Ilkley IT company celebrates 15 years
- Nick
- May 7
- 4 min read
Ilkley based Cactus IT’s history started in 2010, when it was founded as Cactus Backup Limited by South African-born entrepreneur Bevan Yates.
Since then, this Ilkley business has consistently been recognised for the integrity of its tailored IT business solutions and advice and its unwavering commitment to delivering top-notch services and support to its clients.
Cactus IT, which comprises Bevan and team members Jimmy Arnott and Josh Woodhead, has earned a reputation for the calm and thorough approach of its consultants, as well as their friendly, personal service that is highly valued by their customers. A recent client satisfaction survey praised their technical expertise, quality of service and response times in particular.
Working with single business users through to large corporations, they help businesses run smoothly and work efficiently without dealing with the hassles and frustrations that technology can sometimes bring. Technical jargon and ‘IT for IT’s sake’ is avoided, and their aim is to be recommended by every one of their customers.
This ‘belt and braces’ approach to IT has been bringing peace of mind to their clients’ businesses across Yorkshire and around the UK for the past fifteen years, based on the firm belief of Bevan’s Grandfather that ‘a job should be done properly, belt, braces and all’.
Grandpa Yates stood for integrity and the mantra of ‘what would Grandpa Yates do?’ acts as a moral compass and a business philosophy not just for Bevan, but for the whole team.
Bevan’s journey from South Africa to running his IT company in Ilkley has spanned continents and included many high-octane adventures.
After finishing school in 1989 and completing his period of National Service for one year, he travelled extensively, partaking in adrenaline-fueled activities including a bucket-list achievement of heliskiing; off-trail skiing with a helicopter instead of a lift. A passionate snowboarder and skier, he spent six years snowboarding in the winter seasons across the world and working at various jobs in South Africa in the summer. He met his wife, a ski instructor at the time, in Andorra.
In 1999, he began to question his life choices and a pivotal moment in his career occurred when he was offered an apprenticeship at his brother’s IT company in Johannesburg. He realised that not only was he good at IT support and advice, but he really enjoyed it.
After moving to the UK in 2002, he worked in Brighouse as an IT consultant for five years and was instrumental in helping the business acquire Microsoft Gold Status.
A relocation to Slovenia followed where he and his wife bought and renovated a house. During that time, he took on a contract with Optident LTD; a dental supplier in the UK, and would fly over from Slovenia to Ilkley every few weeks.
In 2010, recognizing the future importance of cloud backup, he registered Cactus Backup Ltd, and began selling cloud backup to businesses in Slovenia.
In 2011, he and his wife moved permanently to the UK, settling in Ilkley, where they started a family and Bevan focused on establishing Cactus IT and finding consultancy work.
Originally, the company’s focus was on online data protection, recognising the growing importance of reliable, off-site data backup. An IT support Helpdesk was outsourced to a local IT company at the time.
But building on Bevan’s networks and consultancy background, Cactus IT soon expanded to offer a complete range of IT advice and solutions, with the Helpdesk brought in-house in 2019.
Jimmy joined the team in 2018 as Bevan’s first apprentice. Then Josh came onboard as an apprentice in 2020.
Training development within the team is key. A robust training programme ensures that the consultants are consistently raising their own bar by improving their knowledge and awareness of the latest technological developments and the next ‘big thing’. As a result, they are constantly updating their service offering, including Cyber Essentials, Microsoft 365, higher levels of Endpoint Security with a direct line to the vendor 24/7, as examples.
As Bevan explains:
“We always start from understanding the specific needs of a business to make sure that our advice is tailored accordingly, and we use our experience with industry-proven software and hardware to only recommend what we know works.
“Ultimately, we want to make a difference and help other people be successful with their technology. Helping someone is the reason we get out of bed in the morning and a win for us is a really satisfied customer, where their expectations have been exceeded.
“We don’t want our clients to worry about IT or be disrupted at work; our experience tells us that there is always a solution and it also tells us life is too short not to enjoy work.
“I really enjoy the variety of what I do, and meeting people. I love learning new technology and being able to roll out a comprehensively tried and tested formula across a wide customer focus is very satisfying.
“There’s always lots going on behind the scenes but I enjoy the challenge. During the week, I get up in the morning at 5am and use that time before I wake the kids up at 7am to plan the day and focus my mind on upcoming tasks. It’s a really productive time for me and sets my working day up perfectly.”
Cactus IT has big plans for the next five years, including doubling the team and expanding the business. Bevan was delighted to be a finalist in the category B2B Business of the Year at the 2025 Ilkley Business Awards, and his success is a testament to his ability to meet the evolving needs of his clients.
With a focus on delivering high-quality solutions with a meticulous attention to detail, Bevan and his team are passionate about helping businesses achieve their goals knowing that their IT is in the safest of hands.
