About Darren Goldsborough (CTO)
How it Began - 1979 to 1986
Aged 9, Texas Instruments TI99/4a (Christmas present), taught myself to program, wrote games, then Commodore 128, at the age of 16, built and sold 1000's of Audio Digitizers from my bedroom for Amiga 500 Computers world wide, continued programming in Assembly and other Languages. I was 1 of 2 people chosen to go to adult college to do an O'Level in Computing at age 13.
1986 to 1988 - Currys Superstore / Delta Surveys
Eventually working for Curry's Electrical Superstore, then worked for a Consultancy Company Writing Technical Reports before being poached by Barnsley Council, At Currys's I became top sales within just 3 months due to my ability to absorb technical knowledge about all their products sold, progressing to a senior sales person within 6 months of joining.
Early IT - 1988 to 1993 - Barnsley MBC - IT Technical Specialist
The first two years designing Sewer Flow Area Computer Model Simulations, Implementation of the very first Council End User IT Systems, Networks and Computers, High End Cad Systems for Design and Creation of a CAD Long Section Application sold to Sheffield City Council and Yorkshire Water, in the Barnsley Chronical receiving an award from the Mayor for £1,000.00 for invovation.
1993 to 1996 - Hoskyns / Cap Gemini PLC - Senior Project Manager & Consultant
Migration to Banyan Vines of entire Finance Department, then Designed, and managed the entire installation of the first Internet Connectivity across the company / Europe for 1000's of users, including Browser and Internet email. Parachuted in to turn around large complex projects for the Atomic Energy Authority across the UK and Prudential Reading to turn a similiar project around, Projects for Pharma, Sainsburys, Marks and Spencers
1996 - 2000 - Comet Group PLC - IT Manager / Senior Project Manager
Responsible for rebuild, refresh and rebuild of all Comet Group Infrastructure and Design / Migrations and Managing all Day to day operations and support for the North of England, Implementation of new Microsoft NT Domains and Install and Migration of Exchange Server of 2500 Users, also after leaving setup a small consultancy providing support and technical staff back to Comet Group supporting a new Call Center and its IT Systems that I designed and built, was also on a retainer for 2 years whilst working for HSBC Bank PLC.
2000 - 2022 - HSBC Bank / Merrill Lynch - Senior Project Manager / Technical Specialist
HSBC Global Datacentre - Sheffield / London, Joint Venture between HSBC and Merrill Lynch, Global Build of Datacentre, 1000's of Hosts, RS6000s, AS400's, Build / Design of Trading Systems, Data Center Security, Build and Implementation in just 1 Year. Responsible for all DataCenter Integration and Security, Connectivity to Mainframes, DR, Backup, Site Failover and some Application Development for Automated Releases of Siebel. This was an extremely complex and challenging environment covering PB's of Data and huge automated compute resources, process and builds.
Phoenix Software Ltd - 2002 - 2025 - CTO
Building an Empire: The Phoenix Years
When I joined Phoenix as employee number 40, I could never have imagined the incredible journey that lay ahead. Over 24 years, I've watched and helped this company grow from a modest operation to a powerhouse approaching £1 billion in annual revenue, now employing over 500 talented individuals.
My role evolved dramatically over the years—from Technical Lead to Principal Consultant, IT Services Manager, and eventually CTO and Board Director. Along the way, I built and led an exceptional team of over 160 IT professionals, covering every aspect of technology you can imagine, with particular expertise in Microsoft and VMware technologies.
Building Teams That Deliver
Over 30 years of managing teams has taught me that success comes from people, not just technology. Since my early 20s at Cap Gemini, I've built teams differently. My approach is simple but powerful: hire exceptional people, trust them completely, and give them the autonomy to excel. In return, I always have their backs, giving them the confidence to tackle any challenge knowing I'll support them through anything.
This philosophy has created teams that are 100% trustworthy, robust, and reliable—teams that will do whatever it takes to get the job done. The loyalty has been mutual, and it's this foundation that has enabled us to take on projects others wouldn't dare touch.
Enterprise AI Consultant | Former CTO | 35+ Years Experience
Throughout my tenure, I became known as Phoenix's secret weapon in sales—not because I was a salesperson, but because my deep technical knowledge across a vast range of technologies and business understanding made me the go-to person when we needed to impress and win business. Whether it was presenting to C-suite executives, designing complex solutions, or completing critical tenders, I was always the first choice for our sales teams.
My journey began with complex infrastructure projects at giants like HSBC, Atomic Energy Authority, Barclays, and Cap Gemini. I brought that enterprise-level expertise to Phoenix, always being the first to implement new technologies—from NetApp and Dell to HP hardware and beyond. I didn't just implement; I invented new ways to do things, particularly in End User Computing and VMware, designing large-scale EUC systems with comprehensive disaster recovery and business continuity solutions.
Innovation and Recognition
Innovation has been at the heart of everything I've done. In 2010, I pioneered the use of FusionIO NVME cards in servers, giving Phoenix a competitive advantage that lasted for years while competitors tried to figure out our secret. This spirit of innovation led to numerous awards from VMware and Microsoft, innovative managed services that won major contracts, and groundbreaking approaches to large infrastructure projects.
One career highlight was spending an entire evening one-on-one with Steve Wozniak (Co-Founder of Apple Computers) at dinner—and being offered a job by him. A proud moment that validated the path I'd chosen.
The Services I helped Build
Today, Phoenix's IT services portfolio is comprehensive:
- 24x7x365 Managed Services for numerous enterprise clients
- Professional Services covering infrastructure (cloud and on-premise), Microsoft 365 and complex migration/consolidation projects
- Security services including SOC, GRC, and Microsoft Intune
- Cloud services, migration, and support
- AI and Power Platform development teams
Transformational projects, from consolidating seven councils into one (multiple times) to NHS mergers. Our Technical PM Team now handles over 6,000 chargeable consultancy days across hundreds of projects annually — still using tools I developed over a decade ago.
AzGuardian: Innovation in Security
More recently, I invented AzGuardian – a powerful, proactive defence mechanism, delivered as a managed service, and designed to safeguard your Azure infrastructure from being exploited for fraudulent usage by proactively implementing a combination of Azure security best practice, threat detection, and response.
As well as protecting against cryptomining fraud, secures against several other security scenarios including insider attack, privileged account escalation, initial access (preventing sign-ins from outside the UK), and brute force attack.
The Phoenix AzGuardian Managed Service features a three-stage approach, described as Prevention, Slowdown, and Stop with each stage providing an additional level of proactive risk mitigation.
The AI Revolution and My New Chapter
In mid-2023, I discovered AI and became completely absorbed—some might say obsessed. Recognizing its transformative potential, I've spent the last two years deep in AI and machine learning, building real-world applications and championing AI adoption throughout Phoenix. Despite initial skepticism from some of our hardcore full-stack developers, we now have teams working with Microsoft Copilot agents and a dedicated AI Platform and Development team. Enterprise AI Consultant with 35+ years of Enterprise experience
After 24 years of building something largely self-sustaining, I realized I missed being hands-on with technology. As companies grow and you rise higher, you often become less technical—but technology is my passion. This realization, combined with my excitement about AI, led me to establish AIBizzApps.com, where I now advise organizations on their AI journey while still being able to consult on the broader technology landscape I know so well.
Continuing the Partnership
When David Rawle, Bytes CTO and a good friend, learned about my retirement from Phoenix, he immediately called. He didn't want to lose my expertise from the Bytes Group and asked if I'd return on a retainer basis. With the backing of Sam Mudd (Bytes CEO), Andrew Holden (Bytes FD), and David himself, I enthusiastically agreed.
Clare Metcalfe (Phoenix MD) and the Phoenix Board extended the same opportunity, allowing me to continue contributing to the company I helped build. It's an honor to maintain these relationships with both organizations within the Bytes PLC Group.
The Mission Ahead
My new mission is clear: help both Bytes and Phoenix navigate their AI journeys, ensure alignment between their strategies, and build rapid functional prototypes that demonstrate real value to customers. In just days, I've already created complex application prototypes that have won Phoenix new AI projects.
The future is about making both companies more efficient through AI tooling while continuing to push the boundaries of what's possible. After 24 years of building, growing, and innovating, I'm more excited than ever about what lies ahead in this new chapter of AI transformation.
AI prototype development, rapid AI implementation