SAP Career

Ex-SAP CEO Leo Apotheker - Named as New CEO and President of HP

2010-09-30T17:37:00.000-07:00

September 30 2010, Thursday. Hewlett-Packard named former SAP chief executive Leo Apotheker.

Is this going to boost the partnership of HP and SAP?
How about a services unit that competes with IBM?

Mark Hurd Resignation: Top 10 Candidates to Replace Him

2010-08-06T15:25:00.000-07:00

News that Mark Hurd is resigning as Hewlett-Packard’s chief executive is only minutes old, but already the focus is on who will be his successor.

The company told investors during a conference call this afternoon that candidates inside and outside the company will be considered.

Here, according to people familiar with the company, is a list of top Silicon Valley and technology-company executives that H-P could reach out to:

Todd Bradley, an executive vice president who runs H-P’s personal computer business. PCs are the heart and soul of H-P and under Bradley’s leadership H-P has become the world’s largest PC company, surpassing Dell and International Business Machines. The success of the typically low-profit-margin PC business depends on keeping costs down, which Bradley has done with an iron fist. He is the former CEO of Palm (which H-P purchased this year) and he has held senior positions at GE Capital and Gateway Computer.

Ann Livermore: An H-P veteran of more than 20 years, she runs the company’s enterprise business, which includes its highest growth, highest profit-margin products, such as technology services and corporate storage and services, including the EDS business. One possible strike: Livermore was passed over for the CEO post when Hurd got the job in 2005.

John Joyce: He is a managing director at Silver Lake, a technology focused private-equity firm, sits on H-P’s board and used to work at IBM.

Cathie Lesjak, interim CEO. She’s telling investors this afternoon that she’s not interested in the full time job. In her 17 years at H-P, she’s worked in the company’s Treasury department helping managing the company’s books.

Bob Wayman, former H-P finance chief who retired in 2006. He was H-P lifer, joining the company in 1969. He served as an interim CEO after Carly Fiorina stepped down in 2005.

Here are possible external candidates, which include stars in the tech world.

Ned Hooper, chief strategy officer and M&A chief at Cisco and potential heir apparent to Cisco CEO John Chambers. Cisco has been grooming him for the eventual top spot, but the chance to run H-P–fast becoming one of Cisco’s largest competitors–could be irresistible.

Steve Elop, chief of Microsoft’s business division, which handles MS Office. He was formerly chief operating officer of No. 2 networking company Juniper Networks. Known as a no-nonsense taskmaster, Elop is a veteran in the technology industry, having served in senior positions at Adobe Systems and Macromedia.

Ray Lane, Oracle’s former CEO who left in 2000 after a spate with company founder Larry Ellison. Lane now works at venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Greg Brown, Motorola co-CEO, who has been cited as helping to turn around the long struggling mobile phone company.

Kevin Johnson, former head of Microsoft’s online and Windows operations. He was heavily involved in Microsoft’s failed push to buy Yahoo in 2008 and left that year to become Juniper’s chief executive.

Accenture's Country Manager Retires

2010-03-23T23:46:00.000-07:00

Business process outsourcing (BPO) firm Accenture yesterday said its Philippine head, Beth G. Lui, has retired and was replaced by Manolito Tayag as country managing director and George Son Keng Po as head of the local Delivery Center Network (DCN) for Technology. “[Ms. Lui] has made an invaluable contribution to the company and leaves a legacy of excellence and leadership in Accenture over the last 31 years,” the firm said in a statement. Mr. Tayag will have “overall operational responsibility for the growth and sustainability of the business in the Philippines,” which has 15,000 workers. Mr. Tayag was a member of the board of directors of the Philippine Software Industry Association from 2006 to 2007. Mr. Son Keng Po, meanwhile, has been with Accenture for 23 years and “brings tremendous solutions delivery experience and leadership in application management, custom and package design and installation, data conversion, and software re-engineering in the resources and financial services sectors.” As head of the DCN for Technology he will be “responsible for the overall operations, delivery, and business results of the delivery center.” Benedict Hernandez remains as BPO operations chief.

Apotheker resigns as SAP's chief executive

2010-03-23T23:36:00.000-07:00

The chief executive officer of SAP, Leo Apotheker, has resigned his post and from the company's board, after the board declined to extend his contract.

The resignation, which was reportedly by mutual decision, is effective immediately.

To replace Apotheker, the SAP's board has appointed co-CEOs: Bill McDermott, head of field organization, and Jim Hagemann Snabe, head of product development.

"The new setup of the SAP executive board will allow SAP to better align product innovation with customer needs," SAP Chairman Hasso Plattner said in a statement. "The new leadership team will continue to drive forward SAP's strategy and focus on profitable growth, and will deliver its innovations in 2010 to expand SAP's leadership of the business software market."

Stung by lower sales and earnings, SAP actually beat expectations in the final quarter of 2009. The company in January reported sales of 10.67 billion euros (US$14.9 billion), 8 percent lower than the 11.56 billion euros (US$15.82 billion) from 2008.

Despite the downturn, overall fourth-quarter sales and especially those from software-related services beat estimates from both the company and analysts. Operating margins for the full year also were better than expected. SAP attributed the improvement in part to cost cuts and layoffs it had announced earlier in the year.

Apotheker was appointed co-chief executive in 2008, serving with then-current CEO Henning Kagermann. He took over the role of CEO in 2009 after 19 years with the company.

Source: ZDNETAsia

SAP bets on software for sustainability

2010-03-07T18:08:00.000-08:00

What's an enterprise software company doing getting into sustainability? After all, the environmental footprint from software production pales in comparison to resource-intensive industries such as power generation or even running data centers that deliver Web services such as search.

SAP is trying to get ahead of the curve in environmental sustainability strictly for business reasons, according to Peter Graf, who last March was named chief sustainability officer at the Germany-based software heavyweight.

SAP's customers are businesses, which need to comply with regulations, such as reporting greenhouse gas emissions or tracking hazardous substances it may use.

But that's just the beginning. SAP is designing software to manage environmental and social aspects of a business, which can contribute to the bottom line or lower risk, argues Graf. For example, an obvious way to hedge against the volatile price of oil is to use less of it, he says. But that's just one of many natural resources--water, metals, food, energy--that companies can manage more intelligently.

That's where software comes in. Enterprise applications make their mark in business by automating processes such as managing a supply chain. Now, there are tools to manage the natural resources companies use. Last month, SAP released a hosted application called Sustainability Performance Management, a dashboard to track factors such as a company's carbon footprint or water use.

ZDNet Asia's sister site CNET spoke to Graf about SAP's internal push around sustainability and industry at large.

Q: A lot of companies don't have regulations that force them to lower their carbon footprint or make efficient use of natural resources. So what's the pitch to them for your software?
Graf: The pitch has been evolved through observation after about 100 customer interactions so far. I usually divide people into three categories. The first category are people who ignore the topic as long as they can. They consider having to move when there is a law or a supply chain partner [forces them]. By the way, SAP customers demand information from us so they can continue doing business with us. They want to be sure we have human rights policies, we have an environmental policy--specific requirements. The business case for these people is to comply at the lowest cost and risk.

That's about half the market today. The other part, which is about 45 percent, is who I call the opportunistic guys. They optimize their productivity in terms of resources such as energy, water--any natural resource--because there is price volatility which is dramatic in oil, water, food. That's happening because we are adding 2 billion people who all want their fair access and, since there is only so much that the planet can produce, prices are going up.

The other side of the opportunistic thinking is to think in terms of products. Anything from laundry detergent to electric cars, sustainably produced shoes, anything you can think of. The reason here is that consumers are becoming so much more aware and they are really driving this conversation. They demand accountability, they demand information, they demand that organizations are transparent. And there is a branding aspect to this, which helps attract employees.

The third group are the ones that go about this strategically--I always mention Nike, Coca-Cola, or Nestle. These companies have figured out that if you do not change the way you operate, you're putting your business model at risk. So for SAP, we think we need to change our software because we think it will be harder to sell software systems that don't have sustainability built in them in a comprehensive way. For Nestle, to make very high-quality food they need to have a working planet that's not polluted and there is a reliable supply of natural products. Coca-Cola is very aggressive around water and water protection--the vast majority of the water they use goes into watering sugar cane. Nike, which has a lot of outsourced manufacturing, can't afford to have any irregularities in terms of human rights, because it hurts their brand.

It seems like there's been a higher awareness among consumers about global warming over the past few years. But you're saying that that may not be the biggest motivator for a business to take environmental sustainability seriously.
Even if a business doesn't necessarily need to be concerned about global warming, [they need to be concerned with the environment]. In principle, a car doesn't need a working planet. Why would a company that produces cars look at [sustainability], apart from the branding issue and the ability to sell a product? Well, [consider] the resources you need to produce that car. Today we put copper cables--and copper prices have really gone through the roof--into the car. Then it comes back, it's crushed, it's melted. And now you have a lot lower-grade steel because there is copper "pollution" in it. The problem is that to retrieve that copper, which gets more and more scarce, the cost is so high.

There's something wrong in the cycle. If you want to produce cars in a hundred years that use copper, you're going to find a way to retrieve that copper. Otherwise we'll be in the landfills not far from today digging out natural resources. Right now, it's a linear chain: we extract stuff from the ground, we go and process it, we consume, and we dispose of it. That's the thing that's concerning people. It needs to be a cycle.

So what's the business case for managing natural resources?
Right now, it's all about mitigating risk from volatile prices.

So what sort of software have you developed to deal with this?
Carbon impact is an application that allows an organization to assess and act on information about energy and carbon--how much energy they use globally and what carbon impact comes from that.

That's one of the applications where SAP creates information--just like in an HR system you would have information about attrition, or a financial system would have margin and revenue information. So sustainability is about managing all of this, creating a view where you can look at the entire organization on aspects of social, environmental, and economic impact.

It's about setting targets, it's the monitoring targets, it's about benchmarking against others in the company--plant A versus plant B--and others in your industry, and finally reporting on this information.

Has SAP become more sustainable since you became chief sustainability officer? What have you changed in the process?
Graf: I would absolutely say so. There are a couple of areas. There's a change on the internal side of the house--in other words, what we do ourselves. And there's been a change on the enabler side of the house, which is what we do for our customers.

The most important thing is that we now have a mindset and targets and an understanding of sustainability that is managed and elevated to the strategic level. We used to be tactical in sustainability since 1996.

What's the difference between a strategic and tactical approach to environmental sustainability?
Tactical is defined as partnering to develop some point solutions, helping people comply with regulations--more the reactive stuff. (SAP bought carbon accounting software company Clear Standards last May.)

When sustainability is part of corporate strategy, you want to have visibility into the business at a level that is much higher than you need to just comply with regulations. You want an ability to manage a performance, report, and predict outcomes. You need to understand the operational elements, extract information, and give people insight and then take action.

I see that many times companies have sustainability going on in the marketing department but not in the operational divisions. As a sustainability officer, I work where value is at a software company, which is the creation of the software. That's really the shift that has happened. I think sustainability officers are best served in this sort of situation. So if you're in a consumer goods company, you should probably have responsibility for product management. If you work in chemicals, you should probably know how energy is used to run your plants.

Small vendors specialize to compete in BI

2010-03-07T18:01:00.000-08:00

HANNOVER--Amid the BI (business intelligence) push from software giants, a smaller BI vendor says it is standing firm through specialization.

Speaking to ZDNet Asia at the company's CeBIT booth on Tuesday, LucaNet consultant Ramon Munoz Gonzalez said the company is targeting businesses through specialization in legal consolidation tools.

Gonzalez explained that the process of legal consolidation is a reporting audit function mandated by the German government, and companies need to perform this to comply with the law.

The 10-year-old company's intimate knowledge and focus on this area are its differentiation, he said, which has allowed it to target companies across industries.

Furthermore, smaller companies may be intimidated by the costs involved with some of the larger software vendors, such as SAP, he said.

LucaNet targets SMBs (small and midsize businesses), and makes its tools compatible with ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems and databases from some of the bigger boys--namely, Microsoft and SAP--to allow smaller companies to plug into existing systems, without embarking on larger implementations, said Gonzalez.

But the software giants, which offer the gamut of IT backend software, tout ease of integration across their portfolios.

In an interview with ZDNet Asia, SAP platforms solutions sales specialist, Oliver Hillermeier, said standalone BI vendors cannot guarantee tight integration with existing systems because these are out of their control.

Standalone BI implementations also have to start the data extraction process within customers' databases from scratch. On the other hand, a BI tool from an ERP vendor can provide the reporting and analysis as combined content through the front end, said Hillermeier.

SAP had 24 percent of the BI market last year with its Business Objects acquisition, according to Gartner figures.

The company is also making BI more accessible to more workers through customized reports for different job functions, said the SAP executive.

"The openness and usability of our reports have been much improved than what we offered before, and that allows us to reach more workers," he said.

SAP, in previous interviews with ZDNet Asia, said BI adoption is providing an inroad for SAP into organizations.

In an interview last month, SAP also said BI will be the fastest-moving segment for the company in the Asia-Pacific region, with BI revenues contributing to half of the company's earnings in the region.

Fellow German software giant, Software AG, has also been on a push to make its products more accessible to users. In a press conference yesterday, its CEO expounded the company's direction to take its software to more office workers down the chain, through user-friendly dashboards and displays.

In an IBM poll last October, 87 percent of CIOs in Southeast Asia said BI and analytics were a top priority for them, and saw the use of these tools as a crucial way to enhance competitive value for their organizations.

Source: ZDNetAsia

SAP trainee has hard time finding job

2009-11-26T13:15:00.000-08:00

Q. I am an SAP trainee (Abap), working on in-house projects since June 2008.

Although I want to continue my carrier in Abap, I seem to have a harder time, now, looking for SAP-related employment.

What can I do to improve my employment chances in IT?

Career advice from Tay Kok Choon, country manager of JobStreet Singapore:
The employment market is definitely getting tighter than before. However, I would advise the public not to lose heart as the economy will turn around and get better in time.

It is important to progress in one's career. Move along from the basics, progressing gradually to the more complex tasks.

Expand your horizons to include applications other than SAP. For example, at the "system analyst" type of training (explained below), skills are no longer simply applications specific; rather, relevant business knowledge is more appreciated at this level.

However, while continuous training will be beneficial for career development, one should not to fall into the trap of overtraining or undertaking training that is irrelevant.

There are, broadly, three levels of SAP-related training:

1. User-type training: For people who want to use specific modules or applications, which the IT professional should be able to master within a very short period.

2. Basic system training: Relevant for entry level staff doing configuration of the application to be implemented in an organization.

3. System analyst-type training: For people who have sufficient technical depth and business knowledge so that they can advise others on how best to exploit the application to its fullest.

In our opinion, IT professionals should aim to attain item (3) within a longer period of maybe two to three years.

Source: ZDNetAsia

SAP: Days of the database are numbered

2009-11-15T06:17:00.000-08:00

A top executive at SAP has predicted the eventual demise of the database, as solutions that allow for information to be stored and accessed directly via servers and other forms of hardware begin to mature.

Speaking on Tuesday at the SAP TechEd 2009 event in Vienna, SAP executive board member Jim Hagemann Snabe told an audience of press and analysts that as businesses move increasingly towards an "in-demand" world, there will be more demand for solutions that enable information to be accessed faster and faster.

"I can imagine a future where people don't even need a database," said Hagemann Snabe, who heads up the business solutions and technology division at SAP, one of the world's largest database developers.

In April, SAP announced a partnership with Californian data-analytics company Teradata to work on products for in-memory data management and other technology. In-memory databases eliminate disk access by storing and manipulating data in the main memory, and do not require caching.

SAP is working on similar projects with renowned Berlin-based technology think tank Handelsplatt.

Hagemann Snabe said SAP is rethinking the traditional database architecture to reflect the growth of technologies such as cloud computing and the move towards on-demand services, as well as the more collaborative approach to solutions development being demonstrated by the open-source fraternity.

SAP also announced in Vienna that it had joined a number of projects with the Apache Software Foundation, an independent group focused on open-source software initiatives. The software company said it wants to foster a more open relationship between SAP and developers.

However, Hagemann Snabe quipped that the company was not likely to be getting into the business of "free software" any time soon.

Source: ZDnetUK

SAP: Clueless Consultants From Accenture And IBM Giving Us A Bad Name (SAP)

2009-02-23T17:21:00.000-08:00

My first job out of college was as a consultant for Accenture (ACN), still called "Andersen Consulting" in those days. And after a whirlwind six weeks of training that had nothing to do with ERP, I was designated an expert systems integrator on PeopleSoft, the ERP system later devoured by Oracle (ORCL). I learned what "ERP" meant about 36 hours before I showed up on my client's doorstep.

Over the next several years, I worked on four so-called "full life-cycle" ERP implementations. Every one was delivered late, over budget, and with more bugs than a youth hostel in Bangkok.

Did the projects fail because I (and the tens of thousands of entry-level consultants in the same position) weren't trained before our first assignments? ERP giant SAP (SAP) now thinks it's a problem, and wants the so-called "experts" certified. SAP co-CEO Leo Apotheker:

“I don’t give a s**t if it’s Accenture or IBM. I care about the customer. I find it shocking people are walking around talking to customers and have no experience on [SAP]. [Consultants] get hired of people and have no clue. It’s annoying but that’s a fact. Let’s start by certifying people,”

Obviously I have a biased perspective as a former systems integration consultant, but there's plenty of blame to go around for the problems that always come with ERP integrations. Yes, consultants who don't know what they're talking about are an issue, a problem clients can and should avoid by demanding to see resumes of integrators in any project proposal. But the underlying software is maddeningly complex and buggy (at least in the 90s, SAP had a reputation in the US for issuing error messages and critical alerts in German).

And then there's the clients. SAP software in particular "wants" its users to run their businesses the "SAP way." The core of most cost/time overruns stems from CIOs committing to ERP, but middle managers insisting after implementation is already well underway that the software be changed to accommodate legacy business processes rather than the other way around.

Ultimately, while the idea of certifications is an amusing conceit, we don't think it will happen. Leo himself admits "we are not a university" and SAP can't effectively manage a certification program.

And then there's the business problem: It's easy for Leo to talk a big game on the Internet about "not giving a shit" what IBM thinks. But SAP is hugely dependent on firms like PricewaterhouseCoopers or Ernst & Young to steer business its way. If SAP makes it difficult for its system integration partners to make money -- which they do in part by sending inexperienced people to client sites -- the firms will seamlessly redirect business towards ERP companies who will play ball, like Oracle.

Accenture RP lays off 500 workers from Inquirer Article

2009-01-17T00:09:00.000-08:00

MANILA, Philippines – Outsourcing firm Accenture said it is laying off at least 500 workers in the country due to a "redundancy” program.

In a statement sent to INQUIRER.net, the company said it is implementing a redundancy program "to balance the skills of its workforce against the demand from its clients".

This affects approximately three percent of its total workforce in the Philippines or approximately 500 out of a total headcount of more than 16,000 employees.

Accenture, however, said the reduction applies only to certain "excess" skill sets within its outsourced technology services unit.

The company added it continues to recruit in the Philippines for other skills to meet client demand.

Accenture has been operating in the Philippines for more than two decades and has ramped up workforce in the last few years due to the outsourcing boom.

The company operates eight delivery centers locally, its most recently established site located in Cebu City.

The Philippines has the third-largest headcount in Accenture's global network, next to the US and India.

Source: Inquirer.Net

What is the future of a SAP technical/ABAP programmer?
Can a Computing graduate go into SAP?
SAP vs Oracle

This is because of recession. And it had made impact on IT demands not only in Philippines but in India and Singapore as well. I would like to hear your reactions on this news, add comments please, thanks.

A trainee program to better your career

2008-11-29T20:58:00.000-08:00

Q. I had five years of programming experience before I decided to take up ABAP training and certification. Now I seem to have a harder time looking for SAP-related employment.

What can I do to improve my employment chances?

Career advice from Stella Thevarakam, regional HR director of management and technology consulting firm ISS Consulting (M):

I would suggest you join a trainee program in any one of the SAP partners and take your career in SAP from there.

It may be a temporary salary cut, but usually after the training, the salary rise is quick and you will catch up very fast with your career.

SAP shares free-fall on third quarter warning

2008-10-18T23:19:00.000-07:00

SAP warned its third quarter revenues are expected to come in below Wall Street's projections, driving its stock down by a whopping 17.6 percent in intra-day trading.
The enterprise software behemoth noted that a preliminary review of its financial performance indicates its third quarter software and software-related service revenues are expected to range between 1.97 billion to 1.98 billion euros (US$2.66 billion to US$2.68 billion), a 13 to 14 percent increase over the same time last year.

However, Wall Street had been expecting the company to post revenues of 2.863 billion euros (US$3.87 billion), according to Thomson Financial.
Henning Kagermann, SAP co-chief executive, had this assessment in a statement:
"The market developments of the past several weeks have been dramatic and worrying to many businesses. These concerns triggered a very sudden and unexpected drop in business activity at the end of the quarter."

More Links:
Interview with SAP CEO on YouTube
Can a Computing graduate go into SAP?
Logica eyes more SAP business from Europe
Which one to take: SAP ABAP, Oracle DBA or CCNA?
Technical background necessary in ERP consulting?
Philippines faces IT skills shortage

"Throughout the third quarter we felt quite positive about our ability to meet our expectations. Unfortunately, SAP was not immune from the economic and financial crisis that has enveloped the markets in the second half of September, causing us to report numbers below our expectations," Kagermann added.

On the bright note, Kagermann noted that while revenues contracted, the business fundamentals of its operations remain intact.

"SAP did report double-digit growth in software and software-related service revenues for the quarter and we expect to have gained further market share," the co-CEO said.
Nonetheless, SAP fell 17.6 percent to US$37.60 a share in intra-day trading, as investors bailed on the stock.

SAP's archrival Oracle, meanwhile, also saw its stock sink, as investors worried SAP's woes is an industry problem and not just SAP-specific.
Oracle fell as much as 10.5 percent to US$17.43 a share in intra-day trading, compared to Friday's close.

Source: ZDNetAsia

Study course to SAP

2008-09-17T23:33:00.000-07:00

Q. I have roughly one-and-a-half years of post MBA (Marketing) experience in IT procurement and client servicing with a software development company (400 people) in Delhi. What will be best-suited module with regards to my present job profile: I prefer SCM-procurement (MM) or sales distribution or CRM.

I am not comfortable with programming and the other related IT skills. Please let me know whether I need to go back to the basics or not?

Now the most important aspect: the choice of learning center. As I understand it, SAP has partnered SISL and Genovate to provide education in India. A rough idea of the certification and course fees in those learning centers will help me to manage my finances.

Nirupam Bhowmik

Career advice from K Srini, human resources head-strategy of global consulting and IT services provider, Satyam Computer Services:

Hi. You can look at both SCM (MM) and CRM as options.
You might not necessarily have to go back to programming days but there would be a bit of technology learning on the module(s) that you choose.

Genovate has a 24-day certification course which costs about INR300,000 (US$7,500). As this is an approximate figure, you should check the cost directly with the provider.

More Links:

What is the future of a SAP technical/ABAP programmer?
Can a Computing graduate go into SAP?
SAP vs Oracle

Source: ZDNetAsia

Is going the SAP way the best option?

2008-09-03T07:16:00.000-07:00

Q. I currently work as an administration manager with a business process outsourcer. I have eight-plus years of experience in general administration and facilities.

My qualifications are B.Sc (PCM), Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Applications (PGDCA) and an MBA.

I plan to change my career to IT as I am not happy with my current career growth. I have heard that SAP is a good option.

With my admin profile as it is, people have suggested different options to me, like human resources (HR), sales and distribution (SD) or materials management (MM).

Others suggested that I cannot do SAP as my profile does not suit any of the available modules.

Therefore, I am little confused and unable to make a final decision. As the money and time involved will be huge, I want to make the right decision.

SAP is one option, but I request you to suggest other options too. Also, please suggest some short courses.

I am also fine with settling outside India.

I am desperate to come out of admin.

Career advice from K Srini, human resources head-strategy of global consulting and IT services provider

Every career change is always a painful process-–and there is never any guarantee of success in such an endeavor.

What you should be mindful of is that you have enough finances to tide you through the entire phase--in this case for the costs of education and thereafter job hunting--assuming you continue to serve in your current organization.

But the tougher part is managing the emotional turmoil which you are going through now until you achieve and succeed in you goal.

I urge you to be pragmatic-–the distaste of the current work you do is more palatable than being out of a job. So no knee jerk reactions, unless of course you have a huge inheritance!

As for where to go from here, you could become a functional consultant in SAP(HR)--a certified training module should not be too much of a trouble for you given your experience and educational background.

If SAP positions are available within your current organization, I urge you to go for it-–you would be better off with the experience before re-entering the "real world", plus you have the chance to get educated on company money.

Alternatively, you could transition into a complete HR professional-–starting off with a role in the HR team-–with C&B (compensation and benefit), recruitment, et cetera-–possibly branching of into training if the area excites you.

You could always revert back to the SAP track, given your rounded experience in HR and admin.

Another interesting field is in the area of facility management. With international accreditation, multinational corporations like CB Richard Ellis, JLL, et cetera, are top recruiters for such people. You could research about this.

I suggest you also read the book What Color is Your Parachute by Richard Bolles, for a little soul searching on what you want to do in life.

Where skill, mindset and work-life balance come together

2008-08-16T07:31:00.000-07:00

Q. I have been a logistics manager for the last nine years, and have a Management degree. As logistics has limited vertical scope, I am planning to switch to either business development or consulting.

My first option is to pursue ERP, but the concerns are:

a.	it will make me restart my career
b.	I will be "a visiting husband and father"--my understanding is that during initial phase as an ERP consultant, I will have to travel both with my family and alone. If one has a child who is schooling, then it's difficult to move family as per a project.
c.	I am not an engineer

My second option is to pursue an executive MBA course. This would give me the edge of starting better as far as placements would take me, at better positions and my current experience. But it's costly. Still, if I take a look at the investment returns, it is very good.

I am confused because ERP is growing and everyone is talking about it? Can you help me to choose the best in terms of current and future monetary and non-monetary perspective?

Career advice from Tay Kok Choon, country manager of JobStreet Singapore:

You will need to examine your mindset, work-life balance, skills and prospects when you are considering a career change.

Let's examine each of the above in relation to your question:

Mindset: You have concluded that logistics has limited vertical scope. In reality, as we progress along our career path, the pinnacle gets sharper and opportunities at the top become less abundant. You will face the same challenge in any other career that you plan to pursue.

The way that many people overcome this is to ensure to be the best in the field. Our experience shows that the best always prevails--they never fall out of the game.

The prospects of SAP certification

2008-08-16T07:18:00.000-07:00

Q. I am very keen to get into the SAP consultant career. However, my educational background is totally different from IT/computing.

I am a Master of Science degree holder majoring in industrial chemical science.

What are the career prospects available to me if I decide to take up a certification course?

Career advice from Stella Thevarakam, regional HR director of management and technology consulting firm ISS Consulting (M):

Well, you can join an SAP organization's trainees program and take it from there to grow your SAP career. (In Malaysia, for example, a trainee’s monthly salary is usually about RM2,000 or about US$620.)

Alternatively, you can do a certification course directly with SAP. You need to contact the company for course details and costs. With your certification, you can join any SAP organization as a junior consultant and grow from there.

Career prospects are bright if you have the certification and the experience of handling at least two full cycles of implementation. You will be much in demand by SAP organizations.

More Links:

SAP brings e-certification to S'pore
SAP brings hosted ERP to Asia
SAP and Oracle's referral programs have different focus

Source: ZDNetAsia

An expense that's worth it?

2008-08-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

Q. I am male, about 35 years old, and have been working in a finance position for six years doing accounts payable.

My company is moving to Luxembourg and my friend promised me a job as an SAP data maintenance staff in Luxembourg. It is why I am going to do an SAP course in Singapore.

I have to pay all the tuition fees. Do you think it is worthwhile to pursue the course and work in SAP data maintenance? Will I get a high salary or is it the same level as an account payable job?

More Links:

PeopleSoft Consultant Moving on SAP
Is a short course on SAP good enough?
An ABAP-trained MBA holder eyes an SAP-based job

Career advice from Stella Thevarakam, regional HR director of management and technology consulting firm ISS Consulting (M):

Definitely SAP Certification carries a lot of weight if you want to pursue a career in SAP.

The money you spend to get certified will soon pay back with your new SAP career.

The prospects are definitely better and the pay is better.

Source: ZDNETAsia

Netsuite CRM

SAP brings e-certification to S'pore

2008-07-17T22:27:00.000-07:00

SINGAPORE--Software giant SAP launched Wednesday the online version of its global certification program in the island-state, targeting working professionals who wish to pursue certification at their own pace.

The German vendor partnered the SIM University (UniSIM) to set up the UniSIM-SAP eAcademy, targeting to train and certify over 200 ERP (enterprise resource planning) consultants each year, Kowshik Sriman, SAP's vice president and Singapore country manager, said during the official launch. UniSIM is run by the Singapore Institute of Management Group.

Noting an increase in global demand for ERP consultants over the next few years, Sriman said around 6,000 SAP-certified consultants would be needed in Singapore by 2010, up from the current 4,000.

As conventional certification programs are held routinely and require working professionals to commit to a fixed schedule, the eAcademy provides a "real viable option", he said.

Besides providing flexibility in learning hours, he noted that the course fees, ranging from S$9,480 (US$6,958) to S$12, 360 (US$9,072) are significantly lower than conventional classroom-based learning.

"We're saying that the course fees are 40 percent cheaper, but we haven't factored in the opportunity cost [such as] salary, risk of [unemployment]…that makes the eAcademy's value proposition a lot higher," said Sriman.

The UniSIM-SAP eAcademy will offer six tracks, five of which--financials, human resources, order fulfillment, procurement and production planning--are ERP modules. Advanced business application programming (ABAP), a programming language developed by SAP, is also available to programmers.

To attain the certification, participants will be required to spend between 200 and 250 learning hours over four months at the eAcademy. They must also achieve a score of above 70 percent for a certification examination, which will be administered at the end of the course.

Although the lessons are conducted without an instructor, students can send queries through Web-based tools to SAP-certified professionals.

Sriman told ZDNet Asia that the UniSIM-SAP eAcademy is different from the University Alliances Program rolled out in April across the region, including Singapore. The earlier initiative does not include certification, he said, and SAP-related course components form only part of the curriculum.

According to Man Mohan Kapur, SAP's director of education services for Southeast Asia, Singapore is the third country in Asia--after India and Malaysia--to offer the online version of the SAP certification program.

Kapur added that SAP is also planning to roll out the initiative in several other Southeast Asian countries. The company is currently in talks with potential institutions in Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia, and expects to set up eAcademy programs in these economies by end-August. There are also plans to seek a partner institution in Thailand, he said.

Source: ZDNetAsia

More Links:
Is a short course on SAP good enough?
Earning potential of SAP functional consultant
Philippine IT workers enjoy competitive salaries

SAP FICO / MM Training in UP Diliman

2008-07-09T06:42:00.000-07:00

SAP (FI-CO) Financial Accounting
July 10-11, 2008 ( 2days )
Registration Fee: Php 24,000.00

SAP (FI-CO) Financial Accounting
July 17-18, 2008 ( 2days )
Registration Fee: Php 24,000

SAP (MM) Materials Management
July 24-25, 2008 ( 2days )
Registration Fee: Php 24,000

For Inquiries and reservation.
Look for Rhea Francisco
Tel: (02) 920-2080
Email: info@ittc.up.edu.ph

More Links:

PeopleSoft Consultant Moving on SAP
Is a short course on SAP good enough?
An ABAP-trained MBA holder eyes an SAP-based job

Think groups, not modules, when venturing into ERP

2008-07-08T04:09:00.000-07:00

Q. I have five years of experience in marketing research, which includes B2B research (agency side), media research and IT research.

I am now working for an IT company in Dubai as a market research executive. My work profile in this company is not a technical one, it's pure marketing research.

I have been thinking of a career shift to ERP (functional module) for some time. But since my experience is in marketing research, I am unsure about the module I choose. Expert opinion says that relevant domain experience is essential to select the module in ERP.

I have been browsing over to match my work experience with certain functional modules but I couldn't find a related match.

I am an electronics engineer and have an MBA degree too.
I am not so keen on finance modules since I don’t have much interest or skill in it. Could you suggest the right module for me? Could project portfolio management or strategic enterprise management be the right choice?

Career advice from Richard Talbot, general manager of IT recruitment specialist,
Sapphire Technologies Singapore:

Most of the major ERP systems installed have the financials modules at their core. So although this area is not the one of most interest to you, it is where much of the demand for staff comes from.

More important than the module, in our opinion, would be the ERP product that you choose to move into. The major market products are SAP, Oracle and Peoplesoft.
Commercially, SAP is the product with the greatest skills shortage in the Asia-Pacific region. This would be the one we would suggest to you, as it's easiest to get an opportunity to work with (supply and demand).

In relation to the specific module you are interested in, you should be aware that organizations that implement these systems rarely have consultants with skills in just one module--more often the modules are generally requested in groups.

The primary groups that consultants have experience in are:
• Financials • Supply Chain • HR/Payroll • CRM • Manufacturing

Rather than choosing a specific module it's better to choose an "area" to work in, then attempt to get training/experience in the core modules that fall into that area. The consultants most in demand are capable of conducting functional analysis around the major core modules in these areas.

More Links:

Source: ZDNetAsia

Philippine IT workers enjoy competitive salaries

2008-07-02T20:00:00.000-07:00

IT professionals in the Philippines are receiving above-average salaries compared to their counterparts in other professions, but most of them lack the IT certification their peers in the region have acquired, according to a survey conducted by ZDNet Asia.

The ZDNet Asia IT Salary Benchmark Survey 2008 revealed that IT employees in the Philippines earned an average annual salary of US$12,425 (500,736 peso).
This wage level, high by national standards, put the country in sixth place after Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and India, which have annual salaries of between US$13,864 and US$76,851. The Philippines is just a notch higher over last placer Indonesia, which had a US$7,709 average annual salary.

According to the National Statistics Office, the average annual income of Filipino families in 2006 was estimated at 172,000 peso (US$3,939).
The Philippines, however, was ranked at the bottom in another category with just 24 percent of the respondents saying they had at least one IT certification from a technology vendor or institution. Hong Kong topped the list with 48.9 percent, while Indonesia was able to dodge the pit with 28.6 percent.

A total of 2,521 IT professionals from the Philippines participated in the survey. They came from various industry sectors, across a range of job types, and from different company sizes. Some 92.6 percent of the respondents were working full-time, while the rest were contractors and independent consultants.

The ZDNet Asia survey found a correlation between years of experience, a higher education level, and a good salary. Those who had more than 10 years of experience enjoyed an average annual salary of 95,113 peso (US$2,178). The average number of years of experience among the Filipinos IT workers surveyed was 6.3 years.

Similarly, the survey indicated that larger companies generally gave higher compensation, compared to businesses with fewer employees. Respondents working in large companies, with more than 1,000 employees, commanded the highest average annual salary at 556,529 peso (US$12,745), followed by those in midsize companies (with between 100 and 999 employees) at 516,882 peso (US$11,837) and small companies (with fewer than 100 employees) at 456,183 peso (US$10,447).

Among sectors, the study said respondents from the legal and finance sector commanded the highest average annual salaries with 667,519 peso (US$15,286), followed by those in IT, Web and telecom with 520,612 peso (US$11,922). Those in government, education and health had the lowest average annual salary of 290,300 peso (US$6,648).

The study found that more than half (52.1 percent) of Filipino IT professionals had application development skills, nearly half (46 percent) have desktop/software skills, and more than one-third (38.4 percent) had Web development skills.

The report also noted that respondents who were contract/independent consultants in IT management, project management, communications, and other IT professionals, had higher average annual salaries than those who worked full-time at a company, while those in systems development and support earned less.

More Links:

Source: ZDNETASIA

Is it good to stop working to study for an MBA?

2008-05-28T20:07:00.000-07:00

Q. I am working for a bank as an Oracle DBA for one year. I have more than four years of experience in this field.

I hold the B.Tech (I.T.) and M.Sc. (Telecommunication) degrees.

What are the career prospects of doing an MBA in ERP (SAP) if I stop working and do the MBA course full-time?

Is it advantageous or disadvantageous to make such a move?

Career advice from Stella Thevarakam, regional HR director of management and technology consulting firm ISS Consulting (M):

An MBA always has more value when it is backed by good years of experience. You have got four years of experience.

Stopping work to do the MBA is not really necessary. Don’t rush with your MBA. Take it at a pace that you are comfortable with.

If you can manage studying and working (most people who do MBA work and study), then that will be the best option as it will add value to your resume and experience.

Stopping work and just concentrating on your MBA may give you more concentration but may reflect not so favourably on some future employers who may think that you cannot handle too much stress. Definitely more value is added if you study whilst working, but this is just an opinion. There are pros and cons.

My opinion would be not to stop working as when I interview candidates and they have periods where they study and work I view them more favourably. It adds on to the quality of the person’s experience and calibre.

Developers are born brave!

2008-05-21T06:23:00.000-07:00

A typical workplace scenario...I agree!

SAP and Oracle's referral programs have different focus

2008-05-09T04:41:00.000-07:00

Although their recently launched referral programs are similar, Oracle's is driven by financial gain while SAP's is focused on building relationships with its channel partners, says Ovum.

SAP earlier this month announced the launch of a business referral program targeted at small to midsize businesses (SMBs), in which it will pay for leads for new business. Channel partners will get a 5 percent cut of a deal's net software license value, according to SAP.

Oracle's program pays a similar 5 percent, capped at US$50,000.

Warren Wilson, Ovum research director, said in a statement the programs "should pay a double dividend" in bringing in new business and helping to identify new partners for the two software giants.

The program will offer the opportunity for the two rival companies to evaluate which of the partners will be most productive or can best fill gaps in their market coverage, said Wilson.
However, the differences between the two vendors' programs may be their emphasis, noted Wilson.

"Oracle's lead message is the money," said Wilson, adding that its programs focus on increasing deal volumes.

"SAP, by contrast, emphasizes deep engagement, building long-term relationships and two-way loyalty through co-innovation programs in which the partner helps to define the Web services that will underpin the solution.

"Which method is more effective is a question that the market will take years to answer," said Wilson.

More Links:

Source: ZDNetAsia

Intel prepares to close Philippine plant

2008-05-05T11:40:00.000-07:00

Rumors have been circulating since 2005 that Intel had already made a decision to pack up and leave the Philippines after the year 2010. The writing on the wall became clearer in 2006 when Intel inaugurated a US$605-million test and assembly plant in Ho Chin Minh City in Vietnam.
During the Vietnam launch, Intel Chairman Craig Barrett said the facility was simply an expansion and would not affect the operations of other plants located in countries such as the Philippines.

However, the telltale signs were obvious. Among the countries in Asia where it has test and assembly plants, the Philippines was the only site in which Intel made no significant plans to invest or expand.

Compared to the Cavite plant which received no part of Intel's US$1 billion investment plan for Asia in 2006, Intel poured a whopping US$270 million to increase the capacity of its Malaysian plants and another US$300 million to expand its facilities in Shanghai and Chengdu in China.
During the media interview, Barrett said the company considers "political stability" as a major factor when making investment decisions and singled out Vietnam as a favorable investment climate.

According to various blogs, Intel had discussed the possibility of moving the factory to an IT park in the neighboring province of Laguna because the current Cavite building is structurally unsound.

But employees dismissed this option, questioning the need to offer staff severance packages if the company had intended only to transfer to another location within the country.

Industry observers have cited high electricity and labor costs as two major reasons why Intel is planning an exit strategy. The Philippines has the second most expensive energy cost in Asia after Japan.

Intel's impending pullout is a huge blow to the Philippines, where the electronics market--which encompasses semiconductors--is the country's largest export earner.

The chipmaker's decision to put up a manufacturing hub was a symbolic vote of confidence that paved the way for other foreign companies such as Texas Instruments, to locate their operations in the country.

In fact, the current Cavite plant was where Intel's mobile processor Centrino was first assembled and shipped to the global market. Pentium 4 chips were also manufactured in the facility.

Aside from making chipsets and processors, the local site also houses a Flash memory design factory. However, employees who specialize in Flash are expected to move to Numonyx, a joint venture set up between Intel and STMicroelectronics.

In 2004, an Intel-commissioned study by University of Asia and the Pacific showed that the chipmaker's investments resulted in US$713 million in direct and indirect export contributions.

The report further noted that Intel accounted for 22 percent of exports in Cavite and was the largest employer in General Trias.

Source: ZDNetasia

Microsoft Should Buy SAP Instead of Yahoo

2008-04-26T09:44:00.000-07:00

Randall Stross of the NYT has an excellent idea, one that might save Microsoft from committing the most colossal strategic error in its quarter-century history. If Microsoft is going to buy a big company, Stross suggests, it should buy SAP--a company that actually does what Microsoft does well, which is sell software to corporations.

Stross picks up on the same theme we did in our "Microsoft's colossal strategic error" piece--namely that Microsoft's 13-year pursuit of the consumer Internet business has been a misguided attempt to rule a business it shouldn't be in in the first place: consumer web advertising. Buying a wounded player in that business, a company whose best days are arguably behind it, won't help Microsoft dominate the Internet--it will just further distract it from what it does really well--enterprise software. And it will likely end in disaster.

The heart of the problem, which Microsoft seems congenitally unable to recognize, is that no company, not even Microsoft, can fight and win wars on three brutally competitive fronts at the same time. To wit:

* Oracle, IBM, SAP, et al in enterprise software.
* Sony, Apple, Nintendo, Research in Motion, et al, in consumer gadgets.
* Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Time Warner, et al, in consumer media.

Microsoft is not a conglomerate like GE, and it can't win all of these wars. So here's what it should do instead:

* Swap its consumer Internet business and $10-$15 billion of cash for 51% of Yahoo.
* Consider spinning off its Entertainment and Devices business as a standalone company.
* Consider merging with SAP and really going after Oracle and IBM in the enterprise.

If Microsoft traded its Internet business and a bunch of cash for half of Yahoo, its shareholders would still benefit (by owning stock in a more successful Internet business). For reasons we've described in detail here, a stand-alone Yahoo would be far more likely to succeed than a merger Microsoft-Yahoo that is merely a small Microsoft division.

Microsoft is about to make a huge mistake that will likely define Steve Ballmer's tenure as CEO. We would like to see it not make the mistake (and also not take Yahoo down with it). But we, Stross, and others might as well be shouting down a rain barrel.

Source: AlleyInsider

More Links:

PeopleSoft Consultant Moving on SAP

2008-04-21T09:52:00.000-07:00

Q. I am a Peoplesoft consultant (HR) working for a technology service provider. I have about four years experience in Peoplesoft and I am now considering moving on to a career as an SAP functional consultant.

What are the alternatives/paths available to me to kick start my career in SAP? Should I pursue SAP courses/certification or should I try to look for a job which will offer me the chance to switch over from Peoplesoft to SAP?

Are there companies that will hire an SAP consultant with Peoplesoft consulting background?

If I were to pursue education in SAP, what will be the recommended courses for an SAP functional consultant--both HR and Finance? How much of a chance is there that I will be hired in the SAP line after I have completed those courses?

By the way, what are the prospects for Peoplesoft consultants (HR, Finance) in Asia for the coming few years?

Thank you.

Career advice from Stella Thevarakam, regional HR director of management and technology consulting firm ISS Consulting (M):

You need to have SAP config experience to pursue a career as an SAP functional consultant. You can go in as a "freshie" and join an organization�s inhouse training and grow from there.

Of course there will be a salary cut and sharp learning curve but it will put you in the right path to a career in SAP.

But for an SAP consulting company to take you in as a four-year experience consultant, it would be quite impossible. You need that SAP config to go hand in hand.

HR and Finance are two very different areas. You can choose to pursue a course in either one.

Since you already have a backround in HR, it would be a shorter learning curve for you to pursue SAP HR and then join a consulting company as a mid-junior and grow from there.

SAP consulting firms would take you in given the fact that HR consultants are quite in demand and also the fact that you have a certificate in SAP and experience in HR ERP. Of course you need to be prepared to start from a junior role.

Source: ZDNetAsia

Related Links:

AMA University Will Offer SAP Course?

2008-04-15T03:57:00.000-07:00

There were rumours that AMA University will offer a SAP Course in 2 years, I'm not exactly sure if its about ABAP or not. But I just saw their tv ad last week and I saw something about SAP, I think it is just about SAP Business One and not the SAP R/3 system.

I don't have full knowledge about SAP B1 but they said that ABAP is not the programming language for this but C++. SAP B1 are being offered in other schools including Mapua IT School in Makati

If its true that AMA will offer a course about SAP ABAP, I wonder how much would it cost, in SAP Philippines, it costs P210,000.00 for only 15 days ( whew!, expensive ), 2 years ago, it was P350,000.00.

Related links:

Will a Java expert need to learn ABAP to get into SAP?

2008-04-15T00:31:00.000-07:00

If I am a well-experienced Java Web-based Programmer and want to get into SAP environment, do I need to study ABAP? Or do I need to get the ABAP certification?

Certification is a "nice to have" in the SAP market, nothing more. What matters more to you is this: What kinds of skills do the best SAP programmers have? In past columns, I've noted that the SAP programmer of the future is going to be a "hybrid" of Java, XML, and ABAP. That's a little simplistic, because SAP has all kinds of proprietary, Web-based tools you'll need to keep an eye on as well. However, I don't think you have to have ABAP to succeed as an SAP programmer anymore (though it's always helpful). What you really need to do is find a way to tie your Java skills into SAP-related technologies. That means getting yourself in on some type of SAP implementation. I recently did an interview with an SAP Enterprise Portals consultant who had a lot to say about the potential of Portals. Portals is one area where Java skills will come into play during mySAP product installations, but there are others. You may be able to find your way onto an SAP project based solely on the skills you have now. If you think training and certification might help you, you might look into getting training in something specific to SAP's web-based initiatives, such as Enterprise Portals, Unification Server, BAPIs, SAP Java Connector, etc. That kind of training might be even more valuable to you than ABAP exposure. What you need is a clearer understanding of how your Java skills tie into mySAP project needs, and that's going to take legwork. Formal training is one possible aspect of that, but online resources like SearchSAP.com also have a lot to offer you.

By Jon Reed

Related link:
Philippines: It Pays To Get Tech Certified
What is the future of a SAP technical/ABAP programmer?

What The Differences Between ABAP and HR-ABAP

2008-04-15T00:21:00.000-07:00

The ABAP HR is an integral part of ABAP. Generally in ABAP the following are done:

1) Table development
2) Date Processing
3) Report developing
4) BAPIs /RFC s
5) Data base update
6) Screens development/enhancement
7) Scripts and smart forms.
8) Function Building
9) Java connectors etc.

This is basically done through the PROGRAMMING in ABAP builder by using ABAP 4th generation language. This may be related to any module of my SAP ERP 2004 like HR, FICO.SD,MM,CRM Etc.,

Now when it is said ABAP HR. It is the development of ABAP in the area of HR to meet the clients requirements according to the functional specifications .They may be in any area of HR like in the areas of time aspects ,pay aspects, OM aspects and Self Services like E-recruitment, ESS etc.,

In HR ABAP you use select statements significantly less than in other areas of ABAP development. Logical databases have limited applications in other modules but are very useful in HR. Also, you really need to understand the infotype time constraint concept. When you cannot get the information that you need out of the logical DB look at the function modules starting with HR* and RH*. These function modules will provide you with multiple ways of accessing data to save time. Worst-case scenario, use a select statement.

Why do you use infotypes in HR ABAP programming, and how is it different from other modules?

2008-04-14T23:44:00.000-07:00

Infotypes are the only way to pull current HR data from a screen in HR. Other modules only utilize screens; however, in HR the same screen can be utilized multiple times for different reasons (i.e. New Hire, Termination and Leave of Absence). ABAP programming must utilize Infotypes to capture accurate information.

Related link: What The Differences Between ABAP and HR-ABAP?

Interview with SAP CEO on YouTube

2008-04-14T07:39:00.000-07:00

SAP CEO Henning Kagarmann on YouTube talks about SAP:

Related links:

What is SAP?
What is ABAP?

ABAPers on Beach

2008-04-11T23:09:00.000-07:00

Just wanna share this picture, nice edit! hehe

RP needs more business-savvy ERP consultants, says exec

2008-04-10T09:55:00.000-07:00

MANILA, Philippines -- The market for enterprise resource planning (ERP) software remains lucrative but end-users now prefer consultants with extra industry knowledge.

"Companies are not interested in educating consultants. They want to get educated in best business practices by consultants," said Bo Lundqvist, general manager for Raffles Solutions.

Raffles is a Microsoft partner providing technical consulting for ERP users specializing in the small and medium business segment.

The company employs some 700 consultants across Asia Pacific, most of whom are based in India.

"The company is traditionally a large staff augmentation player," said Lundqvist via email. "Given the favorable conditions in the Philippines, the group aims to rapidly grow its consulting and outsourcing business from the Philippines."

He explained: "A good ERP consultant should possess industry knowledge, business practice and process knowledge as well as knowledge of the solution carried by the consulting firm."

This is why consulting firms greatly appreciate "career-switchers," or individuals from specific industries with deep understanding of the business, who seek a new career in consulting.

Lundqvist, who has worked with Philippine clients for more than six years, said there is a huge untapped ERP opportunity in small- to mid-sized enterprises across Asia.

"I believe what is holding the expansion back from an ERP software sales point of view is precisely the lack of qualified, trained and experienced consultants," he said.

SOURCE: Inquirer.net

Philippines faces IT skills shortage

2008-04-09T03:53:00.000-07:00

PHILIPPINES--The local IT industry is facing a shortage of skilled manpower despite a steady increase in the country's IT labor pool, shows a new study by XMG.
According to the Canada-based research firm, the average growth of IT labor in the Philippines stood at 10 percent in the last 10 years and is predicted to grow at a "steady" 3 percent in the next five years.

Despite the increase, the XMG study revealed an insufficient skilled labor pool to sustain the country's total IT growth, which is projected to accelerate by 30 percent to 35 percent year-on-year through 2010.

The study identified the skills shortage in Python, VBScript, Perl, XML and VB.net programmers in the Philippines, due to low incident count coming from the general IT population.
In the field of programming and enterprise applications, the study noted that skills in SAS, SAP, Lotus Notes and MySQL will be increasingly difficult to source, and companies must be prepared to pay a premium price to recruit professionals with these skills.

The study further emphasized a shortage of networking skills, particularly those in network administration.

The majority of fresh talents in the country will be sourced from Metro Manila, making up 22 percent of the estimated 50,000 to 60,000 graduates each year, according to XMG.

"There is a clear need to establish additional training institutions and ladderized degree programs [offered] by existing universities to boost the dwindling talent supply, due to the growth of the Philippine offshoring industry and migration of IT skilled workforce to countries such as the United States, Singapore, Canada, the Middle East and Europe," XMG statistician Benedict Dormitorio said.

The analyst also stressed the importance of ensuring curriculum alignment of educational institutions with current market needs through close consultation with IT companies and organizations.

XMG chief analyst Lauro Vives said: "With the increasing demand for IT professionals today, companies should be aware of the situation and align their strategies to mitigate risk coming from the labor market."

In order to minimize paralysis on critical operations and sustain growth, companies must extend their recruitment reach and improve efforts in skills development. They should also enrich retention and provide "hot skills" training for existing talents in the organization to avoid high additional cost components associated with these skill areas, XMG said.

Related Links:

Career Shift: Which would be the best option: Oracle or SAP?

2008-04-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

Q. I am working as a Lotus Notes administrator in a multi-national company for the past 1.5 years and now I am looking for a career shift. Which would be the best option: Oracle or SAP?

Moreover, what are the job prospects for Lotus Notes in the market?

Aditya Chaganti

Career advice from Kelly Chua, IT&T manager of recruitment agency, Hudson Singapore:

Oracle or SAP applications are both major ERP applications and have their own marketability if you specialise in either one of them.

The demand for SAP skills has always been very strong and those with the skills get paid better too.

As for Lotus Notes, there are still small pockets of demand in the local market. A lot of these roles tend to be more in the areas of support or upgrade to a new version or different platform.

Related Links:

Where to enroll for ABAP courses in Manila ?

2008-04-04T02:53:00.000-07:00

Check out these prices on this ABAP Courses from SAP Philippines.

TAW10_54 ABAP Workbench Fundamentals
Start Date: 24.03.08
End Date: 04.04.08
Days:10
Fee / Person: P 204,000.00

TAW12_B32 ABAP Workbench Concepts
Start Date: 07.04.08
End Date: 25.04.08
Days:15
Fee / Person: P210,000.00

TAW12_B32 ABAP Workbench Concepts
Start Date: 14.04.08
End Date: 02.05.08
Days:15
Fee / Person: P210,000.00

I think you can inquire in University of Asia Pacific in Ortigas as they have ABAP course offered on their curiculum. Also with KAISA Philippines.

To view the complete list of courses click here.

For other countries, click here.

What is SAP Smart Forms?

2008-04-03T05:55:00.000-07:00

SAP Smart Forms is introduced in SAP Basis Release 4.6C as the tool for creating and maintaining forms.

SAP Smart Forms allow you to execute simple modifications to the form and in the form logic by using simple graphical tools; in 90% of all cases, this won't include any programming effort. Thus, a power user without any programming knowledge can configure forms with data from an SAP System for the relevant business processes.

To print a form, you need a program for data retrieval and a Smart Form that contains the entire from logic. As data retrieval and form logic are separated, you must only adapt the Smart Form if changes to the form logic are necessary. The application program passes the data via a function module interface to the Smart Form. When activating the Smart Form, the system automatically generates a function module. At runtime, the system processes this function module.

You can insert static and dynamic tables. This includes line feeds in individual table cells, triggering events for table headings and subtotals, and sorting data before output. You can check individual nodes as well as the entire form and find any existing errors in the tree structure. The data flow analysis checks whether all fields (variables) have a defined value at the moment they are displayed.

SAP Smart Forms allow you to include graphics, which you can display either as part of the form or as background graphics. You use background graphics to copy the layout of an existing (scanned) form or to lend forms a company-specific look. During printout, you can suppress the background graphic, if desired. SAP Smart Forms also support postage optimizing.

Technical background necessary in ERP consulting?

2008-04-02T06:16:00.000-07:00

Q. Is it critical to have a technical background to have a career as a functional ERP consultant in modules like Distribution and accounts. What are the opportunities and rewards--financial and career-wise?

Career advice from Roger Olofsson, associate director of executive recruitment agency Robert Walters:

There are many highly successful functional ERP consultants with little or no background in software development. More importantly would be to ensure you have a deep knowledge in the functional domain you are planning to specialize in. For example, if you are planning to specialize in financial accounting covering areas such as accounts payable, accounts receivable and general ledger it would be highly advantageous if you have a background in accounting academically or professionally.

I would advise that you focus in one area, either distribution or accounting but not both as you run the risk of becoming a jack of all trades, master of none. Make your choice based on your current exposure and knowledge of these areas and of course take into consideration your interest in each of these areas as you are likelier to become a real expert and successful if you chose a domain you are passionate about. Prospects for functional ERP consultants continue to look good in the future, particularly if you develop expertise in any of the two dominant ERP packages in the market, SAP or Oracle.

Source: ZDNetAsia

Which one to take: SAP ABAP, Oracle DBA or CCNA?

2008-03-30T03:26:00.000-07:00

Q. I'm really confused as to which IT career I should pick. I'm choosing between SAP ABAP, Oracle DBA and CCNA (Cisco Networking Academy). I'm a computer science graduate.

I know and everybody says that it depends on what I love to do. Modesty aside, I think I can be in networking and programming. Among the three, maybe I'll consider based on which is best in terms of salary and career-wise.

Your advice and opinion is very much appreciated.

Ran Lloyd Ong

Career advice from Stella Thevarakam, regional HR director of management and technology consulting firm ISS Consulting (M):

Sounds like you are a techy type of person. As such, I would recommend you to pursue SAP ABAP training and then move on that career path.

SAP "ABAPers" are very much in demand and it pays very well (good future).

Related Links:

Switch from BPCS to SAP?

2008-03-30T03:22:00.000-07:00

I have two years of experience in AS400 with BPCS as the ERP (enterprise resource planning) platform. As BPCS is stagnant now, will changing from BPCS to SAP be a good move?

Hema

Career advice from Andrew Sansom, director of executive recruitment agency DP Search:

Actually Hema, BPCS still has a lot of active sites and many of these still require skilled staff to enhance, manage and maintain their systems.

Nonetheless to answer your question directly, SAP is and will continue to be a major player in the ERP market and of course changing your skills to SAP would probably benefit you in the longer term.

There are other ERP systems too by the way, so SAP is not the only game in town.

There are a few ways to do this conversion. The cheapest and easiest way is to find an employer who is willing to bring you in and train you in a the new systems. That employer needs to recognise your BPCS skills as an asset.

The alternative route, which many people have followed in the past, is to put yourself through SAP (or other ERP) training. Although this is expensive, many IT practitioners have decided the cost and sacrifice is worth it in the long run, as they may be able to secure a better and more rewarding job as a result.

Source: ZDNetAsia

An ABAP-trained MBA holder eyes an SAP-based job

2008-03-27T01:43:00.000-07:00

Q. I have an MBA in marketing and engineering in computer science. So far, I don’t have any great career growth probably due to a lack of planning or implementation. I did engineering in 2002 and the MBA in 2007.

Before doing the MBA, I had training in SAP ABAP, but couldn’t be placed anywhere due to lack of opportunities for "freshies" in SAP. Again after doing MBA, I want to go into SAP. ERP is my dream job. Currently I am a sales manager.
Please suggest how to enter into an SAP functional job and which module training will be best according to today's trends.
rahul

Career advice from Stella Thevarakam, regional HR director of management and technology consulting firm ISS Consulting (M):

Since you had some SAP ABAP training, I would advice you to continue with ABAP and get certified and then have cross-functional training into a logistic module based on your background.

There will be a sharp learning curve for you and probably a salary cut as you are going into a completely different career path and your past experience cannot contribute much to the SAP path.

You need go into an organization as a freshie and go through their "freshies" program to pick up the SAP skills. Then, after about a year, move into actual implementation, still as a freshie and grow from there.

Road to an ERP career in HR/Finance

2008-03-27T01:22:00.001-07:00

Q. I've some SAP exposure as a user for business processes etc. I am interested in pursuing an ERP career.

As I am from a non-info systems background, would you recommend study that consists of both ERP and info systems or would ERP alone be a good starting point?
I would be interested in pursuing the HR/Finance functions. Any advice would be most appreciated.

Mart

Career advice from Stella Thevarakam, regional HR director of management and technology consulting firm ISS Consulting (M):

You could join an SAP organization that runs "freshies" programs, go through their program and get certified. You could choose to do the HR module in that program.
After about a year of classroom training and on-the-job training, you would be on to a good career path of the high-in-demand HR SAP consultant.

Source: ZDNetAsia

Can a Computing graduate go into SAP?

2008-03-25T07:21:00.000-07:00

Q. I am a recent graduate holding a Bachelor degree in Computing, and I'm interested in becoming a SAP consultant.
I'm getting the impression that a SAP consulting career is for those non-IT graduates with some years of experience in their respective fields such as finance, sales and production planning. Is this view of mine correct?

Career advice from Roger Olofsson, associate director of executive recruitment agency Robert Walters:
No you don’t need functional experience in a particular field such as finance or logistics to carve out a successful career in SAP consulting. SAP at a broad level is divided into two different streams: technical and functional.

As a Computer graduate you are strongly positioned to enter the SAP consulting realm through the technical stream and I would advise you to scan the market for graduate hiring programs by the large IT consulting firms and other MNCs with large SAP set-ups in this part of the world.

On this track you would probably spend a couple of years doing technical programming work on SAP systems, after which you might decide to continue your career in the technical field up to a senior level or move across to a functional SAP role through getting exposure in a certain business domain.

Source: ZDNetAsia

Logica eyes more SAP business from Europe

2008-03-12T11:33:00.000-07:00

MANILA, Philippines -- The shortage of SAP software skills in Europe means good news for London-based Logica’s IT outsourcing business in the Philippines, according to a top executive.

Logica set up its Manila office two years ago and has anchored its IT outsourcing business in providing development and maintenance services for SAP customers, among them Belgium-based inBev, the world’s largest beer manufacturer.

“There is a shortage of SAP talent in Europe right now,” said Jonathan Snowball, Logica's global business development director.

“SAP itself recognizes this and from our end, we would like to get as much talent as possible in other places like the Philippines,” he added.

He noted that SAP’s installed base has expanded from traditional large-enterprise customers to companies that fall within the small and medium business (SMB) segment.

Logica currently employs 220 workers locally, most of them software developers and consultants. The company has a workforce of around 2,500 people in India.

The company is looking to expand its business in the Philippines by adding more back-office services, following key acquisitions of three companies based in France, Nordics and Netherlands.

Snowball said Logica is looking to increase its workforce in the country to no less than 1,000 people. He added: “The days of going to places with lower costs is over. Now it’s about talent and we go where the talent is.”

Source: Inquirer.net

SAP Philippines cites Manila Water

2008-03-12T11:28:00.000-07:00

Manila Water, the country’s premier water and wastewater service provider for the East Zone, has been awarded “SAP First” from SAP Philippines as a pioneer client of SAP in the country’s water industry.

The awarding coincided with the thanksgiving celebration in honor of former SAP Philippines Managing Director Mr. Krish Datta, who was recently promoted to Senior Vice President for Southeast Asia, Enterprise Support Division. An exhibit of over 30 paintings featuring the work of old and contemporary Filipino masters was also showcased as part of the event. Chief Finance Officer Sherisa P. Nuesa (holding the plaque) received the award for Manila Water from (left to right) Mr. Krish Datta, Mr. Patara Yongvanich, new Managing Director of SAP Philippines and Thailand, and Ms. Jennifer Ligones, Country Manager, SAP Philippines.

Source: Manila Water site

How to be manager in Accenture in only one week ?

2008-03-04T10:05:00.001-08:00

Is this possible?

I love GOOGLE!

2008-03-04T09:50:00.000-08:00

This is not related to SAP, just wanna share this clip to know how great it is to work in Google:

What is ABAP?

2008-02-23T01:03:00.000-08:00

ABAP (Advanced Business Application Programming) is a high level programming language created by the German software company SAP. It is currently positioned, alongside the more recently introduced Java, as the language for programming SAP's Web Application Server, part of its NetWeaver platform for building business applications. Its syntax is somewhat similar to COBOL.

History

ABAP is one of the many application-specific fourth-generation languages (4GLs) first developed in the 1980s. It was originally the report language for SAP R/2, a platform that enabled large corporations to build mainframe business applications for materials management and financial and management accounting. ABAP used to be an abbreviation of Allgemeiner Berichtsaufbereitungsprozessor, the German meaning of "generic report preparation processor", but was later renamed to c. ABAP was one of the first languages to include the concept of Logical Databases (LDBs), which provides a high level of abstraction from the basic database level.

The ABAP programming language was originally used by developers to develop the SAP R/3 platform. It was also intended to be used by SAP customers to enhance SAP applications – customers can develop custom reports and interfaces with ABAP programming. The language is fairly easy to learn for programmers but it is not a tool for direct use by non-programmers. Good programming skills, including knowledge of relational database design and preferably also of object-oriented concepts, are required to create ABAP programs.

ABAP remains the language for creating programs for the client-server R/3 system, which SAP first released in 1992. As computer hardware evolved through the 1990s, more and more of SAP's applications and systems were written in ABAP. By 2001, all but the most basic functions were written in ABAP. In 1999, SAP released an object-oriented extension to ABAP called ABAP Objects, along with R/3 release 4.6.

SAP's most recent development platform, NetWeaver, supports both ABAP and Java.

What is Mini SAP?

2008-02-19T23:16:00.000-08:00

MINISAP is a full-fledged Basis SAP system without the SAP applications (FI, CO, MM, SD, etc.). It has every Basis function of a standard SAP-R/3 system (ABAP/4 Development Workbench, Data Transfer Workbench, Computer Center Management System - CCMS, etc.) and, therefore, is a very good means to get exposed and trained in ABAP/4 programming language.

It is also a very good personal productivity tool (i.e., it can be used to develop programs for customers without having to be on-site).

The minisap are for those who are new and want to get Basis exposure or want to learn ABAP programming at their home PC.

SAP vs Oracle

2008-02-03T04:38:00.000-08:00

It used to be that the ERP market had an 800-lb gorilla, SAP, and a number of smaller competitors. Then Oracle went on a shopping spree, gobbling up companies like J.D. Edwards, PeopleSoft, Siebel, Retek and others. Suddenly, there are two gorillas in the market, along with a whole bunch of customers who now find themselves under the Oracle umbrella. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? So far, customers have been courted by sales reps from both sides and often benefited from having aggressive reps compete over who can offer up the sweetest deal for going all-SAP or all-Oracle.

But the larger issue is: what does the future hold for the ERP market? What good is a bargain today if you have to jump ship again in a few years? More specifically, is Oracle's vision of Project Fusion a pie in sky dream that will only lead to disaster for customers? Or perhaps SAP should be more concerned about issues like TCO and flexibility than they appear to be?

You be the judge -- here are two columns from prominent experts in their respective fields making the case for SAP vs. Oracle. These columns are posted simultaneously on SearchSAP.com and SearchOracle.com, and we invite you to send in your comments. Did the authors miss something? Do you have something to add? If you're a former SAP customer who decided to go all-Oracle, we want to know why, and vice-versa.

NetWeaver Vs. Fusion: Survival of fittest favors the fit
By Faun deHenry

The NetWeaver vs. Fusion competition looks more and more like a Darwinian race for survival, with two distinct but similar species competing for resources in the same biological niche. That niche, of course, is your IT budget, and the race for survival is manifesting itself in briefings and sales presentations across the globe.

The natural world has several strategies for how such a race is run – and won – and each provides some insight into what the eventual outcome of the NetWeaver vs. Fusion struggle will be. One such strategy is competitive coexistence, though at the price of constant conflict. Another biological model is parasitism. A third, the least likely, is symbiosis. But the most probable outcome, the one that everyone at SAP and Oracle would prefer over any other, is the one that nature seems to favor more often than not: total dominance. And, based on what we now know about the two companies' strategies, given such an outcome, NetWeaver would be the winner, hands down.

Why I believe NetWeaver would win out is based on no small amount of digging into the two companies' plans. SAP has been plugging away at its NetWeaver strategy for several years now, while Oracle recently updated analysts, the press, and some customers at a conference in San Francisco. And while there are details and plans galore on both sides (ad infinitum, if not ad nauseam), there are three irrefutable facts that give NetWeaver a serious edge over Fusion.
Better roadmap

The first is that I believe SAP has done a better job of both articulating its roadmap for NetWeaver and delivering on it. To be fair, that is in part because they have been at it longer than Oracle. Remember, Fusion is barely a year old, whereas NetWeaver has been bandied about as a concept for almost three years. But I also believe that SAP's advantage in building out its own applications – as opposed Oracle's strategy of acquiring or partnering to build its applications portfolio – has allowed the market to see more clearly where SAP is going and what functionality will be available once the full force of NetWeaver's service architecture can be brought to bear on the market. Oracle's Fusion Middleware strategy is relatively well thought-out and well-defined, but the roadmap for Fusion Applications still has a lot of blank space in it – placeholders for as-yet unannounced acquisitions and partnerships.

Vertical functionality
This brings me to my second point. In my opinion, vertical industry-specific functionality is where the rubber hits the road as the future of enterprise applications unfolds. Indeed, all that trouble to build and implement service architectures like NetWeaver and Fusion would largely be for naught if all they did was enable more monolithic, general-purpose enterprise software. The real value-add for service architectures comes from their ability to take individual services and build them, Lego-like, into applications that are essentially mass-customized for individual business in individual industries.

This means that, in addition to a strong services infrastructure, a vendor needs a large portfolio of services to assemble – the more the merrier. This is where SAP's next advantage comes into play. SAP's has experience in 28 verticals, and the software functionality to prove it. As NetWeaver unfolds, one of SAP's tasks will be to service-orient all that functionality and make it available as building blocks for the future. That's a non-trivial task, but one that, once done, provides SAP customers with an exceptionally large palette of vertical industry functionality on which to build their service-oriented future.

Oracle, on the other hand, has always lagged in providing deep vertical functionality, a fact acknowledged by the vertical focus of their acquisition and partnering strategy. While there is some deep vertical functionality now in the Fusion playbook – Retek in retail was a major coup, and Siebel can provide some CRM-specific vertical functionality in the industries that it targeted – the scope of this functionality still lags behind that of SAP. And while Oracle is now vowing to fill in the blanks with more partner products, until we can evaluate exactly what those products can do and how many vertical industries they allow Oracle to compete in, SAP still has the vertical industry advantage.

The Fusion timeline
Finally, I have trouble with Oracle's very ambitious timeline for its Fusion Applications. Oracle argues that they are "halfway to Fusion", largely on the strength of their work on Fusion Middleware. I'll grant them that. But halfway to Fusion Applications – particular a suite of highly verticalized service-oriented applications based on least six different code bases (if you count the pieces of software that make up its Oracle, PeopleSoft, J.D. Edwards, Siebel, Retek, and ProfitLogic product lines) – I'm having trouble with the scope of that task. Bear in mind, Fusion Applications are slated to come out in 2008, after Oracle releases updates to its eBusiness Suite, PeopleSoft, and J.D. Edwards lines. That is, to use a technical term, a boatload of application development work.

Sure Oracle is big, sure they're full of some of the smartest minds in the industry… so is Microsoft, whose ambitious plans to develop its own next-generation version of its enterprise software suite – Project Green – foundered and has been radically redrawn and retimed. (Not to mention Microsoft's plans for its operating system, middleware, and a fair amount of the rest of its offerings.) In other words, history tells us that that huge software projects at a minimum tend to miss their deadlines, if not fail hugely. And while I don't think Oracle will fail – Fusion Applications will some day see the light of day – I don't believe that day will dawn in 2008.
Again, to be fair, SAP also has a monumental development task – but it's from a single code-base of software that the company has spent 20-plus years developing. NetWeaver's timetable benefits greatly from its status as a next-generation project based on internally developed software, and not on a massive blending and rewriting of a half-dozen different applications and code-bases.

In the end, software evolution plays by different rules than biological evolution, and Fusion's prospects could change quickly in the next year or so. But, as things stand today, Fusion looks like a candidate for endangered species protection, even before it actually enters the race for survival. If biology defines software destiny, Fusion's destiny looks perilous at best.

Joshua Greenbaum, Market Research Analyst & Consultant, Enterprise Applications Consulting
Joshua has more than 15 years of experience in the industry as a computer programmer, systems analyst, author, and consultant. Prior to starting his own firm, Enterprise Applications Consulting, he was the founding director of the Packaged Software Strategies Service for Hurwitz Group, which focused on technology, infrastructure and business issues in the enterprise applications market.

Source: SearchCRM

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SAP brings hosted ERP to Asia

2008-01-29T10:21:00.000-08:00

SINGAPORE--SAP has brought its hosted ERP (enterprise resource planning) suite to the region.

Announced Tuesday, the company is releasing its Business ByDesign product to Singapore--the sixth country globally to receive it. The product is currently available in Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and China.

Hans-Peter Klaey, president of SAP's SME division, said at the launch event that Singapore was chosen because many regional offices are headquartered in the country.
SAP is targeting the suite at SMBs (small to medium sized businesses) employing between 100 to 500 staff.

Klaey said that a hosted solution "makes the most sense" for an SMB, because it takes the burden of building expensive infrastructure off the shoulders of the companies that may not have the capital freely available.

Historically, SAP has been in favor of on-premise installations. However, it launched a hosted CRM service in 2006, in a bid to capture the growing hosted CRM market.
Similarly, the company is eyeing the growing SMB SaaS market, which it estimates to be worth some US$15 billion.

According to Klaey, 74 percent of SAP's customers are SMBs, with this proportion expected to go up in the years to come. Having offered only on-premise ERP products till this, Klaey said that he expects this to fill the void in the market for a hosted ERP service that is "end-to-end".
Eric MacDonald, SAP Asia-Pacific and Japan president and CEO of South East Asia, said: "[Business ByDesign] addresses the 'testing out' market--the users who don't have the bandwidth to take on huge IT projects but are interested in trying out a product which gives them improved control."

Klaey did not comment on whether SAP's acquisition of Business Objects would see business intelligence functionality added to the product.

Presently, users' data on the system is hosted in Waldorf, Germany with prices beginning at US$149 per user, per month, for a minimum of 25 users.

Source: ZDNetAsia

What is the future of a SAP technical/ABAP programmer?

2008-01-24T01:18:00.000-08:00

You're wise to "look before you leap" into ABAP right now. As I noted in a previous question, the classic role of the ABAP programmer is changing. The future SAP developer will be a hybrid of ABAP, EAI, and Web/Java-based expertise.

It's not bad to get yourself a foundation in ABAP programming, but I think you're right to ask some hard questions about how marketable ABAP skills will be down the line. The market is definitely going to get crowded for the general ABAP programmer. And you're right - automated tools like Report Painter are making it harder for the average ABAP programmer to find good projects. BW is becoming the standard reporting environment for SAP customers, and tools that automate presentation and reporting are getting more robust with each BW release. Even though there will always be the need for custom ABAP programming, object-oriented development tools like BADIs will definitely reduce the need for "grind it out" ABAP coding. For all those reasons, if I were moving into SAP development, I would pursue two different angles. First, I would try to obtain hardcore ABAP development skills (custom development, user exits, dialog programming - heavy hardcore development. Not so much using neat tools but doing the hardcore custom work that conversion and reporting tools just can't do).

Second, I would try to get development experience utilizing mySAP, EAI, and R/3 product extensions. This means mastering SAP's integration toolkit, including BAPIs, BADIs, the SAP Java Connector, and the Web Application Server (formerly the Internet Transaction Server). But I would take it further and get exposure to emerging web platforms, languages, and integration protocols including Java, J2EE, and the many flavors of XML. Exposure to competing web-based development platforms such as Microsoft's .NET solution would also give you an edge. And since you can't expect SAP's customers to rely only on SAP's EAI solutions, acquiring skills with third party EAI tools from vendors like webMethods, Tibco, and Vitria would be another key part of your skill set. In addition to all that, you want to build in as much business process and application integration know-how into your skills as you can. These "big picture" skills help to protect you against both offshore outsourcing and the competition amongst "core ABAP" programmers. Put all of these skills together, and you're truly "the ABAP programmer of the future." But at the same time, your skills will be transferable to other non-SAP environments, giving you real flexibility in the marketplace. So, the bottom line for you: yes, go into ABAP if you see a good opportunity, but continue to keep your eyes open and do your best to enhance your core ABAP know-how with all the Web-based development skills you can get your hands on.

Pros and Cons of SAP Business One

2008-01-16T09:17:00.000-08:00

Pros:
# The user-defined fields very suitable for a lot of companies. Most packages in this price range do not allow you to create additional fields, but SBO allows you to do so very easily within two minutes or so. I usually use these fields for analytical management reports like SalesByCustomerGroup, SalesByItemGroup. SBO already has a group that can be attached to individual item or customer but it is only one level so if a client wants a sub-grouping within a main group, you can create a user defined fields which allows you to further select which subgroups an item belongs to.Also, user defined fields are very good if there is additional information to be printed on documents like Invoices, Credit Notes and etc. which are not available by default from the software

# Great import feature in the form of Data Transfer Workbench. I actually use the Data Transfer Workbench to import Goods Receipt Note into a Material Issue document as well as from a Material Issues document sorted by projects into a Bill Of Material. But to do the exporting, I actually created a miniature program to export the information outside of SAP Business One.

# Great drill-down feature. You can actually determine if a Purchase Order is actually satisfied with which GoodReceiptNote.

# To clarify, Version 6.5 now has multiple vendors to an Item Code. It also allows multiple shipping addresses to one customer but it still has only one Billing address.

# SBO also allows you to copy all the items on an Invoice to a new Invoice and then just select the customer code. This is a great time saving feature.

# Their pricing feature should be more than satisfactory allowing for price breaks as well as different pricing for different range of calendar dates. It also allows you to create Price List books to be attached to individual customer.

# The DragAndRelate feature useful for salesman. Their data entry also serves as an inquiry screen as well. When it serves as an inquiry screen, whatever you fill in those fields will act as criteria for a search process. Initially, I had a little problem coming to terms with it but now I admit it is pretty cool because it does not just restrict you to searching by customer code or invoice number only.

Cons:

# The reports are quite terrible in my opinion. It is more of an on screen inquiry as it allows you to drill down basing on the report generated. I tend to design management reports outside of SBO using Borland Delphi with a royalty free component FastReport. I am not even using Crystal Report because I usually like to give end-users a menu to select which report they intend to run

# It is not an MRP solution because it does not do any scheduling. As far as job costing is concerned, check with your consultant. In my present company, I set up several warehouses to designate as WIP stores and so whatever is left in those warehouses are considered to be WIP.

# Two main weakness in my opinion is their Banking module and Document Editing feature. The Banking module can do the data entry job but the client has to do it in different areas depending on the situation whether in the GL as a journal or the Banking module.
Their Report Designer (known as Document Editing) is only good for designing Invoices, Purchase Orders (SBO terms these as a marketing document). But I would not use it for Management Reports - I still like to use Delphi/FastReport for that purpose.

SAP: Fourth quarter revenue up 10 percent

2008-01-14T23:38:00.000-08:00

SAP provided another data point on the health of the tech economy, outlining that its fourth quarter is on track.

On Monday, SAP joined IBM in announcing that the fourth quarter was strong. SAP said fourth quarter revenue is expected to be about 3.25 billion euros (US$4.84 billion), up 10 percent from the same quarter in 2006.

If you factor out the currency impact (the euro is stronger than the U.S. dollar) SAP’s revenue growth was about 14 percent. Revenue for 2007 was 10.26 billion euros (US$15.28 billion), up 9 percent from 2006.

Those projections are in line with current estimates. A few key data points from SAP’s statement:
Fourth quarter software and software related service revenue is projected to be about 2.48 billion euro, up 13 percent from a year ago.

Software revenue is expected to be 1.41 billion euro, up 14 percent from a year ago.
SAP claims enterprise software market share of 28.5 percent for the last four quarters, up from 24.5 percent from a year ago.

Operating margin for 2007 is expected to be about 26.5 percent, down from 27.3 percent in 2006. SAP took a currency hit of 30 basis points. The company also took a hit from its investment in BusinessByDesign.

Software and software related services revenue for the fourth quarter is expected to 0.78 billion euro (US$1.16 billion) in the Americas, up 7 percent. In Europe and the Mideast region, software and software related services revenue in the fourth quarter is expected to be 1.4 billion euro (US$2.09 billion), up 13 percent. Asia Pacific software and software related services revenue is projected to be 0.96 billion euro (US$1.43 billion), up 19 percent.

Cowen analyst Peter Goldmacher in a research note that SAP’s statement indicates that the company will have an in line quarter. He maintained an underperform rating. “Despite growth in revenues, the estimated contraction in EPS indicates that earnings were pressured by the company’s investment in the mid market,” said Goldmacher in a research note.

Earning potential of SAP functional consultant

2007-12-31T01:09:00.000-08:00

Q. How much can an SAP HR functional consultant with seven years of experience--six years of specific SAP experience--and who holds an MBA in HR, expect in terms of compensation?

Career advice from Kelly Chua, consultant, IT&T, Singapore, Hudson:
In the Singapore market, the SAP HR functional consultant can expect between S$5,000 (US$3,419) and S$6,500 (US$4,445) a month, excluding fixed or variable bonuses. Compensation also depends on several factors such as:

Regional vs. local roles
Banking and consulting vs. end user and non-banking environment
Implementation vs. support role
Contract vs. permanent role
Consultants at the left hand of the scale (i.e. regional role, banking and consulting environment, implementation, contract role) are likely to command the upper end of the salary range.

Source: ZDNetAsia

More Related Links:

What is SAP?

2007-12-29T11:19:00.000-08:00

SAP AG (ISIN: DE0007164600, FWB: SAP, NYSE: SAP) is the largest European software enterprise and the third largest in the world, with headquarters in Walldorf, Germany.

History

SAP was founded in 1972 as Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung by five former IBM engineers in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg (Dietmar Hopp, Hans-Werner Hector, Hasso Plattner, Klaus Tschira, and Claus Wellenreuther).[1] The acronym was later changed to stand for Systeme, Anwendungen und Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung ("Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing").

In 1976 "SAP GmbH" was founded and the following year it moved headquarters to Walldorf. SAP AG became the company's official name after the 2005 annual general meeting (AG is short for Aktiengesellschaft).

In August 1988, SAP GmbH transferred into SAP AG (a corporation by German law), and public trading started November 4. Shares are listed on the Frankfurt and Stuttgart stock exchange.[1]

The founding members Dietmar Hopp, Hasso Plattner, Klaus E. Tschira and Hans-Werner Hector form the executive board. In 1995, SAP is included in the German stock index DAX. On September 22, 2003, SAP is included in the Dow Jones STOXX 50.[2] In 1991, Prof. Dr. Henning Kagermann joins the board; Dr. Peter Zencke becomes a board member in 1993.[3] Claus Heinrich,[4] and Gerhard Oswald [5] have been members of the SAP Executive Board since 1996. Two years later, in 1998 the first change at the helm takes place. Dietmar Hopp and Klaus Tschira move to the supervisory board, Dietmar Hopp is appointed Chairman of the supervisory board. Henning Kagermann is appointed as Co-Chairman and CEO of SAP next to Hasso Plattner. Werner Brandt joined SAP in 2001 as member of the SAP Executive Board and Chief Financial Officer since 2001.[6] Léo Apotheker has been a member of the SAP Executive Board and president of Global Customer Solutions & Operations since 2002 and is appointed Deputy CEO in 2007.

Henning Kagermann became the sole CEO of SAP in 2003.[7] In February 2007 his contract was extended until 2009. After continuous disputes over the responsibility of the development organization, Shai Agassi, a member of the executive board who had been named as a potential successor to Kagermann, left the organization

Related Links:

Is a short course on SAP good enough?

2007-12-24T23:21:00.000-08:00

Q. I understand there is an SAP course that only takes one month, if it is full-time, to complete. Can I actually switch to become an SAP consultant with just that one month of training?

Will I need to have any IT background? Also, I've never handled SAP, would that be an issue? I also read somewhere that consulting firms will normally hire an SAP consultant if they have done at least two implementations. Is that true? What is the demand for fresh graduates? Last but not least, I understand that Genova is providing training for this course and the fees are quite costly. Is there any other institute providing this course?

Career advice from Chong Yoke Sin, CEO, NCS:
The one-month course typically provides the candidate with an overview of SAP. Candidates with some business related background like business or accountancy should be able to benefit from this course. However, it may not provide enough hands-on experience that an SAP consultant requires for the job. SAP consultants, both fresh and experienced candidates, are in demand now. Candidates who have prior experience tend to have better job offers compared with fresh graduates. However, fresh graduates who work hard can achieve much job satisfaction and have a good career after a few years. SAP courses are costly. However, fresh graduates can learn on the job. In addition, some organizations do conduct in-house training for their staff, besides having external courses.

Related Links:

Worth leaving accounting for a career in SAP?

2007-12-18T23:31:00.000-08:00

Q. I have been an external auditor for the past five years, and I earn approximately S$55,000 (US$38,049) per annum now. I am considering pursuing SAP FI certification. However, I am very worried that there will be a huge paycut, the fact that my prior experience will not be accounted for, and I will be considered as a freshie in this industry.

I have several salary sources which are inconsistent, some saying that there will not be a pay cut, instead a pay rise. Some mentioned that salary will be approximately half of what I am earning now. My questions are: Will my prior experience be accounted for and how much can I expect as a fresh SAP-certified professional with my current experience? If I get a paycut, how long will I have to wait before I can start to get back my current salary? How long normally does one implementation take? How is the demand for fresh SAP consultants in the market now?

Career advice from Chong Yoke Sin, CEO, NCSRelevant job experience will usually be taken into consideration during the job interview. While certifications establish a form of baseline in determining relevant "trained" skills, having relevant consulting experience such as the ability to manage and provide value-add advice to customer is also crucial.

The salary offered will depend on the relevant experience that the candidate has for the specific SAP job which he or she has applied for. A typical implementation may take eight months to one year. However, some may take longer, depending on the size, coverage and complexity of the client's business. SAP consultants, both fresh and experienced candidates, are in demand now.

Source: ZDNetAsia

SAP Consultant Asks Pay Question

2007-11-15T11:00:00.000-08:00

Q. What is the salary of an SAP consultant in Hong Kong with the following experience:
Job: SAP FICO (Financial Accounting and Controlling)
Consultant Level: Team lead
Company:MNC (inhouse consulting)
Experience: 8 years
Implementation experience: 6 Years; two years' in a lead role overseeing a team of 12

Career advice from Kelly Chua, consultant, IT&T, Singapore, Hudson.
It is difficult to specify a general salary range for an experienced consultant as there are many dimensions that would significantly affect the pay scale. These include:

The specific modules that one specializes in. For example, a SAP HR consultant in Singapore might be in the lower payscale compared to SAP SD (Sales and Distribution) where the general demand for SAP SD is higher. This is pretty much driven by the demand and supply.
Whether one is from a consulting or end-user environment
Amount (frequency and duration) of travel that one is required to do
Which countries is one working from

Based on the above information, you might be looking at an annual package of between HK$600,000 (US$76,712) and HK$800,000 (US$102,283). This is just a generic guideline. As mentioned earlier, this can change significantly according to the supply and demand at different points in time of the job market.

Source: ZDNetAsia

Philippines: It Pays To Get Tech Certified

2007-11-13T03:39:00.000-08:00

The call for IT workers in the Philippines to get professional certification has not fallen on deaf ears, says one industry observer.
Roselle Reig, general manager of Global Knowledge Associates, a Philippines-based IT training provider, told ZDNet Asia that IT professionals are getting certified, and the extra credentials help to open up more career opportunities.

"Based on feedback and observations that I've been getting in the past several years, Philippines is one of the Asian countries with a high number of certified professionals," Reig said in an e-mail.

"This is the reason why most of the Filipinos were recruited outside of the Philippines--they are technically competent and they have all the certifications to back it up. We have a lot of overseas Filipino workers in the IT field."

Emphasis on professional certification, according to Reig, begins in school.
"In the universities and colleges, it is already required--or at least being implemented--that all graduating students incorporate vendor training and certification in their curriculum," the industry veteran said.

"Thus, upon graduation from a bachelor's degree, most are already CCNAs (Cisco Certified Network Associates), MCPs (Microsoft Certified Professionals), or SCJPs (Sun Certified Java Programmers)."
On whether professional certification costs are prohibitive in the Philippines, Reig said: "The cost of certification is not the main reason for not getting certified. The fact of the matter is that a lot of professionals seek certification, even when the certification market was just starting out."

In the Philippines, a Microsoft certification exam is said to cost about US$80, while Cisco certification and Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) costs about US$150 and US$250, respectively.
"I believe these are relatively on par or even lower compared with other neighboring countries," Reig said. "However, due to the economic crisis experienced by Filipinos, these exam fees appear to be expensive, if it is to come from the examinee's pocket. In most cases, our trainees are sponsored by their employers, thus, the cost of certification is perceived as relatively cheap."

If cost is not a factor, then why are some professionals giving certification a miss? "It would most likely be that these people already lack the confidence in exam-giving bodies," Reig offered.

Highlighting the disillusionment that some might have toward certification, she explained: "They are aware that 'paper' certified professionals are a dime a dozen. [Some] pass the exam with their eyes closed, because of exam leakage on the Net. This has created disappointment for a lot of professionals who are really serious about their profession and getting certification."
Reig's company, Global Knowledge, trains about 30 students every month, and one quarter gets certified. Based on the company's enrolment figures, the three most popular IT certification courses are Cisco and Microsoft technology related, as well as Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH).
Michael Mudd, director of public policy for Comptia Asia-Pacific, agreed that cost is not a barrier to IT certification in the Philippines.

"I have spoken with one of our partners in Manila who has run an event called CertifyIT! for the last three years now, and their vendor partners dramatically reduce the cost of training and certification, to the point of giving it for free. Therefore, it is incorrect to cite cost as the obstacle," Mudd told ZDNet Asia in an e-mail reply.

"[Cost] has been used as an easy excuse to not dig deeper and appreciate the benefits of certification. Once people are made to recognize the return on investment (ROI) and given the right training or certification provider who will make sure that the candidate gets the proper guidance and professional advice, the candidate might not even need employer support to opt to get certified.

"The biggest cost is in training, and not the certification per se, which is a validator of the training program," he added.

According to ZDNet Asia's IT Salary 2006, the Philippines had the lowest proportion of respondents, who hold at least one professional certification, compared to the other six Asian countries surveyed. Twenty-five percent of the 401 respondents from the country hold at least one professional IT certification, compared to 47 percent in Hong Kong, 44 percent in Singapore, and 34 percent in Indonesia.

In the survey, no single IT vendor dominated the most popular certifications in the Philippines. The most popular were Microsoft Certified Professional, Sun Certified Programmer for Java 2 and Cisco Certified Network Associate.

Source: ZDNetAsia

Too late to start a programming career?

2007-11-12T05:15:00.000-08:00

Q. I have been working as an accountant in a food manufacturing company for eight years now. I have an interest in programming, though I don't have any experience. Last year, I decided to take up courses in C++ and Visual Basic.

What are my chances of having a career in IT? Does age matter to recruiters nowadays? What type of programming should I pursue in order to use both my accounting and IT skills?
Career advice from Roger Olofsson, associate director of executive recruitment agency Robert Walters: A. I would say it is definitely not impossible to shift to an IT career after eight years in accounting, however, it is important that you realize that it will require hard work, a lot of commitment and potentially sacrifice in terms of career and salary regression in the short term. I wish I could say age doesn't matter but unfortunately often it does. Nevertheless, skills, capabilities and attitude accounts for a lot and can definitely swing the pendulum in your favor. I am not so sure about your choice being C++ as that is a very technical form of programming with very little relevance to your field of expertise, accounting. I would strongly recommend you to have a look at gaining technical expertise in financial modules of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software such as SAP and Oracle as you then could combine your technical interest in programming with your functional expertise in accounting.

John Brand, director of IT analyst house Hydrasight: A. Hydrasight observes that there are some regional differences when it comes to workers' ages in IT. In Australia, for example, age tends to go against people quite significantly in the more technical side of IT. Recruiters of more business-centric IT roles (project managers, business analysts, IT executive management) have a fairly ambivalent view. They certainly don't seem to disadvantage the older workers but don't seem to favor them either. In Malaysia and Singapore, and in other parts of the Asia-Pacific region, age tends to be associated more with wisdom and experience, and is quite often highly valued. It doesn't seem to matter quite as much in these regions whether you're an IT executive or technical specialist, it's your skills that matter foremost.

However, the biggest impact to programmer roles generally is the affect cheaper labor is having on the market. China and India are now having a much greater impact at all levels of the IT industry--not just the "top end of town" with major outsourcing or help-desk deals. You now regularly hear of stories of small and medium-sized businesses using online sites where you can source very cheap programming skills from overseas simply by uploading your specifications to them to bid on. The total cost of ownership, however, still isn't clear as the life-cycle management of applications over the longer term is likely to less favor this very tactical approach.

Regardless, programming skills are still desired in the domestic market but more often for maintenance and integration tasks rather than full application development as in days gone by. The real hot jobs though are in the business of running IT, such as executive management, project management, architects (though becoming less so) and business analysts. As far as the type of programming you should be going for, it's not really the type so much as the field. Without having seem your resume, my guess is a supply chain focus is most likely to make the best use of your skills.

Source: ZDNetAsia

Strong demand for SAP skills in Asia

2007-11-11T03:27:00.000-08:00

Regional job prospects are looking good for SAP consultants, with hiring companies willing to offer attractive compensation packages just to get the best talent.
According to Kelly Chua, consultant for the IT and telecommunications practice with Hudson Singapore, demand is "strong" in Singapore, Malaysia, China, Thailand and Australia for SAP functional skills such as financial accounting and controlling (FICO), materials management (MM), and production planning (PP).

"Overall, the demand for such expertise is higher in discrete and process manufacturing industries, where the companies usually utilize a wider spectrum of SAP modules for different business areas," Chua said in an e-mail.
Although there is little difference between entry-level positions across the different technology areas, experienced SAP consultants generally command higher paychecks than the average IT professional, she said.

"SAP consultants are paid a premium for their specific SAP project experience," said Chua. "Career prospects and development are good since there is a demand for these skill sets and companies are willing to pay good money for the best consultants."

How much one earns depends on several factors including the specific modules of specialization, as well as market demand and supply.
"In Singapore, for example, an SAP HR (human resources) consultant may be in the lower payscale compared to SAP SD (Sales and Distribution) where the general demand for SAP SD is higher," said Chua.

There is also a difference between working for an IT consulting company and in an end-user environment, and compensation also depends on the amount of travel required and the country of work.

Chua said a consultant can choose to continue to specialize and hone his skills as a SAP subject matter expert, take up managerial responsibilities, or even lead a team and work his way up to senior business or application management.

"If you are already in an organization that implements SAP software, you can explore opportunities for internal transfers to get the relevant experience. Once you have clocked one to two full-cycle implementation projects, you can be considered as an experienced SAP consultant," she noted.

Manvinder Malik, assistant sales director for IT consultancy Genovate Solutions, said SAP consultants can hail from different walks of life; one can have functional skills or domain expertise.

"A HR manager can take up a course, and find a job as a SAP HR consultant either in an end-user environment or a consulting company," said Malik. "As you gain project experience, say, six months to a year, you can expand into other areas."

Career advancement opportunities are also not limited to the SAP field. "A consultant can take on a project lead role and later move on to become an IT head or CTO," said Malik.
And how important is obtaining professional certification? Chua said: "SAP certification is definitely nice to have, but it does not guarantee a smooth transition to a SAP career.
"Ultimately, companies are still looking at specific and related work experience in SAP," she explained. "Strong communication skills and industry background will serve as a good foundation for an SAP consultant."

According to SAP, there are more than 8,000 SAP customer installations in the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan, and the German software giant has about 1,600 SAP consultants based in this region.
Senta Ritter, who oversees SAP's global HR field services, said the company continues to ensure it has a strong pool of consultants who can serve the market. Training is also provided at boot camps where participants pick up tips on strategy, consulting and change management, Ritter said.
"Every region has a training budget that ensures re-skilling and training," she said, adding that new roles and career paths are continuously defined and mapped out for SAP staff.

source: ZDNetAsia

Move to SAP field not a bad idea

2007-11-11T02:49:00.000-08:00

Q. I have completed my Bachelor of Commerce degree and will be through with my Executive MBA in December 2007.

Prior to my current job, I spent eight years in various sales roles with highly reputed organizations and my last held position was assistant manager of sales in one of the leading telecom companies in Bangalore, India. My last drawn salary was Rs 520,000 (US$13,198) per annum, which got revised after appraisal to Rs 800,000 (US$20,304) per annum.
Due to an interest in the SAP field, and to gain global exposure and to earn more money, I took on a role with one of the major Indian software companies two months back, taking a pay cut as a Junior SAP CRM functional consultant with an annual salary of Rs 300,000 (US$7,614). Of course, I did my own analysis of the new career prospects before taking up the offer, but after joining, I am now confused and wondering if I made the right decision.
Some unanswered questions are: How long will it take, or how many years of experience do I need to have before I can hope to command the previous annual salary package of about Rs 800,000? When will I get an on-site opportunity, or when will I be eligible for applying jobs in Singapore or the United States? Will my eight years of domain (sales) experience be considered during my next career move and will it help improve my earnings? Or should I shift back to sales for better career prospects? Since I am new to this industry, things look vague, at least at this point.

Career advice from Stella Thevarakam, regional HR director of ISS Consulting, a technology consulting company with operations in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia:A. You would need at least five full cycles of complete SAP implementation experience before you can command a salary of Rs 800,000. Your sales experience maybe taken into account in the SAP line when, and if, you are required to do presales for SAP implementations. Otherwise, the answer is no.

To be able to work in Singapore or the United States in the SAP line, you need to have the above-mentioned experience before an employer would consider it a viable proposition to bring in foreign expertise into these two countries. If you are keenly interested to pursue SAP, then you should stay and be patient to get to that salary level. I would recommend staying in the SAP line, as this is a much sought-after skill and, therefore, very valuable.

Career advice from Shashi Bhushan Rai, managing director of Brahmrishi Technologies, a Singapore based IT services company. He specializes in IT consulting, enterprise system architecture, as well as software product development in various application areas.A. The reader's choice of a career switch seems okay considering industry trends. Therefore, I won't recommend a rollback since the future is more promising with solid sales experience in the telecom sector, SAP training backed by an Executive MBA. You can develop expertise in Business Support Systems or Operations Support Systems to be able to secure a good position. Gaining skills is totally different from making money. As for working abroad, it depends on the needs of the specific country and industrial sector. Companies like Bristlecone specialize in SAP implementation in Singapore and other countries. I believe salaries for SAP functional consultants in Singapore fall within your set goals.

Source: ZDNetAsia

Related Links:
- SAP Consultant Asks Pay Questions
- Too Late To Start a Programming Career?
- Can a Computing graduate go into SAP?

I'm an Accenture employee, if you're interested to pursue your career in SAP or in IT, you can leave your email addresses in comments, I'll try my best to refer you.

100 Best Companies to Work For 2007

2007-11-11T02:33:00.000-08:00

Here are the top 10 from the top 100 Best Companies to work for 2007.
1.Google
What makes it so great?Our new No. 1 sets the standard for Silicon Valley: free meals, swimming spa, and free doctors onsite. Engineers can spend 20% of time on independent projects. No wonder Google gets 1,300 resumés a day.Headquarters: Mountain View, Calif.Top 3 (of 16) U.S. locations: Mountain View, CA, New York, NY, Kirkland, WA2005 revenue ($ millions): $6,138 Website: http://www.google.com/

2.Genentech (DNA)
What makes it so great?Biotech leader has uncommonly loyal staffers. “Wild horses could not drag me away,” says one employee. Last year 537 employees took a six-week paid sabbatical, which is available for every six years of service.
Headquarters: South San Francisco
Top 3 (of 9) U.S. locations: South San Francisco, Vacaville , Oceanside

2005 revenue ($ millions): 6,633

3. Wegmans Food Markets
What makes it so great?Private grocery chain gets thousands of letters every year from shoppers coveting a Wegmans in their neighborhood. The chain, founded in 1916, now operates in 71 stores in five states.
Headquarters: Rochester, N.Y.
Top 3 (of 93) U.S. locations: Rochester, Buffalo Grove , Syracuse

2005 revenue ($ millions): 3,820
Website: http://www.wegmans.com/

4. Container Store
What makes it so great?Storage retailer pays sales employees 50% to 100% above industry average. Nearly one-tenth of all employees take advantage of “family friendly” shift, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., allowing for school dropoffs and pickups.
Headquarters: Coppell, Texas
Top 3 (of 38) U.S. locations: Coppell, New York , Houston
2005 revenue ($ millions): 441
Website: http://www.containerstore.com/

5. Whole Foods Market (WFMI)
What makes it so great?Whole Foods has long had a salary cap limiting pay of top execs, currently at 19 times average full-time pay. But founder and CEO John Mackey went further, reducing his salary to $1 and forgoing all future stock options.
Headquarters: Austin
Top 3 (of 223) U.S. locations: New York, Austin , Washington
2005 revenue ($ millions): 5,607
Website: http://www.wholefoods.com/

6. Network Appliance (NTAP)
What makes it so great?Data-storage company climbed 21 spots as employees cheered enhanced benefits for parents of special-needs children, widespread use of flexible schedules (95% of employees), and a soaring stock (up 50% in 2006).
Headquarters: Sunnyvale, Calif.
Top 3 (of 50) U.S. locations: Sunnyvale, Research Triangle Park , Mclean
2005 revenue ($ millions): 2,070
Website: http://www.netapp.com/

7. S.C. Johnson & Son
What makes it so great?This household-products company subsidizes hotel stays for employees who live 25 miles or more from work and offers discounts at its newly expanded child-care center for families making under $60,000 a year.
Headquarters: Racine, Wis.
Top 3 (of 15) U.S. locations: Racine, Bay City , Fresno
2005 revenue ($ millions): 7,000
Website: http://www.scjohnson.com/

8. Boston Consulting Grp.
What makes it so great?Employees working more than 60 hours a week at this management consultant are placed in a “red zone” and advised by a career mentor. A push to hire more women resulted in a 25% rise in female consultants from 2004.
Headquarters: Boston
Top 3 (of 14) U.S. locations: Boston, Chicago , New York
2005 revenue ($ millions): 1,505
Website: http://www.bcg.com/

9. Methodist Hospital Sys.
What makes it so great?As gas prices soared last year, Methodist sent employees (everyone except top execs) a $250 gift card for use at Chevron stations, prompting more than 500 staffers to e-mail thank-yous to CEO Ron Girotto.
Headquarters: Houston
Top 3 (of 9) U.S. locations: Houston, N.A., N.A.
2005 revenue ($ millions): 1,413
Website: http://www.methodisthealth.com/

10. W.L. Gore & Associates
What makes it so great?Great ideas (Gore-Tex, Glide dental floss) come from all corners at this nonhierarchical Delaware company, which prefers to promote from within. (CEO Terri L. Kelly joined Gore as a process engineer in 1983.)
Headquarters: Newark, Del.
Top 3 (of 28) U.S. locations: Elkton, Flagstaff , Newark
2005 revenue ($ millions): 1,984
Website: http://www.gore.com/

16. Starbucks Coffee (SBUX)
What makes it so great?The java king steamed ahead in 2006, adding 28,000 jobs globally. Though 85% of “partners” (Starbucks-speak for employees) are part-timers, they’re still eligible for full benefits if they work 240 hours a quarter.
Headquarters: Seattle
Top 3 (of 5,414) U.S. locations: Seattle, New York , Chicago
2005 revenue ($ millions): 6,369
Website: http://www.starbucks.com/

44. Yahoo (YHOO)
What makes it so great?Fun’s a core value for Yahoos, more than half of whom are age 34 or younger. At five years of service employees get a gumball machine, at ten years an espresso machine, and at 15 years (not possible until 2010) a foosball table.
Headquarters: Sunnyvale, Calif.
Top 3 (of 25) U.S. locations: Sunnyvale , Burbank , New York
2005 revenue ($ millions): 5,300
Website: http://www.yahoo.com/

50. Microsoft (MSFT)
What makes it so great?New perks in 2006 included free grocery delivery, dry-cleaning service, and valet parking (it’s a big campus!). Annual summer picnic drew 30,000 employees and family members to the Cascade Mountains.
Headquarters: Redmond, Wash.
Top 3 (of 169) U.S. locations: Redmond, Issaquah , Mountain View
2005 revenue ($ millions): 39,788
Website: http://www.microsoft.com/

69. Nike (NKE)
What makes it so great?The Oregon campus is a sporting paradise, with tennis courts, indoor and outdoor tracks, soccer fields, running trails, two sports centers, an 11-lane pool used for swimming, scuba, and kayaking lessons.

Where's ACCENTURE? :-)