Hugo Smith is a prominent figure in tech leadership in many different sectors. With over 20 years at board-level IT experience, he has over a decade of experience in spearheading technological advancements and business growth across various sectors. His expertise spans fintech/gambling, IT consulting, and fractional leadership roles. This has made him a versatile and effective leader in the technology domain.
Hugo’s role as a Fractional CTO/CIO for the last 10 years underscored his skills in tech leadership across many verticals including Insurance, manufacturing, logisics and supply chain. In these positions, he focused on delivering independent, client-centric technology leadership in the mid-market sector. His work involved shaping technology strategies, enhancing digital infrastructure, leading team development, and adding value in custom software and business systems integration.
During his tenure as Chief Technology Officer at broadbandchoices.co.uk, Hugo was pivotal in advancing the platform’s technology to position it as a leading choice for consumers in Europe in the field of broadband and mobile phone comparisons. He achieved a threefold increase in Agile productivity using Lean, Kanban, and Scrum methodologies, coupled with robust program management. A significant milestone was his leadership in transitioning to a fully cloud-based infrastructure on AWS, facilitating the closure of an inflexible Co-Lo data centre. His approach of close stakeholder engagement and extensive A-B testing ensured aligned, iterative product development.
Hugo has been a Managing Consultant, in this role, he has demonstrated his broad expertise in various online sectors, undertaking IT Director, CIO/CTO roles. Also he has managed programs and change for a diverse clientele. Specialising in enhancing Agile productivity, he has been instrumental in building high-performance teams. This involved conducting outsourcing reviews for improved service management and development. His focus on selecting the best hosting solutions, including cloud technologies, and applying security & governance to system and software selection.