Intelligent Service Design

Designing services
for the age of intelligence.

Twenty years of building what didn't exist yet. I work with senior leaders at the intersection of intelligent services, human experience design, and emerging technology. AI changes the pace. The design principles don't.

$100M+
Contract seeded
100+
Automations deployed
10,000+
Award-winning innovation
See the work → Start a conversation
George Gakuru
About

Two decades. Three technology waves.
One discipline.

I've spent two decades at the moment where technology ambition meets organisational reality designing the services, architectures, and operating models that make intelligent systems actually deliver. The question I bring to every engagement is the same: is this service designed for the person who needs it, or for the structure built to deliver it?

100+ automations. 12 months. One phone call from Japan.

I was in a leadership meeting in Japan when I first understood what RPA could become. That night I called my manager. We built the practice from that moment no offering, no team, no market category. From that moment we scaled a Digital Workforce across accounts around the world redesigning how teams work alongside Digital Workers. I ran it as a holacracy every person had real authority, not just a seat. The people who came through went on to lead across the industry automation programs, marketing functions, business analysis practices. We didn't build a function. We built careers.

The Innovation Day that seeded a $100M+ contract

A major public sector client was running Service Desk and End User Services as separate towers each optimised for its own structure, neither designed around the person using them. I designed an Innovation Day with one purpose: make visible what became possible when both portfolios unified around the human. By the end of the day his team and mine were at a whiteboard together designing what that unified service could actually look like. That day seeded a $100M+ contract. The client formally recognised us for the innovation we brought throughout the relationship.

10,000+ people. One challenge. A new business unit.

My award-winning innovation challenge reached over 10,000 people across the organisation. The AI Innovation Factory blueprint I designed strategy, structure, culture, process directly sparked the creation of a new Data and AI business unit. The pattern that holds across every wave: design the architecture before the category exists.

From founder to innovation leader. Across three waves.

I founded a boutique company helping clients navigate the ITSM wave accountable for clients, for people, for every outcome. Since then I've been the innovation leader C-suite executives bring in when the next wave is arriving and the path isn't clear yet. Automation. Now AI. Two global awards for leadership and sustainability contribution along the way. The thread that holds across every wave: see it early, move early, and build it with the people who will run it. You want to go fast, you go alone. You want to go far, you go together.

"Is this service designed for the person who needs it or for the structure built to deliver it?"

ITIL Expert
PeopleCert · Highest practitioner designation in IT service management
Human Centric Experience Design
POLI.design · Milan · Fujitsu HXD Tailored Program
Futures Thinking Specialization
Institute for the Future
Digital MBA for Technology Leaders
CTO Academy
Recognition
Global Leadership Award
Recognised for leadership impact at global scale
Global Sustainability Contribution Award
Recognised for contribution to sustainability at global scale
Contact

Let's talk about what
you're building.

The organisations getting this right in the age of intelligence won't just deploy better technology they'll build services that people actually want to use, that scale without breaking, and that keep delivering as the technology keeps changing.

That work starts with one conversation. If you're ready to have it I'd like to hear what you're building.

I read every message personally and respond where there's something worth continuing.

I read every message personally.

Thank you for reaching out.

I'll read this properly and be in touch. Usually within a few days.

Speaking

Keynotes, panels,
and executive workshops.

I speak to one idea: the future of intelligent services is not something that happens to organisations. It is something they design.

That shift from passenger to designer is what every talk I give is built around. Not the technology. Not the trend. The decision. The architecture. The moment a leader chooses to build what comes next rather than react to it.

The audiences that leave my sessions don't just understand the landscape differently. They leave with something to do on Monday.

4
ContinentsAmericas · Europe · Asia · Caribbean
C-Suite
Primary audienceCEOs · CDOs · CTOs · Transformation leaders
3
FormatsKeynote · Panel · Workshop
Keynote
The Future of Work — AI, Automation & What Comes Next
The future of work is not arriving. It is already here in the organisations that designed for it. This keynote gives executive audiences the clarity to see where they are in the wave, what the leaders ahead of them did differently, and what the next move looks like.
Leading Tech Expo · Jamaica
Keynote / Panel
Generative AI & the Intelligent Service Architecture
Gen-AI does not transform organisations. Intelligent service design does. This talk gives digital transformation leaders a clear architecture for what to build, what to govern, and what to protect as AI becomes the operating layer.
Executive Forum · Japan
Keynote / Workshop
AI & Automation in Complex, High-Stakes Industries
When the margin for error is low, the design decisions matter most. Built for industries where operational continuity and intelligent service design are inseparable and where getting it right is not optional.
Marine & Oil/Gas Industry Leaders
Keynote / Panel
The Intelligent Workplace — Designing for Human + AI
The organisations winning with AI are not the ones who deployed the most tools. They are the ones who redesigned how humans and intelligent systems work together. This talk gives executives the design principles and the decision-making framework to build that workplace now.
New York · San Francisco

Tell me about your event and what you're looking for. I review every enquiry personally and respond where there's a strong fit.

I review every speaking enquiry personally.

Thank you for reaching out.

I'll review your enquiry and be in touch if there's a strong fit.