Nick Miles spent over seven years at Burberry, first as Director of Supply Chain IT and later as Director of IT Strategy, Portfolio & Transformation. In this conversation with JP Doggett, he reflects on Burberry’s approach to transformation, the shift from monolithic ERP to more modular innovation, and what he learned about building business cases and working with technology providers.
JP Doggett: You spent more than seven years at Burberry. How did you get started there?
Nick Miles: I joined in 2017 after working at Primark and before that in consulting. Initially, I was focused on supply chain IT, accountable for the roadmap and delivery of programmes. That included upstream buying and merchandising, downstream warehouse management, logistics and trade compliance. I also took over a £100 million supply chain excellence programme because of its scale. Later, I moved into IT strategy, portfolio governance and transformation, looking across Burberry’s investment priorities.
JP Doggett: That supply chain excellence programme sounds significant. What was your approach?
Nick Miles: At the start it was quite monolithic. The architecture roadmap created a big transition state that would have been painful for the business, with benefits pushed back. I stopped that path and pushed for a more composable, stepping-stone approach. Instead of trying to deliver everything through one big ERP upgrade, we focused on modular solutions like Board for planning and SedApta for other supply chain functions.
That shift also meant simplifying SAP, stripping out customisations and moving to best-of-breed tools where they added value. Over time, we developed solution architects by domain, not just SAP architects, which gave us more flexibility.
JP Doggett: What about the financial and governance side...how did you make the case for investment?
Nick Miles: We set up a capital committee to distinguish between “keep the lights on” projects, mandatory compliance and discretionary investments. That helped us focus resources on where they really mattered.
Proving benefits was always a challenge. We replaced large Excel-based tools for buy planning with Board, which prevented inefficient purchases like ordering the same quantity of every colour jumper. That led to real cost savings but the business didn’t always track or communicate those benefits consistently. Over time we became stricter about bringing realised benefits back to the capital committee.
JP Doggett: One of the themes we’ve been exploring at SCL-X is composability. Did you see that approach working in practice?
Nick Miles: Yes. Moving away from SAP customisation towards modular tools gave us more agility. We also experimented with small, incremental improvements such as using Power Apps for simple workflow fixes or exploring Palantir’s ontological model for building workflows with embedded AI. What appealed about Palantir was the idea of starting very small, proving value in a workflow and then expanding gradually. That felt more realistic in tight budget conditions than trying to secure approval for a huge upfront programme.
JP Doggett: How did you engage with solution providers, from large vendors to startups?
Nick Miles: I’ve always welcomed conversations with suppliers as long as they come with real-world credentials and examples. Too often it’s sales talk without proof. A short demo, even a video, can be more convincing than slides. Timing is also crucial. If you’re satisfied with an incumbent supplier, it’s very hard to justify change unless dissatisfaction is already there.
At Burberry, we also ran annual innovation showcases. Startups presented ideas to IT and business stakeholders. They were useful culturally, encouraging people to think differently and spot ideas for product roadmaps. But in practice, very few led directly to investments. Often the startups lacked the maturity or security credentials to scale in a business like Burberry.
JP Doggett: Looking back, what do you take away from that experience?
Nick Miles: The big lesson for me is that scale and certainty on paper don’t guarantee success. Breaking change into smaller, composable steps proved more sustainable. Tight budgets forced us to be clearer about business cases and benefits, which in turn built credibility.
There’s also value in experimentation whether with startups, modular tools or lightweight applications. Even if those don’t always scale, they help shape culture and thinking. And ultimately, culture matters just as much as technology when it comes to driving innovation in supply chains.
JP Doggett: Thanks Nick. Lots of lessons there that feel very relevant to the conversations we’re keen to have across the SCL-X community.