Forensic computing graduate. 14 years in the industry. Four awards since 2021. And yes, I still pick up the phone myself.
I studied forensic computing at university. That's the degree where you learn to pull apart hard drives, trace how a cyber breach happened, figure out who did it, and build a chain of evidence that holds up in court. Most of my classmates went into law enforcement or government intelligence work. I went into IT support.
Weird choice? Maybe. But here's what years of investigating cyber incidents taught me: almost every breach I looked at was preventable. Not with expensive software or some complicated security system. With basics. Proper backups. Decent passwords. A team that knows what a phishing email looks like before they click it.
That got under my skin. I kept seeing the same patterns — small businesses hit hardest because nobody had shown them what "good" looked like. The big IT companies didn't want their business (too small, not profitable enough). And the smaller providers they could afford? Half the time they weren't picking up the phone.
So I built Ashvale IT. Started from my desk in Bristol with a laptop and a phone. That was over 14 years ago.
"I believe everyone needs a Dave!"
People ask about this a lot at networking events. "What's forensic computing got to do with fixing my email?"
Fair question. The honest answer?
When you've spent years investigating breaches after they've happened — tracing the entry point, documenting the damage, watching businesses lose data they'll never get back — you develop a very specific kind of paranoia. The good kind. You stop thinking about IT as "making things work" and start thinking about it as "making sure things can't break in the ways I've already seen break."
That's not something you get from a certification course over a weekend. It's thousands of hours looking at what went wrong and understanding why. Every backup strategy I set up, every security protocol, every Beacon Academy training session I've built comes from real incidents I've investigated. Not theoretical ones.
Does that mean I'm overqualified to reset your printer password? Probably. But when the thing that goes wrong isn't a printer — when it's a ransomware attack at 3am on a Tuesday, or a phishing email that's just convincing enough to fool your best employee — you'll want someone who's seen it before. Someone who doesn't panic because they've worked incidents worse than yours.
That's the trade-off. You get the person who resets your password AND the person who's investigated real cyber crime. Same monthly fee.
Technology should work for you. When it doesn't, you shouldn't have to figure it out alone. That's genuinely it. That's the whole philosophy.
But let me be specific about what that looks like day to day, because "good IT support" means different things to different people.
Not a call centre. Not a ticketing system that sends you an automated reply saying "we'll get back to you within 48 hours." Me. Or someone on my team who knows your setup and your name. Megan Foster called about a problem and "within hours he had set up a Zoom meeting and talked me through everything." That's the standard, not the exception.
I don't say "endpoint protection" when I mean antivirus. I don't say "business continuity" when I mean backups. If I can't explain what I'm doing in words you'd use at the pub, I haven't explained it well enough. Your IT shouldn't feel like a foreign language.
This is the forensic computing background talking. I'd rather spend 20 minutes checking your systems on a quiet Wednesday than 6 hours rebuilding them on an emergency Friday. Most of what I do, you'll never notice. That's the point.
30 days' notice. That's it. Claire Denton switched to me from another provider and called the onboarding "faultless, smooth and efficient." If I'm not doing a good job, you should be able to leave. The fact that my clients don't? That tells you more than any sales pitch.
I won't pretend Ashvale IT is a one-man operation. It isn't. I've got a small team around me, and they're brilliant at what they do.
But here's what makes us different from every other IT company in Bristol: you'll always know who's looking after you. This isn't a faceless helpdesk where your ticket gets assigned to whoever's free. When you become a Ashvale IT client, you're working with people who know your systems, your quirks, and that thing your office printer does every third Tuesday. (Every printer has a thing. Don't worry about it.)
We serve Bristol businesses with 1 to 50 people. Sole traders who need someone to call when the laptop dies. Teams of 15 who need their whole setup managed. Growing companies who've outgrown "my nephew's good with computers" and need proper support without the corporate overhead.
What we don't do: chase enterprise contracts with 500 seats and a 12-month procurement process. That's not the work I started this business to do. I'd rather know 50 clients by name than service 500 by ticket number.
/The proof
Book a 30-minute chat. I'll ask about your setup, your frustrations, and what "good IT" would look like for your business. You'll know within 10 minutes whether we're the right fit.
And if we're not the right fit? I'll tell you. Honestly. I've sent people to other providers before when they needed something I don't offer. I'd rather do that than take your money and do a bad job. (Turns out being honest about this stuff actually works. Who knew.)
