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2022/23 ANZ SAP Salary & Trends Report

Tue, 19 Dec 2023 11:50:42 GMT

Featuring salary survey data from nearly 3000 ANZ SAP Professionals and insight from leading figures within the SAP ecosystem, our 2022/2023 SAP Salary and Trends Report has all the data you need to help you make informed career and hiring decisions.

DOWNLOAD OUR EXCLUSIVE REPORT

INTERVIEW: ARCHANA BAXI FROM SPOTLIGHT RETAIL GROUP

Mon, 29 May 2023 07:48:28 GMT

Melbourne

Women making SAP happen is a series of articles brought to you by SAPTURE, a specialist SAP recruitment firm who support and encourage equality in the workplace.

Archana is a skilled SAP professional with a career spanning over 2 decades, balancing her professional journey along with her family life.

Having worked in various areas of SAP, predominantly retail, Archana has experience leading and working closely with businesses to align their needs with solutions.

Outside of work, Archana loves to spend time with family, being blessed with a loving husband and two beautiful children, who enjoy going out on picnics, nature walks and cooking. With such a busy routine Archana emphasises the importance of taking some time out to incorporate self-care in her daily life.

Tell us about your current role?

In my current role as an SAP Process Analyst for the past 5 years, I have had the opportunity to be involved in multifaceted projects. I work closely with various teams to analyse, optimise and support SAP initiatives and processes. I gather business requirements, write detailed functional specifications, conduct workshops and walkthroughs, engage with the development team, facilitate and support testing and release.

What inspired you to have a career in SAP?

My introduction to the world of SAP was an unexpected chance that I will forever be grateful. My journey in SAP started with a technical role and my curiosity compelled me to pursue further in this field.

I was fascinated by the platform's robust tools and the impact that SAP solutions have on solving business problems leading to process enhancements and operational efficiency.

Additionally, SAP’s continuous evolving nature to meet the demands of the business appealed to my passion of learning and growing. The combination of technological advancement, diverse areas of options within SAP such as technical, functional, integration and professional growth opportunities made me interested in ursuing my career in SAP.

Which SAP modules have been most useful in your business and why?

In my current business, we have implemented SAP IS-Retail, which is a solution tailored specifically for the retail industry.

SAP IS-Retail in our business has been instrumental in enhancing our retail operations. Through its robust functionalities in article management, replenishment, allocations, and promotions, we have been able to streamline processes and optimize inventory. The customization of specific processes further ensures that SAP IS-Retail aligns perfectly with our business needs, enabling us to leverage its full potential for success in the retail industry.

Tell us about your career journey in tech / SAP to date?

My career in the IT industry began in the year 2000 after graduating with a degree in Computer Engineering. During the initial years, I invested time to acquire a strong foundation in various technical domains, including programming languages, databases, and systems analysis. I had the privilege of working with businesses where I gained proficiency in technologies such as Java, HTML, and Enterprise Java Beans. One exciting highlight of my early career was the opportunity to travel to the client's site in the United States, where I spent a year contributing to their projects.

In 2002, I took a significant turn in my career when I came across a job advertisement in the newspaper, as LinkedIn had not yet become the prominent platform it is today. This opportunity was for an SAP project that offered comprehensive training to selected employees. I was selected and underwent extensive training in SAP ABAP and subsequently worked on numerous SAP modules, collaborating with clients such as Procter & Gamble, Shell and Total Fina Elf. To fully comprehend the details of SAP standard code, I even began self-learning the German language, as it was commonly used in the comments section.

In 2004, I embarked on a new chapter both professionally and personally. I got married and made the decision to migrate to Melbourne, Australia. For nearly a decade, I worked in SAP-Retail technical domain at 7-Eleven. This role provided me with invaluable insights and experiences in the retail sector, further enhancing my SAP knowledge and skills.

After a break to focus on parenting my young children, an exciting opportunity arose in the form of an SAP IS-Retail Functional role with Spotlight Retail Group. This position aligned perfectly with my curiosity to understand end to end solutions allowing me to deep dive into SAP Retail. I am thoroughly enjoying my work in this exciting field and look forward to further learning and growth.

What are the main obstacles you face in your current role and how do you overcome them?

The unavoidable ever-changing needs of the business who are looking for better and efficient processes can cause scope creeps. For these changing needs, the system must be re-evaluated, re-configured, regression tested for implementing the changes. To overcome this obstacle, it is important to establish clear project boundaries and communicate them effectively with stakeholders.

Complex project implementations can be time-consuming and require substantial resources. Overcoming this obstacle involves efficient project planning, resource allocation, communication and stakeholder management.

What is the best thing about working in SAP technology?

SAP is one of the world’s leading producers of ERP software. It has developed and evolved over the years and it is constantly introducing new products with a modern technology stack that meets the ever-changing demands of the customers.

SAP has an extensive range of areas in which professionals can specialize. Whether one's expertise lies in technical domain, Basis administration, finance, retail, sales and distribution (SD), materials management (MM), or countless others, SAP offers a diverse spectrum of roles and opportunities to suit individual talents and aspirations.

What inspirational words would you offer to other people looking for a career in SAP?

SAP is a dynamic and ever-evolving area. Stay curious and continuously invest in expanding your knowledge and skills. Have the right attitude, embrace a positive mindset and willingness to learn and adapt. Collaborate with colleagues, business users, and stakeholders to gain insights, build relationships, and broaden your perspective. Nothing is impossible if you have the determination, dedication and a hunger for continuous learning.

What advice would you give you to women working in the SAP ecosystem and looking to advance their career?

Look out for opportunities in your interest areas even if you don’t meet all of the criteria. Equally important to allocate dedicated time for continuous learning and self-improvement. Even amidst busy work schedules, setting aside specific time for skill enhancement and personal development (by creating a development plan) can achieve great results.

What can we all do to inspire more women into working with SAP?

What female inspiration have you had in your career?

My mother has been my pillar of support during my initial career and she still is. She has always supported me, believed in my abilities and encouraged me to pursue opportunities when I was hesitant.

As a teacher and a career woman herself, my mother has gracefully balanced work and life responsibilities. Not once have I heard her complain about the challenges she faced; instead, she has consistently displayed a can-do attitude, approaching every problem with possible solutions.

Whenever I encounter a difficult situation, I find myself pondering what she would do in that scenario. I am forever grateful for her presence in my life and the impact she has had on my career choices and overall outlook on life.

SAP has several different areas where you can grow your career. With the newer releases and offerings of SAP, there are lots of opportunities to choose an area you want to grow your career in.

International Women's Day 2023 - #EmbraceEquity

Thu, 16 Mar 2023 11:55:30 GMT

INTERVIEW: ANA GRAF NUNES FROM SOFTWAREONE

Tue, 14 Feb 2023 09:45:19 GMT

Women making SAP happen is a series of articles brought to you by SAPTURE, a specialist SAP recruitment firm who support and encourage equality in the workplace.

Ana has been working in the professional services industry for over 12 years. Over the years she has worked with Senior Leaders on roles related to Resource Management, Talent, Change Management and Business Transformation across various industries. Ana’s strengths and passion lie in business transformation and change management. She is very excited to work for a global technology services company as she sees it as an opportunity to build relationships across different regions and make a positive impact. Ana has been working with SoftwareOne for almost 1 year now, and she has recently been appointed as the Global SAP Operations Director for the SAP Services business.

Tell us about your current role?

I have been recently appointed as the Global SAP Operations Director.

What inspired you to have a career in SAP?

I enjoy working in fast paced companies. Technology fascinates me as it is always changing and evolving.

Which applications did you work with prior to SAP and how do they compare?

I am not an IT technical professional. I initially started working in the recruitment of IT graduates and then more experienced IT professionals. After that I spent 6 years working as a Resource Manager managing staff supply and demand of technology professionals in the professional services industry. Later, I had the opportunity to design and implement the Resource Management practice to over 1,600 staff in the Tax & Legal professional services industry. I really missed working in the technology space, so I was over the moon when I was invited to join SoftwareOne as their Global Resource Management Lead for their SAP Services business. It has been an incredible opportunity to learn all about SAP and be able to make an impact globally. After working for 11 months at SoftwareOne, I was appointed as their Global SAP Operations Director responsible for driving all the Sales Operations, Resource Management and Organisational Design activities across the globe.

What is the best thing about working in SAP technology?

Everyone is quite smart and experienced. People are quite passionate for what they do.

How would you like to see the diversity landscape change in the industry over the year ahead?

I love working with professionals across different countries and cultures. I would like to see a better balance on the number of males and females in the technology industry.

What does equality mean to you?

It means giving equal opportunity to people to learn, develop and contribute independently of their culture, background and gender. It is about creating an inclusive workplace and sense of belonging.

What advice would you give you to a women working in the SAP ecosystem and looking to advance her career?

There is a dedication required to develop the technology skills. Be persistent and determined. The opportunity will come.

What can we all do to inspire more women into working with SAP?

Be open to learn new skills and speak openly to working colleagues and leaders about your interest in becoming part of the SAP team. There are lots of people that are keen to teach and coach you to achieve your goals, however you need to be courageous and initiate the coversations.

What female inspiration have you had in your career?

It is interesting. I have never been inspired in people by their genders, but on the opportunity they give me to challenge myself and take risks (not be afraid to make mistakes). I get inspired / motived by having autonomy to drive outcomes and make an impact.

DR DEREK PRIOR ASKS: WHEN WILL YOUR BUSINESS BE LIVE ON SAP S/4 HANA?

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 11:06:18 GMT

S/4 was announced 8 years ago, which seems like an eternity in our fast-moving world of IT today. But despite what anyone will tell you, it has been very slow to take off within the SAP ERP customer base.

The sales pitch for S/4 is pretty impressive:

Revolutionary in-memory HANA database
Real-time everything, especially reporting
Inclusion of the latest technology, with machine-learning type automation
Ability to become an “Intelligent Enterprise”, with predictive analytics
Platform for “Digital Transformation”

Come on, this does sound irresistible, what’s stopping you?

Well let’s just see what the global trends are with other SAP customers like you. To date SAP says that it has sold 10,900 licenses for S/4, but it is very coy about how many of these have actually implemented the software and gone fully live. The last live number actually published was only 3000. The obvious question is, why?

Actually, there are a number of reasons. Firstly, installed base customers were offered a good deal by SAP a few years ago to buy S/4 licenses. But those same customers usually have really great SAP ECC systems already in place doing a fine job of running their business today. Secondly, it’s a huge amount of work for business people to upgrade (“transition”) from ECC to S/4. Thirdly, you will (probably not) be amazed how many customers struggle to build a convincing business case to do the actual upgrade with their shiny S/4 licenses ( see https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252459872/Lack-of-viable-business-case-holds-back-S-4Hana-projects ).

In some parts of the world, for example Germany, USA and India, SAP customers seem to have been faster to upgrade to S/4. Other countries, such as the UK, have the skepticism we have experienced here in ANZ, and are more pragmatic. SAP customers there expect to see additional proof of other large organizations that have successfully transitioned to S/4 before them. They need more convincing about a realistic business case.

But even in the UK things are changing. Most SAP customers there realise that change is inevitable and that S/4 itself is also inevitable if you intend to remain an SAP customer. The latest survey by the UK and Ireland SAP User Group (UKISUG) confirms this, with 70% of users stating that they are planning to implement S/4 in the next few years ( see https://www.sapusers.org/news/607/transitioning-to-sap-s4hana-what-do-you-need-to-know ). In another useful data point S/4 was cited as the top priority for the next 2 years in a survey for CIO Digital Magazine ( see https://www.cio.com/article/3403377/sap-trends-to-watch-s-4hana-agile-cloud-and-testing-transformations.html )

So, it seems that for most SAP customers around the world, the question now is very much “when”, rather than “if”.

For most customers the when question means when we have an acceptable business case and when we can see exactly how to get there. But it also means when does your business seasonality suggest is the “least-worst” time of the year to upgrade?

There are many different approaches to tackling the business case issue. Some companies don’t bother with what they see as a “making up nice numbers” exercise. The most successful companies have both an IT Strategy and an ERP Strategy driven directly by their Business Strategy. An S/4 investment can be justified for them as a joint business/IT initiative in line with these key strategies.

Feedback from SAP customers around the world is that access to the right S/4 upgrade skills both internally and within the larger SAP ecosystem is holding many of them back. No surprise then that the SAP Australian User Group (SAUG) plans to tackle this vital employee issue within their Future of Work topic at their upcoming National Summit in Sydney, ( see https://www.saug.com.au/events/event/saug-national-summit-2019 ).

If you also would appreciate some help to modernize your SAP skills to upgrade to the now world, why not contact Sapture?

Dr Derek Prior spent 19 years as an analyst specializing in SAP at Gartner and AMR Research, advising organizations all around the world on SAP strategy and best practices

DR DEREK PRIOR ASKS: IS SAP REALLY LOOKING AFTER ITS ERP CUSTOMERS?

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 10:51:38 GMT

437,000 is a massive number, which commands real respect, but hang on a minute, are they all ERP customers? Well, no. Although SAP rose to prominence in the vital ERP market, we all know that SAP quickly ventured into other enterprise application markets (like CRM, Supply Chain, etc.) with its New Dimensions and Business Suites products. SAP then acquired a string of competitors to become more successful in the cloud Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) sector as this took off.

To fuel its growth and become more competitive SAP has acquired an almost unbelievable 70 software and service vendors since 1991! This includes vendors of SaaS, analytics, technology solutions. The latest acquisition in January 2019 was Qualtrics, who specialize in customer experience solutions. So you can see how the SAP total customer base has rocketed.

But most big SAP customers became SAP customers in the first place because of their ERP solutions. We estimate that there are about 38,000+ large and mid-size enterprises around the world running R/3, ECC or S/4HANA. SAP has also been very successful in the small enterprise sector with its Business One solution (with over 60,000 customers, just one year ago). SAP also sometimes offers its less successful Business ByDesign SaaS solution in this sector.

As we all know, as discussed in my previous article: 'When will your Business be Live on SAPS/4 HANA', the strategic ERP platform from SAP for the foreseeable future is SAP S/4 HANA (S/4). SAP stated long ago that you will need to have upgraded to S/4 by 2025 in order to remain on support. In view of the cost of this upgrade all SAP ERP large and mid-size customers have to re-evaluate their ERP Strategy. Do you stay with SAP, or… Your decision will probably depend on how well you think SAP is looking after you as an ERP customer, which is the whole point of this article. So, what options do you have? Well you will fall into one of 6 categories:

1) Already an S/4 customer

Net new SAP ERP customers have to buy either the S/4HANA on premise edition, or the much newer (and unproven) S/4HANA Cloud edition SaaS version.

A minority of installed based ECC customers have already upgraded to S/4.

2) In the process of upgrading to S/4

SAP claims that “thousands” of installed base customers are in the middle of such an upgrade project. This has been the claim for several years, but the number of live S/4 customers seems to increase only slowly.

3) Planning to upgrade to S/4 in the next 2 years

Various recent surveys show that between 50 and 70% of installed base customers are planning to upgrade in the next few years.

This is no surprise, as a huge number of these customers who are very satisfied with SAP and will remain as loyal SAP ERP customers. Their ECC systems may be big and global in nature. Many are in fact mission-critical. Actually, a surprising number are not that happy with SAP, but feel that they are stuck and don’t have a realistic alternative.

SAP has over 1300 of its most important customers on the more expensive Premium Support services (MaxAttention, etc). They are happy to pay more money to get the very best support for their SAP projects, including the move to S/4.

To encourage other ECC customers to make their move to S/4 SAP has, no coincidence, an “S/4 MOVE” program ( https://www.sap.com/uk/products/s4hana-movement.html )

4) Not upgrading to S/4, staying on SAP ECC

Some ECC customers have spent so much time and money rolling out and optimizing ECC that they don’t fancy doing it all again, thank you very much. Their ECC systems have been bedded in and are doing either incredibly well, or maybe an OK job. These customers may be planning to do very little in improving the systems further. They just want to keep them running securely and as cheaply as possible.

There are a number of third-party support vendors out there that claim to halve the software maintenance costs for SAP ECC.

Category 4 customers typically cannot put together a viable business case to upgrade to S/4.

5) Undecided

For some installed base SAP ECC customers the jury is still out. They are revisiting their ERP Strategy and evaluating their options.

6) Dropping SAP altogether

Category 6 customers have had enough and are planning to move away from SAP altogether, they perceive that S/4 is not needed and is being forced upon them. Many of these customers conclude that SAP ERP is either too difficult to use in practice, or just too expensive to support throughout the life cycle. They may have had a bad software licensing experience with SAP.

So, where do you fit in, which category best describes your organisation? What’s your ERP Strategy?

If you fit into the first 5 categories you are likely to need skilled resource to be truly successful. You may need more traditional FI/CO consultants, or experts in your particular industry? Perhaps you are looking for S/4 gurus with several projects already under their belts? Whatever SAP skills you now need, Sapture can provide you with skilled professionals, contact us to find to speak to one of our consultants.

Dr Derek Prior spent 19 years as an analyst specializing in SAP at Gartner and AMR Research, advising organizations all around the world on SAP strategy and best practices.

SAP’S CLOUD STRATEGY: Q&A WITH DR DEREK PRIOR

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 10:36:45 GMT

Shane: For anyone who doesn’t know you, can you do a quick intro, Derek?

Sure, I spent 17 great years with Hewlett-Packard when SAP became famous overnight with their R/3 ERP blockbuster. Then I worked for 19 years in the Gartner ERP team as an analyst specializing in SAP customer issues, best practices. I remember speaking to lots of SAP customers in Australia and New Zealand about SAP business benefits, COEs, Basis, Solution Manager, MaxAttention, etc

Nowadays I am a Non-Executive Director in a lovely UK company called Resulting. They specialize not in SAP products, but making SAP customers more self-sufficient (with the COE model), more successful (with their SAP Success optimizer and benchmark) and getting ready for their S/4 migration (with their S/4 Sight tool).

Shane: Do all SAP customers fully understand the SAP Cloud strategy?

Nope.

Shane: Come on Derek, why not?

It’s so complex! As we all know, IT is great. But IT is so full of hype and hot air about new technologies. The rate of introduction of new technologies is simply going through the roof, which is why Gartner is so busy. Cloud is one such technology, now no longer that new of course, but with huge impact on SAP, its ecosystem and most importantly, it’s customers.

We all understand “Cloudy Bay”, if only Cloud technology was so simple – and so enjoyable!

Cloud technology means that SAP customers can run their SAP software no longer in their own data centres, but in someone else’s Cloud data centre, i.e. SAP or a partner. But Cloud technology means different things to many different companies. So, from an SAP customer perspective we have to define what we really mean by Cloud here. Take a look at the following diagram to understand the basic three layers of Cloud.

The diagram lists some of the more important Cloud offerings from SAP and its competitors. Note the three important acronyms:

• Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Cloud Applications

• Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) Cloud Middleware

• Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) Cloud Infrastructure

Shane: Why are SAP customers so interested in Cloud solutions from SAP?

When I spoke to one Gartner client in Spain, who was the CIO, she said that her CFO wanted Cloud because they wanted:

• More agility – Deploying IT systems faster with the belief that you can ramp Cloud systems up or down more quickly.

• Changing the financial model – The ability to fundamentally shift the IT financial model from a traditional CAPEX one, to an OPEX approach.

• Pay As You Go (PAYG) – The ability at the same time to opt for a PAYG payment approach, where you only pay for what you actually use.

• Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) – A clear expectation of a lower TCO. Be careful, this is not always the case and the reverse may be true. It’s all in the detail.

Shane: So, how good are SAP’s SaaS applications?

I always get asked this question Shane. Today SaaS is hot. New applications are nearly always SaaS-based, rather than traditional license-based. SaaS application services tend to:

• be heavily pre-configured

• feature modern user interfaces

• be updated very quickly by the SaaS vendor

SaaS solutions therefore are very standardized, which means that they can be shared on so-called Public Cloud infrastructures, which we will talk about soon.

SAP’s response to this challenge was acquisition of other successful SaaS specialist vendors. Over the last 8 years SAP’s acquisition totals $28.6BN, acquiring, amongst others leading SaaS players such as SuccessFactors, Ariba, Concur, Fieldglass and recently, Callidus.

SAP’s latest fourth generation ERP solution is S/4HANA, which can be installed both on-premise in a customer (or outsourcer) data centre, or as a full SAP SaaS solution.

Generally, SAP customers prefer to keep their SAP ERP applications on-premise, because they are so customised and so mission-critical that customers themselves need to tightly control them. So, SAP has struggled with it’s new ERP SaaS solution, called SAP S/4HANA Cloud.

Shane: Can you explain what PaaS tools are used for?

Lots of clients I spoke to were really expert when it comes to ABAP, BAPIs, RFCs, i.e. traditional SAP development and integration tools. The middle Cloud layer always includes the lower layer to offer a modern, integrated, software “platform”, delivered from a Cloud vendor’s data centre. “So tell me Derek why do I need these new PaaS tools then” they often ask?

Fundamentally PaaS offers a modern software development environment to build entirely new SaaS applications. PaaS tools can be used to extend existing SaaS applications with their most important use, case being to provide flexible and reliable application software integration mechanisms between existing SaaS solutions and on-premise applications.

SAP offers its own PaaS toolset here, called SAP Cloud Platform. It is a strong product and is used by SAP and a long list of partners as the development environment to build and run brand new applications. Such applications can incorporate the very latest Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Business Analytics technologies.

Shane: So, is it safe yet to run SAP ERP applications on Cloud infrastructure?

What a great question! This is really the biggee!

Here we’re really talking about running SAP ERP (SAP ECC or S/4HANA on premise edition) on Cloud IaaS.

Existing licensed SAP on-premise applications like SAP ECC can be run in an IaaS Cloud data centre without impacting the vital application layer, which existing customers always want to control. So, the bottom line answer to this vital question, is yes you can – but currently some big SAP customers prefer not to. This is because they want maximum control of their SAP ERP systems, especially if they are mission-critical to them. That said, the general trend is for all SAP ERP systems to gradually move to the Cloud.

Many SAP customers typically prefer a certified SAP Managed Cloud service provider who includes SAP Basis operations services on top of the IaaS. SAP Basis plus IaaS represents complete technical responsibility for the SAP systems, including the database – SAP HANA, for example.

So far today’s SAP customers have usually preferred Private Cloud IaaS over Public Cloud IaaS, because it features more dedicated and controlled systems, rather than shared ones.

Some examples of SAP Managed Private Cloud service providers which include SAP Basis operations services are:

• Hardware vendors, e.g. HP, through their DXC spin-off, IBM, Hitachi (who acquired Oxya)

• Traditional SAP outsourcing (Run) vendors, like Atos, Capgemini, Accenture, HCL, Infosys

• SAP, with their HANA Enterprise Cloud (HEC) service for HANA-based systems

• Newer specialists, including Virtustream, Symmetry, T-Systems

• Country-based specialists

The major Public Cloud IaaS vendors offering SAP systems are:

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)

• Microsoft Azure

• Google Cloud

These vendors have such deep wallets that they claim to offer much larger scale data centres and potentially lower cost IaaS.

Because none of the Public Cloud IaaS vendors include SAP Basis operations services, they partner with other SAP service providers to offer a complete solution.

Shane: What’s the latest SAP Cloud news?

Well funny you should ask, but on 21st October, 2019, SAP announced a new preferred partnership with Microsoft Azure. In this deal Microsoft will resell components of the SAP Cloud Platform on Azure to make integration between on-premise and SAP SaaS solutions easier. SAP will offer reference architectures and closer support services with Microsoft. SAP will also encourage existing SAP HEC customers to move to Azure.

When an SAP customer moves its SAP systems to an SAP Managed Cloud service provider they typically expect these vendors to offer a mission-critical run service, often with some sort of disaster recovery backup data centre.

That’s all very well but AWS is currently much more adopted globally and in Australia than Microsoft Azure, with local SAP customers such as Contact Energy, Fairfax Media, GPT, Origin, OZ Minerals, Seek.com and Visy.

60 SECONDS IN SAP: ROSHAN GUPTA, SAP PM WOOLWORTHS

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 09:37:02 GMT

Which major SAP modules have been most useful in your business and why?

I have found the most useful modules to be;

SAP CAR / PSDTA: SAP CAR suite runs and supports the retails business
SAP ECC: Classical SAP module for overall integration with other business modules like SD / MM / FICO et al.
SAP PI: Finest SAP tool in SAP integration space
SAP SLT: For data transition among various SAP systems
SAP PMR: Promotions management system for the retail business

The above systems are very useful to run the day to day retail business processes. e.g - Every transactions recorded in stores, are captured in the POSDTA/CAR system through the PI integrations and the stock on hand reconciliation happens based on master received from the ECC system. This master data flows using SAP SLT technology from the ECC to the CAR system. SAP PMR is used to offer various promotions to the customers which are tagged to the CAR POSDTA system for data reconciliations. Based on all the above systems the analytics / sales reportings are built in SAP BW to understand the stores operations / replenishment operations and overall business progress.

Tell us about your career journey in tech / SAP to date?

I started my career as a SAP Enterprise Portal Developer which lasted for 6 months before I became a SAP HR Consultant + EP Administrator (1.5 years). From this, I moved on to being a SAP HR Lead + Project Co-ordinator and then into SAP Project Manager. For the last 2 years, I have been a SAP Program Leader and a SAP Project Manager both.

For me, the journey was never straight forward and smooth. It was a very fast paced journey because I have accepted multiple roles at the same time as well. Self-expectation and the expectations from clients were/are always extremely challenging to keep the fast pace going however this has also helped me to ladder up timely. Fortunate to have very helpful mentors and team working with me who always helped to achieve the bigger challenges on time.

What are the main challenges/obstacles you face in your current role and how do you overcome them?

In my role, there are constant Evolving Business Requirements. These are strongly controlled through a change management process across various dimensions like cost, scope, and time.

Another difficulty is Aligning Business to new changes, for this, I overcome them with continuous communications and learning/briefing sessions, which help to align the business stakeholders to the new changes.

How does a design thinking methodology ensure your SAP apps work well?

The following design thinking methodology principles help SAP apps work well and avoid project - rework/regret spend / delays.

Group Thinking - engage people with different perspectives, experiences, wisdom and potentially develop new ideas to solve the problems and build the solution. Sometimes it heps to bring out-of-box creative ideas to solve a complex problem
Design - Test - Iterate > The core principal of DEsign Thinking is Design - Test - Iterate which helps the team to quickly prototype and prove the design/concept encouraging the end users to provide quick feedback or confirmation to proceed. This whole process avoids most of the future rework and thus avoid delays in project timelines.

What are the top 3 Barriers to SAP S/4 HANA migration

Very complex migration and at a very early stage of maturity
Unclear business case/return of investment
Current ECC platform is getting SAP updates/feature packs so no burning need to invest significantly on technology uplift

How does SAP S/4HANA digital core enable digital transformation?

Future digital transformations are more focused around data and the advanced analytics and machine learning capabilities built on top of it. S/4 HANA is offering all these capabilities to enable digital transformation journey for the organizations.

To be featured in our 60 seconds in SAP series, brought to you by SAPTURE, email danielle@sapture.com.au

INTRODUCING 'WOMEN MAKING SAP HAPPEN'

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 07:52:02 GMT

We are pleased to announce that we are launching ‘Women Making SAP Happen’, which is set to be a series of articles featuring inspirational women working within the SAP ANZ ecosystem.

To celebrate this, and International Women’s Day, we have interviewed 3 influential women who work in SAP around the globe;

• Sandra Rowe, SAP FICO Systems Lead at GFG Alliance, Australia

• Rocio Valdez Bautista, SAP Program Manager at Hewlett Packard, UK

• Isa Zöller, Learning Innovation Expert at SAP SE, Germany

Sandra, Rocio and Isa have kindly shared their thoughts on what today means to them and how we can inspire more women to work within SAP internationally.

What does International Women’s Day mean to you?

Sandra: To me it is a day to celebrate women everywhere, whether you work or do not have paid work at all. We are all contributing to society in many different ways. I think everyone should take some time out on March 8th and toast the women in their lives.

Isa: International Women’s Day to me is to care about women and their equal rights.

Rocio: To me this is a great opportunity to show all the world our value, our ideas, our creativity and most of all, our way to influence as leaders.

What female inspiration have you had in your career?

Sandra: I’ve been very fortunate to work with many strong and independent women over my entire SAP career at all levels of organisations. This is from Project Directors/Managers, to my female colleagues. I have watched, listened and absorbed from other women. I’ve seen what works and what does not.

But I do also have to say I have always had equal support from all of the men I have worked with. I’ve been very fortunate in that respect. There are some terrific people working in SAP, all genders.

What is the best thing about being a woman in SAP?

Isa: Women at SAP support each other. There is a lot of solidarity and appreciation.

What inspirational words would you offer to other women?

Sandra: I always think back to a bumper sticker I had when I was at university “Girls Can Do Anything”, I do truly believe this is the case.

My father also told me this all the time, but he said, “You can do anything”, gender did not come into it. So, I grew up not knowing that gender discrimination existed which is good thing. I’d encourage all parents with daughters to do this as well.

Always do the best you can and if you don’t know the answer to something go and find it out (that can be your super power).

Why do you think Tech/SAP have been male dominated in the past?

Sandra: I do think that IT has a bit of a reputation as being a bit dull, unsexy, and “full of geeks”. If I had a dollar for every person who has said to me “you must be really smart to work in IT” or “I’m not clever enough to work in IT”. I would be very rich. I do think this perception is changing, with more women undertaking STEM.

In my experience, there are a lot of really clever people in IT, but one skill that I think is most useful is actually common sense. I do think women bring a different approach to problem-solving, not just a technical solution. I’m very hopeful more women will get the opportunity to work in IT.

Isa: It's an historical reason. Women in Germany built up the family, took care of children, while men could focus on career and networking

How would you like to see the equality landscape change in the industry over the year ahead?

Isa: I don't want to see any company in the future who differentiates between gender when it comes to equal pay. But that, even in 2019, is a big vision that we have to fight for. Especially independent of time spent in a company.

Rocio: I would like to see there be a deep and true change in the world of today, because equality for me means being seen and appreciated for what I am.

If you would like to be featured in any future ‘Women Making SAP Happen’ features then please speak to nadine@sapture.com.au

INTERVIEW SANDRA ROWE, SAP FICO SYSTEMS LEAD

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 07:42:27 GMT

What lessons did you learn in your previous role?

I learnt when is the right time to leave a role. A great lesson. I had been at the organisation for a little over a year and there was massive organisation change in the IT area. I had joined the company as I wanted to work with a particular manager and it was a great very experienced SAP team. After the organisational change occurred the IT area had a “keep the lights on approach to IT”. It would have been easy to stay, and I would probably still be in role if I had wanted to stay. But I decided I was not doing anyone any good staying in role for the wrong reasons. I wanted to get my teeth into a new challenge and I knew it was time to get myself up to date with S4 HANA. I left on great terms for the right reasons. It was the right decision for me and for my previous company. I think knowing when to leave is a great skill. I haven’t looked back.

In your opinion, which industry sectors are most exciting for SAP at the moment?

I think everything is exciting in SAP at the moment. The changes with S4 HANA are incredible, I’ve been in the industry for 25 years and I’m still very excited by it all. The one constant for me has been change. I’ve also seen a lot of change in IT, not just SAP. I do find robotics and automation quite exciting and that applies across all industries.

Each week, SAPTURE International, feature a woman working in SAP and making it happen. To be featured, or to nominate someone to be featured, contact nadine@sapture.com.au

10 OF THE BIGGEST SAP NEWS STORIES OF 2015

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 07:34:35 GMT

With the year coming to an end, we thought it is time to look at the biggest stories and news that happened in the world of SAP in the last year. And as we look back over the past year, we’ve noticed SAP is not a big old boring German software company anymore. Obviously there is HANA. And the Cloud. But there were also ice, cafés and Orcas. Don’t know what we are talking about and what that has to do with SAP? Well, read on. Here are 10 of the biggest SAP stories of 2015:

S/4HANA!

The year started like the one before ended: With HANA. To run even simpler and faster SAP launched its next generation business suite S/4HANA. It compiles business accounts and forecast within minutes instead of hours and days due to its in-memory database platform. Until this summer more than 370 companies had already signed up to S/4. However a survey, presented at the DSAG annual meeting in Bremen/Germany in September, showed that users aren't so sure it's the technology they're looking for.

Job Cuts

Shortly after this big launch, another news story was released which didn’t receive as much approval. To keep up with its rivals, SAP announced to cut 2,200 jobs. That is 3% of the company’s workforce. However SAP’s Chief Human Resources Officer Stefan Ries said, SAP will create the same amount of jobs in growth areas like the cloud business and in-memory computing. Bill McDermott commented: “We are not eliminating jobs but lifting and shifting those assets.” This is the second big job cut under the American CEO.

Ice Ice Baby

After soccer, sailing and cricket, it’s now “SAP On Ice”. In February 2015, the North American National Hockey League (NHL) and SAP rolled out a new multi-year partnership and unveiled a new statistics platform powered by SAP HANA. Fans will now be able to gain deeper insights from the game and tell enticing stories about hockey and its players. If you’ve ever seen an ice hockey game: It’s extremely fast-paced! Let’s see if HANA can capture all that data in real-time.

And maybe we’ll now finally be able to see that puck!

SAP Café

We’ve seen all sorts of themed cafés: hammock cafés, pay-per-minutes cafés, cat cafés....Sure, but that doesn’t have anything to do with the world of SAP, you think? Well, think again. In March SAP opened the HanaHaus, a new café and centre for communication and collaboration in Palo Alto. The aim is to foster the entrepreneurial community in Silicon Valley. And for SAP, it’s a good opportunity to reach out into the techie world and raise its sex appeal in Silicon Valley. Free wifi is of course included and you will get free programming advice on top!

In times of Virtual Reality, digital communication and Cloud Computing a nice cup of tea with your work mates sounds very appealing, doesn’t it?

We’ll have a latte, please!

BlueFin Buyout

Let’s move on to some more serious topics: Boardroom Talk. In July, Mindtree, an Indian technology consulting firm, acquired SAP Partner BlueFin . The UK-based consultancy specializes in SAP HANA, Analytics, Digital, Mobile and Cloud. By doing this, Mindtree extended its business into Europe and gained the full spectrum of SAP expertise. The sum they’ve paid for this is undisclosed.

Airbus runs flies SAP HANA - Up, Up and Away

In June, plane manufacturer Airbus said goodbye to its Oracle database. The HR department will run simpler and faster reporting with SAP HANA. Airbus hopes it will be able to "perform live business intelligence (BI) in 2017, as well as merge data sources and have a "big data arrangement" without the need for BW or infocubes”. Airbus’ competitor Boeing and also many airlines are already relying on the in-memory database.

SAP CEO Accident

Oh, what a freaky moment this was when the press reported about SAP’s CEO Bill McDermott’s accident! It already happened in July however wasn’t announced till September when McDermott and Hasso Plattner gave an official interview. Mr McDermott slipped on the stairs of his brother’s house in the US at night. He was holding a glass of water and fell on the broken glass and lost consciousness. Doctors couldn't save his left eye despite their best efforts. In October the CEO said: "Leaders would be forgiven for a lot of things. But never for a lack of vision." He is fully recovered now and continues to be head of SAP. Since the accident SAP focusses more on precision medicine. From all at Sapture we wish him the best!

Profit in the Cloud

Despite this terrible accident, the third quarter of 2015 was looking good for SAP: They’ve announced a 2% rise in net profit (€898 million) , mainly because of the strong growth in the cloud. New subscriptions increased 102% to 216 million. But also non-IFRS cloud and software revenue went up 19% to €4.12 billion. “Our flagship S/4HANA is rapidly gaining market share. HANA is redefining the database industry as the standard real-time platform. Our cloud solutions for workforce engagement are best in class and our omni-channel customer experience solutions are growing faster than best of breed competitors.”, said SAP CEO Bill McDermott.

Glaring Holes

Nothing is safe from hackers. Not even the SAP software. Researchers found security holes that could give attackers control of company financials and allow them to steal, modify or delete business information. 21 vulnerabilities were found by Onapsis, a security company from Boston. These affect more than 10,00 customers the company said . SAP reacted and said they are cooperating with research companies to fix the problems and that customers should secure their landscapes by applying the available security patches.

SAP Whale

Trying to stay ahead of the game, SAP pre-announced Project Orca , now officially named Cloud for Analytics, a BI service that will run on the HANA cloud. The goal is to allow business users to sample, wrangle, combine and blend any data, using an intuitive user interface. Prizing and further details have not been finalized due to the early release. Amazon had announced a similar BI-analytics-as-a-service offering called Space Needle. SAP said: "What drove us to pre-announce a little was we wanted to capitalize on the momentum and awareness level that Amazon had created around analytics". The company said that Cloud for Analytics would however be a stronger offering than Space Needle because it offers more sophisticated modeling and visualization.

Let’s see what 2016 will bring for SAP….

INTERVIEW: DIVYA, SAP HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT ON PREMISE EXPERT

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 07:29:21 GMT

Tell us about yourself?

I am Divya, a mother of a wonderful baby girl Noor. I worked in SAP Labs as a Senior Software Engineer for 8 years and am now on a break to look after my baby.

I moved from India to Melbourne in October 2018. I love dancing , travelling and practising yoga. I strongly believe in investment, be it money, relations, hobbies, goals, health etc. The more you invest, the better return you will get.

Tell us about your current role?

I worked in SAP Labs Bangalore until August 2018. I was working as a Scrum Lead in HCM Payroll localization for Australia. My team was responsible for delivering all the legal changes announced by ATO. We were handling more than 300 live customers.

Other than delivering legal changes I had responsibility to support customers with any functional or technical issues, building good relations with them, managing the team and all the scrum related activities.

What inspired you to have a career in SAP?

SAP was the first company I worked for. I had two offers, and after reading and discussing with many people who were already part of SAP, I realised that SAP is a company where my full potential would be utilised and I would have a happy life as there is no better place for work life balance.

Tell us about your career journey in tech / SAP to date?

I joined SAP Labs in June 2010 as a contract employee doing HCM localisation for Great Britain. I met the most amazing mentor and lead. During my training which was for a month, I had typhoid and was not able to attend. But because of the support I had from my team , I quickly gained the knowledge I missed. As a new-comer what I liked the most was the training, it was not only classroom training but hands on sessions with customers as well. I learned a lot and was awarded 'Best Team Player' for a quarter.

Later in June 2013 , I moved to a new product 'HCM Localisation for Australia'.

As a team we delivered many legal changes to the Australian customers and supported them in their journey. I worked as a scrum lead which gave me perspective of handling product as well as people. In August 2018 I left SAP to take care of my baby.

What does equality mean to you?

Equality means equal opportunity regardless of your gender, color, caste, creed etc..

What inspirational words would you offer to other women?

Raise your voice, not to shout but to also become the voice of those who cannot be heard. There are many women who are not allowed to even raise their voices and we have to become their voices too.

What do you think is holding back an equal gender balance in the industry at the moment?

It's just the mindset. The patriarchy is so deep rooted that it's not easy, but it's not impossible to have a balance. Companies need to consciously have policies for gender equality, hire more women , train them, have more secure work environment, have more women in leadership roles so that other women can be inspired, have more policies around maternity , after maternity and so on.

If you would like to be featured in or nominate someone you work with to be featured in our 'Women making SAP happen' series, email nadine@sapture.com.au

Divya is working with us to find her next contract role, if you would like to arrange an interview with her, please contact Shane Morgan on shane@sapture.com.au

SAP SPORTS INFOGRAPHIC

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 07:26:51 GMT

At the 2013 SAPPHIRENOW conference in Orlando SAP announced alongside a unified strategy for its cloud portfolio, it’s entrance to the sports and entertainment market.

SAP has always had an interest in sports with sponsorship of F1’s Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, Tennis’s Andy Roddick and the “The Big Easy”, Golf’s Ernie Els.

So what does the SAP for Sports and Entertainment solution contain?

SAP has defined it into three areas:

Fan Engagement - Mobile, Cloud and Analytics
Team Performance - Mobile, In-memory computing and Analytics
Venue Management - Mobile, Cloud, Analytics and Apps

In this special infographic, the Sapture International team took a look at some of Sport Teams, Stadia and Indivduals taking advantage of SAP solutions or sponsored by SAP, as it seeks a foot hold in the sports and entertainment space.

THE BIG SAP NEWS STORIES FROM THE FIRST QUARTER

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 07:21:57 GMT

According to scientists , time really does flies when you're busy and SAP is no exception. On our latest blog we recap the biggest SAP stories from the first quarter of 2016:

Jan

SAP doubles cloud revenues to €2.3bn in 2015 financial year

SAP saw its cloud revenues nearly double to €2.3bn and 11% of its overall revenue of €20.8bn for the 2015 financial year

Full story here.

Further reading: SAP Expects to Be a Cloud Company by 2018 (also picture credit)

SAP and Lenovo team up to bring new cloud solutions to China

Chinese Lenovo and the German SAP SE have announced a new partnership which will see the duo build new cloud solutions in China. On top of that, the German giant is bringing its HANA database to the Land of the Rising Sun.

Full story here.

Feb

SAP buys 'all the pretty data' firm Roambi

The software giant this week bought “key assets” of Roambi, founded in 2008 and specialising in mobile BI and analytics. SAP announced the Roambi buy while saying its Predictive Analytics also now works with Spark – the open-source cluster framework for massive data processing.

Full story here.

SAP announces chief security officer as critical report lands

SAP announced its first-ever chief security officer, Justin Somaini, who has been in the role since Jan. 1, just as a study highlighting worries about SAP app security lands.

“My approach, especially with customers, is how we can have open, continuous conversation that’s transparent,” Somaini says. “I want to have an honest conversation—so [I’ll say] ‘Tell me the problems first so that we can fix them.’

Full story here.

March

SAP extends contracts for executive team, including CEO, until 2021

German software giant SAP on Thursday extended the contracts of its top executive team until 2021, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters, in a move that dispels doubts about the future tenure of Chief Executive Bill McDermott.

Full story here.

SAP's HANA Vora bridges divide between enterprise and Hadoop data

Aiming to help bring contextual analytics to the data organizations have stored in Hadoop, enterprise systems and other distributed data sources, SAP Tuesday announced the general availability of in-memory query engine SAP HANA Vora.

MUST-ATTEND SAP EVENTS OF 2016

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 07:09:00 GMT

Conferences hold a very special energy. Not only can you collect useful items like USB sticks, pens and sticky note pads, you can also be inspired and get new ideas from that conference buzz. SAP events are an opportunity to get out of the office for a few days and mix and mingle with other SAP and IT professionals.

Sapture International selected the most interesting SAP conferences and events in 2016. We’ve divided them into two groups: The Australian ones and the ones overseas. So secure your ticket (and flight) and start packing that suitcase and laptop bag to attend the SAP events of this year.

Australia

SAUG events

Are you a member of SAUG? Then you know that the SAP Australian User Group runs multiple events throughout the year. Here is a selection of the biggest upcoming SAUG events:

SAUG National Summit

It’s the biggest annual national event in SAP ANZ which creates a meeting space for SAP professionals and industry experts. This year it will take place on 5th and 6th September in the Hilton Hotel in Sydney.

In keynote presentation you will find out what’s new and which product and developments are coming up in the world of SAP. There will also be possibilities to network and chat with other SAP experts in small sessions and of course at the Welcome Networking drinks on Monday evening (We will be there!).

SAUG Regional Conferences

Although the Regional Conferences are for SAUG members only, we didn’t want to exclude them from this list.

SAUG Brisbane Conference takes part on Wednesday 11th of May in the Sofitel Hotel Brisbane.

SAUG Melbourne Conference will be hosted in the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre on Thursday 17th of November.

As a member you may also attend the SIG Meetings that take place every month throughout the country. If you don’t just want to attend but also speak - they are always looking for brave people to present.

Inaugural CompleteStream KeyInsights conference 2016

If your focus lies on BI, HANA, and Cloud make sure you don’t miss the Inaugural CompleteStream KeyInsights conference on 18th and 19th of April in the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Melbourne. There will be presentations, & live demonstration on in-memory computing and real time analyses. You can listen to expert insights from speakers coming from companies like SAP, Tetra Pak, Australian Post, or Dulux. This event takes place for the first time and says about itself that is it “formed by IT experts for IT experts”. Tickets are nearly sold out, so hurry!

Mastering SAP Technologies

Mark May 25th till 27th 2016 in your calendar if you are a interested in SAP technologies. The Mastering SAP Technologies Conference in Melbourne creates a space for Big Data and focuses on technologies like S/4HANA, Cloud, Mobile, Augmented Reality, Smart Machines and Wearables.

And that’s not all. If you are specialized in HR & Payroll and Financials you should also register as there will be three conferences for the price of one (Mastering HR & Payroll and Mastering SAP Financials).

Food and Networking Drink are also included. We like a bargain!

Worldwide

SAPPHIRE NOW & ASUG Annual Conference

Ok we admit, Florida might be a bit far away from Australia. However it really is the must-attend event in the SAP space. Well, actually they are even two conferences for the price of one. At SAPPHIRE NOW you will have the opportunity to see SAP’s CEO Bill McDermott holding the opening keynote and network with executives, partners, experts, and customers.

The ASUG Annual Conference is the big brother of the SAUG Annual Summit. If you got lost there, wait till you see the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando! Make sure you plan your visit in advance and then enjoy the booths and stands of more than 230 exhibitors.

And if those are not enough reasons, consider the free concert that comes with your ticket. After Bon Jovi and Beyoncé, this year Coldplay is up on stage! Be there from May 17th till 19th.

DSAG Jahreskongress

Despite having an American CEO, SAP SE stays a German software company so the German User Group and its conferences form an important part in the world of SAP. Although the DSAG Annual Conference in Germany isn’t as big as it’s american counterpart (around 170 exhibitors and more than 4,000 attendees), the event is the perfect opportunity to network and get high quality insights and connections. It takes part from 20th till 22nd of September 2016 in Nuremberg.

So brush up your German skills and enjoy the special “Nürnberger Bratwürste” (insider tipp!) and a beer or two after the conference.

SAP TechEd events

SAP organises three TechEd events every year: One in Barcelona, one in Las Vegas and the one nearest to Australia, TechEd Bangalore in India. This year marks the 20th anniversary of TechEd so save the dates for these three major events in the world of SAP!

And if your company doesn’t pay that oversea flight, here is the link to see all the keynotes and talks online - live or as replays. http://events.sap.com/teched/en/home

SAP TechEd Bangalore

With a special focus on technology and education TechEd is for developers, IT architects, engineers, system and database administrators, analysts, data modelers, and designers. The conference opens its doors on October 5th. Get ready for two days of networking, learning and training with SAP professionals at the Bangalore International Exhibition Center. The conference is in English so you won’t miss out on all the news about SAP platforms and technologies.

SAP TechEd Las Vegas, USA

Fancy going to a casino after a day of TechEd? Then the conference in Vegas is for you. It takes place from 19th till 23rd of September 2016 in the Venetian Palazzo Congress Center.

SAP TechEd Barcelona, Spain

You’d rather go to the beach and eat tapas? Fly to Barcelona from November 8th till 10th!

INSIGHTS INTO SAP EH&S: WORLD DAY FOR SAFETY AND HEALTH AT WORK

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 07:03:18 GMT

World Day is an international campaign to promote safe, healthy and decent work around the globe. Shane Morgan , CEO of Sapture International took the opportunity to speak with Shiva Shivathaya , Synex Solutions and Andrey Volkov , ERM: Environmental Resources Management, to discuss the current state and what the future holds of SAP EH&S / EHSM market in Australia and New Zealand.

Shiva Shivathaya - Canberra

EHS Solutions Architect

SM: How did you get started SAP and EHS?

SS: My first experience in SAP EHS was through the US based multinational company Dow Corning. I joined them in 2000 as a Rules Expert Analyst to work with the Product Safety component of SAP EHS. The role involved analysing and working with EHS Expert Rules required to generate Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs). In 2004 I moved to the Incident and Hazard Management functionality of SAP EHS, mainly utilising the IHS and OHS components of SAP EHS.

SM: What do you think of the SAP EHS market at present in Australia & New Zealand?

SS: The SAP EHS market in my opinion is yet to mature fully. The focus on managing environmental, health and safety aspects is increasing as more and more companies are realising the benefits of effectively managing incidents, hazards, near misses and safety observations.

SM: What is SAP’s current strategy for the EHS module?

SS: SAP is currently focussing more on the new Environment, Health and Safety Management (EHSM) module rather than the classic SAP EHS module.

EHSM is based on the SAP ERP application and SAP Netweaver portal. This is the latest offering from SAP which supersedes the current EHS and hence SAP may not be focussing too much to further enhance the EHS solution. It is Web-based application that is realised in ABAP Web Dynpro. The EHSM applications were well researched with customers and reflect best practices. A few customers have started down the path of trying to do their own development from ABAP to ABAP Webdynpro, but most have realised that it would be more effective to use the new solution. Even if it requires a license upgrade, the savings in faster implementation usually more than makes up for it. Because it uses a new data model, there is a lot different about it, and heavy users of the old functionality need to carefully consider their path to implementing the new applications. The new data model utilised in EHSM is significantly better and well worth the upgrade efforts. It will quite simply just do more and help the organisation be far more effective and comprehensive at managing health and safety as well as Environment.

More EHS functionalities are being added in EHSM and almost every year a new release of EHSM is being rolled out by SAP. This illustrates that SAP is trying to add new features and make EHSM more flexible to address the current and future EHS needs of any organisation. Component Extension 6.0 for SAP EHS Management is the latest release from SAP.

SM: Is it a good time for people to become an SAP EHS consultant in Australia? How saturated is the market now?

SS: It is difficult to say if this is the good time or not to become an SAP EHS consultant. There are not a lot of EHS projects and at the same time there are not many EHS consultants as well.

SM: What are the key challenges that companies face around implementing SAP EHSM and what do you do to assist with those?

SS: Data migration and Organisational Change Management (OCM) including providing training courses are according to me the two key challenges companies face around implementing SAP EHS/EHSM.

The number of incident and hazard records in the legacy systems is usually too large and the data is not recorded in a consistent manner which makes the data migration task complex and difficult. To address this issue it is necessary to explain that all the legacy data doesn’t need to be migrated unless it provides some value to the organisation. The consultant also has to understand all the corresponding SAP fields and map the data accordingly.

OCM is especially an important issue and a key challenge due to the fact that all employees in the organisation are potentially impacted. Training and providing appropriate information to the OCM personnel in finalising the training contents by the consultant will assist to overcome this issue.

SM: What have been your most successful projects over your career, and what results have you achieved there?

SS: I have implemented a number of EHS/EHSM systems in several organisations and the one that gave me immense sense of achievement and satisfaction is the HSE system implemented at CSIRO. This system was well praised and is being very effectively utilised currently to successfully manage the HSE issues at CSIRO very effectively. Some of the other major projects successfully completed by me include the EHS system at Ballance Agri Nutrients company in New Zealand, The Incident Management and Medical Services management system at Department of Immigration and Border Protection, SAP EHSM system at Department of Defence and the SAP EHS system implemented at NSW Government agencies such as Department of Housing, Department of Community Services, Department of ageing, disability and Home Care, etc.

SM: What is the one behaviour or trait that you need as a SAP consultant?

SS: My belief is that understanding and analysing the business requirements and suggesting SAP solution to address these requirements in the main and most crucial skill set a SAP consultant must possess to become a successful SAP Consultant.

SM: What are you doing to ensure you continue to grow and develop?

SS: It is very important to keep up-to-date with the latest developments taking place in your area of expertise. SAP is an innovative and progressive organisation and new technologies are being introduced all the time to improve the product and make it very much relevant to present needs of organisations. openSAP courses such as “Implementation of SAP S/4HANA” are good examples of courses which helps to understand the next-generation business suite from SAP.

SM: Why SAP EHS/EHSM uptake is slow compared with other SAP modules?

SS: The main hurdle is coming up with justifications and getting approval to implement SAP EHS/EHSM. The benefits in implementing EHS/EHSM are not always tangible and it is difficult to put a dollar figure on the potential savings that can be realised with the implementation of SAP EHS/EHSM compared to other SAP modules such as HR, SD, FICO, etc. Organisations have to understand that improving the Health and Safety aspects of its employees and trying the manage the environmental aspects has the potential to make the organisation more profitable and sustainable in the long-term.

To address this issue, the SAP EHS consultant need to explain the importance of long-term sustainability of the organisation and also that the savings achieved are not only intangible and it is possible to put a dollar figure on the savings due to reduced cost of managing injuries and lost time due to injuries. In general, it needs to be emphasised by the EHS Consultant that making the workplace a safer place improves the morale of the employees and hence can lead to improved productivity.

SAP consultant has to explain to the key stake holders that SAP sustainability solutions are increasingly becoming important to manage the Environment, Health and Safety in a responsible manner. This is essential to comply with various regulatory requirements and also to avoid hefty penalties from the governing agencies as well as to uphold the reputation of the organisation.

Andrey Volkov - Brisbane

SAP EHS Management and Sustainability Consultant

SM: How did you get started SAP and EHS?

AV:I started working for SAP in Moscow office as an Intern while studying for my Master’s degree. During my first years with SAP, I have managed to study a lot about SAP business and products, gain extensive project experience as a functional consultant and efficiently combine it with my knowledge of Oil and Gas industry aspects from the University.

At that time, Sustainability & EHS was the main SAP trend with not many experienced consultants. I had raised my hand and proposed myself for the key functional role on one of the more challenging and less attractive projects and soon enough was a part of EHS implementation.

SM: What do you think of the SAP EHS market at present in Australia & New Zealand?

AV: There is a constant demand for Health, Safety and Environment solutions in ANZ region with ad-hoc peaks related to certain legislation changes introduced by the government, e.g. Carbon Tax. As IT projects in other business areas - demand is heavily related to the current economy health.

Many clients are choosing SAP because of its maturity and obvious integration and support benefits. There is also a noticeable market share of other vendors, some of them have very sophisticated and competitive solutions.

SM: What is SAP's current strategy for the EHS module?

AV: Health, Safety, and Environment solutions are one of the focus areas for SAP. There is an ongoing improvement work happening all the time, regular patches and upgrades are released. Many functions are getting merged into single EHS solution.

SM: Is it a good time for people to become an SAP EHS consultant in Australia?

AV: There is never a bad time to become a software implementation consultant as it is an exciting and challenging profession which will never let you sit down, relax and start procrastinating.

Choice of the software vendor and business area is a subject of personal preferences, education, and experience. EHS is not as wildly known as MM/SD/PM etc., and it has its own interesting aspects and surprises.

SM: How saturated is the market now?

AV: The market is quite dense all the time. Getting into EHS area now requires advanced skills with extensive project portfolio or huge sacrifices on rates.

SM: What are the key challenges that companies are facing around implementing SAP EHSM and what do you do to assist with those?

AV: Most of the companies are operating in EHS area according to the requirements are driven by legislation. Implementation of EHS functionality, e.g. Incident Management, means going beyond what they have and building an advanced business capability in EHS area.

The key challenge at this point is to manage this build controlling quantity to quality ratio. A company can never have enough information about Incident, KPIs and different kind of reports in place, but does it really help to achieve the ultimate goal of improving safety and environment?

SM: What have been your most successful projects over your career, and what results have you achieved there?

AV: It is difficult to say which project was successful – there are more and less challenging and with the goal either achieved or not on a rare occasion.

The most exciting and rewarding project for me was the Environmental Compliance Management solution implementation for the Norilsk Nickel company.

The excitement part was about working to the north of the Polar Circle, which means you are exposed to temperatures below minus 50 degrees on your way to the office.

The rewarding part was about seeing how the solution with over 5000 emission and consumption monitoring points, covering the entire industrial city with several metal mines, plants, and refineries, was live.

SM: What is the one behaviour or trait that you need as a SAP consultant?

AV: One skill – listening.

SM: What are you doing to ensure you continue to grow and develop?

AV: I’m in contact with SAP team responsible for EHS solution developments and upgrades. They are sharing all the news on a regular basis and I’m helping with testing and review of the recent versions quite often.

Other aspects of my development are about widening my area of expertise instead of going deeper into SAP EHS. I’m up to date with the current related solutions from SAP, Enablon, and IHS to be able to advise the most suitable solution and architecture to the clients.

People and Project Management skills are also part of my development agenda.

SAPPHIRE NOW 2016 ROUND-UP

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 06:56:20 GMT

SAP SAPPHIRE Now 2016, the annual SAP user conference in Orlando, closed last week and as per usual there were a number of announcements related to what is coming in the world of SAP in the next 12 months.

Day 1

Every year, the conference kicks off with keynotes from the SAP leadership team and probably the first time in recent memory the keynote over ran by at least 40 minutes. Up first was CEO Bill McDermott and it really was all about 'Customer', infact SAP has a whole new mantra Live Business and they coupled that with a key message of Run Live .

Day 2

Day two of SAP Sapphire 2016 began with a keynote from Robert Enslin, president of SAP's Global Customer Operations. Again the messaging was very HANA heavy with Enslin explaining how companies of all sizes are transforming with SAP S/4HANA as the digital core on the SAP HANA Platform.

The second day of SAPPHIRE also brought us more information on the new SAP finance mobile app, SAP RealSpend. It's a cloud based mobile app, which helps cost center managers improve decision making about budgets and spend.

SAP also previewed their first data-as-a-service offering called Digital Customer Insights. Which it created and designed to deliver insights that can be bought from the SAP store online.

SAP says that the data is both anonymised and encrypted so that individual privacy is protected.

Day 3

Very much worth a watch from the final day is the legendary Prof. Hasso Plattner. Who spoke at SAPPHIRE NOW about the road to SAP S/4HANA, the next generation of business applications and machine learning.

Also coming to light was $18 million cash investment in Castlight Health. Castlight will be one of the initial participants in SAP's Connected Health platform , which also was launched at the conference and will run on SAP's HANA platform.

A few of the other big announcements from SAPPHIRE Now 2016 included:

13 MUST FOLLOW SAP TWEETERS IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 06:48:29 GMT

SAP related content is thriving on Twitter, thanks to a growing user base of 2.7 million in Australia (July 2015) and buzzing community of SAP experts and enthusiasts. To help you keep up-to-date with the latest SAP developments such as S/4 HANA and to find some of the best inside knowledge, follow these 13 top SAP tweeters in Australia and New Zealand.

Paul Hawking

Well, this is not the first time he makes a “Top-Something-List”. He was voted three times as one of the Top Ten Most Influential People in SAP for Australia and New Zealand by the SAP community. He is author, Associate Professor in Information Systems at Victoria University Australia and of course SAP Mentor. He tweets about the successes of his students as well as about conferences on which you will see him speak sometimes. Welcome to our list!

Chris Paine

Chris is SAP Mentor, based in Melbourne since more than 15 years and specialises in SAP HR. Although an Englishman by birth, we are allowing him on to this list because of his dual nationality. And of course because of his in-depth IT experience. Read his blog www.wombling.com to find out why he called himself “Wombling” and why his profile picture shows him as a pirate. Definitely one, that doesn’t take himself too seriously.

Alexandra Carvalho

Although on her Twitter profile she states to live in Palo Alto, CA, she is a Senior Director and Head of Analytics at BI Group Australia in Melbourne. As an Entrepreneur and SAP Mentor she names herself a ‘Glass Ceiling Cracker’. She writes about Big Data and the Internet of Things but there will also be that occasionally tweet about her dogs.

Simon Kemp

Simon is National Lead - SAP User eXperience at PLAUT Australia and another SAP Mentor on this list. Having worked in the SAP space since nearly two decades, starting as a ABAP developer he now works with customers to make SAP easier to use. Well, if that doesn’t deserve being named here.

Andrew Barkla

To receive the latest news from the SAP boardroom, start following the President and Managing Director at SAP ANZ Andrew Barkla. He is responsible for all SAP's business operations across Australia and New Zealand. If he gets more Followers, maybe he will even start to tweet more ...

Martin English

When it comes to being on Twitter the longest AND having the most Followers, he takes first place on this list. Joined in 2008 with now more than 3400 Followers, Martin is a SAP BASIS/ Technology Consultant living in Wollongong. He is working for Rimini Street, who apparently do not necessarily agree with, let alone endorse, anything he says. When following him you will also stay up to date with The SAP Mentors Daily.

Patrick Saundry

Patrick Saundry is the General Manager of Small and Medium Enterprise Markets for Oxygen. On his twitter feed you can find great insight in the future of SAP globally and Australia & NZ. He also supports start-ups in tech and shares his views on sport.

Jocelyn Dart

Although billing herself as an exotic ice cream specialist and sourdough bread maker, Jocelyn Dart shares some fantastic content on multiple SAP topics, you can also find links to her brilliant blogs too. (Link: http://scn.sap.com/community/fiori/blog/2015/12/11/keyboard-navigation-enables-the-cool-toys--accessibility-fiori)

Chris Rae

If you are looking for someone with experience in the SAP retail sector, look no more. He has developed online and in-store team member environments, Click and Collect, and so on. The Brisbane based SAP Mentor is also a proud dad as his daughter Bella (13) is already a ‘Next Generation Developer’.

Colleen Hebbert

She specializes in SAP Security and GRC as an independent Consultant and does not like the flights between her home in Brisbane and her office in Perth however she is very passionate about SAP which made her SAP Mentor in 2014. Security and Mobility are also two favourite topics of this SCN Moderator and Certified SAP GRC 10.0 Consultant. Her tweets are rather funny with this being our favourite one:

Gary Hooker

This SAP all-rounder based in Canberra has worked in many Public Sector agencies. He is a true Business Intelligence expert with more than 18 years of experience. Moreover he has founded the BI Special Interest Group and was its leader for three years. No need to mention that he is also a SAP Mentor. His advice: Enjoy your BI journey because it never ends!

John Patterson

Although his profile picture might put you off a little bit, he is definitely one to follow as he is a very active tweeter. He calls himself a relentless sharer (editor’s note: he does retweet a lot!), passionate learner, pragmatic developer and tragic golfer. He specializes in integrating SAP people, process and technology. Software development is his passion and his first PC was a Sinclair ZX Spectrum.

Josh Fletcher

And last but not least, we have Josh Fletcher. The SAP Mentor from Perth calls himself a ‘wannabe photographer’. What he can definitely call himself is a leader in the SAP tweeting space with more than 3000 Followers, making him the second most followed Australian SAP Tweeter. On top of that he is fully certified in SAP BusinessObjects and author at http://dslayer.net/.

Have some more to add to this list? Let us know!

INTERVIEW: AMY HAWKINS FROM SAP AUSTRALIA

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 06:15:53 GMT

Tell us about your current role

I currently work in Perth, W.A as a Digital Core Cloud Solution Sales Specialist. This role allows me to work with all industry and client accounts across W.A involving anything and everything ‘Digital Core’ in the cloud!

What inspired you to have a career in SAP?

Being able to work for SAP was always something I had as a goal in my professional career due to the incredible reach and influence SAP has. When I achieved this last year, I felt like I had accomplished a career milestone – to be able to work and contribute to an organisation that is so pivotal in the technology and innovation space is something that I am proud of everyday. Working at SAP allows me to bring the best resources, applications and platforms to our clients in order to help them be best run businesses.

Tell us about your career journey in tech / SAP to date

I started my tertiary studies in Information Systems, however, I have diversified along the way. I lived and worked overseas for two years and I returned to Perth in 2009 where I gained my first technical role, as Technical Support Consultant for an accounting software provider. I have since discovered my passion is for client facing roles, which is how I came to work within a commercial capacity in the technology industry. I’ve been in roles focusing on Workforce Management software, Content & Information Management software and now at SAP within the Digital Core Cloud.

Where does SAP S/4HANA public cloud fit in two-tier ERP?

One size does not necessarily fit all when it comes to determining the best application fit for subsidiaries. Many companies are finding that a two-tier ERP strategy can better drive rapid global growth while increasing efficiencies, reducing costs, and building competitive advantage across the entire subsidiary ecosystem. SAP S/4HANA Cloud, SAP’s intelligent cloud ERP solution, is ideally suited to implement a two-tier ERP solution because it provides the capabilities to ensure that the subsidiary thrives while integrating into Corporate for improved financial management, operational control, and governance.

What are the top 3 barriers to SAP S/4 HANA migration?

For any transformation programme to be successful, an organisation needs to ensure it has the right conditions to successfully deliver the programme. These include: business readiness and timing; resources and capabilities, including change management programme; clear roadmap; and understanding of total cost of ownership.

Transformation can feel like a large undertaking. However, in my role, I work as the link for our clients to ensure their SAP S/4HANA migration projects are smooth and delivered to plan. Activities and resources including SAP’s Digital Transformation Navigator, Discovery Quick Check (Discovery Workshop and Roadmap based on benefits, readiness and capabilities) and Strategic Road Mapping Engagement allows us to bring in the best SAP resources to work with our clients and streamline the planning for a simplified SAP S/4HANA migration project.

How does SAP S/4HANA digital core enable digital transformation?

The best part of my job is helping clients realise innovation through SAP S/4HANA. SAP Digital Core solutions and SAP Leonardo come together in a coherent Digital Business Framework that supports any organisation’s digital transformation journey no matter what their strategic imperatives or tactical priorities are. Through the Digital Core, we can establish a digital transformation roadmap by giving businesses the capability to implement new technologies like machine learning and AI and enable them to make data-driven decisions quickly, delivering them a competitive advantage in the market.

What is the best thing about being a woman in SAP?

SAP is an incredible company to work for when it comes to diversity and inclusion. There are so many opportunities that have opened up to me since I started at SAP. One example of this is having the opportunity to step into the role of co-lead of the SAP Business Women’s Network (BWN) in the Perth Chapter. The SAP BWN is an employee-driven network to help women advance in their careers by sharing professional insights, best practices, education and experience. SAP also has a fantastic Back-to-Work programme that aims to support professionals who are looking to re-enter the workforce after a career break. The program offers project-based assignments complementing skills and experience, as well as practical assistance and opportunities to grow to those who are keen to be a part of SAP. Many who have taken a break to have children welcome this programme.

What does equality mean to you?

Equality is about treating everyone with respect and fairness and recognising everyone’s individuality as a positive attribute. I strongly believe we need to help people to have the same opportunities, rights and resources in this world. Through equality we can achieve diversity which drives innovation and creativity.

What female inspiration have you had in your career?

The most impactful female inspiration I have had in my career (and life) comes from my mother and my sisters. I am very lucky to have such a strong role model in my mother, and my sisters are the epitome of kind, intelligent and successful women.

What inspirational words would you offer to other women?

Challenge yourself, take opportunities, and never be afraid to ask for help along the way. It’s important to have your network of supportive people around you because it will inspire and motivate you to grow and be there to help you through the challenges and bumps in the road. Being authentic, positive and supportive of each other will always result in incredible achievements.

If you would like to be featured in or nominate someone you work with to feature in our "Women making SAP happen" series, email danielle@sapture.com.au

INTERVIEW: CELENA TAN FROM NEWCREST MINING

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 05:59:46 GMT

What inspired you to have a career in SAP?

My inspiration came from my father who had worked with SAP as an end user and he could see the potential and reach of SAP in the business world. SAP has been a part of my life ever since joining a SAP partner implementing SAP solutions.

Tell us about your career journey in tech / SAP to date?

I have a Bachelor of Computer Science and I started my working life as a technical SAP ABAP developer. I then moved on to SAP Functional roles and have not looked back since. I have had roles across a few SAP functional modules and the wide functionality available in SAP never ceases to amaze me until today.

What are the main obstacles you face in your current role and how do you overcome them?

Technology and SAP are evolving and changing rapidly, and it is a challenge to be up to date with new functionalities being introduced every day. I try to keep up by attending SAP events and exploring new ideas and concepts whenever possible.

How can SAP Master Data Governance improve ERP master data?

Having central data governance improves data consolidation and standardizes master data resulting in an increase of the quality of data. It also provides an opportunity to run master data analytics and identify issues quickly and effectively.

How does design thinking with SAP help Fiori development?

This methodology allows designers to focus on what is important for the users they are designing for and encourages out of the box thinking. Giving the users a chance to get involved early in the design phase brings a lot more to the table in terms of scenarios, ideas, problems and solutions resulting in SAP Fiori apps that work well for the users instead of creating more complexity.

What does equality mean to you?

The word equality brings to mind fairness and equal opportunity for all. This is an important concept in today’s modern world to encourage innovation and diversity in all aspects to ensure no one gets left behind.

What inspirational words would you offer to other people looking for a career in SAP?

Working with SAP is both rewarding and demanding at the same time. Have an open mind and embrace challenges, every challenge is a learning opportunity and a way to get better and stronger. Take every opportunity that is offered to you and always treat everyone around you with kindness and respect.

How can we be more inclusive in the recruitment process to promote wider diversity?

Including diverse team members into the hiring process will result in the ability to engage with a wider range of people thus promoting more diversity. A group decision always provides more perspectives and reduces biased decisions.

INTERVIEW: SAHANA SHETTY FROM AGL ENERGY

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 05:43:31 GMT

Tell us about your current role

I am currently working as SAP Test Lead with a utility company, been in this role for last 2.9 years. This role has allowed me to work in different SAP initiatives/Projects, to name some of them like managing SAP automation work for S/4 HANA transformation, test lead for SAP PI to PO migration which includes planning and managing testing for both SAP and Digital components.

What inspired you to have a career in SAP?

SAP was the first company I worked for after my graduation. The opportunity and the level of satisfaction of working with SAP products and its benefit to customers inspired me to continue my career in SAP.

Tell us about your career journey in tech / SAP to date

After my graduation, I was fortunate enough to start my career with SAP labs. I started my journey with SAP from Nov 2004 as an associate Consultant working with SAP SCM Test Team. Within a year at SAP labs, I was given an opportunity to lead the test team for SCM-SNC module. From then on, I have played multiple roles. I have led and managed the Test Method group at SAP, spread across multiple locations in close co-ordination with the Test Architect from Germany. Worked at SAP Palo Alto (US) with consultants from various SAP Partners to co-ordinate and support Acceptance Testing. And have travelled to SAP Germany and SAP Budapest to participate in various tests deliverables. I was also part of multiple working groups to work on defining the Test Strategy (Regression, Security, Accessibility) for SAP Products.

Conducted various trainings at SAP labs and was one of the presenters at SAP Quality day.

I have received Multiple awards at SAP like SAP Top Talent, SAP High Potential, Wall of fame- Commitment, Wall of Fame- Team Work.

In June 2010, made a major shift by moving from leading the test team to working as Techno functional support consultant with SAP Support team (IMS) which gave me an opportunity to work closely with various customers.

I started my SAP career in Australia from June 2013 as SAP Test Lead part of the green field implementation for a mining company being mainly responsible for SAP MM and OPENTEXT VIM and was part of the BAU team after the completion of the project.

In Nov 2015, joined as SAP Test Lead for a green field implementation for one of the Dairy companies mainly responsible for SAP MM, PM, Ariba and SCM-SNC where also played a role of a functional consultant due to need in the project for a SCM-SNC consultant.

From Jan 2017 to till date, working as SAP Test Lead with a utility company mainly responsible as SAP Test Lead in different internal projects like managing the automation work for S/4 HANA transformation project, Upgrades, test lead for SAP PI to PO migrations.

What are the top 3 barriers to SAP S/4 HANA migration?

Some of the barriers would be to come up with a clear business case and to come up with the solid Migration Strategy based on the business case, not having/getting the right skilled resources and to come up with the best way to manage the migration of all the Custom objects .

How can I use the V-Model with SAP Product Lifecycle Management?

I feel that V-Model can be used for SAP projects which are at low risk of changing the requirements once defined.

What are the best strategies for managing demand variability?

In my opinion, some of the best strategies to manage the demand variations is to have the demand driven approach, example: demand been the driving factor to kickstart any product/build. Timely review of the work and adjust where needed. Capture the experience and lessons learnt and manage effectively when similar situation happens.

What does equality mean to you?

Equality means giving opportunity based on the skills irrespective of their age, gender and cultural background.

What female inspiration have you had in your career?

In my journey with SAP, I have been fortunate to have been motivated by many role models around me one such as my first Manager in Melbourne.

What inspirational words would you offer to other women?

I personally feel that Knowledge and having the right attitude will support us fulfil our dreams. Always have a continuous learning mindset and have a never give up attitude.

What can we all do to inspire more women into working with SAP?

I would personally encourage to attend training sessions or conferences on SAP products and highlight the opportunities with SAP which will motivate to have a career with SAP. Example:

Participating in SAP TECHED would be one such event where there will be an exposure to new technologies, participating in sessions and connecting with professionals/companies from the SAP ecosystem.

If you would like to be featured in or nominate someone you work with to feature in our "Women making SAP happen" series, email danielle@sapture.com.au

INTERVIEW: OLIVIA WALSH FROM SAP AUSTRALIA

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 05:29:43 GMT

I am currently juggling two roles. The first is as an Enterprise Support Advisor. Supporting customers by ensuring they are getting value from their SAP Solutions and consuming the offerings available to them from Enterprise Support. Risk mitigation is a major focus, ensuring systems are performing optimally, projects are safe guarded, customer teams are empowered with the knowledge they need to do this also. When required, providing mission critical support as an escalation point and driving to resolution. My aim is to be a trusted advisor to the customer, maintaining a good, open relationship, by being proactive, ensuring customers value drivers are at the forefront of our interactions.

SAP has this year launched the Customer First program. My role in the program is as Customer Success Executive. As CSE, I am proactive in helping our customers be successful with SAP solutions by co-ordinating and unifying our engagement approach across SAP LOB solutions.

What inspired you to have a career in SAP?

I can’t say I was inspired to join SAP. I started as a graduate straight out of college and been here ever since. While I was not inspired to start my career at SAP, I continue to be inspired to stay!

Tell us about your career journey in tech / SAP to date?

As mentioned I joined as a college graduate in SAP Dublin almost 15 years ago. I feel like I have grown up at SAP. Became a home owner, got married, had 2 children and emigrated to a different continent all within my time at SAP. In Dublin I was part of product support for IS-U (Industry Specific Utilities). While working with and supporting various customers kept me very busy, I was also involved in various internal projects and programs during my time there. 6 years ago myself and my husband made the decision to emigrate to Perth and my biggest hope would be that I would get to stay at SAP. Thankfully I was able to secure a position with SAP Perth branch before moving and this was a blessing, with all the changes that came with moving country at least at SAP there was familiarity and I could hit the ground running when it came to starting a new job in a new country. My role here initially was as Technical Quality Manager for premium engagement customers, when I returned from maternity leave I took on the role of Enterprise Support Advisor. I see myself as a customer advocate. Recently I have had more interactions with our Cloud customers. The cloud world is a whole different ball game and I like to play!

Where does SAP S/4HANA public cloud fit in two-tier ERP?

Where customers want to take a phased approach to implementing or migrating to cloud, it provides an opportunity for them to do so.

What are the top 3 Barriers to SAP S/4 HANNA migration?

Barriers… no! However there are some customers that may face certain challenges due to their current landscape complexity, lack of change management processes and number of customisations/custom code.

How does SAP S/4HANA digital core enable digital transformation?

There is a new way of doing business. Data is King and what customers do, or how they use their data to their benefit will give them the opportunity to be innovative and therefore have the market edge. With S/4HANA at the digital core they can make use of real time analytics to make real time decisions.

What is the best thing about working in SAP?

Variety of work and work life balance.

What inspirational words would you offer to other people looking for a career in SAP?

Do it!! We are in the midst of an exciting journey, there are more challenges ahead as we continue to grow and evolve. Our direction is clear, we are conscious of what we need to do to progress, many customer victories have been won, many more customers are on the journey, so get on board, it’s all go! Oh and… continue to upskill, the pace is fast and you need to keep up…

How can we be more inclusive in the recruitment process to promote wider diversity?

Omit data like, age, gender or other from initial applications. These criteria may (unknowingly) influence recruiters to progress or eliminate candidates in initial recruitment process round.

INTERVIEW: NISHA NAIR FROM ACCENTURE AUSTRALIA

Tue, 12 Jul 2022 10:08:40 GMT

Tell us about your current role?

I’m currently with Accenture as an SAP Finance Analyst after being in Queensland State Government in various Corporate Finance roles for 11 years. Consulting, hence is very new for me and I’m glad to begin with the company so very renowned in the technology and consulting world.

What inspired you to have a career in SAP?

With world’s 98% of the 100 most valued brands using SAP system for their enterprise management, I’m sure you will be never out of work or learning the SAP space, that is what inspires me to start this journey of self-learning and exploring newer and better ways of using SAP ERP systems. I’m aiming to secure a role in next 3 years with SAP to be able to work on some of their newer and unique offerings like SAP PSCD, SAP GRC, SAP RISE etc.

Tell us about your career journey in tech / SAP to date?

I got introduced very organically to use my first ever SAP system-based role in early 2011 with the state government department for environment in the corporate finance division for financial accounting activities like AR/AP, end of month and year process, financial statements preparation etc. Then we were using the SAP ECC 4.6c with eventually moving on to ECC 6 upgrade in another department another finance role in 2014 to early 2016. Come late 2016 I was involved in the greenfield project of new system implementation in one of biggest government departments with implementation of SAP S/4 HANA cloud, with managing the SaaS, PaaS and IaaS licenses and subsequent upgrades and implementation of PSCD system for revenue management in late 2020. So, from being an accountant to an SAP super user and business user I feel I have transformed myself from being at the bean counter to more of a business partner and newer technology user. Still on-going as there is a lot to learn and apply to impart a more sustainable process in the world of ever-changing finance roles and practices.

What are the main obstacles you face in your current role and how do you overcome them?

I guess the three things I learned in the consulting world is – network, network and network some more to be able to have the answers you seek! Since I am not from a technical educational background so sometimes the tech jargons can seem more gargantuan than they are meant to be! So, I’m un-learning and re-learning some of those basic technical skill sets that I gathered in my 10+ years career, to be able to portray and apply my knowledge while collaborating with my peers and customers.

What is the best thing about working in SAP technology?

I have found it to be intuitive and an ERP system with an advanced and aesthetic user experience. One of the apps I have used in the past is SAP Fiori. It is more simplified offering an enhanced user experience by having it easily accessible on your fingertips on personal desktop, mobile phone etc. through the portal. And there is more for a rookie in SAP to learn and apply, so hoping to have a bit more content to share in next year (watch this space!).

What does equality mean to you?

Equality for me - is the ability to be able to provide equal opportunity and being fair no matter what.

Ensuring that no one is left out when considering rights, responsibilities, and opportunities.

What inspirational words would you offer to other people looking for a career in SAP?

Today nothing is impossible, so if me as a rookie in technological arena can make it where I’m now, I’m sure anyone can have a crossover, a shift in professional career, building knowledge by collaborating with industry experts and utilizing all the free and readily available information on SAP blogs, free courses and system demos for self-learning.

What advice would you give you to women working in the SAP ecosystem and looking to advance their career?

Don’t be scared to ask for help, as that not only clears the doubts but also opens the floor with your peers to be more receptive of your perspectives, knowledge-sharing and collaboration.

What can we all do to inspire more women into working with SAP?

To make technology not seem all so scary, introducing it early in school curriculum which I believe is bit more widespread nowadays, with having technology summer camps. We need more women representation in technology and like in every knowledge stream or profession – “start them young”

What female inspiration have you had in your career?

There have been many that have inspired me at different stages of my career, some of my mentors were women that shared the same zest and enthusiasm as me. I’m ever more thankful for them to push me to be a better version of myself personally and professionally. But if you do need a name and a face one of the few who is the industry pioneer and leader that I look up to and is inspired with is Julie Sweet, our own Accenture CEO.

Breaking Gender Bias in the ANZ SAP ecosystem - International Women's Day 2022

Thu, 24 Mar 2022 11:57:16 GMT

WOMEN MAKING SAP HAPPEN FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY - 2021

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 11:12:02 GMT

In 2019, Sapture launched our 'Women Making SAP Happen' initiative with the aim of highlighting some of the amazing women working in the SAP ecosystem. Now, 2 years later, we have shared some truly inspirational stories and have given an insight into the career achievements of women in the SAP industry. These stories were included in our International Women's Day Special 2020.

The theme for International Women's Day 2021 is #ChooseToChallenge. We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. A challenged world is an alert world and we all have a responsibility to encourage and embrace these challenges in our world today.

This year, we bring you a mini blog which digs a little deeper into some of the challenges that women face in both professional and personal lives and how they have learnt to navigate through these experiences.

Which mentors or role models have positively impacted you in your career, and what's the one lesson they taught you?

I’ve been very lucky to be surrounded by an incredible family and partner which I believe underpins my positive attitude and approach to life. Being appreciative for everything I have is an important mindset that I hold. The people closest to me have taught me selflessness, empathy and great resilience. From a professional perspective, I’ve worked with some very powerful, intelligent and inspirational people. I am continuously motivated and inspired to achieve a high standard due to strong leaders whom I look up to and respect. I am happy to say, there are too many to name that have influenced me to be and do better every day.

How have you managed to balance your career and personal life?

I was recently in a coaching session with a senior leader at SAP, and I actually asked this question to them. Their response really resonated with me. They said something along the lines of: “People try to separate work and home life, but at the end of the day, it’s all your life, and sometimes you will put more into work, and sometimes you will put more into personal aspects. It’s your choice as to what you want to focus on more at any time and balance that accordingly”. This was quite logical to me, as sometimes it feels like we let work consume us because of deadlines and schedules – however that is a choice we make at the time because of our commitment and aspirations. So, I think as long as we are conscious of the choices we make and where we invest our time for whatever reason, we can balance as need be. Be in tune with yourself and your relationships and you will know the balance you need to apply.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Treat yourself kindly. Self-awareness is important to catch yourself with behaviours that are not serving you. I’m in my early 30’s now and only just starting to realise this now.

"It does take time for people to build credibility and experience, however sometimes I was quickly ‘type-casted’ due to my gender and age"

What unique challenges have you faced in your career as a woman? How did you overcome them?

I started working as an assistant tutor very early on when I was 10 years old. As my parents are teachers and finance managers, this inspired me to see how we can help each other to make our lives better through education, contributing value in the community and have sound financial management. I continue to support others to explore the options on personal development and strategic financial planning to achieve a more balanced lifestyle.

When I was studying, I transformed from a shy lady into a well rounded person. I was given enormous tasks and people feel I can Fix or Close it with my diplomatic skills, elected to be a leader in school as deputy head prefect (similar to school captain) and executive leader of a wide range community services organisations and the journey continues.

Age won't stop us from achieving, our attitude in reaching higher and willingness to support others along the journey fulfil lives.

I believe in Pay It Forward, every day we learn, we pass on valuable lessons so that others can rise quicker.

Which mentors or role models have positively impacted you in your career, and what’s one lesson that they taught you?

Besides my parents, which I am very thankful for their lifelong roles as a friend/mentor and adviser, I am thankful to people who I met along the way who contribute their time to share their experiences, lessons learnt, and ideas which help me to make an informed decision on major pathways. For example career development strategy and the dos and don'ts in the corporate world yet be yourself.

How have you managed to balance your career and personal life?

I used to work in a global program that required me to travel regularly. While the opportunity and experience was adding high value both to myself and the companies, I reached the point where I was working 14 hours a day due to dual responsibility to manage the business as usual activities and capital investment projects. After the completion of the project delivery, I had a rethink of what I should really focus on and how I can utilise my experience to help others to consider their suitable pathways and celebrate milestones together.

Whart advice would you give your younger self?

I would be happy to share the experience I have now to my young adult-self. Follow your heart, not the traditional path which people walked, except we can utilise their learning experience, the learning experience can grow exponentially which helps other to overcome the initial challenges and fear, so that we can all be stronger and be a valuable global citizen.

"I believe in Pay It Forward, every day we learn, we pass on valuable lessons so that others can rise quicker"

How have you managed to balance your career and personal life?

In my situation, it can be a bit challenging as I am a full-time Project Manager, PhD student - Doctorate of Philosophy-IT Software Engineering AI and most importantly mother of three kids (ages 5,10 and 17). For me, it is vital to manage time well to be able to do it all. It is about your habits and daily routine. Planning and prioritise is the key. Have at least an hour a day to yourself, go for a walk or something similar that will help you relax. It does help in releasing toxins from the body and negative thoughts. Always, make time to be with your loved ones. I am fortunate enough to have fantastic support from those close to me as I would not be able to follow my dreams without their ongoing support.

Do remember pressure is a privilege. Be positive and think positive.

What unique challenges have you faced in your career as a woman? How did you overcome them?

I have not faced any unique challenges as a woman in my career. However, I have faced other challenges that I took as learnings to develop myself, to become more resilient in similar situations and stronger as a person. I focus on my goals and trying not to let challenges or negative surroundings impact what I do.

Also, I strive to be a positive role model to other women and my kids.

What advice would you give your younger self?

You are stronger, smarter and more resilient than you could ever imagine.

Knowledge is power!

Be curious as much as you are now.

It is ok to ask for help sometimes...

Be patient!

"I have faced other challenges that I took as learnings to develop myself, to become more resilient in similar situations and stronger as a person"

Thank you to the amazing women that took part in this mini blog as part of International Women's Day 2021!

If you would like to nominate an outstanding woman to tell her story, or if you would like to be featured in our "Women Making SAP Happen" series, please email danielle@sapture.com.au

2019/20 ANZ SAP Salary & Trends Report

Tue, 24 Nov 2020 11:58:45 GMT

THE ENERGY AND UTILITY INDUSTRIES IN 2020: BIG CHANGES EVERYWHERE

Mon, 07 Sep 2020 09:27:01 GMT

Well you can’t say that I didn’t warn you! In my previous article, see 2020: The Year When Planet Earth Finally Woke Up? the linkage between Sustainability and the potential Climate Emergency was made crystal clear. But I also pointed out the tremendous Green Business opportunity for every country around the world.

The oil sector within energy and utilities has already experienced the greatest level of disruption in 2020 than all of the previous 20 years. The current global economy may depend on oil, but not for much longer, Big Oil has had it. At its peak in 2008 oil reached $150/barrel. In March 2020, due to a dispute between Russia and Saudi Arabia, this plummeted to $20/barrel. Although it has since recovered to around $40/barrel, the current COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically reduced demand again, due to travel falling off a cliff and the shift to Working From Home.

The Oil Majors have only one place left to go: Big Green. Take BP in the UK. For the first time since World War II BP halved its dividend – unheard of. Much worse than that, BP recently announced a massive $17.7 Billion quarterly loss. The CEO’s response? An impressive $5 Billion a year investment in Big Green. Investors were so impressed that the BP share jumped up 6%! From zero to hero. We live in strange times.

All the Oil Majors must go Big Green, meaning investment in totally renewable energy sources. This predominantly means solar, on and off-shore wind, bio and hydroelectricity. Nuclear generation remains another clean but controversial option. Big Green investment extends to related infrastructure, for example, electric vehicle charging systems, hydrogen production and storage plus carbon capture technology.

We must not forget to add geothermal and marine to the growing list of renewables, especially as the former accounts for a hefty 10% of New Zealand’s energy supply. The sheer variability of renewables generation remains a challenge, but Germany is making rapid progress in overcoming this. New technologies like Big Data, Advanced Analytics and Machine Learning are already helping to dynamically balance supply and demand.

Any idea how much renewables are contributing to the energy market right now? Well in the UK it was around 38% last year. But for Q1 2020 this jumped to 45% - more than any other power source. Australia is a fair way behind, at 23.5% last year, but Germany is way ahead with just over 46%, for 2019. But these industries are changing so fast. A year ago, a $20 Billion deal was announced to provide 10 Gigawatt (20%) of Singapore’s future electricity needs from a huge 15,000 hectare solar farm in Australia’s Northern Territory.

Now back to the wonderful world of SAP. Energy and utility industries have always been really important to SAP. Guess which industry was targeted for SAP’s very first Industry Solution product? It was oil and gas, back in the early 90s, so it is no surprise that SAP has an impressive list of all big name customers in that sector. From an ANZ perspective these same industries feature finalists Powerco in New Zealand and Australia’s TransGrid in SAP’s annual awards for its Best Run customers (see finalists here ).

To bring you right up to date, on July 28 SAP announced a new partnership with one of the world’s largest investor-owned electric utilities: E.ON in Germany. This aims to develop a platform based on the S/4HANA Cloud Utilities solution for more standardized billing and exchanging information in the energy market.

In summary, there are many other challenges facing the energy and utilities not mentioned yet, for example Smart Meters, Smart Grid, storage and call centre automation, but these industries remain central to both our global economy and the SAP customer base worldwide.

Dr Derek Prior spent 19 years as an analyst specializing in SAP at Gartner and AMR Research, advising organizations all around the world on SAP strategy and best practices.

2020: THE YEAR WHEN PLANET EARTH FINALLY WOKE UP?

Mon, 24 Aug 2020 09:33:24 GMT

You will have to forgive me, but as a university student back in 1974, a few things really excited me. Seeing The Who and Led Zeppelin live and on fire was one. Another was the totally obvious mess that humans are making of our planet. So, I did a PhD on Air Pollution. Since then concern about the environment and sustainability has gradually increased. 46 years later Greta Thunberg and Sir David Attenborough have captured everyone’s attention on it. As Sir David has said “It is palpable nonsense to suggest that Australia’s bushfire crisis has nothing to do with climate change”. The connection between the two may be complex, but it’s there.

In 2020 it seems we have finally woken up to the reality of the mess we have made. Nobody can say that they have not been told! This includes politicians, CEOs, everyone. The media now often refers to our Climate Emergency. The current COVID-19 pandemic is teaching us many things, especially that we can change our lifestyles dramatically. It has proved that the World can prevent a catastrophe – if enough of us want to.

I know what you are thinking, “OK, but what’s this got to do with SAP”? Everything.

It is claimed that over 70% of all business transactions are processed by an SAP system. Indeed, SAP has over 425,000 customers worldwide. No business is a “good”, sustainable, business unless it knows and actively takes steps to reduce the environmental footprint that was made to produce it. Smart CEOs know that by looking through a “green lens” into their business they can reduce wastage and become much more efficient. This means huge cost savings and potentially more revenues from new green products and services. There are numerous examples out there, e.g. How to move sustainability beyond a top-level strategy and create tangible change for your company.

Take the organization that you work for today. Does it publish an annual Sustainability Report, or include it within a Corporate Social Responsibility report? Does your organization know what its environmental footprint is? Who is responsible for sustainability on the board? More importantly, what do you and your work colleagues think about how green your employer is? I would bet that they (and their children) care passionately.

In the UK many cities care and are busy publishing environmental targets, as they are fed up with deaths and health problems from vehicle emissions. In June 2018 in Australia as well, the Global Compact Network Australia launched the Australian Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) website. In March 2020 The Sustainability Practitioner Programme in Australia ran a special conference in Melbourne. See Sustainability Practitioner Programme in Australia .

Who would have guessed that even a Financial Services CEO is on the case, with a “fundamental reshaping of finance”. See Fundamental reshaping of finance.

The most impressive SAP announcement at the SAPPHIRE 2020 virtual conference was that SAP is adding a Green Line sustainability reporting capability to its ERP software, extending the Top Line and Bottom Line classic financial views of a business. Sustainability and Profitability were shown to be inextricably linked.

Did you know that for 10 years SAP has been active in the use of IT as a tool for improving business sustainability? Over that period SAP managed to reduce its own CO2 emissions from 9.2 to 3.3 tons per employee. Today SAP has 180 sustainability champions globally within its organization. SAP also offers a range of software and cloud solutions for sustainability reporting and projects. This includes:

Environmental Health and Safety management
Product Stewardship on-demand Network
Sustainability Performance Management 4.0
Product Carbon Footprint Analytics

The latter is part of the SAP Climate 21 initiative announced in June this year.

In 2020 we all have to get active, we have to challenge our employers, partners and customers about what they are doing in sustainability. This is too important for all of our children’s future. To quote The Who: “Won’t Get Fooled Again”…

Dr Derek Prior spent 19 years as an analyst specializing in SAP at Gartner and AMR Research, advising organizations all around the world on SAP strategy and best practices.

INTERVIEW: CRIS RIGBY FROM ORIGIN ENERGY

Wed, 19 Aug 2020 11:34:52 GMT

Which applications did you work with prior to SAP and how do they compare?

Working across retail, financial services, wagering and military research in my younger years, I have seen a number of systems, applications of all sizes and complexity. SAP has a broad range of applications across multiple industries thus many opportunities to take a skill set across different business models around the world. It can be an anchor for a diverse career.

What are the main obstacles you face in your current role and how do you overcome them?

The challenges seem to be generally the same: cost, high velocity in delivering business outcomes and finding the right talent. The tools I find most useful in looking at cost and high velocity are leveraging cloud, engaging with good partners and picking the right Agile and DevOps methodologies for the business I am in. In finding the right talent it is important for me, to look beyond the technical skills and know how, with great focus on adaptability, critical thinking, flexibility and creativity and ability to leverage risk for growth.

What does equality mean to you?

I believe we would have reached equality when it no longer needs to be a point of discussion and focus: equal pay, equal opportunity, equal voice at the table, no longer feeling and needing to “be better” than a man to be considered equal.

How can we be more inclusive in the recruitment process to promote wider diversity?

Apart from ensuring at least 50% of the candidates put forward are women and ensuring that the interviewing panel also has equal representation, I believe the recruitment process needs to look more holistically at what women have to offer and the benefits diversity brings. If the recruitment continues to select based on years of experience, etc and given in the past it has been traditionally a male dominated environment the progress will be slow and a lot of talent lost.

What advice would you give you to a women working in the SAP ecosystem and looking to advance her career?

Don’t be afraid to ask and challenge, look at what you can change and how you can influence what you cannot change – pick aspirational but not impossible targets
STOP wanting to be 120% ready for the next role, just give it a go!
STOP focusing on what you do not know and weaknesses – lead with strength!

How have you managed to balance your career and personal life?

a. Start at university – offer short internships, offer free summer courses

b. Talk about the outcomes and opportunities not the technology

c. Possibly help young talent find a job aligned with a SAP platform/Service

d. Share success stories at all levels not just senior management and executives

What female inspiration have you had in your career?

In my family for generations all women had a career – the thought of not having one has never been something I have considered, so somewhat/somehow I never looked/needed inspiration.

INTERVIEW: ANNA TALEVSKI - PORTFOLIO & PROJECT PROFESSIONAL - PMO

Thu, 06 Aug 2020 11:48:45 GMT

What inspired you to have a career in SAP?

I was fortunate to be provided with the opportunity to work in SAP, when AusNet embarked on a Business Transformation journey, to be more customer focussed and a process driven organisation. At the time, I was in a Portfolio Management role, managing and governing the IT Portfolio of Projects. I was asked to establish the PMO for a Business Transformation (SAP Implementation). The Program ran for approximately 2.5 years. It was a business lead Program, that was run extremely well, with many business SME’s defining the ‘as is’ and ‘to be’ state for their respective business process areas.

Tell us about your career journey in tech / SAP to date?

Over the past 22 years, I have worked in Technology environments (Financial Services & Utilities Industries), predominately in Portfolio and Program PMO Management. My passion is specifically in the establishment of PMO’s and creating structure and ways of working for Transformational Programs. It is also my strength.

During my tenure at AusNet Services, I was provided with an opportunity to establish a Program PMO for a Business Transformation SAP Implementation, including asset management, core business processes and corporate functions. The Program was delivered, on time and on budget and received an Industry award '2015 ANZ ISG Paragon Award' for AusNet Services and Capgemini (Systems Integrator Partner) in recognition for the 'Best Sourcing Transformation'.

In parallel to running the Program PMO, I was also provided with an opportunity to establish a new business function, to provide business support (process & data), on the deployment of SAP. The function was the catalyst for the process and data governance program implementation, providing linkages between Governance Councils, Process and Data Owners and Operational teams.

The role of the PDS team extended to, establishing and managing the following services to the business:

1. Master data services: including, data standards creation and maintenance, master data administration, bulk data upload facilitation, data remediation services, data governance/quality.

2. Business process services: including, business improvement change requests and pipeline management (including a prioritisation process), establishment and facilitation of Business Improvement Change Panel (BICP), custodian of Business Process Design (BPD) documents, identification of business process gaps and facilitation of improvements.

3. SAP training and communication services: including, training facilitation to improve SAP education, Asset Learner Library content custodian (course content refresh). Communications related to Business Improvements Change Requests implemented and communications to support Process Leads.

4. SAP User Security: including, role security maintenance and administration and job design support services.

The support provided to the business users by the PDS team, was critical post SAP implementation, due to the enormity of change in the ways of working. It provided a central contact point and support structure for end users.

The team served its purpose, and when SAP was fully embedded (some 2 years later), the PDS teams’ functions were dispersed back into the business, and the team was disbanded.

What is the best thing about working in SAP technology?

SAP enables end to end business processes to be implemented across an organisation. This major feature has enabled each operational team to understand bottle necks in the business process. There is process transparency, of work pending, and work completed within the business process. It provides an organisation with data in one source system, which can lead to further improvements in business processes. Having a source system, not only provides transparency but also underpins accountability.

SAP is customisable to meet an organisations business process needs, although in my experience maintaining the SAP standards is more conducive to streamlined processes across and enterprise.

Other benefits of SAP technology include:

- Ability to Integrates with other systems

- Improved data quality over time

- Promotes a continuous improvement culture

- Implement standardised process across the different lines of business (gas, electricity & transmission)

- Allows for data analytics to be implemented

- Allows for Fiori apps (front end apps) to be built to improve the end users experience.

What inspirational words would you offer to other people looking for a career in SAP?

Working with SAP, has provided me with integrated knowledge of the AusNet business. Although I had worked in the business for a number of years, this program provided me with a better understanding of the end to end business processes. This has been invaluable for my knowledge and professional development.

What advice would you give to a woman working in the SAP ecosystem and looking to advance her career?

Although I had limited knowledge of SAP, prior to commencing the SAP Transformational Program, I soon discovered that Business SME’s were going to be the experts in their respective business processes. They defined how business users would interact with the SAP system, to align to works management processes and corporate function processes. The Technical guys, had the technical experience and provided recommendations for best practice, and the Solution Architect provided governance on the solution aspects. Everyone did their job, and the value for me, was that I got to experience first-hand all of these aspects to some degree. This provided me with well-rounded exposure across the whole program, and has been invaluable to build my knowledge of the business (processes) and the system.

My advice to any women considering a career in SAP, is to absolutely take the opportunity. SAP is a global application and widely used.

What can we all do to inspire more women into working with SAP?

Promoting the diversity in the roles that can be undertaken in SAP. There are varied career options for women, including business SME’s from the various areas of the business, including corporate systems, works and asset management, technical roles, leadership and management roles, PMO roles.

What female inspiration have you had in your career?

I have experienced some very strong leadership from female leaders in IT, although the majority of my leaders have been male. My experiences on the whole, have been very positive with both male and female leaders. It basically comes down to delivering, irrespective of gender. Women in IT have supported me, guided me, and provide me with the platform to continue my path in IT projects.

INTERVIEW: JANAKI MEHTA FROM ORICA

Thu, 16 Jul 2020 12:17:33 GMT

This week we speak with Janaki Mehta from Orica. Janaki is a highly focused and diligent professional with over 16 years of analytical, functional, technical, change and project management experience on implementation and business transformation projects. Janaki is capable of successfully managing multiple tasks/projects, resources, conflicting requirements while delivering high quality solutions. She is a conceptual and strategic thinker with excellent negotiation, decision making and stakeholder management skills. Read on to learn more about Janaki's career in SAP and her thoughts on equality in the workplace...

Tell us about your current role?

IT Project Manager in a global mining services organisation managing key technology and SAP projects.

What inspired you to have a career in SAP?

I completed my Bachelors in Business/Information Systems from Monash University and took up SAP as one of the elective subjects. My first role after graduating was with a global consulting organisation and my first project was supporting a SAP implementation through their challenges. A career in SAP continues to inspire me as I could work across different business functions and see the benefit of how technology can change/benefit a business process. A career in SAP has also provided me the opportunity to work in global organisations across multiple industries.

Which SAP modules have been most useful in your business and why?

Across all the businesses I have worked with the Finance (FI/CO) module is at the core of SAP; yet with the different industries other relevant modules/areas are key. Supply Chain which is key to the global businesses is supported by Sales & Distribution (SD) and Materials Management (MM) modules extensively. Manufacturing industries use Production Planning (PP), Project Systems (PS), Plant Maintenance (PM) and also Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) modules.

Tell us about your career journey in tech / SAP to date?

I started my career in SAP after graduating; my first role was with a global consulting organisation on a SAP project. Consulting gave me the opportunity to work across different industries; across different SAP modules and across different regions in the globe. I worked in manufacturing, utilities, retail and mining/resources industries.

I have since moved onto working in a product/services based organisations in varied SAP roles from a business perspective. Supporting smaller initiatives/requirements, delivering company wide programs to being part of business transformation projects.

Overall I started my journey in SAP in a technical capacity, moving to techno-functional, analytical and then to leadership roles. The technical and functional knowledge helps me immensely while delivering Projects.

What is the best thing about working in SAP technology?

SAP technology gives you the opportunity to work in varied roles; it is also evolving to support varied business needs. It also provides a view of how an end to end business process is supported by SAP.

How can we be more inclusive in the recruitment process to promote wider diversity?

Transparency is key to be able to promote wider diversity during the recruitment process. Asking more broader questions as to how an organisation can support on a daily basis; e.g. if flexible work arrangements are a requirement.

What advice would you give you to a women working in the SAP ecosystem and looking to advance her career?

SAP provides diverse career options; it is to keep taking up opportunities as they come along; understanding where your interests lie and then keep moving towards that goal.

What can we all do to inspire more women into working with SAP?

Lead by example! With more women working in technology and leadership roles; organisations promoting gender diversity, it is all playing a part to inspire and support women into working with SAP.

What female inspiration have you had in your career?

I have reported into female leaders throughout my career who have inspired me to push through challenges and keep moving forward. They have supported, trusted and had faith in my abilities which has inspired me to go further.

TIME TO DUST OFF YOUR ERP STRATEGY

Fri, 10 Jul 2020 09:44:24 GMT

Let me ask you a really simple question: “Would a house builder start to build your dream house without a fully detailed design drawing”? Of course not. So why do companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars on ERP software – without an ERP Strategy? Yep, they do, all the time…

As a former analyst in the Gartner ERP team I lost count of how many organisations that I spoke to who were struggling with very basic implementation, upgrade and extension problems with their very expensive SAP ERP investments. But this applies to all ERP vendors, not just SAP. Usually these organisations ended up over-customising their standard ERP software, incurring big project deployment delays and/or spending way too much money too. In trying my best to help rescue the situation the first thing I used to ask them was what they were trying to achieve with ERP – what were their goals?

Guess what, 5 years ago my colleagues and I were having the same conversation with Gartner clients all around the world. In analysing these expensive problems (some ended up in the deadlines, unfortunately) we finally realised what was going wrong. All of these organisations had a business case signed off by the board – but none of them had an ERP Strategy! It’s just like kicking-off a football match, only to realise that you don’t know where the goalposts are. Or someone has just decided to move the goalposts for you.

So, what exactly is an ERP Strategy? It is, quite simply, your ERP goalposts. It is a document that defines the business objectives of your (huge) ERP investment. The ERP Strategy is driven totally by your Business Strategy. It identifies exactly which business processes are covered by the ERP footprint, e.g. order-2-cash, procure-2-pay, manufacturing planning, finance, etc. It then identifies the business value expected from ERP, including Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of each business process. The ERP strategy includes vanilla/customisation principles, business governance and ownership strategy, as well as instance strategy and basic sourcing strategy.

If you have a proper ERP Strategy in place, when someone asks: “Can you just add this feature to the ERP system?”, you can challenge them. “Well, we could, it would take 4 months and use a large part of our annual budget – but it does not line up with ERP Strategy”. Now you can see where I am coming from.

We are slowly, painfully, emerging from the dreaded coronavirus pandemic. SAP customers in some industries have done OK, e.g. on-line retail. But we know too well that other industries have seen deadly downturns. Many organisations therefore need to totally question their ERP expenditures and life cycle plans. If this is the case, I believe that they should really dust off those ERP Strategy documents. If you don’t have one, get some rapid advice on how to learn from the past and build a new ERP Strategy. It does not need to be an expensive consulting exercise to achieve this.

For example, an automotive glass manufacturer in the UK recently interviewed their key supply chain directors about where they needed to go over the next 5 years in order to meet their expected supply chain and ERP business challenges. All of the results, with direct quotes from the execs, found their way into a lovely colour graphic booklet. But the buzzwords “SAP” and “IT” were cleverly excluded. Guess what? Everyone loved it, a real, living, ERP Strategy! To me that is a genuine breakthrough in our SAP industry for business buy-in and ownership. What do you think?

We also know that many SAP customers are revisiting their ECC to S/4HANA upgrade plans, due to the SAP 2027/2030 ECC end of life extension. Sounds to me like another scenario where it makes complete sense to dust off that ERP Strategy…

Dr Derek Prior spent 19 years as an analyst specializing in SAP at Gartner and AMR Research, advising organizations all around the world on SAP strategy and best practices.

TOP TRENDS FOR SAP CUSTOMERS IN 2020- TREND 2: INCREASED CLOUD ADOPTION

Tue, 07 Jul 2020 10:09:36 GMT

As we discussed recently, getting to grips with SAP’s overall cloud strategy is surprisingly complex ( https://www.sapture.com.au/news/sap-s-cloud-strategy-qanda-with-dr-derek-prior/47793/ ). Expect increased adoption of SAP’s acquired SaaS offerings in 2020, but not S/4HANA Cloud edition.

You can also expect an even faster uptake of what I call “technical cloud”, i.e. SAP applications running on IaaS, which started on private cloud. There is an increasing global trend now to run SAP production systems on public cloud IaaS. This year SAP announced a partnership with Microsoft Azure. But the “hyperscaler” to watch out for is Amazon Web Services (AWS), who appear to be surprisingly customer-centric, which is welcome news in my opinion for all SAP customers out there.

Next week I’ll be revealing the third SAP Trend that I think you can expect in 2020. In the meantime if you are need advice on local skills availability in ANZ, then Sapture can help.

Dr Derek Prior spent 19 years as an analyst specializing in SAP at Gartner and AMR Research, advising organizations all around the world on SAP strategy and best practices.

TOP TRENDS FOR SAP CUSTOMERS IN 2020 - TREND 1: S/4HANA UPTAKE PICKS UP

Thu, 18 Jun 2020 10:21:59 GMT

I originally started to write my thoughts on this, one week before Christmas, as many SAP customers were tying up the loose ends from 2019, yet another busy year. So many SAP updates, small business change requests – all on top of the big new SAP projects demanded by your business execs.

Now that Christmas seems like a distant memory and we are in full flow of the New Year and, indeed the new decade. It’s time to ask the obvious questions such as “What’s next” and “What will be different in 2020”?

Well one thing for sure is that our beloved IT industry isn’t very good at standing still. New technologies jump onto our radar screens all the time. So, before we look at likely SAP Trends in 2020, let’s take a look at that technology radar screen – what will be the fast-moving new dots?

If we were to ask our friends at Gartner this question, this would be their answer:

1. Hyperautomation

2. Multiexperience

3. Democratization

4. Human augmentation

5. Transparency and traceability

6. The Empowered Edge

7. The Distributed Cloud

8. Autonomous things

9. Practical Blockchain

10. AI security

If you want to dig deeper, just click here: https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/gartner-top-10-strategic-technology-trends-for-2020/

But another thing we have learned is that the real-world of the SAP customer moves much more slowly. So, here’s the first SAP trend that I think you can expect in 2020, now that you’ve recovered from all the festive fun.

SAP Trend 1: S/4HANA uptake picks up

We all know about S4 and the 2025 “deadline”. Have you seen our previous discussion on this: https://www.sapture.com.au/news/when-will-your-business-be-live-on-sap-s4-hanna/46596/ ?

Well in other parts of the world, even in skeptical old UK, S4 adoption has picked up. We’re not talking exponential growth, but rather linear growth. Many customers that can get away without a business case, or can indeed build their own cunning business case, will start their ECC-to-S4 journeys in 2020. An interesting place to start is to explore the SAP Business Scenario Recommendations, which are based on your actual usage of ECC (https://news.sap.com/2019/09/move-sap-s4hana-business-scenario-recommendations/?source=email-en-newscenter-newsletter-20191009&sap-outbound-id=4AABDABFAF99E043066028F88DF28EF18EB97350&utm_source=SAPHybris&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2603&utm_term=NEWS_MEE_ALL_191512_1_NewsCenter_EN___Main%20offer&utm_content=EN ).

Recent research in the UK has predicted a worrying S4 skills shortage (https://resulting-it.com/SAP-S4-HANA-Consultant-Skills-Shortage ). This is likely to be mirrored her in ANZ, where SAP is seeing increased S4 uptake and the need for more partners with the right skills ( https://insidesap.com.au/mark-hettler-highlights-sap-demand-for-partners/ ).

Next week I’ll be discussing the second SAP Trend that I think you can expect in 2020; increased cloud adoption. In the meantime if you are need advice on local skills availability in ANZ, then Sapture can help.

Dr Derek Prior spent 19 years as an analyst specializing in SAP at Gartner and AMR Research, advising organizations all around the world on SAP strategy and best practices.

INTERVIEW: KIM BENITO FROM NTT DATA BUSINESS SOLUTIONS

Thu, 18 Jun 2020 07:12:53 GMT

Tell us about your current role?

At NTT DATA Business Solutions, my role as GM, Client Services is varied; heading up a team of delivery consultants across SAP ERP & Analytics; a team of customer success mangers and consultants delivering managed services and working closely with the sales team helping our customers understand their implementation journey, and adjusting the journey to that which best suits each client.

Tell us about your career journey in tech / SAP to date?

My career in tech started with a role as a developer, then moving through the ranks quickly to analyst and IT manager by age 24. Various roles in project management, analysis & business solutions design led to some university & contract teaching roles. Select roles in requirements analysis and ERP system selection & implementation for the client led to a role at Epicor (mid-market ERP) from consultant to project manager to consulting manager & then Director, Professional Services & Support, ANZ. After introducing Epicor’s first cloud products into ANZ, I really started to understand that ‘cloud’ was not really a deployment method but a more proactive way to engage with clients, listen to them, and put them first. Thus I joined Zuora, the subscription billing company and built the consulting capability in Australia, and the beginnings in Japan. NTT DATA is my first experience working with SAP products. I was hired to bring my experience of cloud and mid-market, a smaller, more agile implementation & customer success framework to bear for our clients.

What are the main obstacles you face in your current role and how do you overcome them?

We have worked hard to bring sales and services together so that we are aligned on how to best deliver the right outcomes for the clients, by writing good proposals and contracts we are confident we can deliver on. This leads to trust with the client, with sales, and with our consulting and managed services team. It has been the carrot rather than the stick approach, with us showing the value getting consulting involved early in discussions with clients, and helping to close the deals, and then own the projects through to successful completion.

What does equality mean to you?

Judging people by the quality of work they perform & their level of engagement -not by colour, race, gender, etc

How can we be more inclusive in the recruitment process to promote wider diversity?

Be creative in the style and approaches used to recruit that make roles attractive to all.

What advice would you give you to a women working in the SAP ecosystem and looking to advance her career?

Just do the simple things well. Be diligent, be respectful, professional but never afraid of having your own point of view. And above all, be resilient.

What female inspiration have you had in your career?

At Zuora, there were a number of woman leaders globally which really inspired me -these include Alvina Antar, Marlene Lee Summers, Tamsyn Attiwell. And several at Epicor including Lauri Klaus . Prior to these, it was a matter of simply pushing through the barriers by being professional, working twice as hard as the next person to demonstrate your skills.

INTERVIEW: JACKIE ELIUS FROM SEQIRUS

Thu, 18 Jun 2020 06:50:51 GMT

This weeks feature for Women making SAP happen, is with Jackie Elias, Programme Delivery Lead at Seqirus...

If you asked someone to tell you 10 things about me, this is what they will most likely say?

Jackie:

Has a reputation for getting things done
Is tough but fair and makes people accountable for their deliverables
Partners well with key stakeholders, external vendors and senior leadership
Has the hard conversations that others find difficult to have and delivers to her promise
Is passionate about her job and cares about her teams well being
Provides formality, structure and governance across her Programmes and challenges her team to improve ways of working on a daily basis
Enjoys implementing large, complex ERP Projects like SAP
Is respected by her peers and team members for incisive leadership and pragmatic decision making
Has a good sense of timing to balance delivery quality with a harmonious fun workplace environment
Is committed to work-life balance in the challenging world of complex ERP delivery

Tell us about your current role?

I am currently the Delivery Lead for a Global Programme in the Pharmaceutical industry. The Project Management team and I are accountable for delivering new infrastructure, applications and optimised business processes across the Organisation in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. The Programme has completed over 100 Projects, delivering a newly hosted network and a number of green and brown field applications across a number of sites.

In addition to my delivery role, I am also responsible for reporting to the Global Steering Committee chaired by the President of the Organisation and sponsored by the Senior Vice President of Global Operations and Manufacturing.

What inspired you to have a career in SAP?

have had a lot of exposure to business transformation Projects leading up to the start of my SAP career and this experience has allowed me to translate the system changes through a business lens.

I was inspired to continue working in SAP Projects to support and partner with key business stakeholders so they have a better understanding of the business process changes introduced by SAP implementations.

Tell us about your career journey in tech / SAP to date?

I started my project career as a Business Analyst, documenting business requirements and processes from the target operating model all the way to level 4 and 5 business processes. As a customer of IT, I spent a lot of time delivering the IT solution on behalf of the business. This exposure gave me a better appreciation of the IT industry and the in depth work that was required to deliver new solutions and processes across an organisation.

I transitioned into IT not long after my business BA role as an IT systems analyst and had exposure to key areas like enterprise architecture, systems design and technical design. I then moved into Project Management completing Six Sigma and Prince 2 certification before moving into larger Projects.

I have managed a variety of Projects across infrastructure and applications - from office relocations / fit outs, data centre uplifts to application implementations (ERPs, best of breed solutions and cloud solutions). I moved into my first SAP Project in 2012 commencing the delivery of a Global Template for a pharmaceutical company. This Project delivered new business processes and interfaces to key peripheral systems that were business critical and also other key manufacturing systems like Siemens and MES. When this implementation was completed, I commenced a sourcing exercise for a Global transport company taking them through an RFI / RFP process before providing a business case with cost benefit, ROI and TCO assessment. This led to finalising the selection of a System Integrator, ERP and payroll platform.

I commenced a new leadership role with another pharmaceutical company as a site integration lead supporting the deployment of Projects to the Asia Pacific region and then moved into a Global Delivery role supporting the implementation of 3 Waves of the Programme. We delivered projects that optimised business processes across the Organisation in the Northern Hemisphere sites and we are due to complete the last wave of Programme in the Southern Hemisphere in October 2019.

How can SAP Master Data Governance improve ERP master data?

In my experience, SAP Master Data Governance enables customers to centrally manage and maintain their data source and encourages businesses to standardise their data models. These standards, if applied effectively, can support the delivery of data migration by simplifying master data conventions. It also allows key business streams to align their data cleansing plans to the new standards to gain efficiencies in data migration plans. Other key benefits also include; a common data set, aligned reporting and integrated processes support e.g.: S&OP.

How can I use the V-Model with SAP Product Lifecycle Management?

Working in the pharmaceutical industry, I am continually looking for better ways to manage the validation package across my Programmes. Although I have not used this feature directly, I understand that leveraging the SAP Product Lifecycle Management enables businesses to trace requirements, design and test management work packages. The capability this feature provides would provide strong evidence for future audits and this is important to any highly regulated environment because it provides additional evidence to support the delivery of the V-Model.

Working in the pharmaceutical industry, I am continually looking for better ways to manage the validation package across my Programmes.

What order-to-cash cycle controls in SAP ensure compliance?

Most of the functional consultants I work with look for controls in SAP, so they have an opportunity to review and report on inaccuracies and conflicts. The top 3 order-to-cash cycle controls I would recommend are;

Security roles with minimal or no segregation of duties.

SAP and BI reports to maintain compliance.

Adding an automatic process to follow up outstanding customer payments.

What is the best thing about working in SAP?

The SAP Projects I have worked on have been large and complex transformation Projects and due to the intensity on delivering these Projects, they typically bring people together. I have had strong and long standing friendships on these projects and they have left a positive mark on my life.

The best thing about working on SAP projects is the self-learning and team learning that is developed naturally through the lifecycle of the project. Coaching and developing my team is also an important part of working on SAP Projects and seeing a project and team evolve to successful outcomes.

What inspirational words would you offer to other people looking for a career in SAP?

SAP projects introduce you to a completely new world. You will learn a lot about a very controlled system. You will learn about global and local processes and you will have a better appreciation for the change management activities relating to SAP implementations. Most SAP Projects have a bumpy ride and it is how you manage yourself and the teams around you that people remember. Be calm and try and have a laugh. People will remember that most.

Lastly, and most importantly - show commitment, ensure quality of work, work as ONE team, create a high performing culture, create opportunity for high performers and make a difference

How can we be more inclusive in the recruitment process to promote wider diversity?

There is a huge market for SAP projects – not only in Australia, but also in most parts of the world. I believe recruiters can succeed if they partner with local and global vendors more effectively. There is a huge opportunity to leverage their social media platforms to invite people from all walks of life (e.g. university graduates, offshore talent with potential and young entrepreneurs).

INTERVIEW: ALMA ALIPIO FROM AURIZON

Thu, 18 Jun 2020 06:28:43 GMT

Tell us about yourself?

I am fortunate to have worn many hats in my career, starting as an SAP techie to now leading teams through SAP implementations. I have a hands-on supportive approach allowing me to deliver excellent results and I thrive in the excitement of working in complex and transformational projects.

I am passionate about growth, both professionally and personally. In this constantly changing and evolving world of information technology, I've learnt to welcome the change that comes along with it. I get excited about innovative technologies and I've become resilient to new environments and challenges.

What inspired you to have a career in SAP?

After university, my first job was a graduate programmer for a manufacturing company which I was awarded at the university's co-operative education program. I was coding in a very old language on a legacy application and later moved on to a company that used SAP R/3. Back then, the SAP GUI screen look and feel was modern and was so different to the black and green screen that I was using. I was very interested and inspired to learn this innovative technology. I was later seconded to the SAP team where I had the opportunity to code in ABAP. That's how my career in SAP started.

SAP has always been a forward thinking organisation and I am seeing a lot of changes in the technology. It's an exciting time, which inspires me to continue my career in SAP.

Tell us about your career journey in tech / SAP to date

As an Abap programmer I have always been curious about "why I do, what I do?". I had the desire to understand what the reason behind a piece of code that I was writing was. So, I joined a company that allowed me to experience a global greenfield implementation of SAP SD, MM and FICO. It challenged me and allowed me the ability to experience and be involved in all aspects of the project, with a full end to end implementation starting from RFP's, all the way to support. This fundamentally built my toolset of skills in project implementations.

Later I commenced to expand on other SAP modules, in logistics and supply chain management, for one of Australia's largest privatised organisation. I was a SAP Functional working on the company's complex supply chain solutions, IT integration, distribution operations, linehaul, freight forwarding and warehouse management. The highlight during my time there, was the company's world first implementation of SAP TM9.1 solution. SAP TM was a leading edge technology and through self-learning and training I rapidly grasped the technology and further cemented my knowledge through formal bootcamp training with SAP. Soon, I took a senior position and led the functional and technical teams and continue to rollout the company's Transportation Management Solutions to the other customer operations which involved deployment across 25 sites in Australia. I led the build teams to do a further five more Transportation Management Solution implementations and system upgrades.

I later joined a large rail freight operator and a top 50 ASX company in their journey of Freight Management Transformation project as a Solution Delivery Lead. My recent accomplishment there was delivering a highly integrated and complex solution with SAP HANA and SAP TM. Both the business and IT gained many benefits from the success of the project. For example, the solution simplified and de-risked their business process. It consolidated their fragmented landscape and decommissioned old systems that has reached end-of-life. It is always rewarding when your work contributes to the success of IT and the organisation as a whole.

Is diversity in the workplace something that you think about ?

Absolutely. It is at a forefront of my mind and studies shows that companies that integrate it into their organisations, make their business more competitive and profitable. I've been in my IT profession for over 20 years and I have seen some organisations embrace it more than others.

How do you see the gender landscape in SAP and why do you think Tech/SAP have been male dominated in the past ?

Generally over the years, the presence of women in the SAP landscape has improved, but we have a long way to go. I hope to see a lot more women in the senior leadership roles and we need the help of men to make this happen.

The other area where there is still a big gender gap is the technical area. I don’t think this is unique to the SAP landscape. It applies to IT as a whole, statistics show that there is a gender gap in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). This is one of the reason why it has been always male dominated. I hope that this will improve through educational incentives to encourage female students to pursue a career in these fields.

INTERVIEW: JULIE NOORDHUIS FROM AUSGRID

Thu, 18 Jun 2020 06:23:10 GMT

Women making SAP happen is a series of articles brought to you by SAPTURE, a specialist SAP recruitment firm who support and encourage equality in the workplace. Today we speak to Julie Noordhuis, Success Factors Project Manager at Ausgrid...

Tell us about yourself?

I am 53 years old, a mother of 5 adult children and live in the south west of Sydney. I have commenced formal education a number of times but yet to complete.

I have been working as a project manager for over 10 years.

Julie Noordhuis talks to SAPTURE about equality in the industry for their Women making SAP happen series

Tell us about your current role?

I am currently managing 2 projects – SAP Fieldglass implementation for Labour Hires and Success Factors on boarding project.

Which applications did you work with prior to SAP and how do they compare?

I have worked with many different applications, including Preceda payroll. Having previously worked on SAP Payroll implementations, I found that Preceda was challenging in terms of data migration. SAP have more automated system processes.

Tell us about your career journey in tech / SAP to date?

I started Project management around 10 years ago, working previously as a business analyst. It was a natural progression for me as I love the challenge of working to schedules. I have worked for both Government and Private organisations and I have been working predominately in the SAP world for the past few years.

What does equality mean to you?

Every aspect of working life is the same for both men and women. No difference at all.

What female inspiration have you had in your career?

I have been very fortunate to work with and for some dedicated and highly intelligent women during my career, whom I have learned from and look up to.

Why do you think Tech/SAP have been male dominated in the past?

In some areas of the industry there is still a boys club mentality, unfortunately, I have experienced this first hand and it was not in an obvious organisation. The main reason this happens is because it has been allowed to happen.

INTERVIEW: BELINDA CHITTICK

Thu, 11 Jun 2020 12:30:41 GMT

i’ve been a finance professional for over twenty years, and have worked in various roles from finance business partner, shared services support, and finance business analyst over my career. i have extensive experience in business process review and improvement, business requirements gathering, master data cleansing and conversion, reporting and analysis. i really enjoy variety, forming collaborative relationships with my colleagues and working towards a common goal.

What inspired you to have a career in SAP?

prior to 2016 i had been an end user of sap in various business focussed finance roles, primarily as a finance business partner. i was given the opportunity to participate in a sap upgrade, and really enjoyed the work and dynamic nature of the erp project, and to have a positive impact on the future processes and data outputs for the business. working closely with customers and stakeholders towards a common goal and being a part of providing valuable solutions to the business is really rewarding.

Which applications did you work with prior to SAP and how do they compare?

As an end user, I’ve used multiple ERP applications including Oracle & JD Edwards. I find that SAP’s layout and structure is logical, making the system engaging and intuitive for end users. With the release of FIORI with S4 Hana, I believe the usability experience has increased further. SAP is continuously improving their product and processes to ensure quality outputs, value add reporting and analysis, and a streamlined look and feel for end users.

Which applications did you work with prior to SAP and how do they compare?

I’ve Been Lucky Enough To Work With Many Inspirational Woman Over The Years. Not Only Have I Learned A Lot From Each Of Them, But When A Particularly Admirable Trait Really Inspires Me, As A Take Away I Try To Incorporate It Into My Daily

Life.

How would you like to see the diversity landscape change in the industry over the year ahead?

Some companies and industries have made positive inroads to diversity in the workplace, but there is still a long way to go. Incidents which exclude and suppress certain groups still happen today. I would love to work in an environment where these incidents don’t happen anymore, and all people feel comfortable and safe in the workplace.

What does equality mean to you?

To me, equality means that everybody has the ability to achieve their potential without impediment or preconceived prejudices, which contributes to a balanced workforce.

What advice would you give you to a women working in the SAP ecosystem and looking to advance her career?

I would encourage women to back themselves in their ideas and goals – their talents are as useful and value-adding as any other team member.

What can we all do to inspire more women into working with SAP?

Encourage the companies you work for to have a leadership backed personnel policy which actively encourages the hiring of women, with clear and measurable targets – and ensuring that they achieve them. The result will be an inclusive and diverse culture that will attract more women to be a part of a progressive company.

What female inspiration have you had in your career?

SAPTURE, feature women working in SAP and making it happen. To be featured, or to nominate someone to be featured, contact danielle@sapture.com.au

INTERVIEW: ALEXANDRA THOROGOOD FROM RPC TECHNOLOGIES

Thu, 11 Jun 2020 11:50:53 GMT

Tell us about your current role, the applications you worked with prior to SAP and how they compare?

I am currently working as the ERP Program Manager for RPC Technologies, a small multinational Engineer-to-Order Manufacturing business. When I started in 2016, RPC were in the middle of a stalled NetSuite and third partner applications solution implementation. The challenge we faced is that we are a vertically integrated supply chain utilising project costing and discrete manufacturing across six subsidiaries in five countries to deliver value added engineering and manufacturing solutions.

Our legacy system was based around NetSuite, with a multitude of costly third party applications to integrate and perform functions not available in the cloud ERP. A post go-live survey indicated we were spending too much time reconciling data between systems to close end of month, data integrity was compromised by the integrations and the cost of maintaining the systems became untenable.

After reviewing the business requirements we went to market looking for a cloud-based solution that would meet both our project costing and manufacturing business objectives whilst enabling us to report from a sound, financial digital core in a consolidated manner. SAP S/4Hana Cloud Essentials was the only solution to meet our objectives. In just over 12 months we have achieved the following milestones:

Achievements:

Apr 2019: SAP S/4Hana Cloud Financial Core, Supply Chain, Projects, SAP Sales Cloud and SAP Analytics Cloud in parent company, RPC Technologies and subsidiary RPC Singapore (15 weeks)
Aug 2019: SAP S/4Hana Cloud Financial Core, Supply Chain & Projects Financials and Projects in RPC India and RPC Malaysian Subsidiaries (4 weeks)
Aug 2019: Winner of SAP #thebestrun Award for Excellence in SAP Analytics
Sept 2019: Group Reporting and Consolidation across parent and subsidiaries. SAP Success Factors Payroll Go Live – Australia & Singapore
Feb 2020: RPC Pipe Systems Subsidiary Go Live – SAP S/4Hana Cloud Financial Core, Supply Chain, Discrete Manufacturing Processes, Quality Management, Enterprise Asset Management (15 weeks)

Upcoming Milestones:

July 2020 SAP Concur Expense Management Go Live
Sept 2020 SAP Success Factors Go Live with integration to SAP S4HC Essentials
May 2021 SAP S4HC RPC Indonesia Subsidiary Go Live

What is the best thing about working in SAP technology?

The best thing about working in SAP is the worldwide community of support and knowledge. As more and more businesses leverage best practices and streamline their business model to cloud, the focus shifts from capital heavy IT infrastructure to lean best practice businesses who enable their people and processes utilise new technology like RPA (robotic process automation), predictive learning, data analytics and IoT to grow the business in maturity and agility to respond to the market.

This year I have been appointed to the SAP S/4 Hana APJ Product Advisory Council to provide feedback to SAP S/4Hana Cloud on the technology roadmap for cloud and provide feedback on product development to meet the requirements of the local Asia-Pacific Region. RPC Technologies was the winner of the Data & Analytics Category in SAP Australia’s 2019 #TheBestRun Awards for our outstanding Projects Forecasting Model. This model allows our 25 project managers, spread across the APAC region the capability to review Project vs Budget vs Forecast using real time API data from S/4Hana. This has been a huge advantage to our company during the isolation of the COVID-19 crisis as we can review our 200 monthly projects forecasts in an hour via Teams Meeting real time with 100% accuracy and confidence.

SAP S/4Hana requires leaders with an ability to bring people’s vision to life, empathy to the everyday struggles of getting the job done, and communication skills to drive vision into results. These are all areas that women have shown to be strong leaders and collaborators. The long-established SAP community thrives on diversity and the sharing of knowledge. In my view, the more you contribute the more you get out of it

What advice would you give you to women working in the SAP ecosystem and looking to advance her career?

My advice to women working in the SAP ecosystem is to be empathetic listen to your customers, peers and employees. Each person you meet, has a message for you. The post implementation survey I did after the NetSuite go live could be viewed as failure by some. Instead, I took the power in the words of my peers to drive change and build a system that has enabled continuous digital transformation.

What female inspiration have you had in your career?

Listen, Share and Collaborate to inspire more women into working with SAP. I am particularly inspired by Paula Kensington, CEO of CFO Conversations. She has moderated many CFO breakfasts that I have been invited to. Paula has an incredible positive energy, which highlights the achievements and journeys of inspiring change-makers. She has the motto of the three jobs you must do – Your job to your company, your job to manage your personal brand and your job to the environment and sustainability. A great concept of value, integrity and self-worth!

SAPTURE, feature women working in SAP and making it happen. To be featured, or to nominate someone to be featured, contact danielle@sapture.com.au

TOP TRENDS FOR SAP CUSTOMERS IN 2020- SAP TREND 3: UNLOCK YOUR DATA

Thu, 11 Jun 2020 09:56:35 GMT

Having spent so much time in recent years rolling out SAP applications to keep up with the business most SAP customers don’t know how to fully exploit the ton of useful data currently locked away inside those applications.

2020 will see a major refocus on data and turning that into actionable insights. The 20th edition IBM Global C-Suite Study ( https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/institute-business-value/c-suite-study# ) revealed some interesting insights to confirm this. It showed that customer trust has become the defining issue for leading organisations. The most advanced of those have turned to data to strengthen the trust they have to earn from customers. In the SAP world tools like SAP Solution Manager and others in the SAP ecosystem can liberate data locked away in your ECC back end systems and it’s likely that more and more companies will choose to utilize those tools in 2020.

What do you think, how important is it to you to unlock your data? Next week will be the final article in this series, when I’ll reveal the 4th big SAP Trend I think SAP Customers can expect in 2020. In the meantime, if you are need advice on local SAP skills or career availability in ANZ, then contact one of Saptures’ expert consultants.

Dr Derek Prior spent 19 years as an analyst specializing in SAP at Gartner and AMR Research, advising organizations all around the world on SAP strategy and best practices.

TOP TRENDS FOR SAP CUSTOMERS IN 2020 - TREND 4: UNDERSTAND YOUR MOST INEFFICIENT BUSINESS PROCESSES

Thu, 11 Jun 2020 09:50:44 GMT

Which are your most inefficient business processes running on SAP? Which are OK and which are the “best”? Any idea? Most SAP customers that I talk to don’t have a good answer to these questions. If I was your CEO you can bet that I would be asking these questions, especially in view of how much money to date we have all spent on SAP…

What if you could routinely extract meaningful Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for all of your ERP and SAP business processes? This is an extension of what we have just been talking about in liberating data. Did you know that Solution Manager Business Process Analytics does this for free? There are other specialized tools out there in the SAP ecosystem as an alternative. Using these you can track business benefits and get stuck into real business process improvement initiatives.

This was the final article in the Top Trends for SAP Customers 2020 series, as you can see there is plenty to keep us all busy having fun in 2020! If you missed any of the other articles you can find them here . If you need any recruitment advice or career consultancy feel free to contact Sapture.

Dr Derek Prior spent 19 years as an analyst specializing in SAP at Gartner and AMR Research, advising organizations all around the world on SAP strategy and best practices.

INTERVIEW: BRANKICA MALIC FROM WOOLWORTHS GROUP

Thu, 11 Jun 2020 05:20:51 GMT

Tell us about your current role?

Project Delivery Manager-delivering IT projects across Asia Pacific. I pride myself on being able to bring together the Technical and Go to Market streams in a business to drive growth and positive Customer/Business outcomes.

What inspired you to have a career in SAP?

What inspired me is when I was working in the government department where I had the opportunity to be part of SAP HR/PY Implementation project. I always strive to learn and develop myself to be competitive in the market so being part of SAP consulting world seemed to be a perfect opportunity. What I like about it is that your professional development never stops, being able to work with the clients globally, innovating new processes, and being able to be a part of the delivery system that supports achieving key business outcomes.

Tell us about your career journey in tech / SAP to date?

My current role is IT Project Delivery Manager for SAP/SF/Kronos. I have 17 years’ experience in the SAP market as a leader, mentor and consultant who is supporting a high performing technology & development team (onshore/offshore) in line with business objectives and deliverables. I have been leading and adopting the change, providing clear communication and articulation of the vision that translates to a culture of high performance. Owing the delivery and management of IT projects, systems and migration, integration of multiple businesses into one divisional team and delivery of the road-map. I also have broad experience as a QA and Release Manager, HR/PY Test Manager, Cutover Manager, Data Quality Manager, Year End Coordinator, SAP HR/ Payroll Implementation Consultant and BA. I have been involved in SAP HR/PY Implementation for 37 Global companies across Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

What is the best thing about working in SAP technology?

Being part of the improvements that SAP as an application can offer to support businesses across the globe, improving their operations and productivity by simplifying and streamlining processes using new software which allows the clients to be more responsive to their business initiatives.

What does equality mean to you?

Equality means giving equal opportunity based on knowledge, ability and performance without taking into consideration gender, age or ethnicity.

What advice would you give you to a woman working in the SAP ecosystem and looking to advance her career?

1. Have a dream or a plan that you can work towards.

2. Be a leading example to those around you. I am a mother of three beautiful boys, currently finishing Masters of Information Technology Leadership and managing multiple projects for one of the largest organisations in Australia.

3. Be curious, challenge yourself in a new environment, move outside of your comfort zone.

4. Do not get negatively distracted in the environment of changes rather look at it as an opportunity to develop yourself personally and professionally.

Have a dream, work hard towards achieving your dream and stay humble!

What can we all do to inspire more women into working with SAP?

Encourage by being a role model, educate, guide and help them to develop necessary skills to make the difference.

What female inspiration have you had in your career?

I have been inspired by many effective and inspiring leaders in my career. They are independent, strong and capable women. In fact most of my direct reporting managers were women. I have learned so much from each one of them mostly by observing and understanding what is important to them.

INTERVIEW: ANNIE VOGEL

Fri, 22 May 2020 04:47:02 GMT

Annie, tell us about yourself.

I am an IT professional who has an envious career progression working within global ICT technology vendors, including major global names: IBM, HP, Trend Micro, Cisco, Telstra & Microsoft ( within Distribution) as a Sales Business Development Manager or Channel Development Manager across Australia, Asia Pacific, and New Zealand. Over the past decade I have made offer of my SAP and ICT experience back as a Business development or business transformation consultant to the industry finding my engagements across both Small, Medium, Business, channel partners as well as large Enterprise ones. My latest engagement, which has only been disrupted very recently due to Covid 19, has been with the Australia/New Zealand division of Oxygen (SAP Sales) of the global DXC Technology for just short of 2 years. I studied Anthropology/Archaeology before IT was a formal tertiary study and became passionate about the technology opportunities as a continuation of man’s use of artifacts to better enhance mankind’s universal development. As a result I have enjoyed the fascinating developmental impact of vendors and individuals such as Microsoft’s with (Bill Gates) Apple (Steve & Was) and of amazing emergent technologies in hardware, internet commerce, Cloud development and software with significant advances such as SAP S/4 Hana. My passion for people, process and abundant opportunity in a unique industry that has shaped our decades, is ongoing.

Which applications did you work with prior to SAP and how do they compare?

I have worked with Sales Force, Tencia, Halcyon, many home grown Proprietary CRM/ERP systems as well as have sold ones such as Microsoft Dynamics, Tencia etc for Small, medium business.

Which SAP modules have been most useful in your business and why?

SAP Business One, SAP By Design, S/4 Hana, C /4 Hana, SAP Ariba, SAP Concur, SAP Success factors, SAP CX, SAP Leonardo, Fiori etc .

The reasons why & most useful – SAP is now one of the global leaders in the most technologically up to date software for centralised management giving organisations a big picture of the entire enterprise whether it is an SMB or a Larger Enterprise for Digital core. SAP provides Cloud based best practice industry standard management of supply chain solutions with the power of digital performance, IBP, logistics, Procurement, HR, customer AI, analytics and automation. SAP provides Customer needs satisfaction in availability or power to add from base modules to include Commerce Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud and customer Data Cloud means that for the 1st time a management team have concise data analytics at all operational , HR and finance levels as well as customer experience analytics to facilitate strategic marketing to customers and markets to enable sustainable growth in revenue and profitability. New technologies incorporation in the software for Supply chain management of AI and Blockchain mean that SAP provides the future now in an organisation to adapt to today’s global challenges and new threats to its sustainability or growth. By Design, and S/4 Hana are the 2 most useful for their appropriate organisation size as they are the most comprehensive way to efficiently run the whole organisation in all aspects from HR, Accounts, Sales, Procurement, supply chain, production, marketing and finance with data that can be meaning fully shared to give accurate real time analysis of an organisations performance or challenges or weaknesses.

Tell us about your career journey in tech / SAP to date?

My career 1st started with SAP early 2000’s (20 odd years ago) with its 1st versions for large enterprises that included supply chain and logistics organisations such as Toll, Retailers, such as Priceline & Seven Eleven, Car manufacturers such as Toyota and BMW or Health enterprises such as Aged Care and hospitals, banking and finance institutions, all within a large global VAR, working directly with SAP. (Value Added Reseller – IBM and then defunct Gold VAR- Synergy). The experience was one of being a key person internally to undertake the internal roll out the SAP software for the VAR to use daily for its own compliance, training and knowledge base to then be competent, experienced and capable to sell to enterprise clients across the Australia and New Zealand region.

All sales of hardware, software and services projects, procurement, HR, Finance and payroll were completed in SAP within the VAR (IBM & Synergy) and the transition from 1st internal installation to full integration use took approx. 3.5 years of daily training, learning and skills gain of complete competence in various roles including Procurement and IT Project services supply and support. Later joining DXC Technology the use of SAP was for Deal Registration, Pricing and project reporting using Fiori interfaces and dashboards. At DXC my Sales competence was withing the marketing team as an Inside Sales Support Consultant for ANZ was across all DXC SAP solutions . It was to convey the specialised messaging to convince engagement with both SMB and large Enterprise clients to attend Webinars, events or engagement directly with the various business management teams at the “C level “ for initial conversation as a result of Marketing campaigns and lead development activity. My vertical speciality focus was Aged Care, Health and Supply chain – particularly Dairy industry and manufacturing across the ANZ regions.

What is the best thing about working in SAP technology?

2018 onwards is a very exciting time with huge projected growth for new and existing customer sales for SAP particularly S/4 HANA. SAP has one of the largest installed base of both SMB and Enterprise ERP global customers- it’s a very exciting time of growth and change decisions for business digital transformation even before Covid 19, as 2025 was then the date for complete industry roadmap transition to force a new platform install due to the Internet of things (IOT) making all current ECC6 customers change to a new S/4 Hana base. The new date of 2027 or now even 2030 make it still so, but the high degree of desire for change and knowledge of C level managers for SAP to trust as the best practice for giving them the best industry solution to run in the new technological revolution of data driven change, and how SAP technology integrators are assisting in this the best satisfaction of working in a technology that has global and local diverse verticals all wanting to participate in this uptake and transformation.

What does equality mean to you?

Equality means that people are viewed the same without any bias of gender, ethnicity, religion, age, cultural background etc. People should be regarded by others on their merits and abilities equally and treated with respect in society and workplaces as equal – there are different genders and gender identifications today this should be accepted as a given but all are entitled participants of the human race. If people are viewed the same as a human person alone but all are unique and therefore of value, then they should be valued suitable or not where their ability, efforts, training, personality, attitude, passion and qualification allow them to be compared with respect to a role of employment and this alone should determine their hire.

What inspirational words would you offer to other people looking for a career in SAP?

For anyone looking at what, how, and why technology platforms impact the business world globally we live in and which ones have successfully transformed people’s lives for the better in developing and the developed countries as well as given sustainable incomes and employment for millions of people of all ages and backgrounds ? Then my advice would be for them to look for themselves into SAP as a platform, as a technology leader, and a global tech employer that has ethically invested in people, culture and continues to do so – then this would be in itself in what a person uncovering if they didn’t know about SAP to be inspirational. This would be based in evidence not just some body’s words and I think a more powerful inspiration.

Why do you think Tech/SAP have been male dominated in the past?

Our education system has reflected the cultural experience of the parents of previous 5-6 generations with little real base curriculum change in emphasis. Schools have been taught basic skills by people (teachers with little or no grasp or experience in technology) with minimal revolution in gaining imagination of their students to the realms that technology can now provide and the wealth of opportunity. IT has not been seen as aspirational by the last generations of their parents too, as say being a doctor or lawyer. This is because they have little experience to provide guidance. Men have generationally traditionally run the management of the workplaces where now they accept that technology is part of the labour cohort that they need to hire, so these are hired from the Universities, educational institutes in larger numbers as these male students are in larger numbers, completing the certifications that industry is hiring .Except perhaps in the last few years, where finally use of IT and technology skill in areas such as coding has begun to make some inroads. Ask today a cohort of early primary school children what would they like to be when they grow up and the answer is still probably the same traditional aspirations of female and male children such as nurses, teachers, doctors etc .Girls fail to be excited especially by STEM Education appeal as this is not changed enough across all schools. To make aspirational to women there needs to be emphasis highlighting the potential for change and reality in the everyday world and why Software like SAP is used in all types of organisations. Some fundamental understanding of data, cloud technology and ERP is needed in all global early education systems. Males still dominate gaming numbers as their early introduction to imaginative technology but females are less enticed as gaming involves time and again the traditional culture ideology permeates female psyche to see time wasted such as gaming as a luxury, when the burden of domestic work such as cooking, cleaning and grocery shopping even in teenage and young adult women takes priority as this is burden of responsibility is not shared equally with men. Women have not traditionally been made aware of the technology behind and driving the use daily in their activities that they are often the ones performing roles with software from data entry to reporting in all types of roles and in all diverse organisations that use SAP. Women need education on what Technology and software like SAP is and why it can be a pathway or any technology (including AI, Robotics, Blockchain, 3 D printing etc) but what is missing is that they then can understand that the implications if what its purpose and power in the new future will be – it also needs to be de -mystified as it is something that they probably already understand better if more education around benefits rather than the old ideas of techno babble that does not seem relevant to Women in particular. The current Toyota commercial about nails simplification in a humorous way (what does a Project Manager do again ?This explains to a primary school child what job the man does as the man has to summarizes all the boring, harder parts of his job into a simple one liner “ I drive a Hilux” This is spot on about connecting the complexity of what one does to make it aspirational, interesting and therefore desirable. This is perhaps is what is needed in education around STEM particularly to have a larger training cohort of women in IT skill certification training to make it into senior Technological and software companies like SAP in far larger numbers, then it will not be so male dominated as present.

What advice would you give you to a women working in the SAP ecosystem and looking to advance her career?

Enrol in the Open SAP courses, seek organisations that provide SAP training, use SAP and have employment in SAP and career pathways. Do as many of these certifications as possible.

What can we all do to inspire more women into working with SAP?

Work with SAP integrators to target in marketing, all education institutions to include SAP knowledge and courseware. Work with SAP to work with global education on what SAP is and what it can do for systems, efficiencies and opportunity for growth in economies. Lobby and work with SAP to offer scholarships, prize awards and benefices to students from SAP. Ask SAP to invest in more aspiration media to gain women’s interest and desirability in career ambitions.

What female inspiration have you had in your career?

I have had a handful of current female senior role models and mentors in my career but this has grown significantly over the past 20 years. Recently more and many have been of a slightly younger generation than me and have inspired me with new ideas and ways to overcome complex challenges. Surprisingly to me, these have been from different cultures and global countries where I am forever grateful that my career, role and travel has allowed me time and exposure to these wonderful women who are so often under the radar in even their own organisations some times, in what they do but are amazing in their stories of how they have arisen to be in the roles that they are in within these technology and SAP organisations.

SAPTURE, feature women working in SAP and making it happen. To be featured, or to nominate someone to be featured, contact danielle@sapture.com.au

INTERVIEW: EDITH WANG FROM MMG

Sat, 21 Mar 2020 05:00:45 GMT

Tell us about your current role?

My current role is M2M Application Specialist working in MMG and responsible for the M2M (Metal to Money) stream relevant change requests implementation and BAU support.

What inspired you to have a career in SAP?

After I graduated from university, my first job was working in one consulting firm, where I got the opportunity to be part of one SAP implementation project and support the end user SAP training. The successful project, positive client’s feedback and excellent project team work inspired me to continue my SAP career path.

What are the main obstacles you face in your current role and how do you overcome them?

The main challenge currently I am facing is how to leverage the existing and/or new SAP functionalities in the right sizing of work to enable business improvement. Sometimes I have to help business to re-validate the requirements and consider some rapid, fit for purpose and low-cost approach to cater for them.

What is the best thing about working in SAP technology?

I think the best thing about working in SAP technology is you can get to be around inspirational and fun people. People are very supportive and always willing to help.

What does equality mean to you?

Equality means we celebrate our diversity, while we treat each other with equal respect

What advice would you give you to a woman working in the SAP ecosystem and looking to advance her career?

First, I would say is to identify what you want and dream that you can accomplish it. And then you need to create a network of support that allows you to succeed. Finally, you also need to be clear on your priorities and balance your career and your life.

What can we all do to inspire more women into working with SAP?

Personally, I would encourage to attend some SAP seminars e.g. SAUG Conference and build up some Women’s professional connection/groups.

What female inspiration have you had in your career?

I have been inspired by many inspiring leaders and mentors in my career. They are keen to listen, fully support to fulfil my dream and show a perfect role model to me.

INTERVIEW: DEHLIA LIU FROM HARVEY NORMAN

Thu, 19 Mar 2020 05:09:01 GMT

Tell us about your current role?

Currently am working as SAP BI Architect for Harvey Norman as a contractor. The project is Accelerate, which is a SAP S/4 project. The main task for me is to collect and analyze the reporting requirement, balance the capability of S/4 embedded analysis and BW, provide reporting strategy based on SAP recommendation as well as Harvey Norman IT road map.

What inspired you to have a career in SAP?

I started my SAP journey in 2006 as an intern of SAP Labs China. I was trained with multiple tech skills in university, eg, DBA, java, js, MS .Net etc. After I joint SAP I found that I could make use of all my knowledges. Also I had the choice to learn lots of domain knowledges like accounting, logistics, banking etc. It's a great opportunity and so attractive to someone who had just joined the work market. So I started, continued, and will stay with my SAP career.

What is the best thing about working in SAP technology?

There is always something new to learn. I am always curious with new tech & new renovations. Tech makes life eaiser.

Why do you think Tech/SAP have been male dominated in the past?

Not only in the past. It is still happening. Sorry to say that. But it is the truth. An easy fact, in a project team, the boss is always a gentleman, and I have found that I am always the only female application consultant. :)

What advice would you give you to a women working in the SAP ecosystem and looking to advance her career?

The advice I would give would be:

get trained in projects;
experience as many as projects you can have;
try to put yourself on a high level when produce a tech design;
stand firm if you believe yourself if correct

What can we all do to inspire more women into working with SAP?

- provide SAP training and interview opportunities after training for junior consultant

What female inspiration have you had in your career?

Females can always put their influence in a soft way

INTERVIEW: FIONA THOLENS FROM GFG ALIANCE

Tue, 17 Mar 2020 05:14:23 GMT

Tell us about your career journey in tech / SAP to date?

I started in SAP 20 years ago, I started as a Super User working for Shell in the Netherlands and got interested in the consulting after working with consultants on our Project in Shell. Started working with Deloitte for an number of years in the Sales and the Procurement modules in SAP working on projects around Europe. Then worked for Siemens for an internal consulting department of Siemens for a few years and extended my module experience to PP and WM working on a number of implementations and the process optimization projects in Siemens for NW Europe. After moving back to Australia I have worked in a couple of consulting firms, until recently I have completed my 20 year consulting career and have recently taken a role in a company that is implementing S/4 HANA and it is a refreshing experience to see things from the perspective of the “business”.

What are the main obstacles you face in your current role and how do you overcome them?

Stepping away from consulting and moving into a “business” role has been challenging as the pace, responsibilities is significantly different. I used to have many hats to wear in the consulting side, client delivery projects, managing pre-sales work, managing off-shore teams and the sales targets. When stepping into the “business” role I don’t have those challenges and can focus on the business delivery in my role in the project which have been a change of mindset and ways of working are different.

Which SAP modules have been most useful in your business and why?

I enjoy working in the SAP arena as I have gained a lot of the experience working in consulting and with many different businesses and the industries. It allows me to be very diverse in my skills from Process Mapping (old to new processes), leadership (teams and project management), Solution Architecture of the systems. The foundation of the SAP is the same on projects but there are always a difference which always provides new challenges. The technology has also evolved so much in the space of my career that it keeps you interested in wanting to learn and grow as SAP evolves.

How can we be more inclusive in the recruitment process to promote wider diversity?

I think rather than looking at someone’s gender on a CV it should simply are they the right fit based on experiences, skills and the cultural fit.

What advice would you give you to a woman working in the SAP ecosystem and looking to advance her career?

Don’t be afraid to be who you are, demonstrate that you are a leader. Be inspired to speak out and regardless of this being a male dominated industry. Find leadership mentors that will help inspire you to the risks and find the opportunities for the right roles.

What female inspiration have you had in your career?

Throughout my career I have worked with a number of strong women that have been in leadership roles wanting to inspire other women to work in the industry and watching them juggle career and home life. I have always looked up to these kinds of women!

Women Making SAP Happen for International Women's Day 2020

Sun, 08 Mar 2020 12:01:24 GMT

Dr Derek Prior: ERP Strategy

Sun, 01 Sep 2002 12:00:03 GMT

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2022/23 ANZ SAP Salary & Trends Report

Featuring salary survey data from nearly 3000 ANZ SAP Professionals and insight from leading figures within the SAP ecosystem, our 2022/2023 SAP Salary and Trends Report has all the data you need to help you make informed career and hiring decisions.

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INTERVIEW: ARCHANA BAXI FROM SPOTLIGHT RETAIL GROUP

Melbourne

Women making SAP happen is a series of articles brought to you by SAPTURE, a specialist SAP recruitment firm who support and encourage equality in the workplace.

Archana is a skilled SAP professional with a career spanning over 2 decades, balancing her professional journey along with her family life.

Having worked in various areas of SAP, predominantly retail, Archana has experience leading and working closely with businesses to align their needs with solutions.

Tell us about your current role?

What inspired you to have a career in SAP?

Which SAP modules have been most useful in your business and why? ﻿

Tell us about your career journey in tech / SAP to date?

What are the main obstacles you face in your current role and how do you overcome them?

What is the best thing about working in SAP technology? ﻿

What inspirational words would you offer to other people looking for a career in SAP? ﻿

What advice would you give you to women working in the SAP ecosystem and looking to advance their career? ﻿

What can we all do to inspire more women into working with SAP?

What female inspiration have you had in your career?

International Women's Day 2023 - #EmbraceEquity

INTERVIEW: ANA GRAF NUNES FROM SOFTWAREONE

Women making SAP happen is a series of articles brought to you by SAPTURE, a specialist SAP recruitment firm who support and encourage equality in the workplace.

What inspired you to have a career in SAP?

Which applications did you work with prior to SAP and how do they compare?

What is the best thing about working in SAP technology?

How would you like to see the diversity landscape change in the industry over the year ahead?

What does equality mean to you?

What advice would you give you to a women working in the SAP ecosystem and looking to advance her career?

DR DEREK PRIOR ASKS: WHEN WILL YOUR BUSINESS BE LIVE ON SAP S/4 HANA?

Come on, this does sound irresistible, what’s stopping you?

So, it seems that for most SAP customers around the world, the question now is very much “when”, rather than “if”.

﻿

Dr Derek Prior spent 19 years as an analyst specializing in SAP at Gartner and AMR Research, advising organizations all around the world on SAP strategy and best practices

DR DEREK PRIOR ASKS: IS SAP REALLY LOOKING AFTER ITS ERP CUSTOMERS?

SAP’S CLOUD STRATEGY: Q&A WITH DR DEREK PRIOR

Shane: For anyone who doesn’t know you, can you do a quick intro, Derek?

Shane: Do all SAP customers fully understand the SAP Cloud strategy?

Shane: Come on Derek, why not?

Shane: Why are SAP customers so interested in Cloud solutions from SAP?

Shane: So, how good are SAP’s SaaS applications?

Shane: Can you explain what PaaS tools are used for?

Shane: So, is it safe yet to run SAP ERP applications on Cloud infrastructure?

Shane: What’s the latest SAP Cloud news?

60 SECONDS IN SAP: ROSHAN GUPTA, SAP PM WOOLWORTHS

Which major SAP modules have been most useful in your business and why?

Tell us about your career journey in tech / SAP to date?

What are the main challenges/obstacles you face in your current role and how do you overcome them?

What are the top 3 Barriers to SAP S/4 HANA migration

How does SAP S/4HANA digital core enable digital transformation?

INTRODUCING 'WOMEN MAKING SAP HAPPEN'

What does International Women’s Day mean to you?

What female inspiration have you had in your career?

What is the best thing about being a woman in SAP?

What inspirational words would you offer to other women?

Why do you think Tech/SAP have been male dominated in the past?

How would you like to see the equality landscape change in the industry over the year ahead?

INTERVIEW SANDRA ROWE, SAP FICO SYSTEMS LEAD

What lessons did you learn in your previous role?

In your opinion, which industry sectors are most exciting for SAP at the moment?

10 OF THE BIGGEST SAP NEWS STORIES OF 2015

INTERVIEW: DIVYA, SAP HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT ON PREMISE EXPERT

Tell us about yourself?

What inspired you to have a career in SAP?

Tell us about your career journey in tech / SAP to date?

What does equality mean to you?

What do you think is holding back an equal gender balance in the industry at the moment?

SAP SPORTS INFOGRAPHIC

THE BIG SAP NEWS STORIES FROM THE FIRST QUARTER

Jan

Feb

March

MUST-ATTEND SAP EVENTS OF 2016

Australia

Worldwide

INSIGHTS INTO SAP EH&S: WORLD DAY FOR SAFETY AND HEALTH AT WORK

SAPPHIRE NOW 2016 ROUND-UP

13 MUST FOLLOW SAP TWEETERS IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

INTERVIEW: AMY HAWKINS FROM SAP AUSTRALIA

Tell us about your current role

What inspired you to have a career in SAP?

Which SAP modules have been most useful in your business and why?

What is the best thing about working in SAP technology?

What inspirational words would you offer to other people looking for a career in SAP?

What advice would you give you to women working in the SAP ecosystem and looking to advance their career?

What unique challenges have you faced in your career as a woman? How did you overcome them?