SAP's Push Into the SMB Market Is Creating a Skills Gap for IT Departments
SAP's strategy to win small- and medium-sized companies as customers has an important "downstream effect" -- it means that there's a shortage of people who know how to help SMBs use ERP, NetWeaver, BI, CRM and other tools from SAP, according to IT skills researcher Foote Partners.
The Lack of SAP Skills in the SMB
SAP has plunged head-first into the small and mid-sized business arena. (See "SAP Pays Partners, Goes with Gusto for SMB Customers" for more on SAP's SMB strategy.)
However, the SMB market brings with it its own unique set of challenges. "This segment has different staffing behaviors than large companies," Foote notes. SMBs simply can't pay the high salaries for employees with in-demand skills, he notes, nor is it economical to hire expensive consultants. "SMBs have more constraints, fewer options and much less wiggle room," Foote adds.
As a result, the SAP skills shortage will most likely force IT shops to "accelerate the learning curve internally" as they try to cultivate SAP skills in-house, explains Foote.
"For any employer, that's very hard to do without a lot of discipline, which many do not have, nor do they have the luxury of time," Foote states. "But for the small to medium-sized company, it can be impossible." With such a dearth of IT bench strength to begin with, training just isn't a viable option for many SMBs, he adds.
Hard Questions for SAP
Despite SAP executives' public comments to the contrary, as Foote addresses in the release, SAP has a problem in that a skills shortage could influence companies' decision not to upgrade SAP installations or add capabilities with additional SAP products and services, Foote states.
At this point, according to the Foote, these are the four key questions that SAP executives need to ask themselves:
1. How many new or improved SAP products can customers realistically absorb, and with what kind of staff?
2. Is everyone on board who has to be to bring these skills gaps to a manageable level?
3. Can SAP continue expanding a base of mid-market users and keep both them and large-company customers happy, especially given that both group's labor needs differ so considerably?
4. If SAP can build confidence in the marketplace that new manpower initiatives will bear fruit, how fast can SAP move on these?
"SAP's story is one that we've seen countless times before: high-tech companies as victims of their own success," Foote observes. "With this skills shortage catching up with them, they are publicly acknowledging their dilemma and starting to pursue initiatives to reduce customer stress levels."
