I noted a story from Enterprise Times on skills. The title calls out “8 skills you must consider when hiring technical staff” – but in reality the piece talks about 2 separate skills concepts.
It leads off noting that digital transformation – for all the BS that term still carries – has focused on cloud, AI, and (for SAP teams) S/4HANA. By focusing in on those skills, legacy SAP teams who focus on keeping the lights on (here in the States, it feels like most SAP teams focus exclusively on that) lose out on the new skills that drive S/4. ASUG found that 26% of member companies see next-gen SAP skills as their biggest SAP challenges. UKISUG found that more than half of member companies see other next-gen skill gaps as slowing their S/4 adoption.
Scary numbers established!
But then the focus shifts to general-purpose skills that hiring managers should look for in new candidates, like integrity, discipline, collaboration, and so on. I completely agree with all 8 of the skills that the piece lays out for new hires – but it’s a bit tangential to the first topic of the piece. In other words, it’s great that you’ll find people with discipline…but no amount of integrity will make an ABAPer understand CDS. The skill gap will persist, at least in the short term of the S/4HANA upgrade deadline.
So my add-on advice is this: large companies, service providers, and SAP team managers, your tech team isn’t going to magically show up one day with the new skills they need – they deserve the right time and tools to improve. Sometimes keeping the lights on means learning how to operate a new light switch. PM
See more at this story’s original home.
Boring Enterprise Nerds 