ERP is Easy

Forbes has written an article mentioning “The Biggest Tech Talent Gap Can Be Found In The SAP Ecosystem“

They have backed up their claim with facts and data and I have summarised the key points of that article in this video.

If you are new here, my name is Aroon and I make YouTube videos and write blogs about SAP topics. Please follow my blog or subscribe to the channel to keep up to date with the SAP ecosystem. (ERPisEasy YouTube Channel)

Now getting into the article, it starts by referring to a paper that was published by the Progressive Policy Institute which is a think tank and they conduct research and publish papers on various topics.

Anyway, they mention that in 2019, there were 7 million US jobs remained unfilled.

In 2023 that number has rose to 8.5 million jobs as per US chamber of commerce.

It doesn’t mean there are shortages of people who are applying for the jobs. But there are shortages of “Qualified talent”.

What is a qualified talent? – A qualified talent is someone who has got the required skills and relevant experience for a particular job. Now that is an oxymoron because, organisations are looking for people with experience whereas fresh job seekers are looking for a job through which they can get that experience.

This is where doing certifications and internships comes in handy and I will discuss it more later in the blog.

The next section of the article talks about the areas in which there will be a talent gap.

The areas that are mentioned are

SaaS products like Epic, WellSky, Zendesk, Atlassian, AWS, ServiceNow, Salesforce and Workday.

But the biggest talent gap of all would be in the SAP ecosystem.

The reason is, that Salesforce and Workday are not the world’s most widely used ERP systems. They are not even close.

SAP claims more than 90% of the Fortune 500 companies run SAP for their accounting, logistics, manufacturing, supply chain management and payroll purposes.

Some of the worlds biggest companies like Apple, Microsoft, Wallmart, Ikea, all rely on SAP to run their business operations.

In fact SAP has more than 425,000 clients in 180 countries which is three times more than what Salesforce claims.

SAP’s ECC application, which is their core ERP system is going out of support in 2027. Which means majority of these 425,000 clients will be looking to migrating to SAP S/4HANA which is SAP’s latest ERP application.

But a survey of Americas SAP user group has found that more than 49% of the SAP client in America believes that there is a lack of S/4HANA talent in the country which is holding them from starting the project.

It is not just the SAP clients but the same survey has found that the SAP talent gap is hitting SAP partners like Infosys, HCL, TCS, Wipro and Accenture as well.

Now, what is the solution?

The article offers a couple of solutions.

1. The number one recommendation is to be job-ready before getting the job. This means, preparing yourself as much as possible by doing SAP certifications and internships. SAP offers more than 145 certifications on its website. Certifications on topics like S/4HANA administration, S/4HANA migration, Procurement, Logistics and Supply Chain Management are in great demand. There are so many free resources available as well using which you can learn about SAP. I have previously made a detailed video about those resources. will provide the link in the description.
2. The second recommendation is for the SAP partner companies to offer as many internships as possible to the students and graduates in the SAP field. SAP certifications and courses alone are not going to prepare the students for a job in the SAP ecosystem. But their theoretical knowledge must be combined with practical experience, so that they are truly ready to take on a role in the SAP ecosystem.

So, what are the takeaways..

1. First, we must acknowledge the fact that there is a huge talent gap for SAP talents in the market and that gap is going to get bigger and bigger as we move forward.
2. As a solution, job seekers are recommended to prepare themselves as much as possible by doing the certification courses and learn about SAP using various resources that are available on the internet.
3. And finally, the SAP partners and other organisations are recommended to offer many internships to the job seekers so that they can get practical experience and become job ready when there is a role available for them.

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Link to my YouTube video “Introduction to SAP for beginners course” – Introduction to SAP – The Complete Package For Beginners”