SAP – Outsourcing Support

We would all agree that outsourcing is worthwhile when approached with a clearly defined outsourcing model, although what to outsource would be a debate.

An example in the history of outsourcing would create a sense of safety and sureness and bring a clear picture to the outsourcing model and positive results that follow.

What should be outsourced?

In order to determine the roles that ought to be outsourced take into consideration the delivery requirements.

SAP divides support into three levels of delivery:

1. Center of Competency - SAP maintenance and incident management
2. Center of Expertise - SAP maintenance and incident management + continuous improvement
3. Center of Excellence - SAP maintenance and incident management + continuous improvement + the ability to deliver complex projects and enhancements

As the SAP delivery models move through the levels of competency moving to expertise and then finally reach excellence, the skills required and type of work involved becomes multifaceted and resource demanding. Also, the resources become more expensive and create an impact on the financial and other aspects of business.

Every business should decide where their SAP resources fit best and what is expected out of them? The following questions can make the decision simpler:

•     Can we expect stability?
•     Can we expect innovation?
•     Does this expectation change over time?
•     Can and should the in-house team deliver all, some or none, of the services in these models?

Once the expectation from SAP is decided upon, the next decision to be made is to outsource or no?

Key questions that can be helpful in making a decision on outsourcing are:

• Is IT a company differential?
• Is there other IT infrastructure within the firm you can influence?
• It's expensive to use people with SAP in their title for first level support. Should it be outsourced?
• What is the perception of key stakeholders?
• What are the aspirations of the team?
• Are there budgetary limitations?

By answering the above questions an understanding is created of the key requirements the business expects you to deliver, as well as determining your capacity to deliver.

Avoid redundant work

• Consider the experiences of those who have been through this before to avoid redundant work.
• Ensure those working on critical tasks understand the business and relate to the stakeholders
• SAP resources are expensive, ensure they are doing value adding work
• The knowledge that is critical to how your system works should be kept in-house and share it often to avoid key person risk
• If you have good project staff, keep them on projects as support work will lead to turn-over
• If you outsource everything, consider engaging a trusted advisor independent of your outsourcing partner

Top Tips

• Outsource the non-value add first
• Retain and share the knowledge on how your system works and why it works that way
• Participate in SAP discussions to find others and learn from their experiences
• If you outsource, find an outsourcer you can truly partner with
• Communication, flexibility and understanding will go a long way to achieving success and retention of sanity

Once what is strategic to the business is understood, one can decide what not to outsource. This will simplify what skills to keep in-house and what external knowledge and skills might be required to complement this. Always aim to keep control of the strategic value your system provides and leave the non-critical responsibilities outsourced.

Please feel free to share your opinions in the comments section below.

About Author:

Harpreet Kaur Dua is a consultant in Systems Plus Pvt. Ltd. Within Systems Plus, she actively contributes to the areas of Technology and Information Security. She can be contacted at: harpreet.dua@spluspl.com

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