我是 Noel，資深 ERP 與 AI 顧問。我做這一行已經 25 年，大多待在它最棘手的那一端。CIMA。AICPA。會計碩士。這些資歷本身不重要，重要的是它們透露的軌跡：我是從財務月結切入 ERP 的，不是從系統設定切入。
最醒目的數字是 7 億美元以上的轉型專案，涵蓋 EDGE Group、Etihad Airways、ADNOC、PIF 旗下機構、DXC 與阿拉伯聯合大公國政府。工作本身分成三個面向：
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.
我不賣授權，也不轉售導入服務。我的報酬不取決於 Activate 工時或 BTP 訂閱。這份獨立性，正是重點所在。
合約的兩端我都站過。身為客戶，採購這些系統；身為顧問，負責導入。這樣的組合，讓我能在專案出問題之前，就看出它會在哪裡出問題。
產業： 航空、銀行與金融、政府、製造、零售、電信、公用事業。
平台： SAP S/4HANA 與 ECC、Oracle E-Business Suite 與 Cloud、Microsoft Dynamics、IFS、Navision。
地區： 阿拉伯聯合大公國、沙烏地阿拉伯、英國、加拿大、美國。
最令我自豪的工作：
- Etihad Airways 的 SAP 財務轉型。18 個月交付，準時、不超出預算，沒有重大問題。這是我最常提供的推薦查證案例。
- EDGE Group 跨多個實體的專案工作。
- ADNOC Group 的轉型與學習工作項目。
- 杜拜的 Digital DEWA：以 SAP 為核心的數位專案，在稽核與營運兩方面都經得起檢驗。
- 公部門航空業的資料倉儲重建。起步很慢，動起來之後相當穩健。
- 公部門電信業的 S/4HANA 專案。治理繁重，成果實在。
這是我願意白紙黑字捍衛的五個主張。是真正的立場，不是軟綿綿的說法。每一個都會影響我的工作方式。
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.
過去幾年的六個關鍵時刻。這幾次的判斷，形塑了我現在的工作方式。
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.”
這些內容我不會改寫。完整原文都在 LinkedIn 上。
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.
更多推薦內容請見我的 LinkedIn 個人檔案。
- CIMA：英國特許管理會計師公會（Chartered Institute of Management Accountants）
- AICPA：美國註冊會計師協會（American Institute of Certified Public Accountants）
- 會計碩士
- 四大會計師事務所內部稽核背景。 具備 ERP 設計所需的風險與內部控制素養。這套訓練，正是用來抓出您的系統整合商（SI）悄悄遺留的控制缺口。
- 25 年以上投入企業 ERP 與資料專案的經驗。
我在 SAP Press、MSN、LinkedIn、IPS、Techbullion 與 The Next Disruption 發表並分享 ERP 與 AI 相關的文章與演講。也定期在 YouTube 發布技術內容。
我也做產品。其中兩個已經上線，業界有人在使用。
ERPCV：為 ERP 顧問打造的職涯文件
erpcv.com。專為 SAP、Oracle 與 Dynamics 顧問打造、針對 ATS（應徵者追蹤系統）篩選而設計的履歷與職涯資料包。這是我希望自己在入行第二年就能擁有的產品。
Command Central：ERP 專案的導入追蹤工具
commandcc.io。用於 ERP 切換與專案治理的專案管理工具。設計語言與本站相同，背後也是同一個人。
這兩個產品之所以存在，是因為我受夠了用試算表東拼西湊。帶過足夠多的專案之後，累積下來的模式辨識能力，最終就變成了產品。
建立在錯誤資料上的 AI，比沒有 AI 更糟。先把地基打好：乾淨的主檔、對得上的帳、有文件記錄的流程。然後才引入模型。目前市面上多數被當成「AI 轉型」販售的做法，都是模型優先。這是本末倒置。
我把 AI 帶進一項委託時，順序是：先做資料品質與治理，再針對痛點最大的流程建立有針對性的代理式工作流程，最後才擴大推廣。多數客戶想跳過第一、二步。肯讓我照這個順序走的客戶，能走到第三步；不肯的，就走不到。
兩邊我都做。老實說，兩者是完全不同的物種。
民間企業動作快。執行長週一做決定，專案下個月就開始。政府則完全相反。我曾經為了看一套既有系統，等了六個月的安全許可。
兩者各有好處。民間企業可以很快調整方向。政府專案一旦啟動，背後通常有實實在在的預算。沒有人會要求拿零用金去完成一項轉型。
兩者的失敗模式也不同：
- 民間企業的失敗，多半是步調出了問題。 推得太快、跳過月結盤點、切換時出狀況。
- 公部門的失敗，多半是治理出了問題。 委員會太多、簽核太多，範疇還沒對照實際營運驗證，就已經被鎖死。
兩種情況的解法是一樣的：儘早讓對的資深人員進入會議室，並讓他全程留在那裡。
我同一時間只承接少數幾項委託，也會直接告訴您我適不適合。如果專案陷入困境，或您想在與廠商簽約前聽聽第二意見，歡迎聯絡我。最快的方式是透過 Calendly 預約 30 分鐘通話。
三個網站，同一個人： noeldcosta.com（本站，企業顧問服務）、erpcv.com（顧問職涯產品）、commandcc.io（ERP 專案追蹤工具）。
您通常承接多大規模的專案？
企業級規模。我的客戶多半年營收落在 1 億至 50 億美元之間，涉及多個實體，常常橫跨多個國家。我做的這類工作很難縮小到 2,000 萬美元規模的企業，我承接的最小委託，通常是為期 1 至 2 週的付費範疇界定。
您是否接受全職職缺？
不接受。我經營的是顧問事業。我同一時間只承接少數委託，並且全程親自參與。有名有姓的那個人，會一直留在會議室裡。
您是否轉售 SAP 或 Oracle 授權？
不轉售。我獨立於軟體廠商與系統整合商之外。我的費用結構不取決於授權數量、Activate 工時或 BTP 訂閱。這份獨立性，正是這項委託的核心價值。
如果我還沒與系統整合商簽約，您能幫我撰寫商業案例嗎？
可以，而且這通常才是對的順序。商業案例應該由不向您銷售導入服務的人來寫，否則雙方的誘因無法一致。
您承接專案救援嗎？
承接。我大約三分之一的工作是救援：進度落後的專案、出問題的切換、與系統整合商之間關係走偏的案子。我會先分辨哪些是真問題、哪些是政治問題，再與客戶團隊一起重建計畫。
您的據點在哪裡？在哪些地區工作？
常駐阿拉伯聯合大公國（UAE）。我的工作範圍涵蓋阿聯酋、沙烏地阿拉伯、整個 GCC 地區、英國、歐洲、加拿大與美國。切換與指導委員會會議期間親自到場，其餘時間以遠端進行。
如果想聊聊，第一步是什麼？
在 Calendly 預約一場 30 分鐘的初次通話。如果適合，後續會變成一項付費的範疇界定委託（1 至 2 週）。如果不適合，我會在通話中直接告訴您，並為您指引適合的人選。