Sustaining in the Growing SAP world

The below written concepts and thoughts in the blog are purely based on the author’s personal experience.

Gone are the days when a Consultant having immense knowledge only in a particular module (for eg: SAP-SD/MM/PP etc.) are in demand. Also, the modules mentioned are looking saturated now as there are lots of consultants in the market experienced on the same. As the current world is growing in the SAP space, it is advisable for consultants to branch their learning so that they are not masters in just one module of SAP.

On the basis of the experience and knowledge that I received from my seniors at work place, I truly understand that, we as consultants cannot limit ourselves into a shell where our knowledge would be limited. Hence, being a multi module consultant is what the industry requires from us at present.

Having said the above, our next insight should be on what are the modules that we can focus on as per the growing industry standards. SAP-CS, SAP-CRM, SAP-SRM are basically niche segments that are currently growing along with SAP-HANA and Mobility. Also, learning and getting an expertise in SAP-FICO is one of the growing industry trends. But for a person who does not have a Finance domain background, he should reassess himself regarding the choice made on the challenges he could face with FICO module. But once you could master in the same, you would be a hot selling cake across projects in your organization as well as for recruiters outside your organization. Companies at present are looking for candidates who have multi module abilities which can thereby increase their revenue on the projects they handle. Thus being a mix of SAP-SD with SAP-MM, SAP-PP and SAP-SD, SAP-SD and SAP-CRM or any of the module integration a consultant prefers is a good learning, both for him as well as for the organization he works for.

Apart from having a learning experience in SAP, if a consultant is having an experience close to more than 5-6 years in the IT industry, I personally feel that he should have his hands tried on Pre-sales activities too. A consultant should know the various stages involved in the pre-sales activities like how an organization bids for their clients, various phases that the organization undergoes in the bid, why the organization was a rejected by the client (if it happens) and so on. He should actively involve himself in the calls involved from the initial phase to understand and learn how Pre-sales activities happen.

Also, rather than being a master in the complete Pre-sales activities, a Consultant could also take up certain specific tasks related to pre-sales when working on his core SAP module too. Some of the tasks could be as described below:

•        Create a document with annexure (skeleton) by detailing points obtained from different projects within the unit
•        Resource staffing and understanding the ground level of the new project
•        Define the KT plans
•        Create a one page profiler of the RFP
•        Proof of concept created (pilot testing) if needed to test the knowledge base.
•        Deal pricing system (offshore / onsite)

Nevertheless, we as Consultants know the time we spend on our respective projects while working on one SAP module. But, that should not stop us from learning what the market demands from us at present. The solution to achieve the same is to stretch ourselves so that our knowledge base could be widened thereby making our presence felt across the organization. Knowledge is Wealth, after all.