Blog

​It’s been over a year since Brad started at Speller and we got to read his ‘Meet the Team’ blog. This week we sat down with Brad as he updated us on what he’s been up to, how he thinks the SAP world has changed and his predictions for the future.

Tell us a little bit about the past year working at Speller International and how you’ve fit into the role.
Changing from banking to recruitment has been a really fun and rewarding shift, I have been lucky to jump out of the sinking ship in finance and land in such a rapidly expanding market.

Learning recruitment and SAP at the same time was not easy but thanks to the speller team and their experience, within the year I was able to attract new clients, candidates and add value to both. I still have plenty to learn and I’m looking forward to what challenges and opportunities the next 12 months presents.

In your opinion how has the SAP industry changed over the last year?
With 12 months of experience you would think the answer is “not a lot”. But in reality, massive amounts.

Disruptive- We have seen some competitor cloud products to the SAP suite make in-roads in to historically wall to wall SAP. For example, workday and sales force. This is a shift to what appears to be a more agnostic market focusing on the best practice technology for their industry and not just the market leader. I still see SuccessFactors, ARIBA and the like, as market leading in many industries and the competition will push these products to developer casters.

The new era- When I had just started I went to SAUG where everyone was talking about HANA. I understand a lot of these discussions have moved to action as we have seen different approaches to adoption- green fields, lift and shift and some simpler cloud app implementation to “test the waters”.

New adopters- Much like the disruptive cloud competition, we are seeing a similar up take in use of the SAP cloud products in historically non-SAP environments.

In summary exciting times!

How has the recruitment world changed in this time period?
The fundamental shift towards “more efficient approaches” use of technology in the recruitment process is getting more and more refined, we are seeing our corporates outsourcing this function entirely or centralising it.

This can result in less hiring leader contact and ultimately looser job requirements however, done right we have also seen this work well. How has this impacted Speller? Not a lot. We continue to work with our clients as and how they need us communication is key to the recruitment process.

Has the job role been what you thought it would be, or were there some aspects that took you by surprise?

Overall yes, it’s pretty much as described. No one can prepare you for some of the “lows” and unique situations you find yourself in but it’s part of the fun!

What positions within SAP do you predict to be in demand heading into the next financial year?
I see the next 12 months as a great time for IT spend, with the cost of funds quite low and a lot of private equity money coming in to the market. I feel we will see a shift to data, specifically analytics and AI. I expect larger companies to look at their procurement and HR areas to try and drive further cost efficiencies through business efficiency.

What’s in store for you going forward and what are you focusing on professionally in 2019?
I feel it will be a big year for SAP and that we are well placed to be successful off the back of that. I will be focusing my time on getting to know my clients and their teams better- maybe meeting some new ones and enjoying the year.

What does 2019 hold for you personally? Any holiday’s or big events?
2019 is going to be a quiet year! My partner and I will plan our wedding and honeymoon for 2020.To make up for not heading abroad we will make plenty of trips to the snow and the beach on weekends (Melbourne weather permitting).

Where do we find you in your downtime?
I love food, wine & sport – in the kitchen with a glass of red watching some kind of sport. We have a 4-year-old rescue husky named Khaleesi, she gets a lot of my time and attention. Did I mention sport? Lots of sport, any sport, watching or playing.

If you enjoyed reading about Brad’s year in review, feel free to leave a comment below or follow us on LinkedIn for SAP and Speller updates!