AI Consulting & Implementation
From use-case analysis to a system in production: AI assistants that work with your own documents and data, and agents that actually get tasks done — wired into your real processes, not left as a toy on the side.
Mario Lock — IT & AI — Berlin
I implement AI, build software and run infrastructure — for companies that want results, not concept papers. Over 20 years of operational responsibility: fleet logistics, hospitality, a tech scale-up, my own company, a payroll & bookkeeping firm. That's why what I build survives everyday use.
Services
Not a grab bag, but a chain: I analyze, decide with you, build — and operate what I've built. You get one person accountable for the whole thing, not five trades.
From use-case analysis to a system in production: AI assistants that work with your own documents and data, and agents that actually get tasks done — wired into your real processes, not left as a toy on the side.
EU AI Act and GDPR considered from day one: risk classification, data processing agreements, deletion concepts. Where it matters, the AI runs on your infrastructure — not at a US provider.
Portals, business applications, add-ons and integrations built to last ten years. Architecture driven by need, not fashion — and code the next person can still understand.
Whatever happens manually three times a week in your business gets automated: workflows, interfaces, email routing, reporting. I administer both Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace — and wire them into your systems, or replace them with something of your own.
Security as standard equipment, not an upsell: two-factor sign-in, centralized logins, tiered access rights and complete audit trails. Implemented pragmatically instead of buried in policy documents.
Your own servers instead of cloud dependency: I set them up, harden them and run them — including encryption, backups and monitoring. Predictable costs, full control — and your data verifiably stays yours.
Track record
I don't sell anything I don't run in production myself. Everything here is live — every day, with real users and real data.
A fully self-developed operating platform for a firm specialising in payroll and financial bookkeeping: client CRM, bookkeeping, payroll and year-end workflows with a deadline cockpit, kanban case management with automatic conversion of incoming emails into cases, invoicing with dunning and DATEV export, a client portal with document upload and digitally signed powers of attorney (self-hosted DocuSeal), Teams meetings booked straight from a case, and a BI interface. AI assistance built on Claude: a phone assistant that recognizes callers and books appointments, an inbox assistant, and a dynamic clarification interview for clients. Secured with SSO, 2FA, role-based access and audit logs; migrated from a cloud platform to my own servers in August 2026. Runs in day-to-day production at the firm, serving 120+ clients.
Built from scratch for the axcon Group (Mühldorf am Inn) against a detailed specification: the shared portal for collaboration between freelance bookkeepers, bookkeeping firms and axcon’s tax advisory practice. Partners use it to onboard clients, hand cases over to the tax advisors and handle joint billing. Client onboarding with digitally signed powers of attorney and an AML (GwG) form, document upload with OCR and AI analysis, a case workflow with nine statuses and a review loop, billing under the German tax advisors’ fee schedule (StBVV) with natively generated ZUGFeRD e-invoices (EN 16931), automatic commission credit notes and three-stage dunning, tax-assessment review with objection deadlines, and an export for the tax advisors’ chamber power-of-attorney database. Plus 2FA, encrypted bank details, a security cockpit, audit log, Playwright end-to-end tests, separate staging and production environments, and direct document sync with StebOS.
Next.js · PostgreSQL · BullMQ · Claude API · DockerPortal ↗
A bilingual corporate website (DE/EN, 14 pages) with three audience paths: clients, freelance bookkeepers and careers. Hand-written with no build step, no CDN and no tracking, built for accessibility and search engines (Schema.org data as an accounting firm, hreflang DE/EN, sitemap, Open Graph), with online appointment booking and a link to the partner portal. Deployed via GitOps: the server pulls the live branch automatically — and the client maintains content themselves.
For a Berlin consultancy specializing in occupational pensions, health insurance and workplace health management: assessment, digitization strategy and implementation. Two brands cleanly separated, audience-specific landing pages and one-pagers (care, trades, medical practices, startups), an end-to-end lead process from first contact to signed deal, and the move to Microsoft 365 with Outlook appointment booking, SharePoint and a kanban lead manager. Decisions are made together with the client in a protected project portal — with an explainer video, live voting and a roadmap.
A web app that automates the entire weekly reporting of a payroll & bookkeeping firm: KPI dashboards (revenue, billable hours, intake, new clients, receivables), anonymized team utilization, cashflow analysis straight from CAMT bank data with automatic categorization, and one-click generation of four reports per week. New: a guided “Friday assistant” for the weekly close, a communications view across calls, emails and cases (“where is it stuck?”), and a data chat that answers questions with tables. Python/FastAPI, PostgreSQL, React, fed by the StebOS API. Public demo with sample data.
As managing director I rebuilt a team of up to ten people: standardized the processes and moved the entire operation onto StebOS, our own platform — with automated digital processes, end-to-end reporting and BI dashboards with meaningful KPIs. I significantly reduced outstanding receivables and put management on solid metrics. Billable productivity rose from 44 to 74 percent.
B2B platform for film-vehicle rental, live at moviecar.de (Next.js, Supabase): a public catalog of 50+ vehicles, an admin CRM with quote-to-invoice flow via sevDesk, deep Google Workspace integration (Gmail, Calendar, Drive) and AI-powered image import with automatic tagging.
Built mobile-first for markets where WhatsApp and mobile money run daily life: an online shop for security equipment in Accra with WhatsApp ordering, mobile-money payments and a phone-friendly admin panel; a website for a solar installer in Liberia with installment plans; and, pro bono, a website plus social-media kit for a Liberian charity.
Linux administration from the ground up, spread across two servers at two providers: Docker deployments behind Traefik with automatic SSL, single sign-on with 2FA in front of every admin tool (Authelia), intrusion prevention (CrowdSec, Fail2ban), nightly vulnerability scans of all containers (Trivy), encrypted backups with a cross-server strategy (restic, nightly database dumps), self-hosted e-signatures and privacy-friendly web analytics. A daily security report rolls it all up into a traffic-light status with a plain-language explanation — via push, email and in the portal. Running an accounting platform, client portals, databases and automations in production.
How I hand over projects: complete operations documentation (MkDocs) with architecture, runbooks, monitoring, security and backup — so a project can be handed over seamlessly to the client or another IT team at any time. Core principle: the client owns the code and the database; no lock-in to long-term service contracts, ongoing support optional.
Round-the-clock monitoring of the infrastructure: live metrics (CPU, RAM, disk, network, containers) via Beszel, centralized Docker logs via Dozzle and HTTP uptime checks via Uptime Kuma — with threshold alerts via push. Keeps platforms, portals and databases running provably stable.
My own business: over 100 vehicles for film and media productions. Built the booking system, CRM and resource management myself, moved the operation onto Google Workspace and fully digitized it — long before "digital transformation" became a consulting product.
Career
Logistics on a NATO deployment, state visits, a corporation, a scale-up, my own company, film production, West Africa, a payroll & bookkeeping firm. I know businesses from the inside — that's why I build software that holds up in the real world.
Download CV (PDF)
Managing Director (employed) · Stebex Accounting GmbH, BerlinOperational leadership, team of up to 10, digitization of the entire firm. Productivity from 44 to 74% and significantly reduced receivables — with self-built software (StebOS).
IT & AI consultant (part-time, self-employed) · mariolock.comAI implementation, software and infrastructure for clients in Germany and West Africa — including the axcon Group’s partner portal and website, the digitization of BHB / BenefitManager, moviecar.de, and practice-management software for payroll & bookkeeping firms (StebOS).
Three months across Accra, Kumasi and Koforidua: web development, design and accounting for German and Ghanaian clients — fully remote.
Picture Vehicle Coordinator · UFA FictionVehicle and boat logistics for the series production "Helgoland 513" — procurement and coordination under shooting-schedule pressure.
Founder & Managing Director · OCC Oldies & Classic Cars GmbHOver 100 vehicles for media productions. Built the booking system, CRM and automated workflows myself — from concept to code.
Blacklane GmbH · Division Leader & Senior Event ManagerBuilt up distribution partners in the scale-up, later VIP logistics for major events like the G20 summit.
Hotel operations in West Africa: staff, payroll, procurement — operations under conditions where processes really have to hold.
Product Consultant · Apple Distribution International, CorkUser acceptance testing and product quality — learned how a global company defines "done".
Dispatcher & Manager · United Limousines AGChauffeur logistics for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the 2008 POTUS visit and the Munich Security Conference. Interim management of the Munich branch.
Logistics unit on a NATO mission, then language mediation and intercultural training in Hohenfels. Learned responsibility early.
The common thread
Operations. Fleet, hotel, film production or a payroll & bookkeeping firm — in the end it's always about people, processes and systems working together. That's exactly what I build software for today.
Principles
Data ownership is an architectural principle for me, not a marketing word: own servers, open formats, documented exports. You can leave at any time — which is why you stay.
I ran businesses before I digitized them. What I recommend, I've operated myself — in my own company, with my own money, with my own team.
I don't hand over anything I wouldn't want to maintain myself. Every system ships with documentation, backups and a plan for the day something breaks.
If AI is the wrong answer to your problem, I'll say so. If an 80-percent solution is enough, I won't send a 100-percent invoice.
Contact
A first call costs you 30 minutes and nothing else. Afterwards you'll have clarity on feasibility, approach and budget.
