Fran Foo | May 22, 2008
IN a radical move, German enterprise software giant SAP has finally loosened the grip on its tightly held training and certification program as the shortage of skilled consultants worsens.
E-learning offers students more freedom, Angie Vaux, SAP Education business manager for Australia-New Zealand, says
The new plan is simple - flood the market with skilled SAP consultants.
In Australia, the company has launched a three-pronged plan to address the issue in the form of a private sector partnership, new certification levels and a new model with universities. These will complement its existing education model.
Since the 90s the software maker has run educational courses conducted by instructors in-house but consultants will now have the option of attending classes at SAP-certified training provider Ajilon.
At Ajilon, there won't be any trainers; rather, it will use an e-learning model to deliver the course curriculum.
"Our instructor-led training courses meant people had to take a few days off to do them since they ran during business hours. E-learning is a more flexible approach and gives the students more freedom," Angie Vaux, SAP Education business manager for Australia-New Zealand, said.
However, they would not be able to login from home and access course material. "They'll have to visit the centre for now."
Another bonus, she said, was the courses at Ajilon would be 40 per cent cheaper than instructor-led programs.
A one day SAP course can start at a few hundred dollars and climb to around $17,000 for 20 days, according to SAP's website.
Ms Vaux said SAP chose to appoint a third-party instead of offering the e-learning programs internally as Ajilon had better reach nationwide.
By the end of third quarter, Ajilon would offer SAP courses in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra.
The alliance between both parties is based on a non-exclusive, revenue share model. "For starters, we've done this in India, establishing 30 centres there and it's been quite successful. We're looking at rolling it out in South-East Asia and New Zealand as well."
Ms Vaux said the e-learning model would not dilute the prestige attached to SAP certification as the same guidelines would be strictly adhered to by Ajilon.
"If students have queries they can speak to an actual trainer via instant messenger or VoIP calls," she said.
In past SAP offered a single certification structure which didn't differentiate between consultants' varied experience levels.
The company now hopes to do a better job at better recognising the competency levels of different consultants and have moved to introduce a multi-tiered certification scheme.
To qualify for the associate level certificate consultants need between one and three years industry experience, plus fundamental knowledge of SAP applications.
Those with three to seven years experience, having overseen projects and managed a team would be eligible for professional level certification.
Consultants with more than seven years can opt for master level certification.
Taking its decade-old University Alliance program a step further, SAP will offer local universities its fee-paying certification courses as part of their curriculum.
Victoria University is the first to sign up. "A blended learning approach will enable students to add solution-specific SAP certification to their business software-related academic qualifications," Paul Hawking, the university's SAP Academic Programs Director, said.
SAP's not-for-profit University Alliance has 16 members in Australia. Since 1997, the company has been providing their undergraduates with basic exposure to selected enterprise applications.
As a division, SAP Education is a $500 million global business. To address the shortage of SAP consultants, the company is adopting different tactics for various regions.
Your Comments:
16 Comment(s)
Being a SAP contractor for many years, the main issue is getting your hands on the latest release. I have recently signed up to SID, which provides access to the latest release of SAP ERP (GUI/HTML), it's worth a look especially if you want to maintain your skills.
I am not a fan of eLearning as a standard approach to any form of education as it removes the ability for detailed discussion and investigation of ideas, concerns and feedback. Having an instructor available via messanger is not the same. However, I see this as SAP's approach to just flooding the market with certified people with no experience, much like what you get from the Indian SAP call centres (all qualified with no experience and no functional knowledge). I do find it interesting that several people have noted that they are qualified but can't get work due to no experience. Guess what? Experience is easy to get. Don't walk out of a SAP course and expect to get a job as a consultant, how about aiming a little lower and getting an entry level job with an organisation that uses SAP in your core function (ie. finance, supply, maintenance, sales etc). I have 10 years SAP end user experience and have no trouble getting work and I have no certification. Any reasonable organisation would look favourably at someone wanting to start near the bottom who has SAP certification. The best consultants in any field have both experience and qualifications.
I totally agree with Alex's view; I am victim myself who did these SAP courses in Victoria Uni and SAP Australia and was jobless for 2 years; reason NO SAP experience; SAP & Universities promote these courses to fill their pockets and hardly help us to promote jobs in the SAP markets for freshers; So why waste money on SAP courses? Prem I study in Victoria university SAP under Paul Hawking, the university's SAP Academic Programs Director, but have not found a job in SAP due to nil experience. People dont waste money.
Dear Friends, Please dont get carried away by these on-line or UNi led courses of SAP.. I spent almost 20000$AU did my academy - got certifed and that's job-less for almost 1.5yrs; No SAP company will give you a job with 0 experience; Why waste money with this kind of reponse; Peter
I did an ERP (SAP) post graduate course at Victoria University and I was successful in getting a job with Accenture...some other graduates from VU are also working for Accenture
The cost of running SAP systems far outways the cost of training. How many companies will entrust their systems to people whose only exposure is online training? There is no substitute for experience, I believe that SAP announcing a change to the way they deliver training is a knee jerk reaction to the reduced number of attendees to SAP training. I suggest that a lot of consultancies have seen better value in providing their own knowledge sessions, internal projects and on the job mentoring. Having done a few SAP Online Knowledge Products I can tell you that they often fall short of providing either knowledge or experience, this is because of the human factor. Training should be about networking, opportunity and reward, not screen cams, powerpoints and youtube.
I study in Victoria university SAP under Paul Hawking, the university's SAP Academic Programs Director, but have not found a job in SAP due to nil experience. People dont waste money.
paul, the answer is obvious. the article says it's a revenue sharing thing. how else would sap make (more) money?
Having previously been exposed to one of SAP's forays in to e-Learning (for their SME Product) do not set your expectations too high. Like previous respondants have stated, actual and practical field experience will always be more highly valued than 'knowledge' gained through generic training. Perhaps SAP are cutting costs - this way they still do very well off their training revenue, but without the hassle of having to continue to pay a pesky trainer.
If the new training solution is e-learning - why is it limited to 5 cities - surely it will be accessible everywhere with broadband
As it most technologies, certification is nice but experience is valued more in the marketplace. I find that, in every engagement, the client is more concerned with what you've done in the real world. There's a lot of dud consultants bearing certs out there.
That comment does not reflect the reality. I work at a company that has had a standing advertisement for an SAP functional consultant for 12 months and can't get anyone to apply. There is a definite shortage, plus the day rate for contractors is so high that no-one will settle for a reasonable salary
I've had to self-educate with SAP as the courses are too expensive for my organisation. Any reduction in cost for training is welcome. I get paid a fraction of what a Canberra-based (or big-city) based "SAP Consultant" gets because I'm in Tasmania.
SAP training in government is virtually non-existent. The only time training is provided is when a new version is implemented and only then to assist in navigating the new site. Everyone I work with complains how unfriendly SAP is and many hours are wasted for want of an effective training program and the lack of in house consultants. Government is not going to pay exorbitant prices demanded by consultants and trainers and it is only now with a critical shortage of professional consultants has SAP reluctantly agreed to offer training online and via university. No doubt the universities will cash in on this shortage. Any potential student to SAP training will incur severe debts.
The major problem is, has been and will continue to be the cost of training in regard to SAP. I have 10 years experience as an end user. Currently I work as a contractor, and as such any training costs are down to me. Being resident in Alice Springs increases the costs substantially, as attending courses etc means including the cost of travel and accommodation, no income while training etc. I would suggest that I'm not the only one in this situation. Many people want appropriate training in SAP, and we do not all live in Capital Cities, hence the current shortage.
This move will not rectify the fundamental problem with the IT profession in Australia. The wages are too low and training too expensive thanks to the outsourcing of projects overseas. Why bother to train yourself in SAP if the majority of development will be done overseas? No amount of spin will change that.
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