The shortage of appropriately-qualified and experienced people is particularly pronounced in the technology industry.
With South Africa home to a vibrant motor manufacturing sector, and with the SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) system as one of the de facto standards across the motor industry, there is considerable demand for individuals who offer advanced skills for the configuration and optimisation of this business application.
According to Gert Cronj'e, regional chief executive of Business Connexion's Eastern Cape Region, this is an issue of some concern in the Eastern Cape, a province that is home to several vehicle manufacturing plants.
"There is significant demand for skilled SAP resources, but companies are struggling to find appropriately-qualified individuals. In many instances, the problem is not simply that there are no SAP-proficient people available, but rather that they do not have the right SAP skills and experience," he explains.
Marlon Reddy, senior manager of Business Connexion's CDE Competency, which specialises in SAP implementation and support, says: "Demand for skills in the SAP environment tends to be cyclical. In buoyant markets, such as that currently being experienced by the motor and other industries, there is a pronounced need for specialist SAP skills. However, the nature of the specialisation required is not necessarily the same for each cycle," he says.
At present, Reddy says there is an emphasis on business intelligence, customer relationship management and supply chain management expertise as organisations seek to benefit from the advanced functionality of their ERP systems. "SAP has been around for a long time and is an accepted system in the motor industry. As such, there is good availability of the 'core' SAP skills," he notes.
However, companies looking for competitive advantage from their business systems and processes are seeking to unlock the value of advanced functionality, says Cronj'e, and Reddy maintains this is how skills shortages occur. "A world leader like SAP continually develops its technologies. The implementation of these advancements in client environments is necessary to maintain or enhance competitiveness. Today it is business intelligence; tomorrow it might be something else," he says.
According to Reddy, SAP's enterprise services-orientated architecture (ESOA) is having an impact on the way organisations think about how they apply technology and applications, and this in turn is going to exacerbate the skills shortage.
"The impact is across the board, and companies will not only have to review their software architectures, but also their hardware and infrastructure. So it is now no longer a simple upgrade from one release to another.
"The pressure on organisations is to understand the impending change and then get the right skills and capabilities to advise on what needs to be done and how to get ESOA ready.
"This is not only a quantum leap that the companies running SAP must take, but also all the SAP service providers. There is now a specific demand in the marketplace for people who understand what ESOA and the SAP Netweaver model are, and what the composition of enterprise services across the organisation means.
"This is a totally different approach, and you cannot engage with a client and only talk about software or about hardware. You have to understand that business applications such as SAP are driving the combined need for hardware, services and infrastructure. It is about the convergence of such applications and the technologies.
"The rationale for ESOA is to allow organisations to put business process platforms in place to facilitate increased business agility and improved competitiveness. Many of the integration standards are now open-based, making it possible to have end-to-end integrated business processes including SAP and non-SAP applications."
According to Reddy, SAP has specialised in the motor industry to the extent that specific industry solutions have been developed for the South African motor industry. Given the buoyancy in this industry, there is a challenge to find and retain experts in the SAP motor industry solution.
"The service provider who is able to adapt rapidly to changes in the applications and technologies, and bring versatility to the table, is likely to weather the cyclical nature of skills demand," says Reddy. "To this end, Business Connexion actively encourages training and cross-skilling in its SAP skills base, equipping the company to effectively meet the skills requirements of its clients."
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