MICHAEL HERBST
IT Support · System Administration · Cloud, Cybersecurity & Web

Curriculum Vitae · Michael Herbst

Experience.

2014 – present · four employers · one six-year technical role

An independent IT, infrastructure and web practice today; before that, six years and five months as the only technical person in a software business serving over 270 South African offices, owning everything from the helpdesk queue to the servers, the identity estate and the public-sector bid file.

01 Current Practice

Jeffreys Bay, South Africa · May 2026 – Present

Founder Current · Kouga Digital

Independent IT, Infrastructure, Managed Services & Web Practice · www.kougadigital.co.za

  • Independent practice delivering IT support, infrastructure and web work for South African professional-services clients, run solo end to end from scoping through to handover.
  • Configured and solely administer Kouga Digital's Google Workspace Business environment, including ongoing maintenance, alongside deeper, longer Microsoft 365 production experience.
  • Administer client hosting environments hands-on: cPanel and static hosting, DNS and domain management, deployment pipelines linked directly to version control to remove a recurring duplicate-instance failure mode at its root cause, cache-header strategy scoped so returning users are never served a stale stylesheet, and verification of live hosting configuration rather than assumption.
  • End-to-end web engagement: requirements gathering, content strategy, hand-coded HTML and CSS, accessibility basics, JSON-LD structured data and local SEO, draft regulatory pages (POPIA, ECTA), and WordPress-to-static deployment for cPanel and Softaculous environments.
  • Own the commercial side: rate-card and pricing architecture, transparent sourcing with disclosed handling and no hidden margin, written vendor-spend governance requiring client sign-off before any third-party cost is incurred, and productised services from flat-rate audits to tiered managed-care and retainer plans.
  • Built a browser-based quote generator with live preview and PDF export to run quoting off a single source of truth.
  • Apply production and security checklists to every deployment, and maintain a living snags-and-gotchas record so a fault that has cost time once cannot cost time again.
  • Use AI-assisted development and operations tooling to accelerate solo delivery while keeping hand-written, readable production code and configuration.
  • Growing the offering and client base through productised service design and a no-lock-in delivery model, with services expanding into home and office automation, digital marketing, and private and local AI deployment.

02 Civilsoft Systems CC

The core of the record: 1 December 2019 to 4 May 2026, six years and five months of continuous service confirmed by the certificate of service.

St Francis Bay, Eastern Cape, South Africa · December 2019 – May 2026

Client Support Administrator · Civilsoft Systems CC

  • Sole technical resource for proprietary .NET engineering software used in over 270 South African offices, across six years and five months of continuous service.
  • Sole compiler and submitter of the company's public-sector software bids throughout the role, to South African municipalities, provincial departments, the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) and the South African Reserve Bank: MBD documentation, Central Supplier Database registration and PPPFA scoring compliance.
  • Administered Windows Server and VPS infrastructure as the scope of the role expanded: provisioning, patch management, user and access management, application deployment, monitoring, backup, restore and disaster recovery.
  • Ran Microsoft 365 and identity administration across client and internal tenants as the sole administrator: account creation, group and licence management, conditional access and multi-factor enrolment, Intune-managed endpoints, and access removal on exit.
  • Ran day-to-day helpdesk operations on Freshdesk: ticket triage, prioritisation, escalation, resolution and follow-up for clients across Southern African and international markets.
  • Managed cloud-hosted MySQL and on-premises Microsoft Access databases for client deployments: query support, backups, restores and integrity checks.
  • Built PowerShell and Bash automation and Git-based versioning to streamline support, reporting and documentation tasks.
  • Authored and maintained technical documentation, runbooks, training material and user guides; delivered remote and on-site training to non-technical clients.
  • Proposed and received approval for an updated video-training and user-guide programme, while continuing primary support duties.
  • Deployed and evaluated local AI tooling (Ollama, AnythingLLM, Claude Code) to support scripting, documentation and day-to-day operational workflows.
  • Owned client onboarding across the full product life cycle, and provided remote and on-site IT support for related companies.
  • Single point of contact for client queries, building durable relationships with non-technical users across the full client lifecycle.
  • Contributed across marketing, sales support and office administration as the business required.
Public-sector tendering

Bid compilation ran for the length of the role, alongside primary support duties and never as a separate job title: MBD documentation, Central Supplier Database registration and PPPFA 80/20 scoring compliance, submitted to municipalities, provincial departments, SARAO and the South African Reserve Bank.

03 Earlier Professional Roles

Port Elizabeth, South Africa · 2018 – 2019

Assistant Manager (promoted from Internal Sales) · Teleray CC

  • Trained new staff, ran the business in the owner's absence, and oversaw day-to-day operations and key-holder responsibilities.
  • Managed B2B and retail sales of consumer electronics, hardware and audiovisual equipment; advised customers on technical fit.
  • Built and maintained customer relationships and repeat business through technical product knowledge and reliable after-sales support.
  • Handled inventory control, trial-balance bookkeeping, and marketing.

Port Elizabeth, South Africa · 2018

Sales Manager · The Student Advisor

  • Led external sales, marketing and administration single-handedly, growing the client database from scratch and pitching directly to prospective clients.

Port Elizabeth, South Africa · 2017

IT & Sales Consultant · Irislink SA / The Media Genius SA

  • Provided regional sales and technical support for optical character recognition software and devices: pre-sales advice, on-site deployment, configuration and end-user troubleshooting.

04 Earlier Roles (2014 – 2018)

April 2018 · Temporary

Sales Consultant · Wayne Pheiffer Cycles

  • Short-term retail sales role assisting with seasonal demand.

2016 – 2018 · During tertiary studies

Freelance Tutor

  • One-on-one tutoring on an independent basis alongside university studies.

2016 – 2018 · During tertiary studies

Freelance DJ

  • Performed as a freelance DJ for private and student events alongside university studies.

Welkom · 2014 – 2015

Event DJ/MC and Sound Technician · Lutiek Promotions & Sound (now Fresco Sounds)

  • Hosted and performed at live events as DJ/MC, and supported live event sound setup and operation.

05 References

Available on request. A certificate of service confirms the Civilsoft Systems role, title and dates.

Email Michael Call +27 64 676 5276