Perhaps the strongest indication yet of BT Digital's future growth strategy, Tom Guy – who spent much of the last two years in IoT product development at Vodafone Smart Tech – has been appointed to help BT Digital "create and incubate start-ups and explore new categories and ideas, accelerating the start-up and versatile capabilities across the business".
Joining Guy is the team he led through the development of Hive, the largest smart home provider in the UK, and then – according to the dates on LinkedIn – he headhunted for Vodafone. They are: Jess Kyte, John Gutch, Zoe Dyer and Michael O’Connell.
BT said in its press announcement that its new hires bring a "wealth of experience in product leadership, design and building an agile culture".
Commenting on his new role, Guy said: “I’m looking forward to joining BT Digital at such an exhilarating time for the unit and the business as a whole. Together with colleagues and partners, we’ll help to build a customer-centric digital organisation, one which brings new products and services to our customers and creates new opportunities for the business. I’m excited to get started.”
Despite his corporate experience Guy is equally well-known for his work in the start-up space. Through his company Bubblestorm, he has acted as an advisor to the board for Catch Media, a cloud technology company and the first scan and match service in the industry; board member and advisor to the leisure technology start-up, Yachtsie.com; and product and brand advisor to LuchaVita.
Tech-wise, Hive isn't the only jewel in the crown. During his subsequent role at Vodafone Smart Tech, Guy and his team developed the ‘Designed & Connected by’ range of consumer IoT products, which went on to win the IF Design award, The Red Dot Award, The GLOMO Award, IOT Breakthrough Award for Platform of the Year and multiple Good Design Awards within the first 18 months of its creation.
Other career highlights have included his work leading development of the Hive Thermostat, as well as security cameras and the multi-award-winning Curve tracker, to name a few.
