Plan to make a career as a SAP Consultant? If Yes, this guide is a MUST READ!
What is a SAP Consultant?
SAP Consultant is a Subject Matter Expert (SME) either on the
- Business/ sales
- Functional
- Development or
- Basis
domains of SAP. The consultant provides advisory, recommendations, guidance, implementation help in their respective SAP domains.
Why SAP?
SAP (Systems Applications and Products) is the world's leading provider of business software which specializes in industry specific Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions.
SAP is implemented in 9 out of every 10 Fortune 500 company.
SAP consultants enjoy a premium remuneration over their IT counterparts working in other technologies like Java, .net etc.
Types of SAP Consultant
1) Business/Sales Consultant - They try to win projects at customer end - without knowing much about SAP and without having much SAP skills:-)
2) SAP Functional Consultant - They are responsible for customizing SAP as per customer demand. They talk with developers to code custom ABAP programs as per client requirements.
3) Developer Consultant - They are responsible for coding ABAP/Java Programs
4) SAP Basis Consultant - They help in installing, maintenance and performance tuning of SAP servers and databases
Above are the major consulting roles found in almost all SAP projects. Depending on the nature and size of the project there may be other consulting roles as well such as SAP security consultant, SAP Techno-functional consultants, etc.
Skills required in becoming a SAP Functional Consultant
The skills expected of a SAP specialist Functional consultant vary with experience. But a fresher SAP consultant must have following skills that almost all employers look for -
- Extensive SAP (module specific) knowledge.
- Good Domain (Banking, Telecommunication, etc. ) knowledge
- Good Communication and presentation skills. SAP consultants are often required to interface with the client and understand client's requirements. A SAP consultant should be good in explaining technical information to non-technical people
- Ability to work in Teams and good interpersonal skills.
Academic Background
SAP Consultant Salary
A fresher SAP consultant salary in USA starts from $48,000 to $60,000 and the bonuses are from $1,000 to $2,000.
The salary of a fresher SAP consultant in India is from RS 247,000 to RS 4,50,000 and the bonuses are from RS 10,000 to RS 15,000.
How to become a SAP consultant
From time to time we get emails asking "How do I become a SAP consultant." Obviously, there is no one answer. There are many ways to enter the SAP market. Here are a few we can conjure ... Obtain SAP Training & Certification. Choose a SAP module or SAP consultant course and get a certification from an authorized SAP training partner. SAP training is expensive, but it's worth the investment
Join a consulting company If you have good business/domain knowledge (and want to learn SAP ?), you could consider joining an IT consultancy company like IBM, Deloitte, Infosys. etc as a junior SAP consultants job.
Join as a Trainee or in SAP support You can consider joining a company which has SAP implemented and work as a Trainee or support personnel. The company may later sponsor your SAP certification and training. The trick here is to find such a company and convince them to hire you.
Join SAP Project as a non-SAP person. Many SAP projects require skills outside of SAP. For instance, lots of projects require a data conversion individual. If you are good in database and SQL, you might consider joining the project and later teach yourself SAP.
Any other ways to enter the SAP market? ... Leave a comment
Following tool will help you choose the best sap module for yourself. Good Luck :)
SAP Career Suggestion Tool
