The person behind it
IBM-trained. Twenty-seven years of serious systems. Now building AI that holds.
True North IT is one person with a twenty-seven-year track record of keeping serious systems running — and a clear view of where AI fits, and where it doesn't.
Why most AI projects fail — and why ours don't.
Most AI implementations don't fail because the technology is wrong. They fail because they're bolted onto systems that can't support them. You can't automate a business whose foundations are shaky and expect it to hold.
That's the one thing twenty-seven years in production IT teaches you that no amount of AI hype can: the difference between a clever demo and something that still works on a wet Tuesday in six months' time. Finding where AI helps, building it properly, and making sure the ground underneath it is sound — that's the whole job.
IBM-trained27 years in productionUK & NZ
The track record
Twenty-seven years keeping real systems running.
The short version: from apprentice engineer at IBM, to running IT for a national transport operator, to rebuilding systems for healthcare, banking and non-profits, to building AI for Northland businesses today. The long version:
1998–2002
IBM Modern Apprenticeship, IT Engineering
Started at the bottom, in the hardware. A four-year apprenticeship that built the ground-up understanding everything since has stood on.
2003–2013
Scottish Citylink & Stagecoach UK Bus
Started as the junior at Citylink and ended up sole IT Manager — the systems, the security, the email, the network and the IT budget for the national coach operator. All while a field engineer for Stagecoach UK Bus, one of the UK's biggest transport groups, covering half of Scotland.
2013–2015
NZ Red Cross
Brought in after a major earthquake put the charity's Wellington server room at risk. Virtualised their existing server infrastructure into cloud infrastructure in Auckland, rolled out wireless at sites across the country, and shifted the whole organisation onto Office 365.
2015–2017
Consultant — Westpac, Steel & Tube
Designed and deployed remote-desktop infrastructure for one of New Zealand's largest banks, and delivered systems support for a recognisable NZ manufacturer.
2017–present
True North IT
An independent Northland consultancy. Sole IT consultant and de facto outsourced IT manager to Whangaroa Health Services Trust for eight years — a full network rebuild, cloud migration and ongoing management of a 24/7 aged-care environment — alongside ongoing IT for Far North businesses across agriculture, transport, hospitality and community health.
2023–present
The turn to AI
Three years head-down in this generation of AI — working out how to integrate it into real business systems, safely, securely and to a production standard. True North IT became its own first client, and the whole focus shifted with it: finding where AI genuinely pays off, building it, and keeping it running is now the job.
2026–present
Technical Director, AI Developments NZ
Sought out by a new NZ AI venture for the depth of experience behind True North IT. Independent proof the AI work is real, not a rebrand.
Want the full technical version — every system, every project? It's all on LinkedIn→
In my own words
Who I do it for.
This technology is genuinely powerful, and I get to choose who I build it for. I choose businesses run by decent people doing good work — owners trying to build a place worth working at, for themselves and the people alongside them. If the win we find gives your staff a better week, and not just the business a better margin, that's the job done properly.
That goes for both beliefs this business runs on: AI should level the playing field for SMEs, and technology should give people their time back. If that sounds like your outfit, we'll get on fine.
— Dave Turley
Twenty-seven years of groundwork.
Let's put it to use in your business.
It starts with a free conversation — no pitch, no jargon. If there's a real win in your business, we'll find it and tell you what it's worth.
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