Benji Barber

Head of SAP Technology @ Discovery Bank | SAP HANA | SAP BTP | SAP Basis

City of Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

About

As the Head of SAP Technology and Basis at Discovery Bank, I lead the IT management function and oversee the SAP infrastructure design and implementation that supports the core banking environment. I have over 20 years of service delivery experience in the local and international IT industry, with a focus on SAP and non-SAP platforms, technical architecture and integration, IT security, and project delivery. I am a technology professional and a robotics process automation (RPA) enthusiast, with multiple diplomas from UIPath in various aspects of RPA. I am passionate about delivering innovative and effective technical solutions that align with the business requirements and strategy. I have a proven track record of satisfying Fortune 500 clients across various industries and managing complex and challenging SAP and legacy architectures. I also enjoy advancing and empowering my team members and collaborating with various stakeholders.

Experience

  • Head of SAP Technology and Basis at Discovery Bank (Via Barcon) at Discovery Bank
    Jul 2017 - Present · 9 yrs

    I formed part of the core leadership implementation team and oversaw the SAP infrastructure design as well as the implementation that supports the operation of the Core Bank environment. I continue to form part of IT management function, guiding and ensuring the Bank IT operation functions optimally

  • Director (Owner) at Barcon Consulting Services
    Feb 2012 - Present · 14 yrs 5 mos

    Barcon Consulting Services supplies top quality resources to customers in the SAP Basis and Technology arena, we deliver services in the SAP system Administration, design, optimisation and implementation. Our business is focused on delivering top class service to our customers.

  • SAP Basis and Infrastructure Manager (SME), South32 Basis Team Manager at Deloitte
    Apr 2015 - Jul 2017 · 2 yrs 4 mos

    Contracted under the Barcon Consulting banner, as the technical lead I was responsible for managing the Deloitte SAP Basis team and the delivery of an end-to-end replica of the BHP Billiton SAP landscape active in Dallas Texas, to Johannesburg. The multi-million Rand project under my stewardship spanned delivery of full scope of strategic technical architecture documents, engaging SWPM (software provisioning manager) to transfer the existing system to the new landscape, including a heterogeneous copy from source AIX/Oracle to Windows/SQL. SAP architecture design including infrastructure allocation for the destination landscape for the South32 migration. South32 customer engagements and stakeholder management across South Africa, Singapore, India and Australia. Manage team resource allocation and expenditures, this included project hour burn rate. Technical project plan development and implementation management. Completed the upgrade of an ERP6 EHP4 system to ERP6 EHP7 for Development Bank of South Africa, this included the upgrade of the database to SQL 2012. Infrastructure redesign for Development Bank of South Africa to rectify known issues in the original architecture design on Microsoft HypverV SAP system landscape. Managed the SAP Basis Team delivery for the upgrade to EHP7 for Deloitte South Africa. This project required planning and key stakeholder management within the Deloitte business. Responsible for the upgrade of South32’s SAP MRS component, this included performance reporting and managing key stakeholders within the South32 business. Currently managing the Basis Team for South32, this role includes budgeting, team resource planning and stakeholder management within the business.

  • SAP Basis Consultant (SME) at Standard Bank Group
    Oct 2013 - May 2015 · 1 yr 8 mos

    I was the subject matter expert in regard to HCM, BPC, Data Services and PCM landscape. I was technically responsible for assisting with the roll-out of HCM to the global business.

  • SAP Basis Team Lead and Technical Architect at Deloitte
    Dec 2008 - Oct 2013 · 4 yrs 11 mos

    I was very fortunate to work for Deloitte, in my time there I completed the following tasks: SAP Implementation Projects: Southern Sun Hotels (SAP Basis Team Lead) Deloitte South Africa (Architect and implementation, Basis Team Lead) AFGRI (Architect and implementation, Basis Team Lead) Exxaro Resources (SAP Basis Team lead) Tronox (SAP Basis Team Lead, carve out project) Support/Upgrade Projects: BHPBilliton - Data Centre move project, included implementation of DR strategy. Samancor Chrome - Carve out project. Lonmin - Post Project support and project close-off. RAF - Technical expert on JAVA systems. Sohar Aluminum – Oracle Database Upgrades Sohar Aluminum – Migrate Portal from AIX to Wintel (clustered), Team lead and Architect. PetroSA – Team lead for the upgrade project from 4.7 to ECC6 EHP4, Installation of Solution Manager 7.0 Deloitte South Africa – Upgrade project, support team and subject matter expert. Customer Manager: I served as customer manager for the customer in the UAE and Oman, the customers were Dubal Aluminum and Sohar Aluminum.