MMC 2014 SAP Training Survey - CEdMA Europe articles/misc/2014... · Online SAP training accounted for 37.1% while classroom training was just 30.1%. • Over 51% of respondents indicate

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Michael Management Corporation

2014 SAP Training Survey


Table of Contents

Acknowledgement ......................................................................................................................................................3

Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................................4

Commentary from SAP Mentor Jon Reed ..................................................................................................................5

Survey Analysis by Cushing Anderson, IDC ..............................................................................................................7

Survey Results ............................................................................................................................................................9

Survey Methodology ................................................................................................................................................ 16

Disclaimer, Copyrights and Trademark Notices ...................................................................................................... 17


Acknowledgement

Thomas Michael

CEO, MMC

Dear Reader,

I am excited to present the Michael Management 2014 SAP Training Survey to you.

This is the third year of our annual independent training survey for the SAP training space and

I specifically want to thank the 1230 SAP professionals who shared their opinions and

experiences with us (this is a new record number of participants again!).

Further, I want to thank Cushing Anderson and Jon Reed for so generously sharing their

professional expertise and providing their analysis of the survey results.

And, most importantly, I want to thank our hundreds of clients and thousands of students for

their continued investment in our award-winning SAP training solutions. Your approach to

excellence in training has helped make us the leading provider of online SAP training

solutions.

Sincerely,

Thomas Michael Chief Executive Officer

Michael Management Corporation


Executive Summary

Michael Management Corporation is an award-winning provider of online SAP training solutions and has surveyed

1230 SAP professionals from 83 countries in Q1/2014 about their experiences and expectations with regards to

SAP training.

We have reached out to SAP mentor Jon Reed to provide an executive summary of our survey. In addition, we

have asked noted industry expert Cushing Anderson from IDC to review the survey results and provide a

commentary and analysis of the results.

Some of the key findings of this year’s SAP training survey are:

The Good

• The trend away from traditional classroom training towards eLearning continues. Online SAP training

accounted for 37.1% while classroom training was just 30.1%.

• Over 51% of respondents indicate that they prefer to receive their SAP training online via instructor-led

virtual session or eLearning options compared to a 29.5% preference for instructor-led classroom training

(down from 37% last year).

• 18.2% of respondents indicate that they have received a significant amount of SAP training (31+ hours) in

the last 12 months.

The Bad

• 21.7% of respondents say that not having enough time for training is the main obstacle while 21.4% cite

insufficient training budgets as the main training challenge.

• Over 62% of respondents indicate that they have received little or no SAP training at all over the last 12

months.

The Ugly

• 41.5% of respondents say that they have not received sufficient training to perform their job.


Commentary from SAP Mentor Jon Reed

Jon Reed

Independent SAP Analyst

Principal, JonERP.com

Reviewing the annual Michael Management SAP Training Survey is always a treat. The only downside? I wish I could report that the waters have parted, and that SAP training is now a spending priority on all SAP projects. But I can’t do that. Now three years into the survey, we still have some disconcerting numbers. Take into account the big picture:

- ERP projects continue to hit the newswires due to massive cost overruns or outright failures.

- Insufficient training (or inadequate skills) is frequently cited as a major factor on troubled ERP projects.

- On the flip side, exceptional team skills are a common ingredient whenever successful ERP projects are studied.

Something’s got to give. So I took another look at the 2014 survey numbers. And guess what? The news is not all doom and gloom. The most encouraging takeaway? SAP professionals are embracing online learning of all varieties. Last year, the number of those who preferred online SAP training was high. This year it’s even higher, with e-learning leading the responses at almost 30 percent. When you add up instructor-led online training (21 percent) and classic offline training (books and manuals), about 70 percent of SAP training preferences now falls outside the traditional classroom. Why is this exciting? Certainly not because classroom training is a bad thing. With a great instructor, classroom training can be exceptional. But ten years ago, when an SAP professional wanted to advance their SAP skills, training options were much more limited. They were often dependent on their current employers for any kind of meaningful training experience. Now that’s not the case. Yes, SAP customers still need to invest in training to protect their SAP investment. But today, motivated individuals can also take matters into their own hands. That brings personal skills development in line with what SAP projects also need. Online SAP training has opened up the option for companies to supplement or replace classroom training with more affordable options. For companies that understand the need for deeper training but struggle with money and logistics, these are good signs. Sometimes it’s not about money, but about avoiding workflow disruptions. Online training can offer more scheduling flexibility also. Before we get caught up in too much back-patting, I must point out that 41.5 percent of 2014 respondents say they have not received sufficient training to perform their jobs properly. A similar percentage had not received any training in the year. Those numbers are similar to past years’ surveys, which makes the data points no less disturbing. As Michael Management wrote, “Is it reasonable to expect people to do a good job without training them?” It’s a simple but potent question. I hope it provokes someone reading this report to make a budgetary change. Or write an open letter to management. Or take a course on their own time.


I always read this survey’s SAP certification questions with interest. Just like in past years, certification is cited as more important to individuals than to their managers (33 percent of individuals cited certification as “very important” for themselves, versus 17 percent for their managers). Those numbers are fairly static year to year, which tells me SAP still has loads of work to do strengthening the impact and perceived value of certification. Like training, certification is no cure-all, but it does represent one more way for companies to validate the skills of their employees and provide a skills framework to aspire to. Next year, I’d like to see the Michael Management survey dig into some of the new technology areas SAP is aggressively pursuing, such as cloud and HANA – especially given that these are more than technologies, but new software with new implementation and training needs. Without hyping up SAP’s innovation agenda, I can safely point out the obvious: when markets are changing this quickly, training takes on even more importance. When Microsoft’s cloud version of Office is the fastest growing product in their history, we know that workplaces are changing. New applications, new devices, new competitors. And, new training content – delivered on our plentiful devices, in ways that make sense for corporate budgets. That’s where we’re headed. The journey will go a whole lot better if we take the numbers from this survey into account, and plan accordingly.

Jon Reed is the co-founder of diginomica.com – featuring insights and use cases for the digital enterprise. As an independent analyst and SAP Mentor, Jon frequently blogs and videocasts on enterprise trends. He is a member of the Enterprise Irregulars, an influential group of enterprise bloggers and practitioners. Jon serves as a founding member of the HANA Distinguished Engineers Council and was an original member of the SAP Certification and Training Influence Council.

Join Jon’s 8000+ followers on Twitter: @jonerp


Survey Analysis by Cushing Anderson, IDC

Cushing Anderson

Program Vice President, IDC

Enterprise systems are complicated. A typical module may take weeks to install or upgrade, it gets used by dozens sometimes hundreds of users, and interfaces with other modules and data systems impact much of an enterprise. Training project team members, or end users, can be time consuming. But unfortunately, some organizations don't have the opportunity or economic wherewithal to provide all the training their employees expect. Unfortunately, those organizations are letting value leak out of their enterprise systems by failing to provide adequate training to the project team or end users. About 75% of end users and IT professionals received less than 20 hours of SAP training in the past year though about two thirds felt that they needed more than 20 hours of training in order to be capable of doing their job. There appears to be two related issues that contribute to this gap between delivered training expectations: identifying who would benefit from training, and determining what training is necessary.

WHO TO TRAIN "Setting up" an enterprise system is complex and the risks associated with failure are high: operational errors, system downtime, financial, regulatory or operational reporting errors are just some of the issues. End users consistently make up the largest share of employees impacted by an enterprise system deployment or upgrade. In this survey, end user training is once again seen as the single greatest training need in nearly 50% of enterprises. IDC has found that training of both project staff and end users is the single most important factor in enterprise system upgrade success

1.

Unfortunately, more than 40% of enterprise system users, administrators or consultants feel they have been inadequately trained to perform their responsibilities. It is little wonder that enterprise system implementations and upgrades so often result in unmet expectations, under-used capabilities and disappointed stakeholders. WHAT TO TRAIN For end users or IT professionals to get the most from training, training must target areas of meaningful deficiency - areas where the learner or the whole population doesn't know, and where ‘knowing’ has a meaningful impact on individual or organizational performance. When the deficiency is meaningful, the target learners are more likely to incorporate the improvement into their daily work process. Targeting meaningful business needs requires a systematic evaluation of the opportunities for improvement – input or reporting errors, exception handling or some other specific operational benefit. Targeting ongoing improvement to real business need will establish the training – and the resulting behaviors – as an important activity. Learners continue to believe that they aren't getting the amount of training they need. While reporting an "average" of about 6 hours of training in the past year, most learners think they should receive more than 20 hours to be capable of performing their jobs. IDC

2 has found that even a small increase in the number of hours of

training on enterprise systems – as little as 9 hours more training per person – increases an enterprise system project's success rate from 50% to more than 80%.


That opportunity for improvement is not surprising. Ongoing training provided to the IT team and end users after go-live is a great opportunity for enterprises to gain increased value out of their system investment. Many organizations suffer from what IDC describes as "knowledge leakage", where individuals report that they perform tasks by rote, with little understanding of the purpose or value of the activity, or the consequences of failure. Generally this is caused by staff turnover, including promotions, departures, and layoffs, and weakens an organization's capability because replacements (either internal transfers or new hires) are functionally less competent than the predecessor. This is because individuals who change roles often have accumulated training hours and practical knowledge about their tasks and responsibilities. Rarely is that insight and information effectively conveyed to the replacement. If the enterprise doesn't remediate that weakness with structured on-the-job or formal training, the organization is letting business value leak out of the enterprise. SAP users cite other reasons for the lack of training - time constraints, lack of budget, no support - but the impact is the same: whether new-hire training is limited because of funds, management support or the pace of day-to-day activities, failure to provide sufficient on-going training hurts organizational performance. HOW TO TRAIN Over the past several years, this research has shown that enterprises have consistently increased the convenience and relevance of training options available to employees. To be effective, training must be both convenient and relevant. Internally developed training material, online and printed documentation are available at many organizations and represent convenient sources of training content. Recent research found that self-paced elearning, live instructor-led training in the classroom or online, and training developed by SAP or 3

rd parties are all available in more than half of enterprises.

While classroom training remains an important training option, self-paced elearning has been increasingly available and leveraged for enterprise system training for both IT staff and end users. During the past several years, enterprises have also included instructor-led online training as an important part of their delivery portfolio. The "instructor led" feature helps keep the cost to develop training in line with other classroom instruction. And the "online" feature adds convenience for training learners when gathering them (or flying instructors) is impractical. Because learners have become increasingly comfortable with both self-paced and "live online" training, enterprises are increasing their use of both of these modalities. THE BENEFIT Training on enterprise systems is complicated. Effective training involves choices of audience, content, delivery modality and frequency. Effective training is time consuming; Time consuming to develop and time consuming for learners to complete. And the target learners are diverse; Learners have specific needs, unique training preferences and increased training options. It is also difficult to train the right end users on the content that is most important to business success. But when done successfully, enterprises can maximize the business value of their enterprise system. Cushing Anderson is program vice president for IDC's Project-Based Services research. In this role, Mr. Anderson is responsible for managing the research agenda, field research, and custom research projects for IDC's Business Consulting, Human Resources and Learning research programs. Follow Cushing on Twitter: @CushingAnderson


Survey Results

Below are the survey results in graphical form based on 1230 responses collected from 83 countries. Some

answers surprised us while others fall in line with what we expected. We have provided our thoughts and

comments on each question below.

What is your current role with regards to SAP and SAP Training?

While our survey covered a broad range of SAP-related job roles, almost 50% of respondents are people

who work with SAP on a daily basis: SAP End Users, Key or Power Users, Business/IT Analysts, System

Administrators. The rest is made up of SAP Consultants (24.8%), Supervisors/Managers (12.1%) and

Corporate Executives (4.1%).

Where do you see the biggest training need among your SAP user community?

Almost half of all survey respondents (49.8%) indicate that end user training is needed the most, closely

followed by configuration training (33.5%) which typically is used by implementation project team

members, IT analysts and consultants. Executive overview training takes a distant 3rd

place with 11.8%.

24.9%

15.6%

24.8%

8.8%

12.1%

4.1%

9.8%

SAP End User / Key or Power User

SAP Business / IT Analyst

SAP Consultant

Developer / Technical / System Admin

Supervisor / Manager

Corporate Executive (Director, VP, or above)

Other

11.8%

49.8%

33.5%5.0%

Executive/Manager overview training

End user training

IT / Configuration training

Other


Have you received sufficient training to perform your job responsibilities?

Even though we ask this question every year, we continue to be shocked by the answers. An alarming 4

out of 10 SAP professionals (41.5%) indicate that they have not received sufficient training to do their job.

Makes us wonder: what if these 4 people work for your company?

Within the last 12 months how much SAP training have you received?

To illustrate the above problem in more detailRover 62% of all respondents have received very little

(21.3%) to no SAP training at all (41.61%) in the past 12 months. We ask ourselves: Is it reasonable to

expect people to do a good job without training them?

58.5%

41.5%

Yes No

41.6%

21.3%

11.5%

7.3%

7.2%

11.0%

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0% 40.0% 45.0%

None

1-10 hours

11-20 hours

21 – 30 hours

31 – 40 hours

41+ hours


How much SAP training do you think you "should have received" to be capable to do your job?

Over 52% of respondents indicate that they should have received a significant number of SAP training

hours (31+ hours) to be able to do their job well. We call the disconnect between the number of training

hours received vs. needed the ‘SAP Training Gap’ – and it is one of the reasons why companies fail to

achieve their intended ROI figures when they switched to SAP.

What is the biggest SAP training challenge that you face personally or at your company?

Not having enough time for training (21.7%) and a lack of training budget (21.4%) are the two main

obstacles with regards to SAP training. The 3rd

problem is the lack of useful or appropriate training

material (we couldn’t agree more – training via death-by-PowerPoint makes us gag).

Additionally, almost 15% of respondents indicate that there is no ongoing training available after the go-

live. We find this especially terrifying because knowledge leakage (due to attrition, job changes,

retirements, etc.) can be as high as 25% per year.

8.6%

12.2%

12.3%

14.7%

17.8%

34.5%

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0% 40.0%

None

1-10 hours

11-20 hours

21 – 30 hours

31 – 40 hours

41+ hours

4.0%

7.8%

12.4%

14.8%

17.8%

21.4%

21.7%

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0%

Other Challenge

No SAP training challenge

No management support for training

No ongoing training after go-live

No access to useful / appropriate training material

Insufficient Training budget

Have no time for training


What SAP training resources do you find most beneficial?

This word cloud was generated based on 1230 answers with 5767 words. When we poured all the words

into our word cloud generator, it produced this graphic. As you can see, the respondents find ‘SAP Online

Training’ is the most beneficial training.

Please estimate the percentage of the type of SAP training you have received.

Online SAP training is the most common type of training these days with a combined 37.1% (self-study

eLearning 27% or instructor-led virtual training 10.1%). Traditional instructor-led classroom training comes

in at 30.1% followed by offline training material (such as books, manuals) at almost 20%.

30.1%

10.1%

27.0%

19.8%

13.0%Live instructor-led training (classroom)

Live instructor-led training via the internet (online

seminars)

eLearning (self paced, online)

Printed books/ instruction manuals (self paced, not

online)

Received no training at all


Which of the following methods for maintaining/upgrading your SAP skills do you plan

to use over the next 12 months?

Almost 26% (up from 23% in 2013) of respondents indicated that they plan to use eLearning courses this

year to maintain or upgrade their SAP skill set. eLearning outshines all other training options and

traditional classroom training is the least favorite option with just 14%.

Are you certified in any SAP module/area?

The overwhelming majority of SAP professionals surveyed indicated that they are not certified (72.6%) at

all while 24.7% specified that they are certified by either SAP or Michael Management.

3.9%

14.0%

15.9%

18.4%

21.9%

25.8%

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0%

Other

Classroom (Live instructor-led training)

Virtual training (Live instructor-led via

internet/online)

Printed books/ instruction manuals (self-paced, not

online)

Online SAP documentation

eLearning (self-paced, online)

72.6%

19.5%

5.2% 2.6%Not certified

Certified by SAP

Certified by Michael

Management

Other


How important is being certified to you personally and to your company/manager?

A whopping 61% of respondents indicated that being certified in SAP is important to themRyet, less than

39% of their managers agree. It appears that individuals rate certification much higher than their

companies and managers do.

33.3%

27.7%

19.7%

10.4%

8.8%

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0%

Very Important

Important

Neutral

Not Very Important

Not Important At All

To You Personally

17.9%

20.9%

30.1%

14.9%

16.3%

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0%

Very Important

Important

Neutral

Not Very Important

Not Important At All

To Your Company/Manager


Do you think that being certified in SAP would benefit you in any of the following categories?

When it comes to searching for a new job, 32% of respondents believe that being certified will be

advantageous for them (presumably compared with non-certified applicants). In addition, 22.4% think that

a certification will help boost their salaries while 21% count on certification to help with the next

promotion. Also, almost 20% consider certification an important part of their job security.

What is your preference for how SAP training should be delivered?

We found this one pretty exciting (after all, we’re in the online training business): Over 51% of

respondents indicated that they prefer to receive SAP training online (either via instructor-led virtual

training (21.8%) or eLearning (29.7%)). Only 29.5% of respondents still prefer traditional classroom

training – down from 37% last year. Offline training material (such as books, manuals) came in with an

impressive 17.2%.

22.4%

21.0%

19.9%

32.0%

4.7%

Salary

Promotion potential

Job security

New job search

Other

29.5%

21.8%

29.7%17.2%

1.9%

Classroom (Live instructor-led training)

Virtual (Live instructor-led via internet/online)

eLearning training (self paced, online)

Books / Manuals (self-paced, offline)

Other


Survey Methodology

The survey was conducted among MMC’s registered user/student base of SAP customers, consultants and other

SAP professionals worldwide through an online questionnaire between February 4, 2014 and March 2, 2014.

Survey results are based on 1230 responses collected during this timeframe. The following infographic shows the

survey’s metadata:

* All survey values minimally rounded.


Disclaimer, Copyrights and Trademark Notices

This report is provided by Michael Management Corporation (MMC). It is completely independent of and not

affiliated with SAP AG. SAP is a registered trademark of SAP AG. SAP and other SAP products and services

mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in

Germany and in several other countries. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of

their respective companies.

Survey results are based on responses provided by participants and have not been verified by MMC. The results

are based on a limited number of responses and are not warrantied to accurately represent any data beyond the

scope of the individuals that responded to the survey.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

MMC MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED BY OR WITH

RESPECT TO ANYTHING IN THIS DOCUMENT, AND SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY IMPLIED

WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR FOR ANY

INDIRECT SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED, STORED IN A RETRIEVAL SYSTEM OR

TRANSMITTED, IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, PHOTOCOPYING, RECORDING OR OTHERWISE,

WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT OF MMC. NO PATENT LIABILITY IS ASSUMED WITH RESPECT TO

THE USE OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN. WHILE EVERY PRECAUTION HAS BEEN TAKEN IN

THE PREPARATION OF THIS PUBLICATION, MMC ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ERRORS OR

OMISSIONS. THIS PUBLICATION IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.

Copyright © Michael Management Corporation. All rights reserved.

About Michael Management Corporation

Michael Management Corporation (MMC) is an award-winning SaaS provider of on-demand SAP eLearning for

global enterprises, government agencies and medium-sized businesses. MMC enables business organizations to

maximize business performance and minimize financial reporting errors through a combination of SAP eLearning

content, SAP sandbox systems and expert consulting services. Recognized brands around the globe rely on

MMC’s SAP training portal to increase user productivity, decrease system errors while at the same time driving

down training costs.

To see if your company qualifies for a corporate trial, please visit: www.michaelmanagement.com/trial Or speak directly with a training specialist: (800) 608-0490, option 2

Documents

MMC 2014 SAP Training Survey - CEdMA Europe articles/misc/2014... · Online SAP training accounted for 37.1% while classroom training was just 30.1%. • Over 51% of respondents indicate