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SAP and Microsoft Dynamics continue to be industry favorites. I’ve been surprised how Dynamics has grown in popularity primarily given the growth in Azure and sticking with a common Microsoft stack.
ERP is so broad. You really need to decide first what module within the ERP you want to specialize in (i.e. supply chain, finance, HR, CRM, etc.)
Then you can choose the application.
Also note that certifications don’t have much value. When you’re first starting, they are useful for showing companies/managers that you have an interest and have committed to learning it, which can help you get in the door for working in that practice or project.
Once you’re working on those projects, your experiences counts more than any certification would for getting future project roles. But certifications do help in year-end evals or higher salary considerations.
SAP is the goat of ERPs, with Oracle in a far 2nd. Salesforce is the goat of CRM. Workday is the goat for HR capabilities. Ariba is the goat for sourcing and procurement.
SAP always has work, but it’s saturated market so you have to compete with a lot of people. Oracle and Microsoft are fighting for ERP marketshare. All the other niche softwares are growing quickly so it’s easier to hop in with little experience.
Again, the software comes secondary to the actual functional area you decide to specialize in.
M1 .. brilliant beginning answer : pick the functional area. Then drill.
I was one of the earlier workday consultants for my module in my country. Demand was huge and as a result, fast tracked my promotion cycles at a Big 4. However soon realized that I will only be staffed on workday projects and nothing else since my rates as a workday consultant was far too high compared to being on a non-workday project. Recruiters reach out but only for workday related roles. For other roles being offered, I’d have to take a significant pay cut and just didn’t make sense. Essentially what I’m describing is the golden handcuffs phenomenon. I think it’s great for people who want stability, but as someone who went into consulting to try different projects and industries, workday was an inhibitor. For those who are young and growing, I would stay away from these erp systems. Personal take of course
Golden handcuffs. Swore to myself I would only do one ERP project. 15 years later leading an ERP practice. What happened?
Salesforce is CRM. Not ERP. If looking at ERP, Workday is a no-brainer but your firm must have a partnership with Workday and send you for certification training.
Workday is the future. Way faster processing and it’s capable of doing basically every business task and can be customized for specific industries
As a former workday consultant, I’d say workday has the highest demand. However, I had to fight frantically to get out of the pidgeonhole. To each their own 🤷🏻♂️
SC1 - it gets boring. Every project starts to feel the same. And after your fourth or fifth project on one these packages, you can almost predict the potential issues before they start.
Certifications are a money scheme by these software companies to keep getting money off implementors “needing” to re-up their certification every 2 years. I’d much rather someone with five years experience with no cert, than someone coming in with any amount of cert. they even state on them you should be a full time practitioner of at least 3 years before taking them.
It depends on the cert. Some are geared towards actual implementation work and actually require hands on practice, getting this cert would not distinguish you (or anyone with <2 YOE). Some certs can be obtained by taking training courses for foundational work etc, id put weight into these since it is aligned to your actual knowledge and shows you’re interested. I would look for the latter type of certs as it will give you leg up and actually allow you to have an understanding of the work/software
Manhattan WMOS - warehouse management systems
E-commerce is exploding. Always needs distribution technology.
Requires extensive travel if that’s your thing.
Honestly I’d focus on AWS/GCP/Azure and if you’re looking for a new language to learn, definitely Python. No one is going to tell you that Oracle is dying and that you’d be pigeonholed if you make that you’re only focus. I agree Microsoft is a good investment of time but cloud enablement is really where a lot of the opportunities are.
Following this thread, similar to OP also wanting to break into implementation. From my understanding most certs require sponsorship by the partner firm. Trying to pivot into those roles now. Hoping to get into cloud WD for fin mgt.
Worth picking up basic AWS / Azure certs in the meantime, since I’m coming from a generalist non-tech background? Any coding languages that would be helpful besides SQL? I’m starting Python as my first since it seems to be so adaptable and useful
Hey SC, haha sounds like we’re doing the same exact thing. 👌🏼 best of luck to both of us 😂
I’m in the workday field. I think it is saturated. Can he or she try AWS ? That’s where the future is. All my clients are or plan on moving to AWS
I am an ex-ERP person (PeopleSoft, which was purchased by Oracle a while back).
If I had to choose between these four, I would choose Workday because Dave Duffield created PeopleSoft and was so annoyed that Oracle did a hostile takeover of PeopleSoft, he went out and created Workday. And he has been successful in growing market share.
Not any Oracle Financials Cloud ? 😢
I have been working on it for five years and find it way more user friendly than the old SAP I saw in college.
Definitely Workday. Specialize in FIN or PATT, get a few years under your belt. Go independent and make $300k a year and take as many days off as you want. That's a pretty nice life.
Salesforce - choose a sub-functional area within CRM. Hands On trainings are free for most of the modules with excellent material available on Salesforce’ site including free sandbox. Salesforce conducts a lot of 1/2 day free virtual trainings. Certification fee is $100 for most of the modules. Huge demand and great future - IMHO
What about Microsoft?
I’d say it’s pretty up and coming. Has been mainly for middle market and upper middle market companies but in my opinion it’s among the top preferred ERPs by customers due to user friendliness
S/4 Hana Essentials
On boarded into Oracle but never got certified and was able to work across different industries, processes, and technologies. Echoing some of what’s already been said, I’d recommend skilling up in delivery methodology early on rather than any particular technology. Gives you opportunity to explore since tech consulting groups/service lines aren’t incentivized to let you.
ERP Newb 2 here...are “Functional Consultant” the entry-level roles I should be hunting for to pivot into implementation? I have a finance background but no formal developer hard skills/cert. Looking to get into cloud financials (WD ideally). Don’t mind taking a step back in my current title/scope to learn from the ground up, coming from MC.
Yes, since no one can do workday unless they are certified, everyone starts as a “functional consultant” once they get certified