ERP implementation across 3 regions (APAC, MENA, EU)

The Challenge

By 2019, our Medical Supply division was scaling rapidly across the Middle East, APAC, and Europe—but our systems weren't keeping pace. Different regions operated on disconnected tools: legacy AX Dynamics in France, an outdated Sage X3 instance across Singapore, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea, and manual processes in Dubai and Indonesia. Leadership had limited visibility into inventory, procurement, or financial performance across the network.

The business problem was clear: we couldn't leverage economies of scale for synergistic procurement, decision-makers lacked real-time data, and financial reporting took weeks instead of days. To support projected growth from $30M to $90M in revenue, we needed a unified ERP platform—but the path wasn't straightforward.

The Approach

Rather than forcing a one-size-fits-all rollout, I structured the implementation in three regional phases, each tailored to local complexity:

Phase 1 – Dubai (Greenfield): Pure wholesale operations with no existing system. The challenge here wasn't technical—it was scope management. Every department wanted maximum functionality without clear processes defined. I had 6 months to deliver.

Phase 2 – APAC (Brownfield): Singapore, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia were already on Sage X3 for 6 years, but needed an instance change and upgrade. These sites handled both wholesale and kit manufacturing, requiring more complex configurations. The added challenge? COVID-19 hit mid-project, forcing a fully remote implementation.

Phase 3 – France (Migration): The most complex deployment. The French team had used AX Dynamics for a decade and ran wholesale, manufacturing, and kit refurbishment operations. Refurbishment alone generated 6 million lines of pedigree data stored in database views, not tables. Stakeholders feared job losses, and process documentation was sparse.

I took on dual roles throughout: program manager coordinating cross-functional teams, and functional SME/data analyst leveraging my operational background to bridge gaps between business needs and technical constraints.

The Solution

Each phase required distinct strategies:

Dubai (Dec 2019 – Jun 2020):

• Enforced strict scope discipline through a "must-have vs. nice-to-have" framework tied to 6-month delivery
• Designed a master data strategy to future-proof the system for synergistic procurement across regions
• Delivered a wholesale-focused Sage X3 instance on time, establishing the foundation for regional expansion

APAC (Oct 2020 – Jun 2021):

• Built data alignment protocols to migrate 6 years of transactional history without business disruption
• Managed remote implementation during COVID lockdowns, maintaining team motivation through weekly check-ins and transparent risk communication
• Configured dual-mode functionality for wholesale and kit manufacturing workflows

France (Oct 2022 – Jul 2024):

• Embedded myself on-site for 6 months to map undocumented processes step-by-step, building trust with the French team
• Cleaned and migrated 6 million lines of refurbishment pedigree data from AX Dynamics views into Sage X3 tables
• Negotiated with vendors to accommodate rework when unclear requirements surfaced mid-project
• Addressed job security fears by demonstrating how the system would give staff more control through better reporting and reduced manual work

The critical innovation was treating each phase as its own project while maintaining a unified data architecture. This allowed regional teams to adopt at their own pace without fragmenting the overall platform.

The Results

Business Growth:

• Dubai: Revenue scaled from $9M/year (2019) to $50M/year (2024)
• Group-wide: Total division revenue grew from $30M (2019) to $90M (2024)

Operational Efficiency:

• APAC decision-making: Reduced from 1-2 hours to 10 minutes via real-time dashboards
• APAC supplier payments: Automated workflows cut processing time from 5 hours to 1 hour per week
• France refurbishment speed: Increased from 700 kits/day to 950 kits/day average (1,200 kits at peak capacity)
• France transaction processing: Import templates reduced PO and stock transaction time from 10 hours to 4 hours per week

Stakeholder Transformation:
‍The French team's resistance dissolved as they experienced tangible improvements. By spending time embedded with the team, I turned skeptics into advocates who now actively contribute ideas for further system optimization.

What I Learned

Large-scale ERP implementations fail when they prioritize technical perfection over people. The breakthrough in France came not from better software configuration, but from listening. Six months of step-by-step process mapping wasn't just data collection—it was relationship-building. Once the team felt heard and saw solutions designed around their pain points, adoption became inevitable.

Phasing also proved essential. A "big bang" rollout across all regions would have failed. Each phase taught lessons that informed the next: Dubai taught scope discipline, APAC taught remote resilience, and France taught the power of embedding with users.

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