Hottest SAP areas for would-be consultant
I have been working as an SAP superuser (MM 4.7) for three and a half years now. I want to extend my career in SAP and have three options in mind: SAP technical consultant, SAP functional consultant for SAP SCM or the same for SAP HCM. I am not really sure if I am going on the right path.

Basically, due to my personal reasons, I want to move into a direction where it pays off well and which is interesting as well. And for that I am ready to invest for my career in SAP. I would like to know what is the red hot area / module in SAP.

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I'm glad you asked about the "red hot" areas of SAP. There isn't one red hot area in SAP. However, some areas are definitely in higher demand than others. I did poll a couple of staffing firms recently, and the verdict was that the hottest area is the new General Ledger in 5.0 and especially 6.0. Any core Financials skills are hot due to the upgrade scenarios.

We're also seeing a lot of action with BW upgrades from BW 3.5 to the BI 7.0 platform. We're also seeing some MDM work in release 5.5, as well as SAP HCM. XI installation work is also creating business. The slower area of consulting are, surprisingly, the mySAP Business Suite (CRM, SEM, PLM, SRM) areas that used to have so much sizzle. ABAP and Supply Chain (APO) work is even slower - though I would say that in the case of ABAP, the issue is not so much lack of work as the fact that ABAP work has been globalized, thus driving rates down.

So, from the areas you described above, SAP HCM is probably the hottest. But your core skills lie in other areas. The best compromise might be your MM work.

This was first published in February 2007