I want to work as SAP Pre Sales Consultant.

I want to work as SAP Pre Sales Consultant.

There are many SAP Consultants who want to shift their career from Consulting to Pre Sales or Sales function. I meet many SAP Consultants who are working in SAP Projects who feel that they want to move to Pre Sales area. Many of them are not aware about the role, the pre-requisites and the responsibilities associated with a Pre Sales job in SAP practice.

The Pre Sales function in SAP Practice, in any Organization depends on the size of SAP practice, the various products/services offerings and the size of the projects, the practice is handling. There may be other criteria also.

In many organizations the Pre sales function is part of Sales function or in some cases is part of Delivery organization. It depends on the organization and will vary from org to org.

Now let us understand the Pre Sales Consultant profile in a general:

• The Pre Sales Consultant is expected to possess an expert level knowledge of SAP product and the various solution offerings. In most of the cases, he is part of Sales team formed for an opportunity in sales process.
• Th Pre Sales Consultant normally gets involved in meetings with Customer to understand Customer requirements, expectations from SAP product solution.
• He gets involved in Product/offerings presentations and demonstrations if required.
• He is considered as Solution expert and if required, will get further inputs/support from delivery team.
• He gets involved in proposal preparation and subsequent discussions as & when required till closure of the deal.
• Gets involved in post sales support for project delivery initiation. He is the link between the Sales cycle and the delivery execution.
• Depending on size of organization and the sales opportunities, he may get involved in multiple engagements.

If the SAP practice is large enough then many organizations have a large team of Pre Sales and there are various roles within the Pre sales team. These are Pre Sales Consultant, Expert Pre sales Consultants, Solution Architect etc..

Looking at the above, it’s very clear that unless you have a good understanding/knowledge of SAP product/solution offerings of your organization, it’s very difficult to perform as Pre Sales Consultant.

 

What is the typical role of SAP Functional Consultant?

What is the typical role of SAP Functional Consultant?

Every candidate who is considering Career shift to SAP has an anxiety about role of SAP Functional Consultant. Many of them are having Functional experience as part of their career and want to understand what they will be doing post SAP training & Career shift to SAP. The role of SAP Functional Consultant will vary based on the type of project he is working. The Project may be SAP Implementation, SAP Support (post implementation), Upgrade, Roll out etc….

I have given below the responsibilities of a SAP Functional Consultant for SAP implementation project. These will vary based on Project size, scope etc. but I have tried to cover the main responsibilities.

• Provide expert advice on SAP functionality. The Consultant is supposed to be expert in his SAP module and should be able to provide in detail the functionality available in SAP. He should advice customer on how to use the best business processes as provided in SAP.
• Collect & analyze customer requirements on the following:
  • Business processes and parameters: This is important for business processes to be covered in SAP and compile the various parameters required for subsequent Configuration.
  • Assist in data transfer mapping: Data is required to be transferred to SAP from the legacy systems (e.g. Master Data like Material Master, Customer/Vendor master etc..)
  • Determining reporting requirements: Standard SAP Reports and any Customized Reporting required.
• Determine printed forms requirements
• Suggest solutions to customer based on best business practices so that Customer gets Business benefits by following these SAP processes.
• Assist in the development of business process descriptions
• Conduct implementation & training workshops: This is particularly required for SAP Power users and then guidance for end-user training. Most of the implementations follow ‘Train the Trainer’ approach..
• Provide guidance on end-user documentation.
• Provide guidance on test plan. : How to test SAP functionality for the required Business processes and ensure that all scenarios are covered.
• Conduct unit tests based on customer defined scenarios
• Coordinate with other module SAP Consultants for Integration requirements.
• Provide Functional Specifications to Technical team for any Customized developments..