Next generation of SAP professionals will need commercial and technical skills

UK: SAP professionals will need a combination of both technical skills and business acumen if they are to progress in their careers in the future, according to Capita IT Resourcing.

The specialist IT recruiter found that organisations are increasingly looking for SAP specialists with both practical and more general business competencies for both contract and permanent roles.

Traditionally, pure technical ability has been fundamental for success, however employers are now looking for commercial understanding from talent and a wider knowledge of the markets they work in. This has meant that professionals with outdated or limited skill sets could find it difficult to source their next job.

Oli Meager, an ERM specialist at Capita IT Resourcing, said: "It's no longer enough to simply have a technical understanding of SAP products and solutions. The next generation will need to understand exactly what makes the organisation they work with tick, to understand the commercial context a SAP system operates in. We'd urge talent to get out of their comfort zone and try to develop new attributes that will make them more employable in the future, otherwise SAP specialists with purely technical skill sets could risk being left behind."