The Conundrum Of End-User Centric Approach For SAP Consultants

People in SAP consulting are often advised to think like end-users. "Be a good end-user first", I read it somewhere a few days ago. It is a recurring theme for decades that has kept its relevance even today. Don't get me wrong, it is great advice. But, like any other, consultants need to take it with a pinch of salt.

Of course, we must empathize with the end-users. They are the actual consumers of the system we are configuring, and the processes we are implementing. Some of the most functional flaws often are caught by end-users. Their feedback is often the most genuine validation of why a new implementation does or doesn't deliver on its promises.

Having said that, I don't buy into the argument of always agreeing with end-users. I don't. There's little interest within the community for innovation and trends and often, most resistance to change come from the end-users. Usually, the acceptance to upgrade is low and there is a tendency to shoot down fresh ideas. These are not accusations or complaints, but well-known and well-documented expected behaviors of end-users in general. After all, each one of us are end-users of some or the other system in our lives.

Once you have been given a responsibility as the system/process expert, your job is to ace the implementation as per the program's vision and mission. That includes solving issues, including the ones from end-users. But, you can't possibly accommodate unaccounted requests rooted in behaviors from legacy system practices. Many of the issues flagged as technical faults by end-users are often unfamiliarity with new system and more of a training issue.

At times, to keep the system future-proof and flexible, one needs to disagree. Keep an eye on yourself if you as the SAP expert are agreeing too much with too many people on too frequently. That's usually a sign that things aren't going as well as they should have been. At the end of the day, you have been hired because of your knowledge and skills to bring change, usher in the latest trends, and stand by the best practices. If you won't, then nobody else will. Let there be disagreements and debates. Your role after all is to constantly remind the business about the vision and mission and why they chose to embrace the change in the first place.