Shortage of skilled workers hinders SAP restart

Digitization is high on the wish list of companies. For SAP users, the migration of SAP Business Suite to S/4 Hana is a central lever of digital transformation.

In addition to the digital transformation, SAP's product strategy is one reason for the migration to S/4. After 2025, maintenance for the SAP Business Suite will expire. By then, all companies must have migrated their existing SAP systems to Hana.

An exacerbating problem with the upcoming migration is the shortage of SAP specialists. In a medium-sized company where several external IT applications work together with the central SAP system, migrating the entire landscape to S/4 Hana can quickly take several hundred man-days.

The specialists required for this are currently hard to find on the market. However, the shortage is not yet apparent in full, because companies are hesitant to convert their SAP landscape to the new system generation.

According to this year's spring survey by the SAP user association DSAG on the investment plans of its members, 5 percent want to migrate to S/4 Hana this year, 39 percent in the next three years and another 30 percent after that period.

Given the current reluctance of companies, it is unlikely that all SAP legacy systems will be migrated to S/4 Hana in time. The good news:

"While SAP only guarantees maintenance until 2025, it cannot be concluded that companies will not receive support after that"

reports DSAG Board Chairman Marco Lenck.

"We've never seen SAP leave its customers out in the cold."

It is therefore unlikely that companies will no longer receive manufacturer support for their SAP system after the official end of support.

Even if companies are confident that support for legacy SAP systems will continue after 2025, they need to prepare for the transformation of their SAP landscape now.

"First, IT leaders should develop a strategy for when and in what increments they will migrate toward S/4 Hana"

recommends Carolin Wolz, who has been working as an SAP HR consultant since 2010 and has been supporting SAP HR consultancy Duerenhoff since 2013.

According to Carolin Wolz, in parallel to the migration strategy, companies should conduct strategic workforce planning that shows how many SAP professionals they will need in the short, medium and long term:

"Ideally, an IT department will build another SAP team to take the lead on the S/4 project and the migration it requires."

Meanwhile, the other team ensures the operation of the existing SAP system, which should and must run without interruption until the day of the changeover.

"A company needs more resources than before in the context of the upcoming S/4 Hana implementation. SAP departments should increase their in-house manpower, because even SAP consulting firms are far from being able to cover the demand for S/4 specialists. In addition, they must ensure that their existing SAP system runs smoothly until the day of the changeover."

Carolin Wolz explains further.

Personnel consultants secure expertise

When it comes to recruiting additional SAP specialists, companies benefit from specialized HR consulting:

"We have a large network of SAP specialists from which we offer companies the most suitable candidate in each case"

Wolz explains.

The central service for the companies is the careful pre-selection:

"In addition to technical knowledge, we make sure that a candidate fits into the SAP team and company in terms of personality and expectations."

Recruiters inquire about the environment in which an applicant prefers to work and determine whether he or she is more suited to a medium-sized or large company.

"We moderate the process of applying and hiring, and make things happen that wouldn't be achievable through the direct route"

explains Wolz.

"Companies get their SAP professionals faster, and at the same time they have a better cultural fit. This allows them to target their team for migration to the new SAP world."