Whether you are looking to embark on a new career in IT, or are an IT professional looking to add new strings to your metaphorical bow, SAP is a great thing to have experience in and knowledge of no matter what your current specialisation or your main field of interest. SAP skills are regularly listed as one of the most in demand skillsets in the IT industry worldwide, and this is the case in all kinds of sectors and IT disciplines, from development and testing to analysis and project management. Here are just some of the reasons why, if you don’t have any exposure to SAP yet, it is a great thing to get on your CV:

SAP is Bigger Than You Think

In the IT industry SAP is often considered a niche, but as a range of products it is far, far bigger than this implies. SAP is the fourth biggest software brand in the world, and by far the biggest in Europe. It is used by the vast majority of household name businesses, and one interesting statistic suggests that 74% of all of the world’s revenue generation touches on a SAP system at some point. If you consider that something so ubiquitously used is also a niche skillset in the IT market, then it is easy to see why people with SAP knowledge are very, very employable.

SAP is Very Popular with SME’s

If you are aware of the high usage of SAP in large enterprises, you may think, well, that is fine, but I don’t want to work for big corporations, or there are no major company headquarters anywhere near where I want to live. However, while SAP may produce ‘enterprise resource planning’ software, it is a misconception that only enterprise scale businesses benefit from their solutions. In fact, 80% or more of SAP’s customer base is estimated to be in the SME category – small to medium sized businesses. This means that even if you prefer to work with smaller companies or don’t want to be based in a major city, your SAP skills will be incredibly useful to employers in the niche you want to work in. SAP is also used in 190 countries, so if you like the idea of skills that can help you travel in your IT career, SAP is, once again, a great choice of specialism.

SAP is Evolving

SAP is a software giant, and has a whole ecosystem of third party products based around its proprietary technology. Companies like www.weaveability.com specialize in SAP ecommerce and SAP portals for businesses to use to connect with suppliers and customers. Other consultancies specialise in creating SAP localizations, or other custom implementations. Whether you are interested in innovating with SAP or tapping into what it can already do to help a business, there is a lot you can get involved with if you have the skills, and the SAP HANA cloud based solutions are also a fascinating growth area.

All things considered, SAP is one of the best things you can have professional skills in in the IT world right now, and this isn’t likely to change any time soon!