Jose Luis
SAP ConsultantA high-demand, high-paying IT profession that can propel you into a challenging career.
This is the conclusion drawn from the VII SAP Barometer 2025 published by Malt and ACISAP, the Association of Independent SAP Consultants.
In it we can also read that 83% of the consultants surveyed have been in the profession for more than 15 years.This shows the stability of their professional careers and the confidence of this type of specialists. And that more than 80 % of SAP consultants maintain an annual income of more than 50,000 euros. (53.5% once again exceed €75,000). “Experience and specialization significantly improve the economic retribution”, says the Malt and ACISAP study.
The freedom to choose as an SAP consultant
But why the freelance option freelance has so much weight? The answer can be summed up as: higher incomes and more freedom.
72% of SAP SAP consultants opt for this type of employability because of the freedom it confers in “choosing projects, deciding where to work, being one’s own boss and managing one’s own schedule”. Personal satisfaction is also a key factor, according to the barometer, as well as remote workingThis is a modality to which 100 % of the SAP consultants surveyed adhere.
SAP Consultant with expertise in AI. A future profile with high labor demand
With regard to the future of their activity, SAP professionals SAP professionals show a strong interest in AI, “although only 13% are currently using the AI tools that SAP offers”.
In fact, one of the biggest challenges for companies today is to find or train SAP consultants capable of using AI functionalities to leverage the capabilities of these tools, for example, in strategic decision-making processes thanks to data analysis in SAP.
It is not for nothing that SAP is internationally recognized as one of the most advanced SaaS companies in AI. Joule, the generative AI from SAP developed to act as a copilot in business management is a good example of this. It is capable of increasing productivity through intelligent data analysis and the automation of processes such as the processing of recurring orders.
A relevant fact about the importance of this profile and its scarce volume in the labor market is the fact that that Lanbide announced a collaboration with the Europa Institute to train 100 SAP consultants in the Basque Country last year through 100% subsidized courses. last year through 100% subsidized courses.
In fact, the UTE Instituto Europa and the department of Information Systems Integration Engineering (I3S) collaborated with the Department of Labor and Employment of the Basque Government and the Public Employment Service-Lanbide to develop this training project and train a hundred SAP consultants in the territory in order to “create opportunities and promote professional development in the Basque Country”.
The Basque Administration explained then that “SAP is the first European software company and the world leader in business management software, and worldwide more than 400,000 companies manage their finances, logistics or Human Resources with its solutions”. In addition, he emphasized that the employability rate of this training is 80%.
The opportunity to develop as a SAP consultant and to update knowledge through training entities seems to be a pending subject. According to the aforementioned barometer, 75 % of SAP consultants admit to self-trainingThey would like to learn more about AI, either through their own experience or by asking colleagues. In addition, 92% would like to be trained in AI.
Requirements for a career as an SAP consultant
Most of the requirements to be able to access to courses of SAP consultant The requirements for these positions include a medium/high level of English, a high school diploma or higher and knowledge in the financial or logistics area. They are not the only ones.
An SAP consultant must have a solid combination of hard skills (technical and functional) and soft skills (interpersonal and management) that enable him/her to effectively implement, configure and optimize SAP solutions aligned with business objectives.
Hard skills
- Functional and technical knowledge of SAP systems:
- Proficiency in specific modules (FI, CO, MM, SD, PP, HCM, among others).
- Understanding of integrated business processes.
- Knowledge of SAP tools (S/4HANA, Fiori, SAP Business Technology Platform).
- Ability to configure and parameterize systems and functionalities:
- Customization of the system according to customer requirements.
- Proficiency in transactions, data structures and business rules
- Languages and technical tools: ABAP (if technical profile), SQL and basic knowledge of integration (IDocs, BAPIs, RFCs).
- Knowledge of development in cloud environments or SAP BTP.
- ERP project management
- Familiarity with methodologies such as SAP Activate, ASAP, Agile or PMI.
- Technical English
- Reading and conversational competence for documentation, training and global collaboration.
Soft skills
- Effective communication: Ability to explain technical concepts in an understandable way to non-technical profiles.
- Active listening to understand customer needs.
- Analytical thinking and problem solving: Rapid identification of root causes and proposals for practical solutions.
- Change management and customer orientation: Accompanying users in the adoption of the system.
- Ability to generate trust and commitment.
- Teamwork and cross-functional collaboration
- Interaction with functional and technical areas and stakeholders.
- Ability to adapt to diverse organizational cultures.
- Time management and prioritization. Effective task organization in complex and high-pressure environments.
- Continuous learning: Interest in new releases, SAP technologies and digital environment trends (AI, automation, RPA, etc.).
These competencies make the SAP consultant a highly strategic and adaptable profile, capable of driving digital transformation within organizations.
According to the aforementioned barometer, the most common SAP consultant professional roles in 2024 were: Functional Consultant, 71 %.ABAP Developer, 14 %; Reporting-BW Consultant, 10 %; SAP Basis Consultant, 4 %; and PI-PO Consultant, 1 %.
In short, to be SAP consultant is a highly valuable and strategic career option in today’s environment, characterized by digital transformation and the need for operational efficiency in organizations.
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