ISO 9001
Quality
Clear processes, controlled documents and checks that make sure work is done right first time.
Operations · IT · Automation
I'm an operations director who also runs the IT. I sit in the gap between how a company works and the tools it works on, and I close it.
Right now
What I do
01
Global admin for the whole tenant: identity, Intune device management, SharePoint intranets and new starters set up automatically.
02
monday.com, Power Automate, Azure Logic Apps and SharePoint, joined up so data is typed in once and flows everywhere else.
03
ICO and GDPR lead for a paperless business. Records, policies, access rules and the practical bits in between.
04
19 business units across four continents. Entities, tax, banking, payroll and posted-worker rules, done before anyone travels.
05
ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001 brought together in one integrated system people actually use.
06
An AI acceptable use policy with the data protection records behind it, then agents that take real work off people's desks.
Compliance across borders
How fast we can get people on site in a new country depends on work done months earlier. Entities, payroll, insurance and registrations, all in place before we need them. Nobody puts "VAT registration" in a case study, but it's the difference between giving a client a start date and giving them a maybe.
20
countries
32
jurisdictions in my A1 guide
4
milestones
Incorporation
Pick the right structure first: a local company, a branch of an existing one, or an employer of record while you test the market. Then the local registers, directors and registered address.
Before any of it: find a good local agent. The right person on the ground saves weeks.
My ten-point check
Same framework in every country. Different rules, same standard. None of it sits with the worker. It sits with us.
For the business
For every person
Pick a region, then a country, to see the kind of thing I've had to sort out there.
Europe
Germany
Rules change often. These are notes from experience, not legal advice.
"Send people who are already compliant in the country they're going to. Don't try to make them compliant by a deadline."
Integrated management system
I designed and implemented a full integrated management system, known as the One Best Way. Quality, environment and health and safety in one system, so people follow one process instead of three.
ISO 9001
Clear processes, controlled documents and checks that make sure work is done right first time.
ISO 14001
Knowing the business's environmental impact, and the controls and targets to reduce it.
ISO 45001
Risk assessment, incident and near miss reporting, and keeping people safe on site.
What "integrated" means
Selected work
From a global engineering services firm. Details kept general.
WordPress · monday.com
A self-service portal where suppliers keep their own details and certificates up to date, synced straight into the CRM.
Power Automate · Azure
Flows that keep timesheet approvers, the device register and weekly reporting in step, so nobody retypes the same data twice.
SharePoint · Onboarding
A personal online onboarding link for every new starter, with videos, progress tracking and a training library.
SharePoint · Power Automate
Online ordering with pictures and built-in approvals, replacing two spreadsheet order forms.
SharePoint
One hub linking every department, with training, HSE forms and project folders that create themselves.
Policy · GDPR
A plain-English policy for using AI at work, with the data protection records behind it.
Latest on LinkedIn
LinkedIn · Oct 2026
Desks are in. Screens are up. A few too many bits of blue tape, but it's already feeling like ours.
Read on LinkedInLinkedIn · Oct 2026
Three years ago we walked in with more desks than people. On Friday we walked out with more people than desks.
Read on LinkedInLinkedIn · Oct 2026
Three differences that matter on a construction or commissioning job, and why copying the German file leaves you short in Austria.
Read on LinkedInLinkedIn · Oct 2026
It's issued by the country of the employing company, not the worker's nationality. And the timeline isn't the same everywhere.
Read on LinkedInLinkedIn · Oct 2026
The one people miss is REA. No registration, no place in the subcontract chain.
Read on LinkedInOff the clock
At home I tinker with custom hardware projects. Same habit as work: take something fiddly and make it simple.