The development prospect of SAP consultants in China in the next decade

I have been engaged in the sap consulting industry for more than 15 years, and I still maintain the optimistic, expectation and vision for the SAP consulting industry and the SAP consulting profession when I first started.

The times are changing, the environment is changing, the global ERP software market and enterprise development level are changing all the time, and the ERP software ecology in China is also different every day. The ecology and market of SAP consulting industry have changed a lot compared with the time when I just started. The number of employees of Party A companies (Enterprises), Party B (implementation companies), relevant headhunters, etc. far exceeds that of ten years ago. The SAP consulting industry is in full swing and prosperous.

Through the joint efforts of all SAP consulting peers, the world's top 500 enterprises, China's top 500 enterprises, the enterprises that should implement to the SAP system, and those who can implement SAP system have already implemented SAP system. SAP is not only the management master behind the world's top 500, but also the management master behind China's top 500. Many Chinese enterprises have implemented SAP system, optimized the enterprise management process, improved the enterprise management level, better and more smoothly adapted to the general trend of economic globalization, and more convenient to implement the "going out" enterprise development strategy. Many private enterprises, which grew savagely and became bigger and stronger, have enabled their managers to change their management thinking, turn savagery into elegance, broaden their international vision, timely integrate with the world, and enhance their soft and hard strength to participate in international competition through the implementation of SAP system. By implementing the informatization construction of ERP systems such as SAP, the enterprise has made great progress. In the era of digitalization, it can also implement the enterprise digitalization construction more seamlessly. It has been a consensus that enterprises that have implemented SAP system can better implement digital construction.

Large companies have all implemented SAP systems. Will there be no room for SAP consultants to survive and develop in the future? This is also the worry of many senior consultants in the consultancy industry. Some people feel that the future development space is limited, so it is better to change careers and transform as soon as possible. Personally, my peers’ scruples are reasonable, but there is no need to be so pessimistic.

After all, China's economy is developing too fast. Ten years ago, China's economic aggregate was far from that of the United States. Now, China's economic aggregate is close to 80% of that of the United States. With the remarkable enhancement of China's economic strength and economic vitality, the number and quality of enterprises in all walks of life have undergone earth shaking changes. The list of the world's top 500 and China's top 500 enterprises in ten years' time is bound to be very different from the current list. More and more Chinese enterprises will enter the world's top 500, and more private enterprises will enter China's top 500. The growing private enterprises and new enterprises are potential customers of SAP consultants; Large international and domestic enterprises that have implemented SAP for a long time also face the transformation of industrial and industrial economic structure, constant capital operation, frequent mergers and sales of overseas factories, and the need for upgrading SAP software systems. They are also long-term customers of SAP consultants. So I am not worried about the SAP project opportunities in 10 years or more.

Of course, as a SAP Consultant, you should not indulge in SAP itself. We must pay more attention to and learn from the business process, business model and industry development characteristics of the enterprise, accumulate profound industry knowledge, and become an industry expert is far more valuable and competitive than becoming an SAP technical expert, which can better ensure personal occupational safety. No matter what kind of disruptive changes will take place in SAP or ERP software ecology in the future, as long as practitioners firmly grasp the core ideas of ERP, deeply understand the essence of supply chain (including financial supply chain), and accumulate enough industry knowledge, they don't have to worry about the lack of development space and prospects.

2022-5-22.