About Perahu Systems
A small practice built on clear terms and steady work
We build AI setups for small businesses in Malaysia and keep them running. No pitch, no upsell — just the work agreed.
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How we came to this work
Perahu Systems started in Alor Setar in 2021, when one of our founders was helping a family-run courier business sort out their daily delivery sequence. They were spending an hour each morning arranging runs on a whiteboard. A simple scheduling tool cut that to ten minutes. Nobody called it AI at the time — it was just the right tool for the problem.
From there, other small businesses in Kedah came with similar requests: could you do something about our customer notes? Could you check why our records keep going out of date after we update the billing software? The pattern was the same each time — a specific operational problem, a modest solution, and staff who needed to trust the output before they would use it.
We set up formally in 2022 and have kept the practice small on purpose. We work with a limited number of clients so that maintenance stays attentive. A monthly arrangement with us means a person looks at your setup each month, not a script running unattended.
Mission and values
What we hold to
People decide; tools suggest
Every setup we build keeps a person in the final position. We are not trying to replace your staff's judgement — we are giving them better information to work from.
Plain terms, fixed prices
What we build and what it costs is written down before we start. Maintenance is month-to-month. There is no lock-in and no minimum term.
Local context matters
Delivery routes in Alor Setar are different from those in Kuala Lumpur. Customer notes in Kedah carry local references. We work with that, not around it.
You can see what we did
Every summary links to the notes it drew from. Every monthly maintenance note records what was checked. Nothing runs in a black box.
The people
Who does the work
Ahmad Hariz
Founder & Systems Lead
Ahmad Hariz started the practice after five years building operations tools for logistics companies in Kedah. He handles the design and setup of every new arrangement and stays the main contact throughout.
Nur Rahimah
Client Setup & Review
Nur Rahimah manages the data import and review rounds with clients. She ran customer service operations for a regional retailer for four years before joining, which shapes how she approaches record quality.
Zulaikha Ibrahim
Maintenance & Monitoring
Zulaikha handles the monthly maintenance cycle — checking connections, reviewing samples, and writing the monthly notes. She joined from a software support background in Penang in 2023.
How we work
Standards we hold ourselves to
Data handled for its purpose only
We access client data only to build or maintain the agreed setup. We do not retain copies afterwards and we do not share data with third parties outside the service.
Written scope before we start
Every engagement begins with a written description of what we will build, what it will cost, and what is outside scope. Changes to scope are agreed in writing before work continues.
Output that traces to sources
Customer note summaries link back to the specific notes they drew from. Delivery schedule suggestions show which constraints were applied. Nothing is presented without a way to check it.
Monthly maintenance is a person, not a script
Each month a member of our team reviews a sample of output, checks connections, and writes a short note on what was found. Automated monitoring supplements this but does not replace it.
Concerns raised as they appear
If we notice something concerning during a maintenance cycle, we raise it directly rather than waiting for the monthly note. We do not hold back information that affects your operations.
No lock-in
Maintenance arrangements can end at any month. The setups remain with you when they do. We do not build dependencies that make leaving difficult.
AI integration for small business in Malaysia
What AI integration actually looks like for a small business
For most small businesses in Kedah and across Malaysia, AI integration is not about large systems or data teams. It is about identifying one or two places where information is handled slowly or inconsistently, and building a small setup that does that part more steadily.
Delivery scheduling is a common starting point. A business running three vans out of Alor Setar faces a coordination problem each morning that is well-suited to a scheduling aid — the addresses are known, the time windows are mostly fixed, and the cost of a poor sequence is measurable in fuel and late arrivals. The aid does not need to be complicated to help.
Customer records are another area where businesses often carry an avoidable burden. When a staff member leaves or a customer calls after a long gap, whoever picks up the phone reads through months of notes to reconstruct the situation. A short summary at the top of the record changes that without touching the underlying notes or requiring new software.
Perahu Systems was set up to address exactly these kinds of problems — specific, operational, and solvable without a large budget or technical staff on the client side. We work with small businesses in Alor Setar, Sungai Petani, Jitra, Kulim, and elsewhere in the region, and we maintain what we build so that it stays useful after the setup is done.
Want to talk through what you're dealing with?
We are happy to hear about your situation before you decide whether any of our setups are worth pursuing.
Get in touch