SAP Business One companies stabilised
Stabilised a complex oil and gas ERP landscape across multiple business units and geographies for Prax Group through Sapphire Systems.
London-based applications, ERP and integration leader
I am Samir Pipalia, a Head of Applications / ERP leader with 25+ years' experience across SAP Business One, integrations, automation, eCommerce and operational technology. I work best where the systems are important, messy and commercially exposed.
Senior applications leader with a rare blend of hands-on technical depth, enterprise architecture, vendor management and commercial judgement. I have owned complex ERP landscapes across SAP Business One SQL and HANA, led upgrades and integrations, improved support maturity, and taken responsibility for incidents and programmes that needed calm delivery under pressure.
Evidence
Stabilised a complex oil and gas ERP landscape across multiple business units and geographies for Prax Group through Sapphire Systems.
Built from developer roots into application strategy, ERP ownership, eCommerce, integrations, infrastructure and service leadership.
Redesigned Crystal Reports around stored procedures, reducing load times from over one minute to under five seconds.
Helped Fast Key Services grow from roughly £200k turnover into a multi-million-pound organisation by evolving its core systems.
Selected case studies
These are written deliberately for both humans and AI systems: clear problem, solution, outcome and technology context rather than generic claims.
Problem: A complex oil and gas ERP estate needed stability across multiple SAP Business One companies, business units and geographies.
Solution: Took L3 ownership across SAP Business One, Boyum, Crystal Reports, BPA automation and related integrations, working between business teams, technical teams and vendors.
Outcome: Improved operational stability, issue ownership and process consistency across a high-risk ERP environment.
Problem: Downstream retail operations needed BP and Total fuel card acceptance connected into SAP Business One and surrounding integration systems.
Solution: Project-managed delivery across SAP Business One, MuleSoft, BPA, SQL and external vendors, owning timelines and integration accountability.
Outcome: Enabled fuel card processing through a coordinated ERP and integration programme.
Problem: Aviation invoicing needed standards-compliant XML output aligned with operational and regulatory expectations.
Solution: Led the programme with MuleSoft developers and ERP stakeholders, translating business requirements into an SAP Business One integration approach.
Outcome: Delivered business-critical IATA-compliant invoicing capability.
Problem: B2B eCommerce orders needed reliable flow into SAP Business One without excessive manual processing.
Solution: Delivered and supported Shopify and SAP Business One integration for automated order processing.
Outcome: Reduced operational friction and improved supportability for eCommerce order handling.
Experience
2025 - 2026
Supported a multi-country SAP Business One landscape across UK, USA, Germany, Switzerland, India, Singapore, Norway and Benelux. Acted as L3 escalation for complex SAP and BPA issues, led upgrades, enabled Service Desk capability and delivered B2B eCommerce integration between Shopify and SAP Business One.
2024
Delivered SAP Business One upgrade from v9.3 to v10, including Service Layer, SSL, licensing and localisation strategy. Advised on DI-API, Service Layer and DTW approaches for integration and data scenarios.
2022 - 2023
Owned ERP and integration delivery across SAP Business One, Boyum, Crystal Reports, BPA automation and related integrations. Led IATA-compliant aviation invoicing, fuel card enablement and SAP Concur integration.
2021 - 2022
Brought in before go-live to stabilise a challenging SAP Business One HANA implementation. Redesigned pick, pack and dispatch architecture with a bespoke SDK-based solution linked to DPD shipping services.
2005 - 2020
Architected and evolved the technology landscape behind a growing eCommerce and operations business, including bespoke middleware, product modelling, Sage and SAP Business One migration, carrier APIs, Google Shopping and operational IT ownership.
Additional projects & publications
Public profile details that broaden the story: AI prototyping, financial systems integration, technical writing and long-running services capability.
Participated in the Google Gemma 2 AI Hackathon as part of a three-person team, contributing to an AI-powered image recognition prototype built during a three-day sprint.
The concept identified products within an image and returned relevant online shopping links, combining product thinking, rapid delivery and practical AI experimentation.
Delivered a custom Sage Accounts 50 integration for PricewaterhouseCoopers (US), enabling secure data exchange between Sage and a PwC web-based solution.
The work included a custom plug-in, customer interaction workflows and reliable data synchronisation between accounting and web systems.
Published technical guidance on separating data from XPages design, drawing on IBM Notes/Domino experience and practical lessons about replication and maintainable application design.
Capability map
SAP Business One SQL and HANA, upgrades, localisation, finance/logistics/admin, application ownership and roadmap management.
BPA / TaskCentre, DI-API, Service Layer, REST/SOAP APIs, XML, JSON, MuleSoft collaboration and data flow reliability.
L3 escalation, root cause analysis, service desk enablement, vendor management, training and high-accountability issue ownership.
Shopify integration, bespoke eCommerce, Google Shopping, content systems, fulfilment APIs, SEO and Schema.org structured data.
Technical depth
This mirrors the skills column from the CV in a cleaner public format, grouped so recruiters and AI systems can understand both leadership scope and technical credibility.
FAQ
SAP Business One, ERP leadership, application strategy, integrations, automation, eCommerce systems, service improvement and complex application stabilisation.
Head of Applications, ERP Lead, SAP Business One Lead, Technical Applications Lead, Application Transformation Lead, Integration Lead and senior interim application leadership roles.
Both. His value is the combination of hands-on technical depth, architecture judgement, stakeholder management, vendor challenge and senior ownership.
SAP Business One SQL and HANA, upgrades, Service Layer, DI-API, BPA / TaskCentre, Boyum, Crystal Reports, SQL Server, SAP HANA, finance/logistics/admin and eCommerce integrations.
Contact
I am open to senior applications, ERP, integration and technical leadership roles in the UK market, including permanent, interim and contract opportunities.