What I do now
I'm Head of SAP Technical Services at Birchman (since 2024), where I manage the SAP BASIS and network teams. Alongside that I do project management, transition management, technical architecture and presales. Most days it's a mix of planning, people and getting hands-on when something needs fixing.
What SAP BASIS actually is
BASIS is the technical side of SAP: installing, upgrading, patching, migrating, securing and monitoring the systems that big organisations use to run finance, HR, supply chain and more. If SAP is the engine, BASIS is the team that keeps it serviced and tuned, and occasionally works through the night swapping parts while it's still running.
Where I've been
- Barclays Bank: I started there on my university placement year at the SAP Centre and went on to lead the SAP Technical Infrastructure team, introducing new SAP technologies and building systems end to end.
- Deloitte: SAP BASIS Administrator. Highlights included building a high-availability SAP system across two data centres, rolling out HTTPS across all the SAP systems, and helping the Russian, South African and Japanese divisions build SAP systems from scratch, including two weeks in the Johannesburg office.
- Capgemini: a decade as an SAP Technical Architect and Technical Lead. I led teams of up to 12 people across three countries and designed and delivered the technical side of complex SAP projects.
- Birchman (since 2024): Head of SAP Technical Services.
The kind of projects I've worked on
- Moving SAP landscapes into the cloud (AWS, Microsoft Azure and hosted platforms)
- SAP upgrades and patching, including BW, BusinessObjects and BPC
- New implementations, such as SAP PO and SAP Analytics Cloud, plus integration with Concur
- OS/database migrations, including moves to SAP HANA
- Security hardening, high availability and the occasional emergency production fix
- Bid and proposal work, and building and running BASIS teams
Some of the organisations I've worked with: NATS, Anglian Water, Burberry, Heathrow, Rolls-Royce, Serco, Wilko, BAE Systems, Brakes and Gloucestershire County Council.
Qualifications
- BSc (Hons) Computer and Information Systems, De Montfort University
- BTEC National Diploma, Bedford College
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect
- SAP certified in OS/DB Migration and SAP Portal
Want the detail?
My business site has the full story: services, the complete client list and how to get in touch.
→ Visit performit.co.uk for more on my SAP work.
If your SAP system is behaving itself today, somewhere a BASIS person is quietly pleased.