Manolis Papadakis
Twenty-plus years at the point where technology meets the business decision. Most of them inside organisations, not outside.
LinkedInBefore Northbound, Manolis served as IT and Digital Transformation Director in large energy, utility, transport and telecom organisations. He led the complete ICT transformation of the country's largest gas distributor, digitalisation programmes in renewables, and smart metering and GIS systems serving more than 200,000 customers.
His experience spans the full range: greenfield SAP S/4HANA implementations, ERP and CRM modernisation, multi-country cloud migration programmes (Azure, GCP, hybrid), Industry 4.0 and IoT projects, as well as enterprise architecture, cybersecurity and regulatory compliance. A certified PMP, he has managed multi-million-euro budgets and project portfolios above €50 million.
He founded Northbound Tech Advisory on a simple observation: Greek organisations in regulated industries need someone who has sat in their seat, understands what "production" and "audit" mean, and can tell them honestly what is worth doing and what is not, especially now that AI and the EU AI Act are changing the rules.
He is the creator and owner of Northbound's two products: Credenz, the platform that turns the Article 4 AI literacy obligation into per-employee evidence, and Provenly, the compliance management platform covering NIS2, the AI Act, GDPR, CRA, ESG/VSME and DORA from a single core. Both grew out of the same need he sees in his engagements: compliance that can be proven, not merely declared.
Alongside Northbound, he collaborates with an AI and data research team on European transport and logistics projects.
Digital transformation is about people, process and technology. In that order.
Selected programmes
ERP transformation at a major energy distributor
Led a greenfield SAP S/4HANA implementation for an organisation serving more than 200,000 customers. Full migration from legacy systems with minimal downtime.
Cloud migration across four countries
Managed a Microsoft Azure migration for a group present in four European countries. Telecom consolidation and operating cost reduction.
Digital factory and IoT in energy
Industry 4.0 and IoT innovation programmes: integration of production systems (OT) with enterprise systems and data analytics for predictive maintenance.
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A 30-minute conversation on where your organisation stands against the EU AI Act and what is worth doing first. You leave with a clear picture, not a sales pitch.