Since 1997, one of the most consistently difficult skill sets to find has been the SAP HCM (HR) master – during the down turn after the Y2k disaster when the SAP market sank, the SAP HCM consultants were in comparatively huge demand – but today in 2010 we find that more and more HCM specialists are available for projects – not, by any means all of them but even some of the most highly regarded are looking for new contracts.
The rates of pay on offer have reduced, but likewise the expectations – during 98/99 these consultants were commanding large rates and expense accounts above many others in the same industry due to lack of supply, but today things have changed.
Where did all the HCM work disappear to, the entire human resources process still requires the same work as companies merge and upgrade to avoid extensive SAP support costs of older versions….. but still no work.
To try to understand this, it is important to view the market in general, the traditional skills such FI, CO and SD consultants are also struggling to find contracts.
At the start of the global economic downturn, the SAP market was among the first to suffer casualties – with many companies closing down/postponing new projects and some even cutting ongoing projects in favour of economic stability. With almost all work being carried out on test servers, this was a practical way of cutting costs, after all, it is very difficult to justify retaining contractors, while laying off permanent staff.
Traditionally IT projects such as SAP implementations, are one of the last to be re-started for many reasons – even after economic health has returned to a company, the first priority has to be with consolidation, streamlining and improving profitability, after that, the provision for a recurrence of such an event as a global crash, has to be carefully planned to ensure the very existence of the company. It is not until all factors are put into place and agreed upon, can the board of directors consider creating a blue print for a new software system – the lead times on this can extend exponentially.
Even after this process is completed, the business solution must be ratified as being sound, the board must conclude that such an expense is vital to the very core values of the company, even before requests for tender let alone starting the blue print and gap analysis between SAP and the business processes required.
By taking this into account, along with the fact that the economic recession does not appear to be over and the threat of “double dips” are ever present in the news papers, globally it is not a good indicator for the short to medium term for SAP consultants, regardless of their skill set.
Companies that were traditionally seen as solid in the SAP world, are showing strong signs of cracking and a new demand is being placed by almost every client to demand higher quality consulting at reduced costs – many of the most senior SAP agents have left their long term employers as more and more companies turn to working directly with consultants to cut the commission costs.
Consulting houses, large and small are looking to maximize profits by allowing, for the first time, their internal consultants to work on short term external projects to improve both ROI (an employed consultant who is not in project is a cost centre) and improve staff retention (not only a cost centre but an unhappy one who will listen to offers from other companies – which in turn involves re-training costs, re-hiring costs and down time).
Many end customers, who are still in production are working hard on a replacement scheme – using lists of the current consultants skills and ability and going to the market and hiring lower cost/high quality but desperate individuals to replace their current team.
In short the SAP market is polarizing with more demand than ever to remove costs and to streamline the entire operation, while improving quality consulting.
The solution to the above problems have been incorporated to create Consultant Box
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