Jeremy Tilson
Founder of AlphaFirst
Software, systems and business experience.
AlphaFirst
Who We Are
AlphaFirst is a Hertfordshire software and IT business helping growing companies turn important work into clear, usable systems.
Practical systems, built on decades of experience
AlphaFirst helps growing businesses replace important spreadsheets, trackers and manual ways of working with clear systems their teams can rely on.
The company was founded by Jeremy Tilson, a software developer and business owner with more than 30 years’ experience in IT, bespoke software development and business systems.
Jeremy’s background includes corporate IT roles for some of the world’s best-known companies. At AlphaFirst, he uses that experience to ask questions, understand the job and keep the first version focused.
Based in Hertfordshire for over 25 years
AlphaFirst Ltd has been based in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire for over 25 years. During that time, we’ve delivered IT and software work to approaching 300 customers, with systems, training and reporting used by thousands of people. More than 50 customers have left us five-star reviews on Google.
Our clients range from small businesses through to global Fortune 500 corporations. The common thread is practical work: systems that need to be reliable, information that needs to be trusted, and teams that need better ways to get things done.
Some of the people behind AlphaFirst
AlphaFirst is supported by a wider team. These are some of the key people involved in shaping the work, supporting clients and keeping things moving.
Vickie Barrett
Client Care Manager
Client communication, follow-up and making sure things keep moving.
Simon Woods
Technical Support Manager
Technical lead, ensuring effective day-to-day problem resolution.
Alex Tilson
AI Engineering Lead
AI engineering, practical systems work and support for AlphaFirst’s development team.
Mark Dradey
IT Support
Technical support, practical IT help and problem solving.
Hayley Collins
Accounts
Managing accounts and overseeing day-to-day finances
Problems we recognise
Most growing businesses don’t set out to create a software problem. They start with whatever helps the work get done: a spreadsheet, a shared file, an email trail, a folder structure, a small database or a workaround someone built because the business needed an answer quickly.
Over time, those quick answers can become important. More people rely on them. Reports depend on them. Customers or staff expect them to be right. That’s where AlphaFirst can help.
What we do
AlphaFirst turns important work that has become hard to manage into clear working systems.
That might mean replacing a spreadsheet used for job tracking, training records, compliance, reporting, asset management, customer work, approvals or another job that has become too important to leave as it is.
You show us how the job works and where it’s becoming hard to manage.
We help decide what the first version needs, build it with you and support the move into use.
How we take responsibility for the work
AI has made software development faster. But AI can’t decide what your business actually needs. It can’t know which shortcuts are safe, which important exceptions need handling, or how to keep a build small enough to finish properly.
Those decisions remain part of our job.
AlphaFirst uses AI-assisted development tools where it helps, alongside decades of software and business experience.
You don’t need to learn an app builder or manage the software development yourself. We lead that work and agree the support you’ll have as your team starts using the system.
The result? A delivered system that you can rely on.
What we believe
We believe software should reduce pressure, not add to it.
- Business owners should have better visibility without chasing people.
- Teams shouldn’t waste time copying the same information between spreadsheets, emails and systems.
- A small system that gets used is worth more than a large system that never quite fits.
- Technology should serve the business, not the other way around.
Want to talk through what you need?
Talk to us about the spreadsheet, existing system or IT problem you’re trying to sort out. We’ll help you work out the next step.