The demand for SAP resources is growing faster even faster in 2022… What will the next 4 years look like?

I think the demand for S/4 resources in Europe has suddenly picked up. Growth, according to analysts’ data, is about 20-30% with a decline in ECC at the same time. But I feel this is now being exceeded. There are a lot of large mega programmes starting, and although they might not be so many, the number of S/4 consultants needed is far greater than any number of small and mid-sized projects combined.

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So how will the market react? Will projects be delayed? Will new entrants come into the market or will new delivery methods appear? What will be the change in rate of attrition and costs, as well as project quality, and the style of projects undertaken?

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Well, first things first, this is not the first time we have seen this kind of growth. It occurred in the early R3 days 1994-1997, but the circumstances have changed so maybe not all of what happed before may happen again. Or will it?

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So many questions and not many firm answers, but I have some opinions that I can share.

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In my opinion apart from the super star architects and engagement managers, it probably takes 2 years to make a good SAP S/4 consultant. In fact, given the correct training and support, they can be better than the people who have been doing SAP for 30 years as they tend to be hungrier and less set in their ways, adopting the API economy and Agile with ease.

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The growth required is faster than which can be achieved by organic growth, and cross training from ECC. There have also been a few people looking for lifestyle changes after the pandemic.

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There is more knowledge in the SAP economy than there was in 1994-1997, so it is less likely there will be silly mistakes made on designs etc.

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Any consultant or client team member with two years of experience and a go live will be offered roles by head hunters and let’s not pretend that project teams don’t gossip about salaries etc. Also the move to remote working will enable some client staff to be more portable to new roles.

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Not all SAP roles will be in massive demand, for example I don’t see success factors will accelerate as fast as IBP etc.

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Some SAP skills have become non propriety i.e. ABAP to HTML and Python and the move to SaaS for HR, Procurement etc. means that some parts of the SAP solution can be serviced by skilled professionals from custom build or other packages like Workday or Coupa.

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Some styles of project are less labour intensive i.e. Blue and Brownfield so they will be more popular, and I see evidence of this choice is being made, and projects can be delivered faster if we use API’s etc. as there is less testing. (But it takes a brave and aware EM to accept this)

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Wages will rise and rates will also rise accordingly, clients will be looking for more skills than they did in the 1990’s so someone who can spell SAP will not be good enough.

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I don’t believe there is a huge untapped pool of SAP S/4 people available in the market in other countries as perhaps there was in South Africa in the 1990’s.

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The pure plays will try to offer industrialised S/4 migrations and perhaps availability of resource will be more important than the price differential.

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So in summary, I think we are in for an exciting time for the next 2-4 years until the market is at capacity, not all skills will be scare, Bluefield will be popular, and rates/costs will go up for a few years, but the choices we make now need to be sustainable as clients will soon spit out expensive resource that is not particularly of value. Perhaps it’s a great time to run SAP training courses!

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And a warning!

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But if we look back to the last SAP gold rush in the mid-1990s?by the end of 1999 with the end of the Millennium bug rush there was a slowdown in demand and people stared to be laid off and a lot of the work began to migrate in the next few years 2003 towards low cost centres. So if you want to maximise your earning you maybe have a 3-4 years window, but you may fall off a cliff at the end!?I can only give the advice that keeping your skills up to date and appearing not to be someone who chases the next big pay packet my give you a longer lifetime earning potential than chasing a quick buck.