British Columbia · Based in the Okanagan

Enterprise-grade AI & software. Without the enterprise price.

AI assistants, modernized legacy apps and custom software for BC municipalities, public-sector organizations and growing businesses. You talk to the engineer who builds it. Fixed scope, fixed price, no lock-in.

Taking on new projects for this season

modernize — permits-legacy
$ modernize ./permits-legacy --target cloud
analyzing 212 files · Java 6 · Oracle · on-prem…
✓ Mapped 38 endpoints & 14 workflows
✓ Generated modern API + infrastructure code
✓ Security hardening applied
! 3 stored procedures flagged for review
✓ Tests passing 184/184
✓ AI assistant indexed 1,240 docs
→ staging live · ready for your team to try
10+production systems shipped for government & enterprise
Millionsof people use systems we've built
8×AWS certifications, incl. Security & Pro Architect
~50%faster app modernization with AI tooling
Services

What we build.

Not a web design or marketing shop. We build the software and AI that does the work behind your site. Clear outcomes, fixed quote up front.

2–4 WEEKS

AI Chatbots for Your Website

An assistant on your existing site that answers residents' and customers' questions around the clock, straight from your own content, and hands off to staff when it should.

  • Answers from your pages, PDFs & policies
  • Cites its sources, admits when it doesn't know
  • Drops into the site you already have, any model provider
SCOPED

Internal AI Tools

Give staff back hours every week. Private assistants and automations that search internal documents, draft responses, summarize reports and triage incoming requests.

  • Q&A across internal docs & systems
  • Drafting, summarizing & intake triage
  • Stays in your cloud, never trains on your data
AI-ACCELERATED

Application Modernization

That critical app on an aging server and a framework nobody wants to touch? We move it to a modern, supported cloud stack, using AI tooling to get there in roughly half the usual time.

  • Legacy code to a modern, maintainable stack
  • Infrastructure as code, automated deployments
  • Security hardening built into every step
SCOPED

Application Development

Replace the spreadsheet, the paper form, the email chain. Custom software for staff or the public, built secure and scalable from day one.

  • Permit, booking & intake portals
  • Internal tools & dashboards with sign-in and roles
  • APIs & integrations between your systems
  • You own the code, fully
2 WEEKS · FIXED

Cloud & Security Review

A hands-on audit of your cloud accounts, network and access. You get a plain-language report and a ranked list of fixes, not a 90-page PDF nobody reads.

  • Access, identity & MFA review
  • Backup, logging & recovery check
  • Optional: we fix the critical items
SCOPED

Cloud Migration & DevOps

Move off the aging server in the closet. Everything defined as code, deployed automatically, and documented so the next person isn't guessing.

  • Terraform / CDK infrastructure
  • Automated, tested deployments
  • Monitoring & cost controls
Selected work

Proven at scale. Now available to BC.

The kind of systems we've engineered for public-sector and enterprise organizations across Canada and the US. Client details stay confidential.

01

Public-sector service platform

JavaContainersEvent-drivenOIDC

Fault-tolerant, event-driven platform behind a core government service, with full audit trails and live sync to legacy on-premise systems.

Millionsof residents served
02

Organization-wide AI platform

RAGTypeScriptWebSocketsRBAC

Self-serve platform letting staff build and deploy their own AI assistants, with real-time chat, swappable model providers and fine-grained access control.

10K+users
03

Healthcare AI assistant

RAGPythonReact

Source-grounded AI assistant giving patients and the public trustworthy answers from vetted medical content, embedded across public websites.

Citedevery answer
04

Cloud security re-platform

IAMNetworkingPolicy-as-code

Moved a large multi-account cloud organization onto a modern security baseline, tightening access controls and network segmentation across hundreds of workloads.

0workloads disrupted
05

AI-assisted modernization

LLMsIaCSecurity

Framework that uses AI coding agents to convert legacy applications to modern cloud architectures, with security hardening built in.

~50%less migration time
Cellar demo: a winery home page with a large photo of vineyards above Okanagan Lake
Built in-house

Cellar: a website platform for wineries

A WordPress replacement built for small wineries and the marketing teams who run their sites. One install runs many winery websites, each with its own look, shop and staff logins.

See it and the other in-house builds →
Ways to work together

Start small. Stay as long as it helps.

Most clients start with one fixed-price project. Some keep us on afterwards, some just need a second opinion.

Fixed-scope project

MOST COMMON

A clear outcome, a written scope and one price agreed before any work starts. Weekly demos. Ends with a handover.

  • Chatbots, portals, modernizations, reviews
  • Price does not move unless the scope does

Monthly retainer

AFTER LAUNCH

Keep a senior engineer on call without hiring one. Hosting, updates, small changes and new features as they come up.

  • Priority response
  • A set number of hours each month

Advisory

BY THE DAY

A second opinion before you sign. Vendor proposals, architecture reviews, AI strategy, or a plan your board can read.

  • Plain-language written findings
  • No obligation to hire us for the build
Why not an agency

Same skill set. None of the overhead.

Typical IT agency

  • Sales rep, then account manager, then a junior dev
  • Hourly billing that grows with every meeting
  • Generalists spread across websites, helpdesk & printers
  • Proprietary setups that keep you paying
  • Weeks to get a quote

Hawthorn Digital

  • You talk directly to the senior engineer doing the work
  • Fixed price per project, agreed before we start
  • Specialized: AI, custom software & cloud security
  • Everything in your accounts, as code, documented
  • Quote within 48 hours of our first call
Process

From first call to handover.

Talk

A free 30-minute call about what's slowing you down or keeping you up at night.

day 1

Quote

A short written scope with a fixed price and timeline. No surprises later.

within 48h

Build

Weekly demos of working software, not status reports. You see progress early.

first demo in 2 weeks

Hand over

Code, docs and a walkthrough for your team. You own all of it, no lock-in.

done

Certified 8 AWS certifications

AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional
Solutions ArchitectProfessional
AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional
DevOps EngineerProfessional
AWS Certified Security – Specialty
SecuritySpecialty
AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
Solutions ArchitectAssociate
AWS Certified Developer – Associate
DeveloperAssociate
AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate
SysOps AdministratorAssociate
AWS Certified AI – Practitioner
AIPractitioner
AWS Certified Cloud – Practitioner
CloudPractitioner
FAQ

Questions people ask first.

Straight answers. Anything else, just ask on the call.

How much does a project cost?

Every project gets a fixed price in writing before work starts. Focused jobs like a website assistant or a security review are measured in weeks, not months. You will know the rough range at the end of the first call, and the exact number within 48 hours.

Do you only work in the Okanagan?

We are based in the Okanagan and happy to come on site anywhere in the valley. Everywhere else in BC and Canada, work happens over video calls, which is how most software teams work anyway.

Who owns the code and the accounts?

You do. Everything is built in your own cloud and code accounts from day one, with documentation. If we stop working together, nothing breaks and nothing needs to be handed back.

Is our data safe with AI tools?

Assistants run in your own cloud account, use providers that do not train on your data, and can be kept in Canadian regions. Answers come from your documents only, with sources shown, and the assistant says so when it does not know.

What happens after launch?

You get a walkthrough, written docs and automated deployments, so your team or any other developer can take over. If you would rather not, a monthly retainer covers hosting, updates and changes.

We already have an IT team or vendor. Can you work with them?

Yes, and that is often the best setup. We take on the specialist piece (AI, a modernization, a security review) and leave your team with something they can run.

Do you build websites?

When the website has real work to do: bookings, a shop, sign-ins, staff editing their own pages, or an assistant answering questions. For a simple brochure site, a local designer is usually a better fit, and we are happy to recommend one.

Get in touch

Got a project, or just a nagging problem?

Tell us what's going on. If we're not the right fit, we'll say so and point you to someone who is.

Book a free 30-min call →or email [email protected]Pick any open slot · Video or phone · Remote across BC