CIO advisory · Enterprise architecture · SAP Retail
From SAP Core to Digital Customer Experience.
FirstRetail connects S/4HANA, commerce, apps, Fiori, POS, CRM, customer service, logistics and data in one governable enterprise architecture — for retail, fashion, luxury and consumer organisations, under live-business conditions.
Clarity for Complex Retail Transformations.
- 20+
- years in SAP and retail technology
- €25M+
- technology portfolio owned
- 10+
- luxury Maisons on one shared platform
- 10+
- SAP systems in one S/4HANA programme
- SAP AG
- former consultant, 2001–2007
SAP & Enterprise Core
The core where price, stock, article and order come into being. What stands here carries everything else — and what stands wrong here is wrong everywhere later.
3 Fields →Digital Commerce, Apps & Experience
The systems customers and staff actually work with. They decide the experience — and they are only as good as their access to the core.
4 Fields →Enterprise Architecture & Transformation
The layer that turns two worlds into one governable system: integration, data, identity, decision paths. Without it you have two programmes, not one architecture.
3 Fields →Digital only works if the core does.
A good app is not a transformation. What decides it is how commerce, Fiori, POS, CRM and customer service reach prices, stock, customer and order data in the enterprise core. FirstRetail designs those transitions — technically, organisationally, and from the customer's side of the counter.
Commerce & omnichannel
E-commerce, POS, ERP, order and availability flows
Who owns the order once it crosses the channel boundary?
Commerce & Omnichannel →Apps, Fiori & mobile
SAP Fiori and UI5, bespoke apps, SAP BTP, Entra
Which logic may live in the interface — and which never may?
Enterprise Apps, Fiori & Mobile →CRM & customer service
CRM, contact centre, case management, customer data
What does service see when the customer calls?
CRM, Customer Service & Contact Center →Digital product platforms
Roadmap, UX/UI, release governance, distributed teams
Do we build or buy — and who maintains it afterwards?
Digital Product & Platform Leadership →
The questions programmes are decided on
None of these can be answered by a tool. All of them can be decided — once somebody prepares them properly.
- 01What belongs in the S/4HANA core – and what deliberately does not?SAP S/4HANA & Retail Core
- 02How does the core stay standardised without destroying necessary differentiation?Enterprise Architecture & Governance
- 03How are store, POS, commerce and customer service integrated consistently?Commerce & Omnichannel
- 04Where do price, stock, customer and master data live authoritatively?Data, Reporting & Analytics
- 05How do store operations and goods flow stay stable during the transformation?Store, POS & Retail Operations
- 06How are system integrators and platform vendors governed effectively?Integration, BTP & Enterprise Platforms
- 07How are architecture decisions made accountable to the steering committee and the CFO?Enterprise Architecture & Governance
Three ways to start
Three engagements, cut by programme phase. Each names the technology domains it examines and the decisions it prepares.
10 business days
Architecture Clarity Sprint
A small set of defensible architecture decisions executives can act on.
60-minute diagnostic callapproximately 3 weeks
S/4 Retail Programme Health Check
An independent read on where architecture, governance and delivery will break — before the rollout finds out.
Confidential scoping conversation, 20 minutes4–8 days per month
Fractional Enterprise Architect
Director-level judgement without having to fill a permanent executive seat.
A conversation about availability and scopeWhere this comes from
10+ SAP systems onto one S/4HANA platform. 10+ luxury Maisons on a shared SAP and omnichannel platform. Four years owning enterprise solutions in department-store retail. What the architecture decision was in each case, and what it changed.
Selected writing
2026-02
When to Bring in a Senior Architect in a S/4HANA Retail Program
2024-11
SAP Fiori Authorisations: The Guide to Implementation
2024-11
SAP Change Management: The Power of Dual Landscape Architecture
Twenty minutes is usually enough to tell whether I can help.
No deck. Bring the problem you are not getting a straight answer on.