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Greg Smith

Partner

Head of Digital Problem Solving

United Kingdom

Greg helps organizations solve their intractable problems using disruptive digital technologies and ways of working

Greg Smith

Areas of Focus

Education

University of Leicester
BSc (Hons), Biological Sciences

Past Experience

Atos Consulting
Partner, Global Head of IT Strategy & Transformation, Chief Knowledge Officer (UK Consulting)
Yodel
Chief Information Officer
Capgemini
Consulting CIO
Kingfisher
Senior roles at Kingfisher’s property division (Chartwell Land) and entertainment distribution and category management business (Entertainment UK)

Greg Smith

Greg is a Partner at Arthur D. Little, based out of our London office, and leader of Digital Problem Solving practice.

Greg focuses on how emerging digital technologies and associated ways of working can be harnessed to drive the transformation of the business, either to breakthrough problems or to seize new opportunities. He believes that the technology patterns and approaches that have been used by businesses in the past are no longer appropriate to the challenges they now face and that new approaches will have to be adopted if the full potential of the “digital revolution” is to be realized.

Over a 25 year+ career in technology, Greg has worked within businesses as an IT leader, and through consulting organizations as a strategic advisor and intractable problem solver to clients across a wide range of sectors. 

Additionally, he has led innovative programs covering IT and Digital strategy, IT operating model transformation, customer strategy, business operating model redesign and the IT interventions required to effectively enable mergers and demergers.
 

Winning the war for digital talent
Winning the war for digital talent
Michael Papadopoulos, Michael Majster, Olivier Pilot, Alexey Pankov, Greg Smith
Businesses across the world are facing a shortage of professional talent and expertise in digital and IT skills and capabilities. For example, a 2021 survey suggested that 76 percent of IT decision-makers worldwide faced critical skills gaps in their departments, an increase of 145 percent since 2016.[1]
Find out more
Travel & transportation
Act now for full digital transformation of air traffic control
Francesco Marsella, Greg Smith, Andrea Visentin
Leveraging COVID-19 crisis for more efficient, sustainable, and effective business models for ANSPs.
Find out more
Moving from “Best Practice” to “Next Practice”
Greg Smith
We are constantly bombarded with the message that we are living through a period of unprecedented change; that technology is rewriting the rule book across all industries; that any organization that fails to fully master technology will become commoditized, obsolete, or extinct; and that the only possible solution to these challenges is to implement the latest technological miracle cure.
Find out more
2018 Technology Trends
Greg Smith
While KPCB venture partner Mary Meeker’s annual “Internet Trends“ report does an outstanding job as a ”State of the Digital Nation,” there is no single user manual on the related trends affecting how companies can leverage emerging technology. Often there is asymmetry between the apparent positive trends from emerging technology and the negative trends these can create for established companies.
Find out more
Industrial goods & services
Why machine learning is crucial
Greg Smith, Michael Papadopoulos
This article explores the challenge of managing and gaining the most value from big data. We highlight the increased opportunity associated with larger data sets, while illustrating the limitations of current methods and human intellect across the 4 Vs of big data (volume, velocity, variety, and veracity), ultimately resulting in lost value — the fifth V. We further show how organizations can use machine learning (ML) to address these limitations and realize the full value from big data. Finally, we highlight how cutting-edge companies employ ML to obtain greater value.
Find out more
Developing a customer experience
Greg Smith
Excellent customer experience (CEX) remains elusive. Companies struggle with CEX due to lack of clear accountability at board level, or because they do not challenge their assumptions about what they think customers really want, or how they really feel about the service or product being offered. Consequently, they may focus on the wrong areas. Arthur D.
Find out more
Sense of Purpose
Ralf Baron, Rick Eagar, Michael Kolk, Thomas Kuruvilla, Greg Smith
From time to time concepts that, at first sight, seem quite old fashioned suddenly get a new lease of life. For example, open innovation has been around for decades, but it’s come to the fore again in recent years in the context of converging industries, start-up collaborations and the rise of the innovation ecosystem.
Find out more
Tackling the Digital Hype – Executing digitally enabled strategies
Greg Smith
Successfully implementing a business strategy is usually a lot more challenging than developing it. Advances in digital technology are frequently perceived as a “silver bullet”. However, digital can also expose a company’s inner contradictions, reveal hidden pockets of poor performance and even lead to perceived core capabilities becoming seen as critical weaknesses. What are the most common execution problems when it comes to digital, and how can they be overcome?
Find out more
Driving adoption in digital transformation
Greg Smith
When it comes to delivering effective digital transformations, human behaviour is often overlooked in favour of a focus on technology. Based on our experience and research, we outline how organizations can truly engage their people by understanding their behaviors, and consequently, ensure that they undergo successful digital change.
Find out more

Greg Smith

Greg is a Partner at Arthur D. Little, based out of our London office, and leader of Digital Problem Solving practice.

Greg focuses on how emerging digital technologies and associated ways of working can be harnessed to drive the transformation of the business, either to breakthrough problems or to seize new opportunities. He believes that the technology patterns and approaches that have been used by businesses in the past are no longer appropriate to the challenges they now face and that new approaches will have to be adopted if the full potential of the “digital revolution” is to be realized.

Over a 25 year+ career in technology, Greg has worked within businesses as an IT leader, and through consulting organizations as a strategic advisor and intractable problem solver to clients across a wide range of sectors. 

Additionally, he has led innovative programs covering IT and Digital strategy, IT operating model transformation, customer strategy, business operating model redesign and the IT interventions required to effectively enable mergers and demergers.
 

Winning the war for digital talent
Winning the war for digital talent
Michael Papadopoulos, Michael Majster, Olivier Pilot, Alexey Pankov, Greg Smith
Businesses across the world are facing a shortage of professional talent and expertise in digital and IT skills and capabilities. For example, a 2021 survey suggested that 76 percent of IT decision-makers worldwide faced critical skills gaps in their departments, an increase of 145 percent since 2016.[1]
Find out more
Travel & transportation
Act now for full digital transformation of air traffic control
Francesco Marsella, Greg Smith, Andrea Visentin
Leveraging COVID-19 crisis for more efficient, sustainable, and effective business models for ANSPs.
Find out more
Moving from “Best Practice” to “Next Practice”
Greg Smith
We are constantly bombarded with the message that we are living through a period of unprecedented change; that technology is rewriting the rule book across all industries; that any organization that fails to fully master technology will become commoditized, obsolete, or extinct; and that the only possible solution to these challenges is to implement the latest technological miracle cure.
Find out more
2018 Technology Trends
Greg Smith
While KPCB venture partner Mary Meeker’s annual “Internet Trends“ report does an outstanding job as a ”State of the Digital Nation,” there is no single user manual on the related trends affecting how companies can leverage emerging technology. Often there is asymmetry between the apparent positive trends from emerging technology and the negative trends these can create for established companies.
Find out more
Industrial goods & services
Why machine learning is crucial
Greg Smith, Michael Papadopoulos
This article explores the challenge of managing and gaining the most value from big data. We highlight the increased opportunity associated with larger data sets, while illustrating the limitations of current methods and human intellect across the 4 Vs of big data (volume, velocity, variety, and veracity), ultimately resulting in lost value — the fifth V. We further show how organizations can use machine learning (ML) to address these limitations and realize the full value from big data. Finally, we highlight how cutting-edge companies employ ML to obtain greater value.
Find out more
Developing a customer experience
Greg Smith
Excellent customer experience (CEX) remains elusive. Companies struggle with CEX due to lack of clear accountability at board level, or because they do not challenge their assumptions about what they think customers really want, or how they really feel about the service or product being offered. Consequently, they may focus on the wrong areas. Arthur D.
Find out more
Sense of Purpose
Ralf Baron, Rick Eagar, Michael Kolk, Thomas Kuruvilla, Greg Smith
From time to time concepts that, at first sight, seem quite old fashioned suddenly get a new lease of life. For example, open innovation has been around for decades, but it’s come to the fore again in recent years in the context of converging industries, start-up collaborations and the rise of the innovation ecosystem.
Find out more
Tackling the Digital Hype – Executing digitally enabled strategies
Greg Smith
Successfully implementing a business strategy is usually a lot more challenging than developing it. Advances in digital technology are frequently perceived as a “silver bullet”. However, digital can also expose a company’s inner contradictions, reveal hidden pockets of poor performance and even lead to perceived core capabilities becoming seen as critical weaknesses. What are the most common execution problems when it comes to digital, and how can they be overcome?
Find out more
Driving adoption in digital transformation
Greg Smith
When it comes to delivering effective digital transformations, human behaviour is often overlooked in favour of a focus on technology. Based on our experience and research, we outline how organizations can truly engage their people by understanding their behaviors, and consequently, ensure that they undergo successful digital change.
Find out more

More About Greg
  • University of Leicester
    BSc (Hons), Biological Sciences
  • Atos Consulting
    Partner, Global Head of IT Strategy & Transformation, Chief Knowledge Officer (UK Consulting)
  • Yodel
    Chief Information Officer
  • Capgemini
    Consulting CIO
  • Kingfisher
    Senior roles at Kingfisher’s property division (Chartwell Land) and entertainment distribution and category management business (Entertainment UK)