail.

It’s aimed at a common problem. Finance teams spending too much time on repetitive processing that doesn’t need to be manual.

We’re planning to launch it at the end of this month, so that’s been the main focus recently.

AI plays a role here as well, but in a targeted way. It helps with extracting and structuring data from documents, then hands off to more deterministic logic.

How long have you been a member of Digital Jersey?

I joined Digital Jersey to stay connected to what’s happening locally. It’s useful to see how other businesses are approaching similar challenges, especially around AI and automation.

The conversations have been good. Practical and grounded.

Looking ahead

Short term is getting ApWyse out properly and seeing how it performs in real use.

Longer term, I’d like to build things that aren’t just local. Products and expertise that can be exported. There’s a real opportunity for Jersey to position itself as a digital hub, particularly in fintech and automation. That only works if there’s something tangible behind it.

Three words to describe LabSevn

Three words to describe LabSevn: Practical, reliable, straightforward

A tool you rely on every day:

Codex

What do you enjoy outside of work

Mostly spending time with my amazing wife and daughter, and we’re currently expecting our second little girl. I also tend to end up building something, not always software. I’ve got a home lab and a shed full of tools, so there’s usually some sort of project on the go.

Milestones / wins

• ApWyse launching end of this month
• Ongoing work helping businesses simplify complex systems and improve how their data flows
• Involvement in Digital Jersey sessions around AI and technology

To learn more, visit LabSevn.