Dean Smith

COO

Dean is a seasoned telecoms executive with over 30 years of experience driving transformation and operations across communications service providers, software vendors, and specialist consulting organisations. He’s long been known for blending deep sector expertise with ‘business common sense’; a combination which has led to his success in all corners of an organisation.

Dean’s career journey started in Customs investigations. This kickstarted his ability to dissect any challenge and find an answer; a skill which was only strengthened throughout his diverse career which has spanned roles in c-suite, risk and revenue management, customer experience, shared services, product design & development, and much more.

With all of this under his belt, Dean has developed a holistic insight into how to achieve true business assurance. He was one of the original advocates of this concept, a term now widely used in the telecoms industry, and founded the world’s first specialist telecoms Business Assurance consultancy in 1994.

I balance risk management with business performance – turning ‘barriers’ into enablers for growth.

Dean’s specialty lies in providing a different perspective. In seeing past businesses’ operational blinkers or perceived problems, to uncover what is truly going on across the organisation. Armed with this skill, he’s successfully delivered transformation, sustainable growth, and operational excellence projects across telecoms, eCommerce, financial services and more.

In fact, Dean has been a leading voice in telecoms for years – particularly in the fraud space. Whether it’s setting up BT’s first specialist fraud advisory team or organising some of the first training and events on the topic, Dean loves to be part of not just exploring new mindsets, but moulding change and creating solutions.

Now, Dean has turned his problem-solving head to help Symmetry scale its products and services, as well as customer partnerships. What drew him to Symmetry was the strength of values he saw in its people. In particular, the team shares his personal approach to customer relationships, has integrity to spare, and thrives on a challenge.

Whether it’s his latest DIY project or fixing his golf swing, Dean simply enjoys a good challenge. But as a self-professed ‘recovering perfectionist’, he also knows it’s important to take a step back from the details and look at the whole picture – which you’ll find him doing with some excellent Spanish wine, a great plate of food, and a quick session in his home driving range.