Outsourcing SAP Operations


Posted on by Ben Rothke

A common mistake made when outsourcing, is that organizations often think if they outsource a poor process, it will magically start working once it is outsourced.  Nothing could be further from the truth. 

In Outsourcing SAP Operations, Yosh Eisbart shows that there is indeed no magic involved, rather good requirements definition.  While he has no wand, does show the way in which to effectively outsource your SAP operations. 

If you are looking for a quick checklist approach to finding a simple answer to outsource or not, this is not the book.  In fact, no such book exists.  But what this book does well is detail the many questions that you need to consider and ask before embarking on an outsourcing effort.

A book like this is needed given the significant increase in the number of firms considering SAP outsourcing.  The recent recession saw many organizations looking at SAP outsourcing as a way to reduce the cost of their IT operations, and gain greater efficiencies.  But those cost reductions and efficiencies will only happen if the outsourcing process is done correctly and pragmatically.  

The first part of the book is on strategy and asks the 4 ‘w’ questions around SAP outsourcing, namely: who - determining whether outsourcing is right for your organization, why - potential reasons why outsourcing might make sense for your organization, what - is SAP outsourcing; the various flavors, and when - timing and transition. 

The author brings significant real-world experience to the pages of the book, and rather than rehashing verbiage from SAP brochures, details an effective methodology in which to outsource.

The book covers all of the essential areas regarding SAP outsourcing, from costs and budgets, vendor selection, global delivery, and more.  Chapter 9 – selecting a partner, is an extremely valuable, in that the difference between an effective partner and an ineffective one, will often be the difference between a successful SAP rollout and a failed one.  The chapter provides a number of good questions, and selection criteria, in which to use to determine a competent vendor. 

Far too many companies will select a vendor without proper due diligence, and simply rely on their marketing claims and glossy brochures.  Effective use of chapter 9 will obviate such a mistake. 

A large part of section 3 is lessons learned, where the author details many things that can potentially go wrong in a SAP outsourcing endeavor, and how not to be a victim of such mistakes. 

It is likely that many readers will react to a lot of the content in the book with “wow, I never thought of that”.  Such a response is precisely why so many SAP outsourcing projects fail.  Outsourcing SAP Operations is a valuable resource that can be used to stop that trend.


Contributors
Ben Rothke

Senior Information Security Manager, Tapad

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