What is a SAP consultant and what do they do?

Update: September 2024

Learn about all the functions performed by an SAP consultant and their areas of specialization

In recent years, many companies have implemented an SAP ERP system in order to improve the efficiency of business processes and consolidate information management, and thereby position themselves above their competitors.

In this context, a company may require the experience of an SAP consultant to resolve problems that arise in the use of SAP products and this facilitates decision-making by the company.

What is an SAP consultant?

An SAP consultant is a professional specializing in optimizing a company's business processes through SAP software. Their goal is to improve the company's efficiency and productivity.

Consultants will always work closely with a company's business teams in order to understand their needs and help them identify improvement opportunities and together design solutions that align with the objectives of each business.

Types of SAP Consultants

There are different types of SAP consultants, each with their respective specialization and are categorized as:

• Functional Consultants
• Technical Consultants
• Development Consultants.

Functional Consultants

Functional consultants focus primarily on specific modules of the company such as Finance (FI), Sales and Distribution (SD), or Human Resources (HR), adapting the SAP system to the business requirements.

Technical Consultants

On the other hand, technical consultants are responsible for monitoring the system infrastructure and architecture, ensuring that everything functions efficiently and securely.

Development Consultants

Development consultants, known as ABAP, help create and modify programs within SAP in order to further customize the system according to the client's needs.

 

What does an SAP consultant do?

Let's analyze the main functions performed by an SAP consultant in general and what their contribution is to business benefits.

Main functions:

Process analysis: 

• The SAP consultant evaluates the company's current processes to identify areas for improvement.

Implementation of SAP: 

• The consultant configures and installs the SAP software according to the company's specific needs.

Training: 

• The consultant trains end-users on how to use the SAP software.

Support and maintenance: 

• The consultant provides technical assistance to the company during the use of the SAP software.

Benefits of working with an SAP consultant:

Improved efficiency: 

• Optimized processes with SAP allow companies to save time and money.

Greater visibility: 

• SAP offers centralized and updated information for the entire company.

Better decision-making: 

• The data provided by SAP helps to make more accurate strategic decisions.

Increased competitiveness: 

• Companies that implement SAP become more competitive in the market.

The details will be described later, but in general, the work of SAP consultants varies depending on the project and the internal operations of a company; it can help the company as support for the introduction of an SAP module (functionality), definition of requirements to configure the SAP tool, formulation of concepts, user training, post-implementation support, etc.

Above all, the person responsible for being an SAP consultant must have knowledge of SAP system personalization - including SAP FI (finance), SAP SD (sales and distribution), SAP PM (Project Management), SAP MM (Logistics) - because the necessary functions for managing and operating a company are derived from it.

They must know how to customize SAP according to the company's environment; for this reason, their role is to improve the work environment of every business by improving the efficiency of operations by configuring SAP.

SAP consultant clients:

Clients are divided into a wide range of companies, from small and medium-sized enterprises to large corporations that can expand globally.

Therefore, the SAP consultant has the advantage of understanding the operational knowledge of the entire company and acquiring skills such as global business practices through experience.

3 areas of action for an SAP consultant

The work of SAP consultants varies depending on the project; but generally, it can be divided into the following three categories:

Implements the system and offers SAP consulting
SAP implementation and consulting will be the main business of SAP consultants.
In addition to SAP knowledge, optimal programming and communication skills are required to create a system that meets the client's needs, and only an SAP consultant can put this into practice.

SAP Customization

SAP has a wide variety of templates that adapt to the company. However, it is not uncommon for companies to require exclusive functionalities.

Before using each business process in SAP, it is necessary to identify the master data (catalogs) and configure the parameters according to the company's needs. This is called 'customization'.

An SAP consultant also has the task of customizing and developing add-ons for missing functions.
Since it is a long-term system, it is natural for companies to add special functionalities and projects to focus in different ways.

SAP Operation and Maintenance

Even if the SAP system goes into operation without incident, that is not the end of the process for the company.

There is also additional work to provide support and maintenance for SAP so that it remains running smoothly. Since the operation of the system is not immediately familiar after starting operation in SAP, support is required that an SAP consultant can provide.

Similarly, it provides assistance in case of problems that may occur during operation. As for maintenance, there are tasks such as attending to new requirements for the SAP systems and/or treating system failures that may occur during operation.
An SAP consultant will know exactly when to act to avoid further complications in the operation of the company using all the tools at their disposal to achieve this.

Differences with SAP engineers

A SAP engineer could easily be confused with a SAP consultant. At some point, it might seem that consultants and engineers have very different job roles, but depending on the company, there are cases where the content of the work is almost the same in terms of developing and proposing SAP products, simply using different names.

In general, it can be said that the difference is that SAP consultants are also responsible for listening and making proposals to clients, compared to SAP engineers who are in charge of the actual work, such as the design, development, and operation of the system.

Some focused on theoretical operations, others focused on practical operations but always under the same tenor.

What skills do you need to become a SAP consultant?

Problem-solving and proposal skills.

When a company thinks about implementing SAP, it has the purpose of managing data centrally and solving management problems.

Therefore, and according to the job offer requested by most companies, SAP consultants must have the ability to see through the problems that companies have and propose improvement measures to resolve them logically using the SAP solution.

It is essential to have the skills to collect information from interviews and observations, understand operational processes such as finance and accounting, human resources, logistics, and sales in this way the problem-solving will be much easier.

Knowledge of SAP system implementation and ERP products.

Not only is general IT technical knowledge necessary, but also knowledge of several modules, such as SAP FI (finance) / CO (controlling) / SD (sales and distribution) / MM (logistics, purchasing) / PP (planning and execution of production).

Furthermore, it will be more useful if you have experience in understanding the system in the optimal way according to the industry and the purpose of the company.

Communication skills

To decide how to implement SAP, it is essential to listen carefully to the client's problems and requirements, which are always seeking to improve in the short, medium, and long term.

Although the client may have analyzed the current situation, it is the SAP consultant's job to organize it and give it shape, bring ideas to a real and collaborative work, and seek appropriate solutions.

A high level of communication skills is important to succeed and work together to find solutions.

Certified consultant

To be a certified SAP consultant, you must have a certification grade by SAP that validates that you have the profile and knowledge of the development, maintenance, and operation of SAP in a particular process.

It has three levels of difficulty, and it is characterized by being quite complicated. Although being a certified consultant is not essential to work as an SAP consultant, having it generates confidence in clients, and grants greater job opportunities because some companies require qualified personnel.

Furthermore, if you are thinking about starting your own business as an independent consultant in the future, this is a qualification that you should definitely have.

SAP Consultant Salaries

The monthly salaries and income of SAP consultants vary depending on the company, but generally it is considered to be in the range of 50,000-80,000 Mexican pesos in Mexico City and surrounding states, which may fluctuate in states in the north and south of the country.

Remember that salaries tend to be higher in companies affiliated abroad than in national consulting firms; and there are cases in which employees working as managers or senior consultants earn a higher income, it all depends on the job offers available for SAP consultants.