Solved: Entrepreneurial opportunities for a SAP consultant...

balaji_parsewar · ‎2013 Jun 10

I always think how we can use our SAP consulting skills for entrepreneurship?But there are no easy answers.

For Example, a coder/programmer having mastery over any language like C or Java can easily start with a PC & C compiler installed on it. He can do multiple things in order to start his own business. If he is brilliant enough he will develop new OS because resources what he requires are nothing.

But on the contrary, SAP consultant can not play with his idea due to high infrastructure cost SAP needs.

Hence my question is that apart from freelancing what are Entrepreneurial opportunities available for a SAP consultant?

How he can utilize his SAP skills if he wants to start his own business?

Request all experts to share their valuable opinions.

Regards,

Balaji

Former Member · ‎2013 Jun 11

Hi Balaji,

When you say Entrepreneurial, I take that to mean that you want to be your own boss and own your own company. Have you taken a look at SAP's Partner program?

They list almost a dozen different ways you could start a company and make money not by doing implementations, but by selling goods or services related to the SAP universe. Unless you have a trust fund, though, some of these methods will be easier than others.

If you've been a consultant, then you have been in the business of consulting. There's been someone who interfaced with the client on your behalf to sell your services to the client. It is possible to start up your own consulting firm, but it's not easy. You need to understand the local rules for doing business. (For example, if you're doing business with the US Federal government, it helps to know that a certain amount of business is set aside each year for firms that are classified as "small", "minority owned", "female owned", "veteran owned", etc. If you fall into one of those segments, then you will have an advantage over other firms that do not have the preferred classification.

In and of itself, that will probably not be enough. You'll also have to have built up relationships with larger Systems Integrators or customers to the point that they will have confidence that you will bring the right people to them when they have a need they can't fill from within their own ranks.

If you are a developer, you can indeed develop software and resell it to customers. SAP's Developer Center has tools and tips to help you do just that. SAP has many tools and initiatives centered around HANA right now. You could develop something HANA based that works within the current SAP universe or you could write some killer web app that uses the power of HANA to do something completely unrelated to the everyday world of business. You could start a business that focuses on reselling SAP software to customers and leave the implementation to others.

This is just a small sampling. I would recommend checking out the SAP Partner Portal and see if anything strikes your fancy and then start checking out "How to start a business" web sites like the Small Business Administration's website if you are starting a business in the US..

Yes, starting a business is hard. There's never enough startup capital. Try starting a restaurant. There's equipment to buy and space to lease and raw materials, etc. The same is true when you start a business in the SAP space. Most folks who live paycheck to paycheck aren't fully cognizant of everything involved in starting a business and once they start looking, it seems like a miracle that anyone is able to get a business off the ground.

I've recently gone independent/freelance myself. Hopefully I'll be able to parlay this independence into a larger organization that places other consultants on projects some day, but I know that this dream is going to take dedication, hard work, and time.

Wish me luck! I hope you found this helpful and I wish you good fortune on your own quest!

Best regards,

--Tom

Former Member · ‎2013 Jun 11