SAP Skillz that Pay the Billz

Jon Reed conducted a pretty interesting Podcast today, along with yours truly and K2 Partners, focused on the state of SAP Skills & Resources, particularly during this economy. (I'll post a link here once the podcast is available... definitely suggest checking it out!).

My take?

While SAP projects are definitely not immune to overall IT cuts, activity is still pretty high (comparatively...) yet changing fast (as far as in which industries, countries and topics!)

As I began saying the end of last year, the Business Objects-related services business is doing quite well, since it is well suited to the data insights companies desperately need as many of their business fundamentals get flipped upside down... Additionally with little top-line growth opportunities in sight, healthy SAP customers are now serious about efficiency gains to improve margins... I just spoke to a large retailer who has been battered, yet is still standing and profitable. They are now taking multi-channel more seriously than ever as they actively reduce their store footprint to the most profitable sites (sorry SAP, I would love to mention that they are using Business Objects, but they aren't...), while shifting more emphasis and resources to their e-commerce business (and here, they are looking to rely on SAP).

It is also worth mentioning PAC's new outlook on the SAP Skills Ecosystem came out yesterday, which in its last edition caused quite a stir in '07/08... check it out or email me for the summary!