Your Analyst in Shining Armor
Q: To start us off, can you describe your role to our readers?
A: I am a Senior Consulting Manager which means my primary job is to manage a team of consultants, specifically a group of technical consultants in the CRM software area. What I try and do is lead and develop my team to ensure we can meet the needs of our customers.
Q: You’ve already mentioned two items of interest here. One is leading and developing your team and the other is meeting customer needs. Can you tell me a little bit more about how you do that?
A: Sure thing. To ensure we have visibility into our customer needs, I look at our project trends…in what particular area are the most common requests coming from? Then I combine that with some of SAP’s dramatic technology innovations, such as HANA and from that I establish the skill set I know my team will need to be able to execute. When I do an internal skills assessment, I can then identify where I want my team to focus in acquiring new knowledge.
Q: Why do you think that constant recalibration of skills is so important?
A: Our consultants are the face of SAP. We are the people on site at our customers and as the defined experts, we always want to have the best individuals with the latest insights available for our clients.
Q: So how would you say you help unlock the power of SAP for our customers?
A: One thing I am passionate about is ensuring we have the absolutely best people for our engagements. Aligning the right skills to the right engagement is critical to ensure success. Once we have done that, then we want to do more than just show the customers how to be successful with their software as they define it. We want to be able to help them explore the potential of our software. It’s more than getting SAP right at the client site. It’s about showing them what they really can do with it to grow their business.
Q: You mentioned earlier the idea of providing your team, and therefore our customers, with the latest insights. Where do you go to get those insights?
A: One of the truly great things about SAP Services is our close alignment with other areas of the larger SAP organization. Obviously, we have close communication with our product development organizations but it’s more than that. We maintain close relationships with the SAP Development organization as well, which can provide us with additional knowledge. And lastly, since no one person could possibly keep up with the complete scope of change, my fellow consulting managers and I divide new initiatives up so we can each dive more deeply into a particular topic and then come back and share that knowledge with each other. Ultimately, it’s all about the team.
Q: Are there any particular sites, or collaboration spaces you use?
A: Absolutely, sharing information is critical to our success. Within SAP, we use the following: https://wiki.wdf.sap.corp/wiki/display/NACRM/Home
Q: Which leads me to my last question: What makes you proud to work for SAP Services?
A: There are a few things. Certainly the team, and network approach to achieving excellence in all we do. SAP Services is a very collaborative organization, and that culture helps to create a supportive environment. Everything we do, we do to ensure our customers are successful and that helps break down barriers internally. In addition, I think the focus on excellence and expertise gives me and my team the opportunity to explore new areas of the business and develop ourselves personally and professionally. In my experience, this dynamic and environment is quite rare and I feel quite fortunate to be part of it.
SAP Services’ new branding campaign features our very own SAP Consultants, like Hannah Pong, and the power they unlock for SAP customers across our broad portfolio.
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