Supply and Demand and Expectations for SAP talent in the US
Consider these conversations over the past few weeks:
- At SAPPHIRE, I spoke with many from the big Fortune 1000-type
companies, on outsourcing (or "co-sourcing", a new PC
term). Lots of discussion around India; they have memorized the flight
schedules, swap stories about social disparity and the caste system,
and rattle off all of the cities they have visited. Note that it's not
all about India; I talked with organizations who have moved their SAP
Center of Excellence (support and/or development) to Guangzhao,
Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, and Bradislava. Some companies are expanding
in Puerto Rico, while others are trying hard to get out. There's talk
of Guadalajara becoming the next
Silicon Valley,
and Canada becoming a nearsourcing candidate due to favorable exchange
rates on the same continent, in the same time zones.
Is this not an opportunity for the midmarket companies, that do
not have the scope or the size to justify such an arrangement? More
resources in the States with deep ERP skills, who don't want to move
with the jobs ...
- My good friend Stan recently took a new job as an SAP lead at
an aggressive, rising company. A closely-held corporation, they are
small in number (in the back office), but they do a ton of business;
>$3B over BtoC and BtoB web sites. He suspects they are thinking
about going public, what with the SAP implementation and all. They are
scooping up talented techs to do their SAP implementation, and all of
them (except for Stan) are ex-implementation consultants who are sick
of traveling.
Should it be easier for folks in the mid-market to locate and
hire? Hmmm, one might think so, unfortunately ...
- The folks from AMR have published a
nice summary on "A1S", a
new product targeted at the midmarket and unveiled at SAPPHIRE this
week. According to the article, 65% of
SAP's 39,000 customers are SMBs (which, depending on who you ask, can
range up to $5B in annual sales). And SAP has made its plans clear,
aiming for 100,000 customers by 2010; most of those are expected to be
these SMBs.
Alas, the demand for capable SAP experience should still be high,
and the supply constrained as always. The difference, however, is the
value proposition that these smaller companies present; a difference
that employer and employee should understand and appreciate ...
- SMBs, especially non-public companies, are typically more
flexible and adaptive than SARBOX-encumbered giants
- This can be a good thing, if you don't particularly enjoy
bureaucracy ...
- ... or a bad thing, if ownership is dominated by strong and
idiosyncratic personalities (or [shudder] ... private equity)
- The Fortune 1000 all had great benefits, large populations for
their health plans, and well funded pensions. Most SMBs would struggle
to offer the same
- Bereft of the sprawling footprint of your typical
multi-national, the SMB analyst may see much less demand for travel. In
the salary market, high travel demands will justify a bigger salary,
which would be tough to match for most smaller firms. My opinion ...
the older you get, the more important the quality of life
factor becomes.
Assuming that SAP's energetic sales force can deliver on these
goals - what's your best strategy? To effectively compete in the talent
market, SMBs need to market their corporate culture, stability, and
quality of life to prospective technical talent - especially as an
offset to upward pressures on salaries.