Ja sam Noel. Viši savjetnik za ERP i AI. 25 godina u ovom poslu, uglavnom na težoj strani. CIMA. AICPA. Magistarski studij računovodstva. Kvalifikacije su manje važne od obrasca koji otkrivaju: u ERP sam ušao kroz financijsko zatvaranje, a ne kroz konfiguraciju.
Glavni broj je više od 700 milijuna USD transformacija isporučenih za EDGE Group, Etihad Airways, ADNOC, subjekte PIF-a, DXC i vladu UAE-a. Sam posao dijeli se na troje:
Programme recovery
Late, over budget, or technically broken implementations. I come in, separate what's real from what's political, and rebuild the plan.
ECC to S/4HANA and cloud ERP
Migration design, cutover, Finance and Supply Chain transformation, data quality.
AI on ERP data
Governance, agentic workflows on BTP, models that sit on SAP, Oracle, or Microsoft foundations without hallucinating the ledger.
Ne prodajem licence. Ne preprodajem usluge implementacije. Moja zarada ne ovisi o satima Activate projekata ni o BTP pretplatama. Ta je neovisnost cijela poanta.
Bio sam na objema stranama ugovora. Klijent koji kupuje te sustave. Konzultant koji ih implementira. Zahvaljujući toj kombinaciji vidim gdje programi pucaju prije nego što puknu.
Sektori: zrakoplovstvo, bankarstvo i financije, državna uprava, proizvodnja, maloprodaja, telekomunikacije, komunalne djelatnosti.
Platforme: SAP S/4HANA i ECC, Oracle E-Business Suite i Cloud, Microsoft Dynamics, IFS, Navision.
Regije: Ujedinjeni Arapski Emirati, Saudijska Arabija, Ujedinjeno Kraljevstvo, Kanada, Sjedinjene Američke Države.
Poslovi na koje sam najponosniji:
- Etihad Airways, transformacija SAP Financea. Isporučena u 18 mjeseci, na vrijeme, u okviru proračuna i bez većih problema. Referenca koju najčešće navodim.
- EDGE Group, rad na programima u više subjekata.
- ADNOC Group, transformacija i radni tokovi vezani uz učenje.
- Digital DEWA u Dubaiju: digitalne inicijative temeljene na SAP-u koje su izdržale i reviziju i operativni rad.
- Zrakoplovstvo u javnom sektoru, obnova podatkovnog skladišta. Sporo se pokrenula. Kad je krenula, bila je solidna.
- Telekomunikacije u javnom sektoru, S/4HANA program. Zahtjevno upravljanje, stvarni rezultati.
Ovo je pet mišljenja koja ću braniti crno na bijelo. Pravi stavovi, a ne mlaki komentari. Svaki od njih utječe na to kako radim.
Start with processes, not systems.
Most ERP failures begin in the wrong order. Buy the system, then try to fit your business into it. The conversation should run the other way. Map your processes first. Decide what's broken, what's worth keeping, what needs to change. Then talk about systems. Every greenfield-versus-brownfield debate I've watched go sideways started without this step.
Your SI shouldn't be the one writing your business case.
You need an expert who isn't selling the implementation to write the case for it. That's how $40M programmes become $90M without anyone noticing. The SI's incentive is to start. Yours is to finish. Different jobs.
AI on ERP is real now, and it's moving fast.
Joule is growing by the day. Agentic use cases on BTP are no longer slideware. If your last look at AI-on-SAP was 12 months ago, look again. The board-deck version is over. The shipping version is here. Ignore it and you're on the wrong side of the next two years.
The cheapest consultant is the most expensive one.
Day rate is the smallest variable in total programme cost. A senior advisor at $2,500/day who saves you a six-month overrun is cheaper than a $900/day team that doesn't. Most CFOs work this out only after the second post-mortem.
Walk if a vendor proposes a three-year roadmap before understanding your close.
The finance close is where the real complexity lives. Vendors who skip it are selling a roadmap, not solving a problem. Anyone serious wants to see your close cycle, your reconciliations, and your manual workarounds before they propose anything.
Šest trenutaka iz posljednjih nekoliko godina. To su odluke koje su oblikovale način na koji danas radim.
The 2am call from Dubai
A Supply Chain Manager I'd worked with before phoned me at 2am. I was half asleep. His SAP system had crashed and his warehouse team were writing orders on paper. In 2023.
The consultant before me had set it up wrong. I'm still not sure how they managed it. Two weeks of effectively starting over. The CEO aged five years in that fortnight. The system works now. The lesson was about who you let near your core build, not about SAP.
The retail chain restarting every Friday
I walked into a retail office last year. Their inventory system was so old they had to restart it every Friday or it would crash on its own by Monday. Not exaggerating. The owner pulled out an Excel sheet where he manually tracked stock across 50 stores. I think I made a face, because he started defending it before I'd said a word.
His competition was running machine-learning forecasts while he was counting boxes. We got him sorted. He waited about three years longer than he should have.
The S/4HANA telecom programme
Public-sector telecom. They needed better financial reporting. Every small decision required a committee meeting. What takes two weeks in private sector took three months here. I complained about it to my wife every night for a quarter.
But when we finished, they had something that worked properly. Not a Band-Aid. A real reporting platform. Government programmes test your patience and pay you back in durability.
The aviation data warehouse
Same pattern. Slow start. Heavy governance. Many stakeholders. The final architecture was cleaner than anything I'd have negotiated through in the private sector at the same scale. There's a version of public-sector work where the constraints produce better engineering because nobody can shortcut their way past them.
The Riyadh retail AI inventory project
Retail chain in Riyadh. Their inventory was a mess. We built something that learns from sales patterns and adjusts stock automatically. Still has quirks. Beats having a buyer guess what to reorder every week. This is what I mean about AI on ERP: it earns its keep when the underlying master data is clean enough to trust.
The government chatbot that actually helped
A government agency drowning in citizen complaints. We built triage that handles the simple cases and routes the complicated ones to real people. The staff loved it. They could solve actual problems instead of answering the same five questions for the hundredth time that morning. The point of AI here wasn't to remove humans. It was to stop wasting their time on work that didn't need a human.
“I safeguard your investment from the predictable mistakes that turn ERP programmes into business disasters.”
Ovo neću parafrazirati. Cjelovito se nalazi na LinkedInu.
Tareq Ashmawy
Digital Advisor, Department of Government Enablement
Noel is — no cliché — a go-getter with an unprecedented focus on cost optimisation and over-delivering objectives; a mix of qualities that would appear hard for partners or vendors to cope with.
However, I can confirm that my experience with Noel has been challenging, exciting and rewarding.
Adam Boukadida
Chief Financial Officer, Riyadh Air
We had an opportunity to transform the Finance function in Etihad by automating our processes and providing more transparency in financial reporting.
Noel did a splendid job in helping us define and implement our road-map, which included SAP, our ERP, as well as other reporting solutions using Microsoft and automation tools like Robotics and Process Automation.
Andrew Stotter Brooks
Chief Learning Officer, ADNOC Group
His ability to inspire those around him, whether through his strategic insights or his personal integrity, has earned him the respect and admiration of many.
He's not only a role model in the professional space but also someone who leads with empathy, always willing to lend an ear or offer guidance when needed.
Andrew MacFarlane
Managing Partner, Cumbrae Partners LLP (former Chief Investment Officer, Etihad Airways)
Noel led the technical delivery of the SAP Finance Transformation project at Etihad.
This was a very substantial undertaking and it is huge credit to Noel that the programme has delivered on time (18 months), on budget and with no major issues.
Ruchira Dasanayake
Program Manager, Fortude, United Kingdom
His deep understanding of SAP solutions, coupled with his strategic vision, has been truly impressive.
Noel's ability to communicate clearly and deliver results that not only meet but exceed expectations has made a lasting impact. He is a true leader who believes in pushing boundaries.
Farouq Al Kabarity
Digital Design Manager, Digital DEWA, Dubai
Noel's guidance drove significant advancements in our digital initiatives, especially in SAP, improving efficiency and ensuring we stayed ahead of industry trends.
His inclusive leadership fostered a collaborative environment where employees thrived and felt empowered to contribute their best.
Mike Papamichael
PRISM Consulting Services, Cyprus (former Chief Information Officer, EAG)
Noel has been a core member of my IT leadership team in Etihad since 2017.
His functional expertise, combined with his financial accounting knowledge and detailed business process understanding and attention to detail gained from working in Internal Audit are invaluable tools that Noel uses to drive business change and deliver amazing results.
Anubhav Agarwal
HR Executive Leader, Translink Canada
Laying the foundation stones for several key IT efforts to support business transformation across the corporate functions, he has helped steer very successful efforts and investments at EY.
His attention to detail and ex-audit background is an unusual, yet refreshingly formidable combination. With his razor-sharp commercial acumen, he is a great partner to work with all round.
Takhliq Hanif
Head of Architecture, Volkswagen Financial Services
Noel has excellent stakeholder management skills and is a very strong communicator. He has a growth mindset and continually challenges himself and his organisation to deliver quicker and more cost-effectively.
Noel is a very talented negotiator and has a laser focus on cost and value. He builds strong business-focused technology organisations and develops them into talented teams.
Još preporuka nalazi se na mom LinkedIn profilu.
- CIMA: Chartered Institute of Management Accountants
- AICPA: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
- Magistarski studij računovodstva
- Iskustvo u internoj reviziji u jednoj od četiri najveće revizorske kuće. Poznavanje rizika i kontrola pri oblikovanju ERP-a. To je disciplina koja otkriva praznine u kontrolama koje Vaš integrator sustava (SI) tiho propusti.
- Više od 25 godina u korporativnim ERP i podatkovnim programima.
Pišem i govorim o ERP-u i umjetnoj inteligenciji u medijima SAP Press, MSN, LinkedIn, IPS, Techbullion i The Next Disruption. Redovito objavljujem stručne sadržaje na YouTubeu.
Gradim i vlastite proizvode. Dva su u radu i koriste ih ljudi iz struke.
ERPCV: karijerni dokumenti za ERP konzultante
erpcv.com. Životopisi prilagođeni ATS sustavima i karijerni paketi izrađeni za SAP, Oracle i Dynamics konzultante. Proizvod koji sam želio imati u drugoj godini karijere.
Command Central: praćenje implementacije ERP programa
commandcc.io. Alat za upravljanje projektima, namijenjen ERP cutoverima i upravljanju programima. Isti dizajnerski jezik kao ova stranica. Ista osoba iza njega.
Oba postoje jer mi je dosadilo krpati stvari u tablicama. Prepoznavanje obrazaca nakon dovoljno vođenih programa na kraju postane proizvod.
AI na neispravnim podacima gori je od nikakvog AI-ja. Prvo postavite temelje. Čisti matični podaci. Usklađene knjige. Dokumentirani procesi. Tek onda uvedite modele. Većina onoga što se danas prodaje kao „AI transformacija” kreće od modela. To je naopako.
Kad uvodim AI u angažman, redoslijed je ovaj: prvo kvaliteta podataka i upravljanje njima, zatim ciljani agentski tijekovi rada na procesu koji najviše boli, pa tek onda šire uvođenje. Većina klijenata želi preskočiti prvi i drugi korak. Oni koji mi dopuste da vodim redoslijed stignu do trećeg koraka. Oni koji ne dopuste, ne stignu.
Radim u oba sektora. Iskreno, to su dva različita svijeta.
Privatni sektor kreće se brzo. CEO u ponedjeljak donese odluku, a projekt počinje sljedeći mjesec. Državna uprava je suprotnost. Jednom sam šest mjeseci čekao sigurnosnu provjeru da bih uopće pogledao postojeći sustav.
Oba imaju svoje prednosti. Privatne tvrtke mogu brzo promijeniti smjer. Državni programi, kad se jednom pokrenu, obično imaju stvarne proračune iza sebe. Nitko ne traži da transformaciju isporučite iz sitne blagajne.
I načini neuspjeha su različiti:
- Neuspjesi u privatnom sektoru obično su neuspjesi tempa. Prebrzo guranje, preskočeno istraživanje financijskog zatvaranja, slomljen cutover.
- Neuspjesi u javnom sektoru obično su neuspjesi upravljanja. Previše odbora, previše odobrenja, opseg zabetoniran prije nego što ga je itko provjerio u odnosu na operativni rad.
Rješenje je u oba slučaja isto. Dovedite pravu iskusnu osobu u prostoriju na početku. Neka ostane do kraja.
U isto vrijeme preuzimam mali broj angažmana. Otvoreno kažem jesam li prava osoba za posao. Ako je program u problemima ili želite drugo mišljenje prije potpisivanja ugovora s dobavljačem, javite se. Najbrži put je rezervirati razgovor od 30 minuta na Calendlyju.
Tri web-mjesta, jedna osoba: noeldcosta.com (ova stranica, savjetovanje za velika poduzeća), erpcv.com (karijerni proizvodi za konzultante), commandcc.io (alat za praćenje ERP programa).
Na programima kojeg opsega obično radite?
Na razini velikih poduzeća. Većina mojih klijenata ima prihod od 100 milijuna do 5 milijardi USD, više pravnih subjekata, često u više zemalja. Moj posao ne prenosi se dobro na tvrtke s prihodom od 20 milijuna USD, a najmanji angažman koji bih preuzeo obično je plaćeno definiranje opsega od 1 do 2 tjedna.
Jeste li dostupni za poslove u stalnom radnom odnosu?
Ne. Vodim savjetodavnu praksu. U isto vrijeme preuzimam mali broj angažmana i osobno sam uključen do kraja. Osoba s imenom i prezimenom ostaje u prostoriji.
Preprodajete li SAP ili Oracle licence?
Ne. Neovisan sam o dobavljačima i integratorima sustava. Moja naknada ne ovisi o broju licenci, satima Activate projekata ni o BTP pretplatama. Ta je neovisnost cijela svrha angažmana.
Možete li napisati business case ako još nisam potpisao ugovor s integratorom sustava?
Mogu, i to je obično pravi redoslijed. Business case treba napisati netko tko Vam ne prodaje implementaciju. Inače interesi nisu usklađeni.
Preuzimate li poslove oporavka programa?
Da. Otprilike trećina mog posla je oporavak. Programi koji kasne, neuspjeli cutoveri, odnosi s integratorom sustava koji su krenuli krivim putem. Dijagnosticiram što je stvarno, a što političko, a zatim s klijentovim timom iznova gradim plan.
Gdje ste smješteni i gdje radite?
Sa sjedištem sam u UAE-u. Radim u UAE-u, Saudijskoj Arabiji, širem GCC-u, Ujedinjenom Kraljevstvu, Europi, Kanadi i Sjedinjenim Državama. Na lokaciji sam za cutover i sastanke upravljačkog odbora. Između toga radim na daljinu.
Koji je prvi korak ako želim razgovarati?
Rezervirajte uvodni razgovor od 30 minuta na Calendlyju. Ako se uklapamo, to postaje plaćeni angažman za definiranje opsega (1 do 2 tjedna). Ako se ne uklapamo, reći ću Vam to tijekom razgovora i uputiti Vas na nekoga tko je pravi.