Karl A L Smith

With over 25 years of experience in enterprise transformation, I specialise in aligning HR, ERP, and integration programmes with business strategy for global organisations in banking, insurance, higher education, MedTech and government. I have led large-scale agile and digital transformations, integrating HR platforms, ERP solutions, case management systems, and AI-driven work management tools to optimise operations across complex ecosystems. Replatforming advanced analytics and building data driven decision architectures to optimise the flow of work. My work at HSBC, NatWest, Novartis, Pfizer, University of Edinburgh, and Admiral Insurance demonstrates my ability to modernise critical systems, embed human-centred design, and deliver measurable outcomes that transform both employee and customer experience. Core Expertise • ERP & HR Systems Integration (SAP, Oracle, Workday, IBM Curam) • Agile Transformation & Enterprise Portfolio Management • Digital & HR Service Design (onboarding, case management, workforce operations) • Large-scale Change Management (10,000+ users to 800,000+ users) • AI/ML-powered Knowledge & Work Management Platforms • Cross-functional Vendor and Stakeholder Alignment PRODUCT MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE Listed below are several Projects where I created the core concepts and managed the design and delivery of critical digital financial services mainly focused on UHNW and HNW individuals and corporate clients. • US Bank Self-service Corporate Credit Cards – US Government Department of Defence, Canadian Government – Change of TOM/BM and optimized customer experience based upon research with Corporate Clients across Eastern US • Bank of China Micro Savings – Moving Chinese towards banking in small amounts • Bank of China Mobile Banking (Simple Phones) – Giving simple branded devices to customers • Portfolio Onboarding new Tech and Process for UHNW, HNW – Creation of Happy Path experience • IBL – New iWatch application to facilitate UHNW, HNW portfolio adjustments and KYC objective adjustments facilitating transactions and fee on a regular cadence • Barclays Wealth – New iWatch application to facilitate private communications between UHNW, HNW clients and portfolio planners and account managers. • Bank of Moscow Mobile Money Finder – New product based on difficulty of finding places to withdraw EU, RU, USD. • Bank of Moscow Credit Cards – New product based on driving adoption of Credit with free Metro usage. • Bank of Moscow Loans – New product based on Imperial Russia cultural context of Dachshund DIGITAL ASSETS AND FINTECH KNOWLEDGE Listed below are several Projects where I worked with existing organisations to extend market penetration, meet critical compliance criteria and access alternative finance systems. • NatWest Markets Portfolio and Book (offsetting) BUC risk management and compliance for multileg transaction, in FX, Futures, Portfolio creation etc. • Treasury and Commercial Finance system and processes for locked in fund leverage within geographic and regulatory compliance • Payment Gateways from World Pay to PayPal and challenger banks • City Index – New engagement Asia market entry with dual focus of China and Japan • SQL, NOSQL, Data Lake and Blockchain (fuzzy logic) data architectures to support speed of data access and compliance in USA, Europe and Asia. • Creation of Digital Tokens – Thing Coin for product launch (on hold) LEADERSHIP AND TEAM MANAGEMENT Team building across global enterprises to establish 24/7 clarity of priority and focus, without direct line managements but instead across multiple initiatives, business units and countries. Stakeholders often in 30 – 60 different countries with time zone and limiting factors. • Innovation Methodology (created by Karl Smith) for Financial Services Pods o Innova8™ used by permission at Accenture o Innova8™ by permission at Wipro Digital CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE FOCUS Launched UX in Accenture globally and Human Centred Design in Wipro Digital, Shell and Avaloq to focus product development process on end user requirements to facilitate low barrier onboarding and customer driven social media positive commentary. • HSBC - Initiated Service Design for Colleague Journey mapping to speed up the delivery of change with 45,000 internal engineers for Commercial, Retail, Investment and Private Banks • Skandia – UHNW, HNW Client onboarding and portfolio creation through new digital process • Co-Founder of UX movement in UK (from 1989) • Co-Founder of Customer Agility Framework (AI and CX driven product development) • Author: Designing for Human Experience 2020 DATA-DRIVEN DECISION-MAKING Launched pixel-based tracking for change monitoring, optomisation decision making and feature definition. • Advanced Analytics – Bayesian Networks for probabilistic investments (listed in top 50 Though Leaders in the world) • Google Analytics, Webtrends, Web Position Gold etc web analytics for testing A/B transaction pathways, site entry and content effectiveness • Touchlocal – Benchmark VC funded organisation 4 years early exit and sale to Yell • Experian Product Design based upon SQL data in 144 linked databases created 10 products STRATEGIC AND ANALYTICAL SKILLS Managed and delivered master transformation strategy with productization, training and futurist horizon plans for major enterprises listed below. All transformation and change activities were aligned to the strategic objective of the organisations involved and included marketing communications, stakeholder engagement and pilot work to justify investment for defined outcomes. • NatWest – Setup all Centres of Excellence including Business Strategy, Technology Strategy, Group Risk and Governance (with FCA and BoE engagement) • BestBuy – Optomization of mobile outlet templates for adoption by other retail corporations • NatWest – Adoption of Agile and other New Ways of Working including Private Cloud, AI and Automation with new Business TOM and new ITOM • HSBC - Adoption of Agile and other New Ways of Working including Containers, AI and Automation with new ITOM and CTO office.