What's better for future growth, SAP CRM Functional or Technical

[Former Member]

Hi Folks,

Currently I am in a very confused state of mind and hence thought of asking your valuable suggestions regarding my confusion.

I have been working for close to 5 years as SAP CRM Developer in a leading US IT Consulting firm in India. My primary responsibility is delivering the technical objects and more towards technical side. Being part of the project i always have keen interest in functional areas. Also i have very sound theoretical functional knowledge but very less hands on (Practical Experience) of the same. 

Recently i was looking out for some new opportunities and fortunately i clicked a couple of them. One is based out at Poland where in its a Technical role of developer, another is from one of Big 4 Consulting, based out at India which is typical functional.

I always feel like a functional role is better when you look forward for growth. Also being at technical side one gets very less chance to get involve in functional area and understand business process. I have no such problem working as a developer but currently as this stage i wanted to choose a better path to grow in industry. I have also observe that SAP CRM functional opportunities are very less as compare to technical, so will this effect my decision. 

Request you to kindly share your suggestions. What would be a good pick for a guy like me who likes to work both in technical and functional side of SAP CRM having 5+ yrs of experience.

Thanks in Advance

Yug

[former_member187748]

Hi Yug,

if you have seen my blog, you might get something, here is the link

Now comes directly to your question, as you have worked 5 yrs. on functional side, it will always

a safer side for you, in comparison with technical part, the second thing is that, if you will choose

technical side, then you will be considered only as a fresher.

And you know, what happens to a fresher in sap market.

So, i will sujjest you to go for functional side, when it comes to the matter of jobs, remember

if you are able to justify your knowledge, there are always many doors open for you.

Best of Luck, have faith in you, and remember without functional support, there will not be

technical and vice-versa, so do those things, in which you think you are comfortable and you have

passion for it.

[Former Member]

Hi Yug,

Your question touches on market dynamics. On the one hand, by definition, whenever a customer implements CRM, they're going to need both technical and functional. The question is whether there are currently more technical or functional consultants to fill those jobs. It's simple supply and demand. It sounds like there are more functional consultants in your area and therefore those job openings fill faster, which leads to you seeing fewer of those open positions.

Consider, though, that your this glut of functional talent may be temporary as folks move through different stages in their career. Also, markets tend to be regional, so while there may be a glut of functional CRM in Asia, there may be a severe shortage in the US. Trying to decide your career based on current, regional market conditions can set you up for failure if those conditions suddenly turn around.

The better choice is to choose your path based on your interests and passions, as Sanjeev indicated in his blog. What I'm reading in your post, though is an internal conflict. You enjoy both technical AND functional. With the larger implementation partners, you will tend to be pigeonholed into one or the other. You might want to consider working for a smaller implementation firm as a techno-functional.

There are drawbacks to this approach, however as you are expected to do essentially twice the work for the same pay. The customers tend to be smaller, though, and the scope tends to be smaller. Also, everyone else on the project will tend to have multiple specialties so you may actually have some minor coverage on the functional side to help you if you get stuck.... if you're lucky. If you are unlucky, then you will be expected to deliver both technical and functional perfectly with no backup in which case your ability to research and manage time will be sorely tested.

I also sense another question behind your question. You're looking forward into your career and trying to decide where you want to end up. Do you want to be a hands-on consultant your whole life or do you want to "settle down" and work at one customer and perhaps climb the career ladder until you find a more managerial position? Do you want to stay in consulting but perhaps move into the project management ranks which tend to have more prestige and perhaps slightly better pay.

These are all very good questions and ones that you can only answer for yourself. I've been on hiatus so I haven't read my old blogs recently, but you may find something useful in FAQ: Different Career Paths in SAP or FAQ: Middle and Late SAP Career Paths or perhaps FAQ: What is the best SAP module for me?

Hope this helps!

Best regards,

  --Tom

[Former Member]

Dear  Yug,

SAP CRM provides best-in-class functionality for marketing, sales and service. It supports customer-facing business processes across multiple interaction channels. SAP CRM enables organizations to focus on strategies for customer-driven growth and to differentiate themselves in the market by providing a superior customer experience.

if you have seen my blog, you might get something, here is the sap crm functional blog link SAP CRM Functional Elearning | Experience the Quality of our Online Training

[Former Member]

Hi Yug,

My personal preference goes to SAP CRM Sales / Service Functional, because I saw two guys who were recently in SAP CRM Technical moved to SAP CRM Functional.  I had a curiosity and asked them why they came to Functional instead of Technical but they told simply "Functional scope is very high".

Choose functional side but if you have technical ABAP skill that would be a great advantage when you work on projects.

Regards

GGOPII

[former_member1345478]

Hi Yug,

Based on my 14 years of work experience as a CRM functional consultant and 8 years in industry, I would share my views.

1. The best option is to be a technical consultant. The most practical reason is there is a huge amount of work and hence huge demand for technical consultants. For functional consultants, probability of being on bench is very high.

2. Functional consulting is almost gone these days. Reason : Functional consultant hardly gets a chance to understand business in detail.  Either 'business analyst' tells you the business which is of no use or mostly ABAP  factory is run irrespective of what is supported  by standard SAP. Finally a so called functional consultant ends up writing functional specifications basee on his poor understanding of business.

3. As a technical consultant, one can easily learn new products like Hybris. Functional consultant cannot.

Very limited or no scope for functional consulting leaves you with no choice but to become a project manager which everybody may not like.