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 security 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 according 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 further information, please contact  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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.

“By February 2014 SEPA credit transfers and direct debits across the euro area will be as easy as domestic payments within one country are now.”  European Commission Press Release, December 2011

This standard is legally-binding and the deadline of 1 February 2014 also applies for migration 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 functionality or enhancements
• Identify opportunities to support existing staff work practices
• Identify further integration opportunities
• Identify Quick Wins
• Improved ROI and lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

For further information, please contact us.

The migration starts with a planning assessment, and the scope of the rapid deployment solution can also include HANA installation, Data optimisation, Unicode conversion for example.

If you are current experiencing reporting performance and data latency issues, running your data warehouse on SAP HANA will deliver significant improvements. Some of the benefits include:
• Deliver superior Reporting Performance
• Have real-time data access
• Simulate more and Plan Faster!
• Ensure superior Loading Performance
• Provide simplified Maintenance
• Ensure flexibility with modelling
• Migrate without reimplementation and without disruption of existing scenarios

Undertaking this as a rapid deployment solution also delivers benefits:
• Work with simplified process due to streamlining of steps
• Ensure secured planning due to fixed price and timeline for migration
• Work with an end-to-end solution based on individual customer needs

For further information, please contact us. 

Birchman UK and Spain completed the live qualification for SAP CRM Mobile Sales rapid-deployment solution at SAPPHIRE 2012 that look place in November in Madrid.

CRM Mobile Sales provides anywhere, anytime access to critical SAP CRM data using smartphones, such as iPhones, Android and Windows Mobile devices. Whether at a customer site or in an airplane, sales professionals have quick and reliable access to their CRM data from their mobile device of choice in order to maximise their productivity and effectiveness - the solution provides access to SAP CRM accounts, contacts, leads, opportunities, activities and analytics all from a mobile device.

For further information please contact us.

The SAP EcoHub http://ecohub.sap.com/

From left to right: Roberto Cauda (SAP), Richard Taylor (Birchman), Steffen Burger (SAP), Javier Morago (Birchman) & Francisco Muñoz (Birchman)

This award recognises an outstanding new initiative from a telecoms or ICT solution provider or from an operator/service provider (mobile, wireless, fixed or ISP), that has enabled greater cost-efficiency in the provision of telecoms, media and ICT services in Africa since November 2011.

AfricaCom Awards' Emily Martyr commented that the competition was fierce this year with a record number of entries, up 60% on last year, which itself was a bumper year.

"The quality and number of entries into these awards is testament to the importance of this sector across Africa" she said.

Conduct, a Birchman subsidiary, is a new technology venture that aims to revolutionise the South African telecommunications market by building a trusted, open-access, optical network in the last mile. It deploys carrier neutral, dark fibre optic networks to the premises. This optic network in the last mile allows users and service providers to interact freely and directly.

For more information see http://conductinfo.co.za/ or contact Niel Schoeman - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

RTS Consulting Inc. is SAP’s co-innovation partner for Energy Management. The company was a finalist of the SAP Pinnacle Award for Sustainability in 2011 & 2012 and global leader in providing SAP manufacturing solutions. Their Energy Management Information System (RTS EMIS) is a Rapid Deployment Solution (RDS) which is built using SAP’s MII – Energy.

With this exclusive partnership Birchman will provide their expertise in the MENA region extending the offering and capabilities of the EMIS to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

The partnership will enable all energy intensive businesses including Oil & Gas, Manufacturing, Processing, Mining etc in the MENA region to proactively manage energy usage, in essence, as a raw material and thus significantly reduce their energy use, intensity and cost.

Organizations will also benefit from RTS and Birchman’s proven SAP expertise “There are many initiatives within the MENA region such as the Green Economy, the Dubai Integrated Energy strategy 2030, the World Energy Forum 2012, International Earth Hours and Earth Summit etc. that can capitalize upon the sustainable utilization of power, water and other natural resources. By using EMIS the business community will have access to real time actionable information to optimize energy consumption (electrical power,  compressed air, steam, diesel,  natural gas, thermal oil, etc. including water)” – Says Iftekhar Ahmed, Middle East Partner of The Birchman Group.

Iftekhar believes that EMIS can help organizations meet environmental standards, ensure environmental compliance, improve overall sustainability and improve their competitive position by lowering operating expenses (OPEX).

RTS has over 20 years of experience in plant-to-ERP integration; its energy solution is a proven product, which is quickly deployable in only 14 weeks, providing quick time to value and a high ROI.

With its mandate to be a Centre of Excellence for SAP sustainability products, the Birchman adds an essential ingredient for successful deployment of SAP sustainability applications.

Birchman Spain is holding a seminar at the Plaza Hotel in Andorra la Vella on October 25th, 2012.

SAP BPC for Financial Planning and Consolidation allows you to simplify and optimise your budgeting, planning and forecasting. Additionally, you can quickly and efficiently consolidate financial information for legal reporting, statutory and management, allowing you to perform a precise closure.

Would you like to improve the accuracy of forecasts and financial reporting?

What if you have a tool that can bear in new accounting and international standards?

For answers to these and many more questions attend the "First Seminar Management Budgeting and Consolidation - SAP BPC"

For more information please contact Mario Martinez

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23rd October 2012

Headquarters of “Foment del Treball” in Barcelona

Project management in organisations is key to ensure the day to day of many of the company’s initiatives and activities. A good application of this discipline not only ensures the proper execution of the activities, but also minimises deviations and possible losses. The baseline is to have a good practice on project portfolio management and an integrated management of the projects into programs.

In times of crisis, this practice is even more relevant since the alignment with business strategy, the justification of the return on investment and budgetary control become major axes for the execution of projects, initiatives and programs.

The aim of the session is to provide a very practical and focused vision on these aspects and details, based on the example of an implementation of a Project Office (PMO).

During this conference, we will also review the new Microsoft Project Server 2013 and its “cloud” version.

For more information, please contact Esteve Vilelle

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Birchman and Microsoft are holding a joint Breakfast event on 11th October 2012.

Businesses continually strive to deliver the benefits associated with a Better, Faster, Safer, Cheaper operating model. The majority of changes to the operating model are 'IT enabled' however, this no longer means having to have a large on-premise skill base and/or infrastructure and systems investment.

The pace of business is continually increasing and there are long lead times, skills shortages and large upfront costs associated with 'IT enabled' change.

These work against rapid business operating model change! – that is, until now.

By taking ownership of the business process layer of the operating model, and moving workloads to the cloud, we are seeing how organisations are able to engage 'IT as a Service' and enable timely and effective business model changes.  Cloud computing is a 'NOW' decision for many organisations. The use of an operating model driven cloud journey will help your organisation make the right decision.

Join Birchman and Microsoft as we discuss how capturing business processes and adoption of the cloud-enabled Microsoft platform enables the delivery of a Better, Faster, Safer, Cheaper operating model and positions your organisation to adopt 'IT as a Service'.

When:
11th October 2012

Where:
Enex 100 Seminar Room Level 3,
100 St Georges Terrace Perth,
Western Australia 6000

Schedule:
7.30 for an 8am start Presentation will be finished by 8.45

Refreshments will be provided.

Birchman is delighted to announce that our Spanish subsidiary has recently achieved three Microsoft Gold Competency awards and two Silver Competency awards. 

Microsoft certifies its partners in a ‘by competence’ model. Within each competence, Microsoft’s highest level certification is Gold and the next is Silver.

Obtaining a Gold certification in a Microsoft competency certifies Birchman in terms of successful customer references, certified development team and sales process. The achievement of these awards positions Birchman as one of the leading Microsoft partners in Europe and Spain.

The three Gold certifications achieved are:

• Portals and Collaboration: this competency certifies Birchman for developing Intranet, Extranet, Horizontal Portals and Web Sites solutions built using SharePoint
• Business Intelligence: this competency certifies Birchman for developing ETLs, Data warehouses, Data Analysis and Visualization solutions based on Microsoft SQL Server
• Web Development: this competency certifies Birchman for web development using Microsoft .Net Framework