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Could 2018 be the year Carina Langel

for S/4? 
4th May 2018

Tags:

S/4HANA adoption grew to more than 8,300 customers S/4HANA HANA SAP

– a 43% rise against previous year, according to SAP’s Job Seekers

recent Q1 2018 results. It’s no secret that SAP has seen

its share of teething problems since launching S/4HANA
in 2015, reporting signi cantly lower uptake than initially Related Articles
forecast. 
S/4HANA & the
ticking crocodile
Despite
SAP’s
SAP resource
claims demand in
DACH region
that
S/4HAN
A is one
Categories
of the
fastest Industry
selling
products RED News
ever, a
high Job Seekers
percenta
ge of S4 Employers
licenses remained ‘shelf-ware’, awaiting implementation. 

Now, early job indicators suggest that SAP customers across the
EU are increasingly moving towards S/4. In SAP’s recent Q1 2018
statement, Bill McDermott said: “Even against the steepest
comparisons, S/4HANA led us again to major market share gains
for the company.” The Centiq report appears to con rm this,
stating that 84% of SAP HANA migration projects in the next 12
months will be S/4HANA-related.

The one about Germany, the UK and Eastern

Europe

Germany, the home of SAP saw a surge in job activity in the second
half of 2017, with August jobs up 84.4% against July and a high
level maintained for the rest of the year.

The UK market by comparison only saw an 8.2% increase in activity

between July and August.

If Germany is an accurate litmus test of SAP’s new products, should

we expect a domino effect of increased activity elsewhere in the
Eurozone if more businesses decide to migrate to S/4?

In contrast, job activity in Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) eclipsed

UK activity by 42.5% for the year so far, which may be explained by
companies doing more hiring for SAP offshore. If this trend
remains consistent, these could be early indicators for increased
activity in the CEE region over the long term.

Size matters

Large
business
es (500-
5,000
headcou
nt) saw a
signi ca
nt
increase
of 67.8%
more
jobs
advertis
ed
between
2017 and 2018 so far. Multinationals (over 5,000 HC) saw a 51.3%
rise between 2016 and 2017 and job activity is up 14.2% this year.

In sector terms, Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT) has seen

notable increases in job activity over the past two years, rising 72%
between 2016 and 2017, and 34.9% for 2018 so far. Is the drive for
supporting and implementing digital transformation plans across
sectors giving rise to the demand for SAP hiring at technology
companies?

According to Centiq’s ‘State of SAP HANA’ 2018 Report, published

in February, media and telecommunication companies have
bene ted from faster business processes due to upgrading.

The
Professi
onal
Services
sector
has also
seen a
notable
change,
rising
13.3%
between
2016 an
d 2017,
and
43.4% for 2018 so far. Deloitte announced plans to migrate to S/4
during 2017 – a good example of the solid business case CIO’s have
been waiting for to justify the substantial cost of migrating to S/4.

Con rmation of S/4’s technical reliability over existing SAP ERP

solutions is the other factor currently delaying migration. This
could lead to a trend of larger consultancies updating their SAP
capabilities.

The rise of the SAP consultant

In
relation
to job
function
s across
the SAP
industry,
the
gures
show a
signi ca
nt
increase
in jobs for SAP consultants over the past few years, with roles
rising 45.8% between 2016 and 2017 and rising 34.8% in 2018 so
far.

As more businesses across the Eurozone begin to update their SAP

systems, is this increase in demand for SAP consultants speci c to
consultants with S/4 knowledge or does this trend simply indicate
further demand for ECC projects? Time will tell.

Demand for mid-level SAP professionals grew 46.4% in 2017, and

24.2% for 2018 so far. It’s safe to assume that this growth in mid-
level SAP professionals is triggered by the rise in demand for SAP
consultants.

In

summary

The demand for S/4HANA skills looks likely to continue to

increase, with SAP consultants bene ting the most from this trend
coupled with an increase for demand in mid-level
SAP professionals.

Large and multinational size companies will continue to dominate

hiring for SAP professionals, whereas smaller businesses look for
bespoke ERP solutions.
Germany continues be a strong player in the Eurozone for hiring
and early indicators point to growth in SAP skillset requirement
across CEE.

To discuss these trends, nd out more about how to make the most
out of your S/4HANA skillset or talk SAP career or staf ng
requirements, get in touch with the RED team.

Statistics courtesy of Vacancysoft

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