About

Ian Smith is the founder of craftscale Ltd — a fractional CTO with a hands-on AI practice. Currently CTO at Squadify. Behind that, 30 years tackling thorny technology problems, 23 of them at IBM.

I founded craftscale in 2018, after 23 years of technology and innovation leadership at IBM. The work I do today is fractional CTO and product-development partnerships. I combine strategic technology leadership with hands-on building, which means the advice I give is grounded in what actually ships.

What I'm working on

My current engagement is fractional CTO at Squadify, where I provide senior technology direction to the leadership team. My hands-on contribution is concentrated in the AI work — leading the AI Insights engine, which turns team diagnostics into clear, actionable guidance for leaders, and what's coming next: LLM-driven coaching workflows designed to give every team in an organisation access to consistent, high-quality coaching at scale.

Beyond Squadify, I work with clients on AI adoption, agentic systems, and end-to-end product delivery: designing AI capabilities, integrating them into real platforms, and helping organisations adopt LLMs and AI coding agents in ways that hold up over time. I also run training for technical teams and speak regularly on AI, design, and the future of technology.

Background

23 years at IBM gave me deep grounding in enterprise architecture, strategic technology decisions, and turning complex possibilities into things that actually ship. I specialised in bridging the gap between what was technically possible and what was practical for the business — a translation skill I now bring directly to craftscale clients. It's also where I picked up IBM's Enterprise Design Thinking practice, which still anchors how I approach product and innovation work today.

I founded craftscale on a simple belief: technology should enhance and accelerate your business, not complicate it. Eight years in, that's still the test I apply to every recommendation I make.

Outside the screen

I co-host What A Lot Of Things, my technology podcast with Ash Winter — tech talk from a human perspective. I support the Innovation Thinking & Practice module at Leeds University Business School, helping students who'll shape the next generation of technology in business. And I'm based in Ilkley, in West Yorkshire.

These aren't separate from the work — they shape it. Teaching at Leeds keeps me close to emerging thinking. Co-hosting a podcast with Ash gives me an argumentative friend who'll push back on ideas. Spending time outside the screen is what makes the inside-the-screen work better.

Drop me a line.

If any of this lines up with what you're looking for, get in touch and we'll figure out the rest in conversation.