I got a lot of queries from different social networks on how make a career in ERP Consulting. I thought it would be beneficial if I pen down my advices in a single post for reference of the readers. So here the was query I received.
I wish to pursue a career in ERP/SAP/Oracle Financials. I am an MBA-Fin and am doing my CFA currently from an XYZ university. Please guide me what should be my first steps in right direction and how I can take it further thereon.
Firstly we need to understand the constituents of what kind of careers are available in ERP Industry. The ERP space provides 3 basic streams of careers Technical, Functional and Administrative. Now the three seem to be mutually exclusive but they are not. Generally the expectation of the employer and the clients are the person would be an expert in one of the fields while an exposure to the rest of the two.
So when you are aspiring for a Functional ERP role one should never let go his hands of the technical side of ERP. However, coming back to what a person, with no background in ERP, can do to make a career in ERP. The basic concept of ERP is being a transactional system which automate the transactional processes in an organization.
There are various business processes that need to be studied like Order to Invoice, Procure to Pay, Forecast to Produce, Accounting & Taxation all these processes vary from industry to industry, country to country, company to company and and even sometimes a unit to unit in the same company. So what you need to do is understand the basic concepts behind these processes, the laws or guidelines governing them.
For example if you are setting up the processes for any unit in Uttaranchal India as of now for selling your produce in India your excise tax would be waived off because of the tax holiday, while anywhere else where this tax holiday is not declared the same tax would apply.
So one needs to understand and research the information on what are the business processes and the key differentiators between different entities. This knowledge would come from the basic textbooks on particular subjects like Accounts, Supply Chain Management etc. Also an information or research on the particular process are of interests, there are lot of journals and papers one can read, some of which I read on SCM are Supply Chain Brain & Supply Chain Digest and papers published by Gartner, AMR Research etc.
Also we can pick up the documentation of either SAP or Oracle or any other ERP which we have an inclination for and read the specific documentation based on the area of interests. The fact is that it is very difficult, almost impossible to understand the user guides and documentation without ever having looked at the actual software screens. But I would still advice the aspirants to go over the documentation as this would help them understand the capabilities of the ERP systems. The truth is the ERP systems have become so vast and encompassing that knowing how to do everything is an impossible task, what works in the industry better is the consultants knowing what is possible to achieve and what is not. There is always time to delve in how to achieve what is possible while you are actually implementing a solution.
Apart from all this there are training institutes some of which are really good, but personally I have never been a part of anyone of them. From my experience in the industry the certifications from the ERP Vendors themselves i.e. Oracle University Certifications, SAP Certifications hold a good value while seeking employment but then they come at an expensive price tag for an individual. I personally do not trust the small shop training institutes. Also I have came across some people having a demo version of the ERP software installed on personal machines which can be used for learning purposes and hands on by individuals themselves, but then again I am not sure on the legality of the same.
And at the end one of the most important things to kick start a career in ERP, it is good to start with one of the consulting/services firms instead of end users of ERP, this provides you a cross industry experience with multiple set of processes which is very important for solution designs in future. Also Prefer the ones which have a larger practice in ERP which would help you work with people who are already good at ERP and learn from them at work and a training program in place.
