Where is your IT money going, and is it working?
In two to three weeks I review your systems, contracts, security and support. You get a short plan: what to keep, what to cut, what to fix, and where AI can save real time.
Independent IT leadership · Amsterdam
Corporate-level IT, sized for your business.
I'm Maurício Arguello. I've run IT departments for 25 years, from a single country to Heineken's 90-country ERP programme. Now I help companies get the same quality without the corporate cost.
Growing company without an IT leader?Get a clear plan for your systems, costs and risks, and someone to own it.See the health check →
Running a large ERP programme?Independent advice on SAP and ERP programmes, from selection to go-live.See ERP services →
Working with companies across Europe. No licences to resell and no implementation partner behind me, so the advice is only ever the advice.
25+years leading IT in manufacturing, food and beverage, and medical supply
4IT departments run end to end, from infrastructure and support to business systems
90+countries in the Heineken S/4HANA roadmap I defined
The gap
Big companies have an IT director. Most growing ones don't.
A 50-person company now uses the same kind of software a corporation does: cloud systems, security tools, data, and soon AI. What it usually lacks is someone to choose well, keep the costs in check and own the risks.
So decisions get made by whoever has time, contracts renew without anyone reading them, and a lot depends on one person who knows how everything works. That is the gap North Ferry fills, at the size you need.
If any of these questions sound familiar, we should talk.
- Who decides which software we buy?
- Are we paying for licences nobody uses?
- What happens if our IT person leaves?
- Are we secure enough, and how would we know?
- Where could AI actually save us time?
- Do we need to hire an IT manager, or something else?
What I do
01IT health check
02Part-time CIO
03AI and automation
04Portals and small systems
05ERP implementation and migration
06Fixing stalled programmes
07Vendor and system selection
08Post-merger IT integration
Two kinds of work. The same experience behind both.
Every engagement starts from the problem you have, not from a service catalogue.
For growing companies
IT leadership without a full-time hire.
Who owns IT decisions in your company today?
A few days a month, I act as your IT director: setting the roadmap, managing vendors, and being the person you call before you sign a contract.
Which hours could your team get back?
I find the few processes where AI pays off, like handling documents, answering routine emails or building reports, and get them running. Not everywhere, just where it works.
Do you need your own system, without an enterprise price?
Customer and case portals built on modern tools, sized to how your business works. North Ferry builds and runs them. See the examples below.
For large programmes
ERP and SAP, from selection to go-live.
How do we get to S/4HANA?
Mostly SAP S/4HANA, but the same approach works on any ERP. New builds and conversions, scoped to how the business actually runs, not to a vendor's template.
Why has this programme stalled?
When an ERP project stalls, it is rarely the software. I find out what is true about scope, data and readiness, give you a straight answer, and help you fix it.
Which system should we choose?
I don't resell licences and don't work for an implementation partner. The recommendation is just the recommendation, with the business case and negotiating position that go with it.
How do we combine two systems?
Two systems, one deadline someone else set. I sequence the work so finance, supply chain and customers don't end up paying for the deal.
Built by North Ferry
Patient navigation
Financial advisory
Financial advisory
Systems small firms run on every day.
Built with modern tools and AI-assisted development, so a small firm gets its own system at a cost it can carry.
NavigatorNet
A portal for patient navigators. Every communication with patients, doctors and lawyers sits in one place, so navigators can move faster and nothing gets lost.
Steervalue
A client portal for a financial advisory firm. It manages and centralises every interaction with customers in one place.
AnalyticIQ
A portal for a financial advisory firm that brings all customer interactions together, so the team works from one view of each client.
How I work
First what is true. Then what to do about it.
A 30-minute call
You describe the situation. I tell you honestly whether I can help, and if not, who can.
A look under the hood
Systems, costs, contracts, data and team. I read what exists and talk to the people doing the work.
A straight answer
A short written view: where things really stand, what the risks are, and what I would do next.
Stay on or hand over
I either stay to lead the work, with specialists where it needs them, or hand your team a plan they can run.
The difference: you get someone who has been the accountable person for IT, not an advisor who hands over a report and leaves.
Experience
What I have actually run.
I've led the whole IT department, not just the ERP, at SEW-Eurodrive Brasil, Sara Lee Brazil, Heineken Brazil and Medline EMEA: infrastructure, support, security, business systems and the teams behind them. These are roles I held as an employee.
Selected results
90+
Countries in the global S/4HANA roadmap and ERP modernisation at Heineken, with 25 internal staff and 200+ external consultants.Heineken International · Global ERP, 2013 to 2023
9
Breweries rebuilt on a new technology landscape after the FEMSA acquisition, as head of all IT for Heineken Brazil, including the largest SAP system split executed globally.Heineken · IT Director Brazil, 2010 to 2013
15%
IT cost savings through vendor negotiation and technology rationalisation, while running the whole IT department.Sara Lee / JDE Coffee Brazil · IT Executive Manager, 2006 to 2010
1999
One of Brazil's first SAP R/3 implementations, later expanded to Argentina and Chile, while running IT and purchasing.SEW-Eurodrive Brasil · IT and Purchasing Manager
About
Business first. Then the system.
Maurício Carvalho ArguelloFounder, North Ferry Advisory
Amsterdam · English, Portuguese, Spanish
I started in IT in São Paulo in 1995 and ran one of Brazil's first SAP R/3 implementations in 1999. Since then I have run IT departments at SEW-Eurodrive, Sara Lee, Heineken and Medline, across Latin America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
What large companies taught me is that good IT is mostly good decisions. Cloud software and AI now give a small company tools that used to need a corporate budget. What it often lacks is someone to choose well and run it. That is the part I work on.
I bring in specialists when a project needs them, so the team fits the work. I take on a few clients at a time, and I will tell you early if I am not the right fit.
Let's talk for 30 minutes about your IT.
Tell me what is on your mind, whether it is a growing company's systems or a large programme. I will tell you honestly whether and how I can help. No sales pitch.
Book a callOpens a pre-filled email to hello@northferry.nl.