40+ years of workshop software,
built in Australia.
The Leading Hand started life in the 1980s as a software project for the Institute of Automotive Engineers (IAME), who wanted a reliable, easy-to-use, competitively priced program for their members.
Forty years later it’s still in workshops across Australia — now as a modern cloud platform, still independent, still Australian.
Who we are
Independent. Australian. Long-running.
The Leading Hand is built by Ampl Software, an independent Australian software company founded in 1984. We’re based in Parramatta, Sydney. We focus exclusively on the automotive industry.
We’re not venture-backed. We’re not chasing an exit. We’ve been building workshop software longer than most SaaS companies have existed — and we plan to keep doing it.
When you call support, you’re talking to people who built the product. When you ask for a feature, the person reading the request is the person who decides whether to build it.
Founder
Built by people who use it.
{{FOUNDER_BIO}} — placeholder, ~60 words. Background, what drew you to the workshop industry, why this product still matters to you.
How we work
Three pillars.
Built in Australia
We start with the rules, formats, and integrations that matter here — GST, BAS, Australian phone formats, four major accounting platforms — not as an afterthought.
Production-grade engineering
Multi-tenant, secure, audited. Hosted on AWS Sydney, encrypted in transit and at rest, daily backups with tested restore procedures.
Sustainable and founder-led
Independent. Self-funded. Building for the long run, not the next exit. When you talk to support, you’re talking to people who built the product.
The corporate parent
About Ampl Software.
The Leading Hand is one product of Ampl Software, an independent Australian software company.