Avoiding SAP Skills Commoditization - Keys to Differentiating Your Skills

Avoiding skills commoditization is a constant challenge for most white collar professionals, and the SAP pro is no exception. Much of the work on JonERP.com can be seen as a guidebook for differentiation in a crowded SAP skills marketplace. This is not just an issue for junior consultants anymore. Even some senior consultants (15 years plus) are calling me to let me know that they are struggling to maintain the rates they need to continue as independents.

Of course, becoming a commodity is a matter of degrees. All of us have areas within our skills that are trending and areas where the demand for that skill is leveling off. And rates for commoditized skills don't usually disappear; they just gradually level off. But what is especially interesting for SAP professionals is how complicated the mission of differentiation has become. It's less and less a simple supply and demand issue for one particular skill. It's about having a stable core of skills and several emerging skills, but it's also about a mindset change.

It's about being in the cloud and understanding on-demand trends, it's about business intelligence and knowing how to bring actionable information to light on transactional systems, it's about being able to move across the aisle and work with techno-functional teams. It's about "greening your skills" to help companies go beyond compliance into leaner models of production. It's about agility of role (including agile development and lean know-how), but most importantly, being able to step out of the cubicle and help solve business problems. It's about being on the edge of company interaction where customers and partners live. That also means awareness of emerging UI technologies and mobile interfaces.

For that reason, it's hard to break down one key technical skill and hone in on the level of pure demand. SAP skills have become a core wrapped in concentric "skills layers" of soft skills, BPX/process skills, consulting skills, and edge trends. Focus is more important than ever, but only when that focus is networked with relevant touch points throughout the enterprise. And now more than ever, community involvement plays a key role in sustaining skills through self-education. SAP expertise is now less about solo study and more and about knowing how to plug into a community of peers.

It goes without saying that in this new era of skills commoditization, where skills are easily sourced on projects from global locations, that consulting skills are important no matter where you sit in the enterprise. Even full time, in house SAP staff need to understand the consultants mindset, and think of themselves as those who understand their companies' business model and use SAP to solve pressing business problems and ideally to open up new markets. And yes, it is about social networking, with the caveat that you must grasp the difference between organically expanding influence and chasing popularity. Paradoxically, expanding your social influence is about leaving the herd and creating your own channel and distinct perspective.

With that said, in no particular order, here are some key tactics for skills differentiation. I hope they help you stay one step ahead of commoditization. Not all of them will be appropriate for you so pick and choose. Most of them are covered in greater detail in articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on this site.

1. Even virtuosos must be able to work in a team context. The era of the "SAP mercenary" who can move as a hired gun from project to project at "obscene" rates is over. Being a so-called "virtuoso" in a particular area of SAP can help you stand out in the market, but only if you can function well in a team goal context.

2. Pursue team lead and higher management roles. In particular, the senior hands-on team lead who still has hands in the technology but who can push a team forward can stand out.

3. Aspire to relevant "BPX-flavored" roles like the Enterprise Architect and Solution Architect on the technical side of SAP and the Business Process Expert roles on the functional side. These can be senior roles that offer a different career track for those who want to be in cutting edge project roles where skills are at a premium without moving into the classic management ladder climbing. Adding "BPX flavored" skills to your current role, where it is agile development/Scrum techniques or process modeling and end-to-end process know-how, can also have an impact. Many times there are free or open source tools that can launch a team into a creative mode in these areas, even when management buy-in is sluggish.

4. Pursue the "hardest" of the soft skills. Being able to pull business requirements out of users who aren't as familiar with SAP is one such skill. Soft skills are gaining more and more traction in SAP as we realize it's not only about being someone who is easy to approach and get advice from. Soft skills can encompass SAP project methodologies, cultural change management, and in particular, the ASAP methodology with BPM enhancements (ASAP 7.0).

5. Head into new technical areas, ideally those that extend logically from your core skills. Chasing hot areas doesn't work, but ensuring you are on the latest versions and platform extensions for your area matters.

6. Solve business problems. Know how to quantify how you have saved your company money or built new revenue streams, and add this quantified information to all resumes and online profiles such as LinkedIn. Being able to quantify your impact and articulate that (even if it is team impact more than individual impact) is becoming a key SAP career skills.

7. Understand end-to-end business scenarios in an industry-specific context. Knowing your industry across multiple projects and combining a skills focus with a process-based and workflow-driven understanding of how you fit into your company (or client's) business strategy is vital.

8. Move to the "edge of the enterprise" and excel in roles that require extensive interaction, collaboration, and requirements gathering with customers and partners. Be the go-to person who knows the social and business tools that enable that collaboration.

9. Use the "power of pull" to pull in filtered SAP information in your focus area on a regular basis. Apply that information into your project of continual self-education. People are spending too much time worrying about pushing their agenda in a broadcasting sense and not enough time "listening" and developing a context for their work through the powers of online pull.

10. Before going "social," identify the areas in SAP you are truly passionate about and develop ways of sharing content pertaining to that area (blogs, videos, workshops, free open source programs).

11. If you "go social" to build your community network online, do it with a purpose. Don't chase popularity, focus on influence through relationship building with peers that push you into the most interesting topics and new areas to explore. No mindless retweeting and reblogging and adding to the noise. Average content doesn't stand out anymore, exceptional content does. That content should stem from areas of your expertise where your passion for the topic shines through. "Social" really only works if you are social with a purpose that drives your involvement across online communities, whether it's SCN or LinkedIn or Twitter or an online user group. "Personal branding" should not be an obessive end goal but an organic byproduct of purposeful online community building and content sharing.

12. Consider "productizing" your knowledge into bonafide SAP solutions, whether books, software programs, or starting a services firm that uses intellectual property (like training manuals) to differentiate. Decide whether to sell or give away such content on a case by case basis. Giving away content tends to build market and brand awareness, selling products is best done in the context where there is already a "free" community foundation of your work in place.

13. In the midst of economic insecurity, clinging to a job doesn't work. What works better is taking on bold projects that re-inspire our courage creativity, often with collaborators (like my work with the Certification Five), inside and outside of the workplace. Use those projects to build your industry reputation beyond company walls, making you less dependent on one employer.

14. Build your online presence in a manageable way over time, so that you are rarely put in a position to post "I'm available" on your LinkedIn profile. If you interact in a consistent way and help others by giving our free information of value, offers should come to you and you can take pro-active steps rather than putting up a "I need work" sign.

15. Adopt the "share the value" mindset of the "free" Internet era. That means: don't hoard all your intellectual property. Share some of it freely, don't offer only paywall teasers and frustrating partial solutions. Offer a full solution to give companies a chance to truly gain a piece of value from you. When you do so, they'll be back for more.

16. Don't shrink at the sight of adversity - adversity is everywhere right now. Use adversity to hone your business model and dispassionately evaluate your approach by showing you what is not working and make adjustments.

17. Consider lifestyle adjustments to make costs of living more compatible with virtual consulting. Between offshore trends, remote consulting, and emerging on demand consulting models, there are more and more opportunities to work from home or from a local center. Sometimes this work is not cutting edge, other times, in the case of SaaS consulting (such as Business ByDesign) it will be. Often it means managing multiple clients, sometimes at competitive rates, but often, remote consulting rates are lower. A streamlined lifestyle can go a long way towards making the new economics of consulting manageable and freeing up time and resources for essential skills transitions.

http://www.jonerp.com/content/view/369/46/

BAKAREAAT: Hello Sap Gurus,
To God be the glory ,i have just passed SAP FI Module-C_Ctfin52_65
Thank You
Taiwo
08060146731

Contrat bro,Do you have any questions and answer that help you in your exam you can share with me? you can send me

geat...

Thank you.yes i bought many questions and Answers online practice Search engine for the exam from USA .i still have some pack i have not
Active for sale.If you are interested .you can me on this line -08060146731.
Thank You

Good day

Please find below your Exam Results. If you have passed please contact Etuk Ubong at the SAP Abuja Office for collection of certificates. Please ignore the first message as it was meant for the delegates who sat in Johannesburg.

Regards

Nothando Cele
+27 11 319 7430

Please Forum Members below for my score for SAP FI Module certification Exam from ZA,My Appeciation go to my family, Mark, Denzel,Above all to God through our lord jesus
who has given the Resources to for both the training and Time and Life to be able to study and pass my exam.
,Coaching Report


Participant first name Taiwo Participant last name Bakare
Participant ID 0009247650 Language English
Percentage score 81% Test center ZA Serve
Event ID ZA Serve\70482255 Date/time started Jul 06 2012 15:28:14
Date/time finished Jul 06 2012 18:24:42 Status Finished
Assessment description SAP Certified Application Associate - Financial Accounting with SAP ERP 6.0 EHP5 (C_TFIN52_65)
Assessment outcome feedback

Co! ngratulations! You passed the exam. Once SAP AG has verified y! our results, you will receive your certificate.
Results by topic:
TFIN50
Financial Closing 50% Available Courses TFIN50
Accounting Customizing I 100% Available Courses TFIN50
Accounts Receivable 100% Available Courses TFIN50
Accounts Payable 86% Available Courses
Basics of ERP NW and Solution Manager 100% Available Courses TERP01, TERP02, SM001
General Ledger Accounting 56% Available Courses TFIN50
Reporting in Financials 60% Available Courses TFIN52
Accounting Customizing II 89% Available Courses TFIN52
Asset Accounti! ng 91% Available Courses TFIN52
Date/time of making report Sep 12 2012 16:53:26

^^^^^
A big congratulations to you.

Today may be your chance to seek the prosperity and financial freedom, Which SAP provides. We have a complete SAP FICO and SD pack for configuration which includes the following.

1,Cost Center 2, Product Costing, 3, Profitability Analysis, 4, Profit Center, 5,FI GL, 6,FI-AR/AP, 7,Bank Accounting, 8, Asset Accounting, 9,FICO Qand A, 10,Resume Builder.

This are all what you need to know about configuration on FICO. If you are interested in the FICO Configuration pack you can drop your email or your phone number and i shall get back to you.

Wish you all the best in you SAP career.

Thanks

Ok i am interested ?Price tag
08060146731
Taiwo Adewunmi Bakare(ACA,SAP FI cERTIFIED)

Hi,
SAP Students,Please see how sap Certification certificate looks like.
Thank You.
Taiwo

Hi Taiwo,

Congratulations on your certification. But I would like you to know that becoming a good SAP consultant goes beyond the certification. Once you hit the field you will discover that. I remember we were both making enquiries about becoming certified around the same time. I got certified December 2011. When I started work with a consulting firm, I realised that I actually knew little about config et all. The information you get from the academy and certification is more theoretical. Just hit the streets, get a consulting firm to work with and start the practical learning process from scratch. Best!

.

Hello All,

Fresh Batch of trainings conducted by certified and well experienced consultants in the following modules is starting soon:

SAP FI/CO
SAP SD
SAP MM
SAP ABAP
SAP Basis
SAP HR

We provide trainings on Ides systems, and certification documentation when/where needed.
For more info, send a mail to royalshebaservices@gmail.com

ok if there is any opportunities for sap fi certified let me know
Thank You
Taiwo (aca Sap fi certified)

.

BAKAREAAT: ok if there is any opportunities for sap fi certified let me know
Thank You
Taiwo (aca Sap fi certified)

Can you take your certificate down? You are a professional, you should understand how critical data protection and information security is.

This is a test for my friend Taiwo and i seriously pray he passes it.


Lets watch

You are invited to the SAP Africa BB Forum webinar with Mico Yuk

Date: Thursday November 8, 2012

Time: 02:00:00 p.m - 4pm:00:00

Venue: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/568518792

Agenda: Starting as an SAP Consultant... from ground zero- As a highly prized and celebrated SAP consultant and mentor,
members of the forum request that Mico shares her success stories to encourage the members and guide them in becoming
the next SAP Community superstars.

Who is Mico Yuk?



Mico Yuk is the Founder of the popular weblog, Everything Xcelsius and ‘The Xcelsius Gurus Network’.
A computer engineer by qualification, she has been designing and implementing enterprise dashboards
for major corporate clients since 2006 and is considered to be one of the top Xcelsius dashboard
developers in the world. She has implemented executive dashboards for SAP BusinessObjects Global
Services clients such as Allstate, Pfizer, Aviva Canada, McKesson, Ryder Logistics, the US Airforce,
Medtronics, and Schering Plough.
Her work has not only been featured on the SAP BusinessObjects main Xcelsius website, but the Xcelsius
Gurus’ LinkedIn group and Twitter account were also used and featured on the SAP BusinessObjects Xcelsius
home page due its growing popularity. Her most recent accomplishments include, Hosting the Xcelsius
Receptionat the 2010 SAP BusinessObjects User Conference, in Orlando, FL, winning the 1st Reportapalooza,
Dashboards by Request Challenge, being featured on a BOC CommunityPROFILE, being nominated as a 2010 SAP Mentor,
conducting the 2008 #1 webinar for the SAP BusinessObjects network alongside fellow Xcelsius Guru, Ryan Goodman,
presenting at the GBN 2009 conference in Dallas to a full crowd, and hosting one of GBN 2009’s most successful
SAP sponsored social event for the Xcelsius community.

@Nnaiah thanks, already registered.
I also want to thank you for the hints and suggestions you gave during my prep for my ABAP exams. Its my belief that the success of the people who went through this thread to launch their SAP career is also a great success to you and the other gurus.
Thanks boss.

@ gistme24 Congratulations bro. Welcome to the family.Good to know that you have registered.

Alot of people are actually registering for this webinar, i am impressed.

A little info on SAP Africa BB Forum


SAP Africa BB Forum is a group of SAP consultants on Blackberry.

This Blackberry group started off with few SAP friends mostly Nigerians and Nairalanders

and today has grown to three big groups of thirty members in each group.

The group has brought together experienced Nigerian SAP consultants in Nigeria and in the diaspora

I always have real-time conversation with SAP friends and colleagues in several different locations across countries.

The group has also been a good place for career networking.

I do receive an unlimited number of SAP job alerts for free.

I Invited as many consultants as i could to the group and they were also able to invite others to join the group

This group has made my BlackBerry an asset else i would have moved on to other brands.

How can i join this group?

@nnaiah can I be invited into the group ? Will be honoured to be a member. Don't want to drop my pin here but I would if you ask me to.

Yes of course you can be a member of the BB forum.send your Linkedin profile public link and your BB Pin to ngsapmasterdata@gmail.com. I am sure you will be added as soon as he gets your mail

Thanks

Why you should register and participate in the Webinar with Mico Yuk

By registering and participating, you are taking the first step towards improving yourself and your SAP career.

It is time to grow and gain a better position in your SAP Career through career networking. When you network, you give and you receive.

Gaining contacts is a huge benefit of networking. You are sure to make great new career contacts and connections.

Improving your reputation is a benefit of networking.

If you start networking a lot and become good at it, you might get a reputation for being a person people

want to talk to and get to know. Again, this will allow you to grow.

Job seekers can increase their chances of getting these hidden jobs by getting recommendations and referrals from associates,

friends of employers as well as company employees, vendors or some other company-associated contacts.

These are the kind people you will meet in the course of the webinar

Finding support is a benefit of networking. A good reputation leads to support.

Getting people to be on your side is like word of mouth advertising.

These people will help spread good information about who you are and what you do.

Again this is the information you need to make it happen


Date: Thursday November 8, 2012

Time: 02:00:00 p.m - 4pm:00:00

Venue: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/568518792

Agenda: Starting as an SAP Consultant from ground zero

Please where can I get the SAP ECC 6.0 IDES for practice?

Are you scared about your SAP certification exams, Do you always have problem when doing your implementation? Are you trying to expand your knowledge on SAP?

The SAP configuration package can help you on your SAP exam and at work.

I have complete SAP FI,CO,SD PS, configuration package which includes SAP Certification Questions and Answers,Interviews Questions and Answer,Resume Builder and many more.

You can contact me and i can explain more to you to you, I can also advice on the SAP module you want to do.

This are the SAP Configuration package we have at the moment.

SAP FI,CO,PS,SD,MM,

Feel free to contact me.

Thank for the mico yuk webinar.
Gurus ,Please furnish us with the learning details
Thank You
Taiwo(BSC Accting,ACA ,SAP FI Certified)

Road Ahead for SAP Consultants : 2013

For the last few years, I have tried to offer my views on what is the road ahead for SAP consultants in the next year. All the past episodes have been on SCN, but SCN is not letting me log on to the site today. So I am posting it here this time on my personal blog. My 2012 predictions can be found
here .

Usual disclaimers apply – these are just my personal opinions, and not those of my employer. And of course none of this is based on any scientific study – just my observations dealing with my clients, fellow consultants and many friends in SAP ecosystem.

1. BW on HANA : 2013 will be the year of BW on HANA. The groundwork has been done perfectly well in 2012. This should be good for many consultants – BW, BOBJ, Basis etc to ride the wave. If you are not up to speed on 7.3 version of BW, you might want to get spun up on that. This should also have a positive effect in increasing the demand for BPC 10 upgrades for BPC on HANA.

2. Combo innovations : [/b]None of the newer stuff from SAP might give full business value to customers when they stand alone. But they have awesome potential when used in combination. There aren’t a lot of consultants out there who can articulate and implement combination of new technologies ( say HANA and CEP, BPC and Mobility etc) to solve existing problems in completely new ways.

3. [b]Upgrades : Many customers have not made use of cool new functionality offered by Enhancement packs. But I do know first hand – especially from SAPPHIRE and TECHED conversations with customers, that several of them want to start using them in 2013. This should be good not just for technical experts – but also for functional experts whose knowledge is needed to pick what functionality needs to be switched on.

4. Visual Intelligence : This needs me to go out on a limb – but everyone whom I have shown the tool has liked it. It is much more user friendly than most other SAP reporting tools. I have a strong hunch that 2013 will see a lot of traction in the market.

5. SuccessFactors + SAP HR : I understand that the integration needs more work – but there is tremendous interest from On premises SAP HR customers to start using SFSF. SAP definitely is doing the right thing in sales and marketing already in 2012 – and customers should be able to start seeing work in this area in 2013.

6. Automated Testing : I have lost count of how many customers have asked me about automated testing for SAP solutions. If you are an expert in testing, 2013 might be a great year for you. Whether it is done using SAP tools, or will third party tools win the race remains to be seen, especially when it comes to automated testing of interfaces.

7. Enterprise Information Management : Data continues to be vitally important at SAP shops. I expect MDG and Data services to be in hot demand in 2013, probably followed by MDM. The big issue I see is that very few consultants have the ability to explain the cost of bad data to business stakeholders. Just profiling data and saying 70% of customer data is bad is not helpful. If you can then use that analysis and say ” 23% of your shipments will be returned” , will get some one’s attention in a hurry.
That is it this time – let me know what you think. And hope everyone had a great thanks giving

http://andvijaysays./2012/11/22/road-ahead-for-sap-consultants-2013/


Can we come up with ten hot SAP skills for Nigeria and Africa?

The skill to have in 2013 is when you have knowledge of all ERP core modules from SD,MM,FI,CO and probably BI for reporting, you can add PP,seems like companies these days would rather hire consultants with a multiple set of skills to save costs, back in the days, they will hire 1 specialist from each module, it is worthwhile knowing how all the modules integrate with each other so you get the full picture, these days there is so much terminology from P2P, B2B, Order to cash, order fufillment, supply chain, Variant functionality, EDI, transport management, product costing, ESS, too many business processes to mention, the best consultants these days are those that understand different business scenarios and processes and can translate this in the live environment, how many consultantds in here are skilled in LSMW?? migrating data from a legacy system into SAP??

I have been reading about SAP lately but I need info on the following:
Why SAP?
What are the prospects/opportunities?
How to get started?
Cost/Timing?
Tracks/Modules.
I need mature response from good minds plz.

markos: The skill to have in 2013 is when you have knowledge of all ERP core modules from SD,MM,FI,CO and probably BI for reporting, you can add PP,seems like companies these days would rather hire consultants with a multiple set of skills to save costs, back in the days, they will hire 1 specialist from each module, it is worthwhile knowing how all the modules integrate with each other so you get the full picture, these days there is so much terminology from P2P, B2B, Order to cash, order fufillment, supply chain, Variant functionality, EDI, transport management, product costing, ESS, too many business processes to mention, the best consultants these days are those that understand different business scenarios and processes and can translate this in the live environment, how many consultantds in here are skilled in LSMW?? migrating data from a legacy system into SAP??

Hi Markos, I'm very experienced in LSMW. Do you have any leads for that role? Thank you.

SAP Training in nigeria is something else ,the opportunities in nigeria is not encouraging .infact i will say is not up to 5%.
Most of the coy that deployed this software brought in expert outside the countries.Coys that deployed this software are very few
in reality .they majorly multinational co -operations ,The likes of Total,Shell,AGIP and very few govt Parastals,Few Banks etc
Few in deed and so SAP Skills investment is not a joke .The cost of traning at east for a module should be Between- N500'000-N1m
All the school running N250'0000,N300000,Traning are just Taking undue advantage of the ignorance of SAP Students or those who
want to go for SAP Skills because they will not tell you all the matrials you need in totality.
For Instance a candidate for SAP Leraning need a good system dedicated for sap ,You need to install the ides,You complete materials
etc
If you have the resources for complete training go for it but if you can travel abroad better but if you are doing something here dont
leave with continue and be learning SAP Side by side Because almost all the training with their sugar coated mouth once they collect
your money and even if you are certified is different world .SAP in nigeria ,there is not really opportunities here but you can fastrack it
if you travel abroad most coys cannot afford the cost of this software it is very expensive ,it is world class software used majorly by
the 500 fortune coys around the globe.if coys does not have money to purchase this generation software ,Job creation both as a support
and Consultant is difficult.Please do not let anybody deceive you,the opportunities are not here except divine intervention
I have spent over a million to certified up till now no contact of Supports jobs anyway .i emphasise dont let anyone convice you for no
reason to leave what is fetching you money for sap.Nigeria economy is a different ball game .
Thank You
Taiwo(BSC Accting,ACA,SAP Fi cERTIFIED,ACCA Final Students)
08060146731