Hybrid SAP and Complementary Skills
Posted on March 2019 By Speller International
With the influx of so many new cloud-based solutions in the market now, there are more and more companies choosing to select a “hybrid” SAP landscape using complementary cloud-based solutions on top of SAP.
Why are companies using hybrid SAP landscapes?
In days gone by, companies that chose to implement SAP were somewhat restricted to implement a whole SAP landscape. It may be loyalty – once an SAP Shop, always an SAP Shop. But now companies are choosing a Hybrid IT solution that is best fit for their purpose across each business functional, whether it is SAP with Workday or SAP HANA with Qlikview. Although it could also be a variety of different front end reporting tools.
What does this mean for SAP consultants?
With this new “hybrid” trend, the importance of integration and highly skilled integration consultants should be one of the highest priories for an organisation. Traditional SAP Functional consultants should also be looking to upskill and cross skill in other non-SAP solutions complementary to their area.
For example, an SAP HR/PAY consultant should really be looking into getting experience with not only SAP SuccessFactors but also some other complementary HR cloud-based solutions like Workday. Alternatively, an SAP MM consultant upskilling on SAP Ariba could look at other cloud-based procurement and supplier relationship solution (seven though SAP seems to have brought them all anyway).
Also trending in hybrid SAP & complementary skills
The other big trend is around reporting. The reporting tools are slowly changing. There are more and more companies choosing to implement different non-SAP reporting solutions or just different front-end reporting tools to sit on top of SAP HANA. They might use Power BI, QlikView or Tableau. They are not just going with the SAP BO suite because it’s the status quo.
With this change in technical environments, it is not only enough to be an expert in your specific SAP area but to also understand the other complementary products and what really fits the businesses specific needs.
What are your thoughts on SAP “hybrid” implementations and complementary skills? Leave a comment below!