Entrevista a la revista corporativa de la multinacional Birchman Group amb oficines i negocis a Austràlia, Regne Unit, Espanya, Portugal, Catalunya, Dubai, Xile i Sud-Africa.

1. News
Quarter Two 2013
What’s New In Corporate Mobility?

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info@birchmangroup.com
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Birchman is an international company that provides
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services to many of the world's leading organisations.
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ogy investments.
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The Birchman
Group

3. 3birchman news | foreword | quarter 2/2013
Welcome to the Q2 2013 edition of the Birchman
Group Newsletter. As you may already know, the
objectives of this publication are to provide infor-
mation and ideas about relevant topics and issues
that face organisations and their Information Tech-
nology functions today.
To help us achieve these objectives, this is our first
Newsletter in which we include an interview to
one of our customers. We are happy to introduce
you to Xavier Sancliment Casadejús, who has been
the ICT Manager at the Terrassa City Council in
Spain since 2008. Terrassa is the one of largest
cities in the North East region of Spain, with
approximately 216,000 residents. Sancliment dis-
cusses their main strategic and transformational
projects that have influenced the city, as well as
the main challenges in the near future. He talks to
us about Cloud, Big Data and Mobility and the role
of the CIO in the organisation.
Following on from the technology trends in 2013
article in our last issue we already see significant
progress in mobility including the mobilisation of
enterprise applications, cloud and in-memory com-
puting; and big data. We will continue to focus on
these subjects during the year. In this issue we
look at mobility.
Newer generations no longer understand life with-
out mobility and connectivity. But mobility is a
broad concept. We try to review it in our article
“What’s New in Corporate Mobility?” focusing our
analysis on corporate applications that are normal-
ly extensions of backbone systems. Our article
includes the discussion of the difficult question of
affordability, coming to the conclusion that ROI
will be linked to the business benefits from the
real use of the application put in place and the
true adoption by the end users.
We also look at the role of the finance function in
driving change and maximising value from existing
solutions. CFO’s are driving change, but not disrup-
tive changes that add risk to already uncertain
economic conditions; however significant value is
being unlocked through optimising existing finan-
cial systems and processes.
More of our customer are preparing for SEPA (Sin-
gle Euro Payment Area) regulation that comes into
force by 1st February 2014. The cost of not being
able to operate the new payment and receipt sys-
tems through the bank is high. Incremental
changes add up to significant value of erosion
especially when you consider that the budgeting,
periodic forecasting as well as the actual results
could all benefit from similar improved processes.
Expert help and increasing the value of a single
software tool can be significant.
We highlight our fashion and retail expertise
acquired throughout the years having developed
and implemented a range of industry solutions in
many major companies. To reinforce this, we are
including the Pepe Jeans’s success story, being the
company one of the world’s leading iconic fashion
brands.
I hope you find this a simulating read and welcome
your feedback. Information Technology continues
to deliver step-change for our client’s customers,
employees and suppliers. We are pleased to be
working with so many interesting companies to
help drive and support these exiting changes.
If you have any questions or
suggestions please contact us at
info@birchmangroup.com
Birchman General Update
Niel
Schoeman
Chairman

4. 4 birchman news | consulting | quarter 2/2013
The Finance Function:
Evolution not Revolution
Big disruptive changes are sometimes
needed, however the risk of these are large
and the impact to the business is significant so
are often rejected. The focus of many CFO’s
today is to manage risk whilst pushing forward
change within the business. A key opportunity
to achieve this is by leveraging the value of ex-
isting software systems to meet the demands
from internal and external stakeholders.
Many small improvements to processes can add
significant value with minimal risk and with
minimal investment. This is what appeals most
to CFO’s. Investment of time in small projects
is easier to justify and aligned with a roadmap
of objectives this continual improvement will
soon add significant value.
The most difficult task facing the Finance func-
tion is not to identify the areas that require im-
provement but to find the time and help to iden-
tify HOW to make the changes, when at the
same time normal business requirements keep
them fully occupied!
It is not surprising that cost cutting is also a fo-
cus when economic conditions are as uncertain
as they have been recently. This also has im-
pacted the decision on whether time and support
is made available for changes within the busi-
ness. Many companies today are making false
economies by only focusing on maintaining the
processes around the day to day activities and
not improving them.
Changes are made either when necessity
forces them or when the demand for
change becomes too great to ignore.
The result is the slow evolution within the Fi-
nance function, when changes are made either
when necessity forces them or when the de-
mand for change becomes too great to ignore.
This added responsibility in addition to the
normal day to day requirements is generally
accepted, even though internal staff are not
specifically trained to manage projects and
often not trained in new areas of software
functionality. The value of bringing in tempo-
rary expert support is often overlooked unless
the value proposition is high.
One such necessity relates to the mandatory
SEPA (Single Euro Payment Area) regulation that
The focus of many
CFO’s is to manage
risk whilst pushing
forward change
CFO’s are driving change, but not big disruptive changes that add risk to already
uncertain economic conditions. Significant value is being unlocked through optimis-
ing existing financial systems and processes.

5. birchman news | consulting | quarter 2/2013 5
comes into force by 1st February 2014. SEPA
enables you to make and receive payments in
euros within Europe… and the deadline is loom-
ing! Treasury functions are rushing to plan the
migration and it is predicted that many will
miss the deadline! The value of external ex-
pertise to support this one off change can be
easily justified as the skills do not often exist
within the business and the costs of not being
able to operate the new payment and receipts
systems through the bank is high.
In addition, regular small process changes are
made by the internal teams to address ad hoc
business requirements. Where these are made
without consultation or review of all the options,
these eventually lead to a large deviation from
what might be deemed best practice, through no
fault of one individual. These situations reduce
the value of the system and increase workload to
staff particularly at month end.
One common area of sub-optimal work is
around the financial consolidation. Due to the
regular pressure of deadlines and working with
remote sites, workarounds are regularly made
including time consuming manual calculation,
data loading and inconsistent mapping of the

6. 6 birchman news | consulting | 2/2013
data are all accepted. Is this really acceptable
just because the finance function manage the
process internally or the cost or complexity of
fixing the root cause of the problems is consid-
ered to be high? In many businesses, the reality
is that incremental changes add up to signifi-
cant value erosion especially when you con-
sider that the budgeting, periodic forecasting
as well as the actual results could all benefit
from similarly improved processes.
The good news is that CFO’s are recognising
that periodically these systems and processes
need to be optimised with non-value adding
tasks eliminated. For example, using SAP Busi-
nessObjects Planning and Consolidation (BPC).
This is a single system (for SAP and non-SAP
ERP customers) that can be used for actual re-
sults, strategic plan targets, annual budgeting
and periodic forecasting. The value of periodi-
cally using expert help and fixing the problems
and increasing the value of a single software
tool is significant.
For more information, please contact
David King
david.king@birchmangroup.com
How Evolution is managed
in Practice
Some of the best finance functions in the world adopt an evolutionary
approach to changes within the Finance function. Some practical steps
are shown below that improve both the business processes as well as
the IT systems over time.
g Create a Vision: give a description of the vision of the function in
the future. For example, by the year 2015 we will be meet world
class standards for the financial closing cycle and budgeting
processes. It is best practice to set a date as this focuses the
mind!
g Create a Roadmap: Identify the high level areas within the busi-
ness functions, departments, processes and/or systems that must
be improved to reach the vision. It is best practice to involve ex-
ternal expertise at this stage to bring specific expertise, best
practice knowledge and an independent point of view at this early
stage. Creating a high level plan of possible timings is required to
focus attention.
g Check the Value Proposition: Based on the Roadmap, validate the
initial high level views by breaking this down into more detail. A
Value Check service from Birchman could identify further improve-
ments and support the planning process for the next steps in the
process. It is important to break the initiatives into small steps
that are more manageable and less risky to implement.
g Identifying quick wins: In most cases it is possible to identify
areas that can be improved quickly. These lead to benefits early
on and build momentum for future improvements.
g Kick Start Improvement Initiatives: Based on the priorities,
teams get started and improvement initiative can be announced.
Commitment from the top and good communication are al-
ways important. Start initiatives in each function to involve
everyone in Finance.
g Tracking, Reporting and Managing: We have to meas-
ure the initial situation and the changes found made
during the improvement initiative. Finance are normally
good at this! Project management is a key role to ensure
the success of the initiatives.
g Celebrate the Success: Build momentum for the next success by
not forgetting to celebrate and recognise the improvements
made.

7. 7birchman news | consulting | quarter 2/2013
What’s New In Corporate
Mobility?
We are definitely in a mobile world. You only need to observe your child’s behaviour to
realise there is no turning back. Games, videos, school apps, books, social networks…
endless content available anywhere, anytime. The most popular subject is culture,
because newer generations no longer understand life without mobility and connectivity
to keep them constantly connected and in touch. The phenomenon of social networks
is proof of this and an explosive driver in terms of their use even in these times of cri-
sis, when people are cutting back on spending on many needs, but perhaps not on
their need to stay connected… a need that is steadily growing in the Maslow pyramid.
But mobility is a broad concept. So let
us try to dissect this world:
Mobility for whom?
Thousands, perhaps even millions, of uses come
to mind. But we need to start differentiating be-
tween two different worlds: consumer and cor-
porate apps. This distinction defines the app’s
main features regarding preferred device, archi-
tecture, complexity, visual appearance, connec-
tivity, cost, etc. While consumer applications are
built for anything you can imagine, yet not ne-
cessarily for profit (leisure is often the main rea-
son), corporate apps are normally extensions of
backbone systems such as ERP, CRM, BI, EPM,
etc. We will focus our analysis on these kinds of
apps and the alternatives that can be found in
the market.
Mobility for what?
This is the first issue to be tackled. But is it ne-
cessary to mobilise all processes for all users? It
most definitely is not. The toy’s cost is high, so
watch out! If you want to achieve your organisa-
We need to start
differentiating bet-
ween two different
worlds: consumer
and corporate apps

8. birchman news | consulting | 2/20138
tion’s expected ROI, you have to select the
processes to be mobilised. Next, an example:
Classic
o Sales force automation, most common fea-
tures are:
• Sales agenda and activity planning
• Customer and contact database
• 360º customer view
• Opportunity management
• Quote and order capture
• Travel expense reporting
• Route management
o Field service
• Asset management
• Repair management
• Preventive and corrective management
• Expense reporting
• GPS location
• Work order scheduling
However, as is occurring in the consumer world,
needs and solutions are also sharply rising in the
corporate world and some examples of these
new apps are:
Field marketing: customer surveys, samples,
competition data capture
Retail
o Point-of-sale data capture
o On-shelf stock control
o Promotion management
o Layout implementation management
g Timesheet
g Leave Request
g HR Approvals
g Employee Lookup
g Interview Assistant
g Manager Insight
g Mobile BI: executive dashboards
g Inventory and RFID
g Measurement and readings
g Cash collection
g Travel management
g HD Product catalogue
g Pharma
o Medical visit
o Pharmacy order capture
g Others
Mobility on what?
Undeniably, the two main drivers of mobility
over the last ten years have been telecom
networks and the changes in devices. Ease of
use, size, weight, durability, endurance, bat-
tery performance, connectivity, conditions of
use and price are all factors to be taken into
account when choosing the proper device for a
specific need and user. An iPad can be fashion-
ably nice, but not necessarily the best mobile
device for a field engineer who is constantly
working in dirty locations filled with dust and
grease. An industrial PDA can provide the right
performance, but perhaps lacks the image and
fashionable connotations that your organisa-
tion wants to communicate to its customer
base.
An incredibly broad range can be found in the
marketplace and below is a brief summary:
Classic laptops (still relevant and real players in
terms of their many uses, now with the added
extra of Win 8 and Mac).
Notebooks as a compact evolution from laptops,
cheaper and supporting most applications.
Smartphones and tablets, both worlds converging
but with one big question mark: which platform
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9. birchman news | solutions | quarter 2/2013 9
will last and dominate the marketplace? Let us
recap the alternatives:
o Apple-iOS-iPhone-iPad, Apple premium
world now leading in terms of usability,
look, app variety – revolutionary products
o Android, supported by Google, Samsung,
Sony… the open platform apparently gaining
market share at reasonable prices with top-
notch performance
o RIM-BlackBerry, used to be the preferred
corporate device, but now at the crossroads
o Windows Phone and Nokia, the Microsoft al-
ternative that will have a lot to say in the
near future
Industrial handheld devices: rugged and robust,
designed for use under tough conditions and
complete with specialised accessories such as
code scanners, RFID readers, waterproof covers,
high-resistance touchscreens, long-lasting bat-
teries, GPS location appliance, special ergonom-
ics, etc.
In the end, choosing the right device is a key suc-
cess factor for the project that will facilitate
user adoption and probably the main cost driver.
So think twice before making your choice.
Connected or disconnected mobility?
Another key discussion point to throw into the
pot. When asking a user about this topic, the an-
swer is typically: “I need the app all the time”.
In most of Europe and America nowadays, tele-
com network coverage is enough to provide ap-
proximately 90-95% service with an excellent
connection speed through 3G-4G at reasonable
flat rate prices. So why disconnected? Is con-
nected good enough? Are users aware of offline
costs and limitations?
By being connected via a simple smartphone, we
can access an unlimited set of contents and in-
formation existing in backend systems and taking
advantage of all calculation complexities as they
are arranged by the same backend. The ease of
administration is obvious, as virtually no device
management, deployment or configuration is re-
quired. A sales manager checking fully updated
sales performance info on a tablet when visiting
customers at city headquarters needs connected,
online apps.
Disconnected is to be chosen only when re-
quired. A sales rep working in rural areas with in-
adequate network coverage and visiting a point-
of-sale outlet to capture sales orders with
complex pricing and promotions will require dis-
connected. A field engineer working in an en-
Disconnected is
to be chosen only
when required
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10. 10 birchman news | solutions | 2/2013
closed space in a building’s basement needs dis-
connected, unless he can afford to populate the
work order after finishing his work once he steps
out to where the equipment is located.
Connected means:
Application availability anywhere, anytime
Multiple device management and administration
App development dependent on operating sys-
tem device, which means costs will be multiplied
in case different devices/technologies are re-
quired for different users
Disconnected means integration: information go-
ing up and down the mobile devices needs to be
stored and managed in some kind of data con-
centrator that will integrate with back office
source systems - EAI should be considered at this
point
Data synchronisation management: only the right
data moved to a specific user device to minimise
data traffic and costs and optimise data storage
in mobile limited devices
Data security: data is replicated in mobile de-
vice, so it needs to be protected and secured
Data traffic cost: more data volume is replicated
up and down
End-user support: many issues arise from device
configuration, so resolving problems hundreds or
thousands of kilometres away can become a
daily problem and definitely a significant cost
So go connected as long as possible!
Is mobility affordable?
A difficult question. It can effectively cost from
almost zero to an investment of millions. On the
one hand, most corporate applications are al-
ready web enabled, so publishing them on a
tablet using Safari or Chrome already existing in
current devices can be quite inexpensive. This is
real and simple mobility. On the other hand, im-
plementing an offline order capture solution in-
volving acquisition of licenses, new devices,
complex integration, bespoke development,
complex deployment and remote administration
could mean an investment of hundreds of thou-
sands of euros. ROI will be linked to the business
benefits from the real use of the apps put in
place and true adoption by end users.
What’s in store for mobility?
By now, you should have a clear idea about the
drivers to boost mobility. We are currently at a
boiling point that is ready to explode, if it has
not happened already. Many innovations bring
opportunities and uncertainties:
Telecom networks: 4G is a reality and the ex-
tended broadband it provides is a key factor for
making more complex apps available.
Cloud and SaaS: mobility means cloud and
vice versa. Mobility means collaboration and
sharing apps that are used by a high number
of users coexisting under the same multi-ten-
ant platform.
Mobility can cost
from almost zero to
an investment of
millions g
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11. birchman news | solutions | quarter 2/2013 11
For more information, please contact:
Francisco Muñoz
francisco.munoz@birchmangroup.com
Social networks are changing people culture and
the ways we relate with others. Coming genera-
tions will be adopting these apps en masse and
this fact will guide the way they work together
and the corporate tools they will demand in the
future.
Devices: fashionable, trendy, fun, useful… and
rapidly changing! So ephemeral that once you
have the latest of the latest, a new innovation
comes out to revolutionise the market. Nobody
knows which technology will win the battle, but
Android and Apple are clearly in the lead, with
RIM and MS catching up.
Application manufacturers: from classics such as
Apple and Microsoft to corporate such as SAP and
Oracle, as well as new players such as Google
and Facebook. Speaking of which:
o SAP has recently acquired Sybase and Syclo,
both leading companies in mobility plat-
forms and applications.
o Oracle has already launched Open UI as a
multi-platform (multi-navigator) user inter-
face for its leading mobile app: Oracle
Siebel CRM.
o Microsoft has established a strong alliance
with Nokia to develop the mobile phone op-
erating system for the new generation of
mobile devices, to be completed by a full
set of apps aligned with the new Windows 8
strategy.
It is a thrilling environment. The only clear thing
is that we will enjoy whatever the future brings!
g
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We will enjoy
whatever the
future brings!

12. birchman news | interview | quarter 2/201312
What are the main strategic, transfor-
mation projects you have tackled and
how have they influenced the city?
We are working towards building a more citi-
zen-centred, agile, simple, friendly and less
bureaucratic town council... and we are sup-
porting this goal with technology in three
ways. First, with broadly speaking technologi-
cal platforms, namely, applications and sys-
tems upon which the council is basing its oper-
ations. For about four years, we have been
immersed in a complete renovation process of
these platforms and this is converting us into a
benchmark in the field. Second, through inter-
nal operational processes, on the one hand,
which we are trying to simplify, and also with
processes and procedures for citizens in which
we want them to have full protagonism.
And finally, through the interaction points be-
tween citizens and the Town Hall, which in
technology we usually call “channels”, tradi-
tional offices serving citizens and telephone,
mobile, Internet and social media, etc. Citi-
zens decide on which channel to use to con-
nect with the Town Hall and our aim is to offer
them a unique multichannel experience. This
requires exceptional organisational and cul-
tural change, and although the challenge is
enormous it is also very exciting.
Are you planning another short-term
strategic or transformation project?
We are currently in the process of introducing
our human resources management system. We
have begun changing all voice systems and in-
troducing unified IP telephony and communica-
Terrassa is the fourth largest city in Catalonia (with approximately 216,000 inhabi-
tants) and some 1,800 people are responsible for administering its public services in
the Town Hall. Xavier Sancliment has been manager of the ICT Department since 2008.
Technology will be playing
a vital role in all areas
Xavier
Sancliment
Casadejús
Director of Technology
Services, Logistics &
Quality, Department of
Finance and General
Services, Terrassa City
Council

13. birchman news | interview | quarter 2/2013 13
tions. We are in the final phase of implement-
ing our new application virtualisation platform.
We have (internal) cloud IT services and are
beginning to acquire some external cloud man-
agement experience, testing this hybrid model,
assessing advantages, problems, risks and,
above all, identifying the economic scenarios
of our various services.Opening public data as
part of our Open Data service and Open Gov-
ernment strategy has already been integrated
into all the transformation projects we are un-
dertaking.
Finally, we will continue with our technological
renovation plan, completing migration to Oracle
11g, SharePoint 2013 or migrating our corporate
email to a different cloud service model.
What are the main challenges you are
facing in the near future?
We are fully involved in so-called smart city
projects, which I believe will be our focus in
the medium to long term. Moreover, the jour-
ney towards cloud is unstoppable, and the vir-
tualisation of servers, storage, applications and
desktop will be combined with infrastructure
like electronic networking. In this sense, the
future is SDN (Software Defined Networks) and
I sense that it will be to the world of network-
ing what VMWARE was to the world of servers.
The idea is simple, instead of having
switches/routers acting independently be-
tween each other and with limited intelli-
gence, we will install a central server to com-
municate with all switches/routers. This
central server has information from the entire
network and because of its powerful CPU is ca-
pable of making more intelligent, automatic
real-time decisions. The result is a programma-
ble network that automatically responds to
events, much smarter and ready to take on any
new challenge or future application. We are
excited to be one of the world’s pilot projects.
Technologies such as Cloud, Big Data,
Mobility, etc. are on everybody’s lips,
but do you believe they are mature
enough?
They are indeed today’s buzzwords. Regarding
the first, we have a private cloud in which we
already manage over 170 servers and 190TB of
fully virtualised storage. In terms of external
cloud, some web portals are already using this
new technology (Azure and others) and we are
testing the use of integrated external storage
with our internal cloud.
When it comes to Big Data, besides the relative
importance it has in smart cities, we are work-
ing on a specific project. In Open Data, we are
in fact constantly opening information and
data in our 4-star service portal (we will obtain
a fifth star in a few weeks), according to the
classification by Tim Berners-Lee.
In regards to M2M, we are working on energy
management in municipal buildings, which al-
ready have teleactivity with specific buildings
and over ten buildings are being monitored.
The savings associated by introducing a solu-
tion of this kind are important and in our case
are over 30%.
Finally, the new BYOD trend is becoming inter-
esting, albeit through very specific pilot proj-
ects or tests. I have the feeling it will be an
initiative that we will have to address on a
large scale in the short to medium term.
Do you think the role of CIOs will
change in the near future?
Many CIOs today participate in steering com-
mittees, contributing to decision-making in or-
ganisations. I believe in the future that they
will not only focus on contributing, but must
also dedicate part of their time to thinking and
innovating, developing a key role in any area
of the company, because technology will be
playing a vital role in all organisational areas.
How do you see the relationship of your
organisation with suppliers?
The textbook answer is that it must be a win-
win relationship. I expect professionalism, a
relationship of trust, transparency and the fact
that they truly add value. We look for techno-
logical partners that understand our day-to-
day, our “business”. I want the supplier to be
part of our team. Our team also works for the
supplier, providing information, helping with
the project, contributing knowledge and as-
suming responsibility in decision-making. We
all fail or we all succeed together. We want a
B2B relationship in which everybody wins.
We are working
towards building a
more citizen-centred
town council

14. 14 birchman news | case study | quarter 2/2013
Today Pepe Jeans is one of the world’s
leading iconic fashion brands. With a presence
in 60 countries across all five continents and
distributed through nearly 7000 outlets world-
wide.
Growing Pains
Massive success saw the company grow at an
incredible rate and growth continues exponen-
tially. To keep abreast of the highly competi-
tive fashion market, Pepe Jeans needed to sup-
port their growing business with modern
flexible business processes and systems.
Their highly customised aging information sys-
tems were becoming a hindrance to their busi-
ness success, and did not support the growth they
were experiencing. The fashion business is clearly
about knowing how to evolve and Pepe needed to
evolve their processes and systems onto a lead-
ing-edge technology platform that would support
the growing complexity of their business.
The Solution
To capitalise on their growing brand presence
and to facilitate their worldwide expansion
plans Pepe entered into a long term relation-
ship with Birchman. This was, in a large part,
due to our
extensive experience in the retail industry, and
in particular fashion. In addition Birchman’s
FashionWorks was chosen as the core platform
to support their complex business model.
The main objectives of the relationship were to:
Optimise the business processes of the com-
pany’s diverse operations into a single entity to
improve the efficiency and effectiveness of
their supply chain, from vendors through to
customers.
Deliver a leading-edge technology platform
(SAP) without impacting the day to day opera-
tion of the business.
It is 1973, in the heart of Portobello Road Market, London. The euphoria in the air is
palpable. A crowd of raucous kids arrives by subway, bus or bike from all parts of
London to converge on the city’s cutting-edge clothing market in a bid to lay their
hands on an elusive pair of iconic jeans which are the talk of the town! It was there
in 1973 under the bridge in Notting Hill that Pepe Jeans London was born.
Pepe Jeans Success Story
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15. Establish a single data repository for the entire
company which includes stock levels, single
customer view and integration across all distri-
bution channels.
Build a system with the flexibility and scalabil-
ity to address their current and future data
capturing and information reporting require-
ments.
Deliver the program in less than 18 months,
from business case approval to final implemen-
tation.
To provide international support to their busi-
ness operations; 24 X 7 X 365.
The Benefits
The rapid growth experienced by Pepe Jeans
required an enterprise wide process and man-
agement solution that would allow integration
of the company’s various business lines. The
main project benefits delivered are:
The company now has an organisation wide
view of their business processes. Individual de-
partments no longer work in isolation and
process efficiencies have been delivered across
the company.
A single ‘version of the truth’ has been deliv-
ered through the implementation and manage-
ment of the company’s master data. The data
is entered once and is visible to all depart-
ments, starting from sales through to purchas-
ing, inventory, finance and operations.
A modern flexible open technology platform al-
lows the integration with different applica-
tions. The EAI SAP PI tool has allowed integra-
tion of all external solutions with SAP.
Full operations tracking; logistics and financial.
Significant time reductions have been
achieved.
Standardised processes have resulted in an im-
provement in supply chain efficiency, customer
service levels, and the company’s ability to
measure and improve them.
The Future
Pepe Jeans continues to evolve its processes
and systems by investigating new innovative
ways of working. Birchman is working closely
with Pepe Jeans to deploy the solution to the
new worldwide subsidiaries of the company.
For more information regarding any
of this information please contact us
via our website
www.thebirchmangroup.com
birchman news | case study | quarter 2/2013 15
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Pepe Jeans is one of
the world’s leading
iconic fashion
brands

16. birchman news | news & events | quarter 2/201316
“By February 2014 SEPA credit transfers and
direct debits across the euro area will be as
easy as domestic payments within one coun-
try are now.” European Commission Press
Release, December 2011
This standard is legally-binding and the dead-
line of 1 February 2014 also applies for migra-
tion for domestic Euro payments.
Start planning your SAP migration now with
the help of Birchman’s rapid deployment
expertise. With many SAP migrations already
completed, your project will benefit from this
extensive experience and move to the SEPA
standard before the deadline expires.
If you are also experiencing reporting, data
quality or performance issues, Birchman’s
fixed fee Value Check service can also support
you to identify significant improvements.
Some of the benefits include:
Linking financial strategy to financial
operations
Identify unused or missing system functionali-
ty or enhancements
Identify opportunities to support existing staff
work practices
Identify further integration opportunities
Identify Quick Wins
Improved ROI and lower Total Cost of Owner-
ship (TCO)
For more information, please contact:
Richard Taylor
richard.taylor@birchmangroup,com
SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) is the standard payment initiative for 32 counties,
including 27 EU member states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and
Monaco. This will improve cross Euro border payments and reduce the fees of these
transactions. UK companies trading in Euro’s will also benefit from reduced fees
and faster payments using this payment initiative.
Birchman offers expertise
to migrate to the SEPA
payment standards
as the deadline looms
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Follow us at
facebook.com/
TheBirchmanGroup
linkedin.com/
company/
the-birchman-group

17. birchman news | news & events | quarter 2/2013
Birchman qualifies as a worldwide service provider
Last January the International Standardization Organization (ISO)
has granted certification in two different international standard
versions to the Birchman Group. Specifically the ISO20.000:2011
and the ISO27.001: 2005, which regulate the provision and secu-
rity over the information of the 24 x 7 Birchman Service Desk.
These rules come to confirm the quality that Birchman provides
to its customers. Not only in provisioning efficient services, but
also in preserving the end-to-end security. Birchman has a high
internal exigency level to purvey a fast and efficient service to
the needs of every customer.
In addition, Birchman executed the certification process accord-
ing to the international standards, ISO20.000:2011 with APMG
and ISO27.000:2005 UKAS model, which qualify our firm as a
worldwide service provider.
For more information, please contact:
Toni Aguayo
toni.aguayo@birchmangroup.com
Annual Fashion and Luxury Goods Networking Event
The Birchman Group will hold next 13th of June an event where
major companies in the fashion and retail industry will meet to
know and share key trends and needs that the industry demands.
Birchman will provide an insight to a range of industry solutions,
which have been developed and implemented in various major
companies. All of this will take place in a prime location in
Barcelona, Spain, giving our guests the opportunity to visit the
beautiful city through an unique and personalised guided tour.
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from others and also to share
your experiences!... Don’t miss the change to hear from your
peers in an international environment!
For further information or to book your attendance,
please contact
info.es@birchmangroup.com
or Sara Nistal at +34 93 553 3821.
17

18. birchman news | news & events | quarter 2/201318
With more than 600 companies attending,
this conference allows most important Share-
Point partners to demonstrate their knowl-
edge and the quality of their solutions to a
“decision makers” customers audience. Birch-
man collaborated as Silver Partner on the
event and presented two conferences with
regards to SharePoint technologies.
On the first session Birchman explained its
experience working with SharePoint as a Web
Content Management Platform, showing how
SharePoint 2013 helps our customers building
web sites, intranets and portals with features
like Social Networks, Social Gaming, Advertis-
ing, e-Commerce. The second session was
dedicated to how SharePoint 2013 helps build-
ing multi device and responsive design web
based solutions (portals, intranets and
extranets). Both sessions were scored very
high by all the attendants.
Birchman was one of the few companies
showing customer references on SharePoint
2013, the latest product version and one of
the most important Microsoft investments for
Birchman, Microsoft Gold Partner and one of the companies leader on the
SharePoint platform, sponsored the most important SharePoint event in Spain,
the Spanish Users SharePoint Conference (CEUS), celebrated in Madrid on
April the 8th
.
Birchman sponsors
the Spanish Users
SharePoint Conference
More than 600
companies attended
the conference

19. enterprise solutions this year. Due to having
more than 8 months experience with this new
release of the product, Birchman has
achieved a leadership position on the Spain
and European markets.
birchman news | news & events | quarter 2/2013 19
URL of the event:
www.microsoft.com/spain/busi-
nessproductivity/CEUS/default.aspx
Birchman SharePoint Team Blog
Birchman sponsors the SAP FORUM UK
& IRELAND
Birchman is pleased to announce that once
again we are sponsoring the SAP FORUM UK &
Ireland entitled Experience the Future of Busi-
ness.
The event takes place at the ICC in Birmingham
on the 3rd and 4th of July.
For more information, please contact:
+44 20 8754 7574 or mail
info@birchmangroup.com
User Conference in Birmingham
On the 25th Anniversary of the SAP UK & Ire-
land User Group, Birchman will be sponsoring
the User Conference on the 24th until the 26th
November. This year’s conference is being held
at the ICC in Birmingham.
For more information, please contact:
+ 44 20 8754 7574 or mail
info@birchmangroup.com

20. Annual Fashion & Luxury
Goods Networking Event
Don't miss the opportunity
to learn from others and also share
your experiences!
Barcelona, June 13th 2013
CCCB (Centre de Cultura Contemporània)
Please book your attendance:
Info.es@birchmangroup.com
Sara Nistal: +34 93 553 38 21
The Birchman Group invites you to the