Craig Armstrong > Shoosmiths LLP > Birmingham, England > Lawyer Profile

Craig Armstrong

+443700864138 craig.armstrong@shoosmiths.co.uk View profile View profile

Work Department

Commercial

Position

Craig is a partner within Shoosmiths’ technology, digital and telecoms team with over 20 years of experience within the technology sector.  Craig advises both customers and suppliers on a wide range of FinTech, IT and sourcing matters across a wide range of industry sectors, with a particular focus on the telecoms, financial services, manufacturing and retail sectors.

Craig’s diverse experience includes negotiating IT system integration agreements, SaaS-delivered platforms, infrastructure and desktop outsourcings, ERP and CRM system procurements, complex IT-centric and business process outsourcings (both onshore and offshore), negotiating software implementation, licensing and support agreements and advising on contractual arrangements relating to e-commerce trading platforms and co-branded financial services on behalf of financial institutions and retail partners.

Craig also has niche expertise within financial services and regularly advises on merchant acquiring, co-branded and affinity products, customer account value added services and other commercial contracts within the financial services sector.  Craig is also the co-author of PLC’s merchant acquiring practice note.

As a result of his experience, Craig is a member of Lexis Nexis’ consulting Editorial Board for TMT, working alongside other leading industry experts in this field. Craig is also the author of Lexis Nexis’ System Integration precedents and the author of PLC’s “Special Issues in IT Outsourcing” practice note.

Craig is ITIL certified, the leading global best business practice for IT Service Management. Craig’s experience includes advising:

• two systemic European banks entering into separate long term partnering arrangements with the acquirers of their respective merchant acquiring businesses

• a UK bank in respect of its white labelled digital mortgage platform arrangements with a leading mortgage platform provider

• a global manufacturer in respect of the procurement and roll-out of its transformative SD-WAN network solution across over 100 global sites

• a UK SD-WAN solutions provider in respect of its customer contracts and contractual arrangements with resellers in other key markets

• a global intelligence, events and research group in respect of its customer data platform contractual arrangements with a market leading US provider

• a FinTech betting odds solutions provider in respect of its publisher arrangements with the likes of ESPN, NBC and CBS Interactive.

• a UK MNO on its £250m+ IT transformation project to create a SaaS-based new IT system
• a UK MNO on the potential managed service outsourcing of its entire legacy IT and core network infrastructure to two major outsourced service providers
• a UK challenger bank on the replacement of its existing contractual arrangements with a key IT supplier from a managed service model to a truly outsourced model whilst also tripling the breadth of IT services provided by the supplier to the bank

Career

Trained at Edge Ellison; joined DLA Piper (Birmingham office) as a newly qualified in September 2000. 13 years at DLA Piper within its technology team; partner Shoosmiths 2014.

Memberships

Lexis Nexis’ consulting Editorial Board for TMT

Education

Kenilworth School & Sixth Form; Cardiff University (1997 Law LLB Hons; 1998 DipLP).

Leisure

Mountain biking and road cycling.