About Us

What We Do

Technology should enhance and accelerate your business. As your trusted technical partner, craftscale combines strategic vision with hands-on expertise to bring ideas to life quickly. When you work with craftscale, you're working with Ian Smith - bringing 23 years of technology and innovation leadership experience from IBM to your team.

What makes this partnership particularly valuable is that the same person shaping your technology strategy will also build working prototypes and solutions you can see, touch, and iterate immediately. No layers of interpretation, no handoffs - just direct collaboration that moves your business forward.

Recent work spans from implementing production-ready AI solutions with LangChain and Python to rapidly prototyping new tools that evolve into revenue- generating products. Whether serving as a fractional¹ Chief Technology Officer or collaborating with your existing technical leadership, I bring both strategic guidance and practical execution to every engagement. When specialised expertise is needed, I maintain a network of proven technical collaborators who can be brought in to accelerate specific initiatives.

How I Work

I believe in the transformative power of technology and approach each engagement with genuine enthusiasm and commitment. Your success becomes my success - I emotionally invest in your journey and bring the same drive for excellence that marked my time leading innovation at IBM.

My approach centres on short feedback loops and close collaboration. This combination has proven especially valuable when navigating significant technical decisions - because I can both chart the strategic course and rapidly prototype solutions to validate our direction. This hands-on validation has earned the trust of clients, who have regularly invited me to represent their technology initiatives at industry events.

Beyond Technology

I co-host the What A Lot Of Things podcast, exploring technology from a human perspective. I also support the Innovation Thinking & Practice module at Leeds University Business School.