Spotlight on our EWM Practice Lead

“I joined The Config Team in 2010 in a functional consulting role. Back then the business was much smaller, I was only one of five colleagues! Over the next couple of years, I worked on several SAP Warehouse Management (WM) projects with customers across a range of industries. When SAP Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) began to take off more around 2012, I taught myself the system and was involved in our first customer SAP EWM implementation.

I now have more than ten years of EWM experience, working with global brands on projects including full-scale implementations, blueprint and system reviews, health checks and upgrades. After a few large implementations, my role transitioned into more of a design authority position, and then in 2022 I was delighted to accept the newly created role of EWM practice lead.

Making sure EWM customer engagements are a success at every stage, from presales to project go-live, is a key aspect of my role. Continuing my design authority responsibilities, I support the project teams to ensure our solution design meets our customers’ unique requirements. It’s great to be there for our consultants in this way, able to act as a sounding board for ideas and provide advice and guidance on how best to utilise the functionality available with minimal customisation.

Leading the development of our internal EWM knowledge and expertise, I’m guiding consultants from a functional level through the progression to solution architect and senior solution architect positions, helping them grow both their technical and soft skills, and enabling them to lead large customer engagements themselves. Building on these capabilities will be very important moving forward, as customers both existing and new are looking at the benefits of EWM for managing their supply chain operations, so we can expect to be working on many more EWM transformations.

I enjoy a good relationship with SAP and frequently catch up with key members of its team to share ideas and discuss the EWM roadmap. Communicating the latest EWM knowledge through the wider business, I help ensure that everyone in The Config Team is aware of the latest releases and functionalities so that we can continue to deliver solutions for our customers that not only work for their needs but are also in line with SAP’s plans for the future. I also work closely with our own technical, innovation and SAP Basis teams to ensure we have the latest EWM versions internally to support our demo capabilities and give our product team the best possible system to work with while developing our software solutions.

Over the last couple of years in particular, I’m seeing lots of customers reaching out for help with their roadmaps, in terms of wider S/4 transformations as well as EWM. Is Stock Room Management or EWM better? What’s the difference between cloud and on-premise? What deployment is right for me? The Config Team has always been about honest, independent advice and collaboration to deliver the solution that is best for customers’ needs, now and in the future. This is something I really value when helping customers map out what their future warehouse management solution might look like.

I’m personally very excited about what the next few years will bring. The move to S/4HANA is giving customers a blank page to start again and make their systems what they want them to be. Some customers are therefore treating this as a greenfield implementation, a chance to get rid of anything that isn’t needed. I’m looking forward to going on that journey with them, establishing how the system can best fit their needs and how we can make SAP work for them. I’m also looking forward to further developing the team. The Config Team is full of brilliant people that I enjoy working with, and watching consultants progress and achieve career milestones is really rewarding.”

Get in touch with our SAP supply chain experts today for more information on how we can support you, wherever you are in your SAP EWM journey.