“We only do a few things, but we do them very well.” (Robert Reuben, Joint MD, Proceed Group)
For more than two decades, Proceed Group has been helping organisations around the world take control of their SAP data landscapes. With deep specialism in archiving, decommissioning, content management and data compliance, the company has become one of the most trusted SAP data-management partners globally. Today, it works extensively across both the private and public sectors to support cloud migration, system optimisation and regulatory compliance.
A heritage built on SAP expertise
“We feel like we’re the specialist surgeon… if you’re going to have heart surgery on your SAP system, you’ll want someone who’s done it before”
Proceed Group was founded in 2001 by Nick Parkin, whose technology pedigree began in cryptography research. After developing expertise in ERPs and studying for an MBA, Nick saw a growing need for expertise in SAP data archiving, decommissioning, and content management in enterprise systems, which led him to found Proceed.
Since then, the company has grown into a global organisation with 14 offices and more than 900 customer projects delivered worldwide. Its consistent focus on SAP data management has established Proceed as a long-standing SAP Gold Partner, supported by a global SAP master services agreement.
The company has helped more than 140 organisations migrate to SAP S/4HANA, delivering over £180 million in cost savings through reduced data volumes. Its consultant base is one of the largest pools of SAP ILM specialists globally, giving customers confidence that even the most complex data challenges will be handled with precision.
What Proceed Group does
Proceed’s services span four key areas:
- SAP archiving and ILM
“Archiving helps customers shrink their main database right down… when you’re paying for cloud by the gigabyte, it’s an enormous saving.”
Archiving is essential for reducing data volumes, improving performance and enabling smoother moves to SAP S/4HANA. Proceed is recognised internationally for SAP Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) expertise, having helped customers reduce more than 18,000TB of data. For public-sector organisations, this means lower cloud costs, faster backups and improved compliance with statutory retention requirements.
- System decommissioning with Proceed Cella
“Proceed Cella lets customers retire old systems completely while still being able to report on and access historic data.
Many organisations continue to run costly legacy systems purely to retain access to historic data. Proceed’s decommissioning approach – powered by its SaaS platform, Proceed Cella – enables full retirement of these systems while maintaining intuitive, read-only access to data. Supporting both SAP and non-SAP systems, Proceed Cella can deliver up to 80% total cost-of-ownership savings.
- Content management
Unstructured documents, often overlooked, can significantly increase storage costs and slow down SAP systems. Proceed supports SAP content migrations, OpenText VIM, Extended ECM and SharePoint integration, helping customers reduce stored documents by up to 50% while improving workflow efficiency.
- GDPR and data protection
Despite GDPR being several years old, many organisations still face compliance gaps. Proceed assists with retention rules, ILM-based deletion and data privacy automation. Its tool, Proceed Automate, shortens compliance timescales dramatically by simplifying tasks such as redaction and deletion.
Supporting complex public-sector programmes
Proceed has a strong footprint in the UK public sector, supporting councils, non-departmental bodies and central government organisations. Gloucestershire County Council, for example, reduced its SAP data volume by 64% as part of its preparation for SAP HANA.
Many public bodies rely on Proceed to reduce the size of systems ahead of cloud migration or to decommission legacy environments that must be retained for audit reasons. As Joint Managing Director Robert Reuben explains:
“Many customers must keep old data for regulatory or audit reasons, but they don’t want the cost or risk of running ageing systems. We provide a smarter alternative – a secure, compliant, accessible place for that data without the burden of maintaining the legacy system.”
Specialist skills, long-term relationships
“We’re completely focused on our customers and partners. We want successful projects and long-term relationships.”
Proceed’s delivery model blends technical depth with a customer-first mindset. Its consultants bring niche expertise, enabling them to anticipate challenges and guide clients through every stage of complex programmes.
This combination of know-how and partnership-driven delivery means customers often return for subsequent phases of work, confident that their systems and data remain in safe hands.
Enabling organisations through every stage of their SAP journey
Proceed supports organisations facing a wide range of transformation drivers, including:
- Moving SAP landscapes to hyperscalers
- Migrating to SAP HANA or SAP S/4HANA
- Consolidating systems after mergers
- Addressing performance challenges
- Meeting GDPR and data-protection obligations
- Managing divestments where data must be separated
Each project begins with a clear assessment and business case, supported by proven processes and tools designed to make delivery efficient, predictable and compliant.
Looking ahead
With a growing team, a maturing suite of software tools and rising demand for its services, Proceed’s vision is to remain the worldwide partner of choice for SAP archiving, decommissioning and content management. Via our thin-prime business model, Bramble Hub can supply their SAP expertise and products to organisations across the UK public sector.
For more information about Proceed Group, please see their partner page.
