Johnny Beverton
For our latest episode, Empiric’s Technology Director for the UK & Europe, Giuseppe Picardi sat down with Capgemini SAP expert and LinkedIn author David Lowson to discuss the current state and future trajectory of the SAP market.
A Global SAP Perspective
David Lowson is responsible for around 120 of Capgemini's largest SAP accounts and brings a global perspective to the SAP market. With over 30 years of experience, 20 of them within Capgemini, from his early days as a production engineer to his current leadership role, he's witnessed the industry evolve dramatically.
As David himself put it, "It's not just about the technology anymore; it's about understanding the entire business process, embracing the cloud, and constantly adapting to the changing needs of our clients."
The Rise of S/4HANA and its Impact
For a changing world of global focused trade, S/4HANA has numerous advantages - with a simpler core, processing data in memory for higher speeds and efficiency and better API compatibility.
David detailed how the shift to S/4HANA is a main factor pushing growth in the SAP market, with over 30,000 customers needing to switch over by December 2027. He discussed how the largest companies, such as global chemical firms, pharmaceutical companies, and aerospace firms, started the transformation first and the initial momentum has driven significant market growth - doubling or tripling in size.
Challenges and Opportunities in the SAP Market
The transition to S/4HANA presents its own set of challenges. David highlighted this, saying, "I think people underestimated how difficult it was to re-implement SAP when you moved from ECC to S4. I think everybody thought it was just a simple upgrade. It’s not. It’s a change program."
He flagged resistance to change within some organisations as a hurdle to overcome as they adapt to the new ways of working enabled by S/4HANA.
However, opportunities are positive. Despite the ongoing S/4HANA migration and leadership changes, SAP has demonstrated a strong strategic direction, focusing on customer growth, cloud migration and platform integration. It remains adaptable to market trends, actively embracing AI and other emerging technologies to maintain its competitive edge and continuing to successfully bring products to market (Rise and Grow, for example, have significantly boosted market presence and share value.)
David concludes "SAP's strategy is strong. However, there's still much work to be done to modernise product extensions and legacy industry solutions to unlock their full potential."
Capgemini's Approach to the Evolving SAP Landscape
David explained that Capgemini excels in delivering comprehensive SAP consulting solutions, covering consulting, implementation, and support across the entire value chain. They invest heavily in emerging technologies and continually strive for a culture of innovation to stay ahead of the curve, building and nurturing long-term client relationships - something paramount in this competitive market. As David explains, “Not many other firms can deliver everything needed for a full SAP implementation, understand all the cloud technologies, and operate globally with the right blend of onshore, offshore, rightshore, and nearshore resources, including recruitment.”
This global reach, combined with skilled staff and investment in tools, covering both SAP and non-SAP needs, and a focus on industry-specific knowledge and collaborative partnerships, allows Capgemini to use market consolidation to remain a leading player in SAP.
Skills in demand
David emphasised the importance of continuous learning and developing in-demand skills. "Certification is important, I think, particularly when a product is new," he stated. "But once, the product's in the market and it's been used for a while, then it's probably more about the reference projects you've got that counts."
He highlighted the value of certifications in areas like BTP, RISE, and newer components like Transport Management (TM) and Extended Warehouse Management (EWM). Furthermore, David stressed the importance of "understanding the newer ways of doing it," such as the SAP implementation approach and thinking beyond just the SAP product itself.
He also emphasised the importance of soft skills: "I always see SAP consulting as being like a three-legged thing. First of all, you need industry skills, you need to have good technology skills, and then you have to have good people skills. And I think it's quite hard to survive without people skills."
Finally, David encouraged SAP professionals to broaden their horizons: "I would also encourage anybody working with SAP to establish a broader view than just their own module or even SAP itself. This includes understanding other technologies, market trends, SAP's perspective on AI, the drivers of the SAP market, and what other products are doing." This involves understanding the competitive landscape and exploring how other technologies, like Salesforce, are succeeding in the market.
The Value of Recruiters
David admits he hasn't leaned on recruiters much in his career for his personal needs, but he has worked with them to fill other roles and recognises their value. He considers maintaining contact with them a surefire way to stay informed about market trends. "I think if you lose touch with your recruitment partners and the market, then you miss out on a vast opportunity to learn about what you need to do and what you need to know about the market and what's going on," he says. Recruiters can offer a view on sought-after skills, new tech, and possible career moves. David also pointed out that growing within a company is important before looking elsewhere. "I see a lot of CVs where people just move from firm to firm... That's not actually moving a career forward." He thinks a good relationship with recruiters can help people make smart career choices but also warned against always chasing new jobs instead of doing well in their current one.
Wrapping up
David's keen on SAP's future, mainly because of its potential for real innovation and change, not just upgrades. He sees SAP as key to digital transformation, driving interesting things like adaptable business solutions and even green energy projects. This isn't just about small improvements; he's talking about completely new business models and industry uses, with SAP at the core. He also wants SAP to get back more of the market and bring in new talent to push more innovation, keeping it going strong for years.
Be sure to watch the complete interview, and if you are keen on exploring exciting SAP career opportunities or building your own team, browse our current global openings across the various SAP modules here.
Be sure to connect with Giuseppe and David on LinkedIn.
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