Nearly 50% of companies report a lack of S/4HANA talent and the introduction of SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) is raising the need for diverse skills beyond SAP ABAP, including Java, JavaScript, and Low Code expertise. This talent gap was making it a challenge for our client to hire over 100 people in 2024.

To address their need, FDM proposed and developed a customised programme, in collaboration with the SAP Partner Talent Initiative, designed to upskill and certify talent in preparation for the upcoming migration.

Going beyond a standard SAP programme, our comprehensive curriculum offered a competitive advantage. Combining technical skills with industry-specific financial knowledge, it included Java programming, business analysis, and project management, integrated with SAP education.

As employer demands rise, companies seek workers able to immediately step into a role, with minimal ramp-up time. FDM works with industry leaders like SAP, Microsoft, and AWS to develop expertly trained, high-calibre, job-ready tech talent, making us a trusted partner to over 300 companies worldwide.

FDM has successfully attracted talent from various degree backgrounds through a range of initiatives. Though new to this approach, the client wanted to develop the next generation of SAP talent.

This allowed us to offer a diverse group of consultants for selection, some with experience and some recent graduates from 
our Skills Lab, who had already built core capabilities aligned to FDM’s Software Engineering and Change & Transformation Practices.

The selected consultants completed further, co-designed specialised sprints in the FDM Skills Lab to acquire the SAP skills customised to the client’s needs.

All consultants completed the SAP S/4HANA certification:

• SAP Certified Associate – Implementation Consultant – SAP S/4HANA Cloud
• Overview of Financials in SAP S4/HANA
• Financial Industry Awareness

Then split into two groups for FDM’s additional, specialised technical and business upskilling.

Technical – from Software Engineering Practice:

• ABAP Core
• SAP BTP: Building side-by-side extensions on SAP BTP

Business – from Change & Transformation Practice:

• Financials in SAP S4/HANA
• Accounting
• SAP Financial Product Subledger (FPSL)

FDM successfully delivered on timeline, onboarding all consultants with the specialised knowledge and skills to effectively implement, manage, and optimise SAP S/4HANA systems.

Our consultants were assigned roles in two large projects of the client, a Core Banking Systems Transformation for a Public Bank and an integrated Banking Platform project based on SAP FPSL Data Model.

They filled roles across Release and Cutover Management, Interface Analysis and Development, Low-Code Development, S4 Conversion Development, PMO and Requirements engineering, SAP FPSL, and FSDM Consulting.

Our co-created SAP programme and proven delivery model enabled the client to quickly onboard consultants and assign them challenging roles in strategic projects, helping them meet their ambitious goals. All 10 consultants not only remained but excelled, surpassing performance expectations. The client is now planning for the next group to be onboarded, in pursuit of their capacity building initiatives.