In 2024, Baer saw a 55% YoY increase in jobs across all technologies we support—SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, etc. The growth in SAP aligned closely with this, with a 54% increase, and it’s a trajectory I anticipate will accelerate well into 2025. But what’s behind the increase in demand for SAP talent and what impact will it have on your ability to identify the resources you need, when and where you need them?
There are several SAP ecosystem and vertical trends in play, including unprecedented parallel public sector and private enterprise investment. Specifically, as Federal agencies begin large scale S/4HANA transformations, it is creating labor market pressures. In parallel, increased Federal investment is fueling a transformation surge in Aerospace & Defense (A&D) and Supply Chain & Manufacturing (SCM). We’re also seeing increased demand for specific skill sets and correlated increases in pay rates.
Without further ado, I give you every SAP ecosystem and S/4HANA staffing trend you need to know about to staff a 2025 transformation–all based on our proprietary Baer data.
SAP S/4HANA Ecosystem Trends
There are several overarching trends within the ecosystem that are driving both overall demand and demand for specific types of expertise. For example, we’re seeing an increase in both S/4 public cloud adoption and greenfield implementations.
- Public cloud adoption is increasing - SAP’s strategic directive is to become a true SaaS company. They are investing in and incentivizing adoption of their Public Cloud model, and as the end of mainstream support for ECC draws near.
- Greenfield implementations are increasingly common– Post pandemic, more organizations were going brownfield due to the complexity of reimagining their business processes and recessionary headwinds that were driving financial concerns. But the value of aligning to S/4HANA “clean core” standard practices becomes more evident, and since the looming recession never materialized, greenfield implementations are on the rise.
- Early adopters are already upgrading - This emerging trend is due in part to the lack of long-term support for early adopter S/4HANA clients running release that pre-date 2023. These clients are finding their releases of S/4HANA are no longer supported, and the software and RISE options have evolved so significantly that they are reevaluating their approach to the technology and reentering the implementation cycle.
SAP S/4HANA Vertical Trends
All verticals experience adoption cycles. Typically, what we see is early adopters demonstrating value before wider implementation, with a wave of laggards adopting to stay competitive. While not strictly verticals, we’re currently seeing the public and private sectors investing in parallel, with public sector investment driving a trends in supply chain and manufacturing (SCM).
- The enterprise and public sector are investing in parallel - This trend first emerged in 2023 when S/4HANA Cloud was FedRAMP authorized, and it picked up steam in 2024. All signs are pointing toward an unprecedented parallel public/private mass adoption cycle in 2025, and if it materializes, you can expect significant labor compression.
- Aerospace & Defense (A&D) investment is increasing - As early as 2021, we started seeing increased investment in S/4HANA by the A&D industry, due in part to increased investment by the Federal government. This continued throughout 2024, and all signs are pointing toward even greater investment in 2025. This is likely a driving factor behind the increase in demand for SCM and discrete MFG skills, due to the complexity of A&D engineered products and complex supply chains.
SAP Expertise Trends
While increased demand for S/4HANA expertise is due in part to increased investment by the public sector and in the SCM arena we are also seeing high demand in finance, technical, and human resources skills—trends that cut across all verticals.
- In-demand finance skills - Since so many S/4HANA transformations start with modernization of the finance core, it tracks that the greatest demand is for mid- to senior-level expertise with titles like lead consultant, functional lead, and subject matter expert. Specifically, demand for Funds Management and Project System expertise in the public sector and external accounting expertise is up.
- In demand HCM skills - We’re seeing an overall increase in requests for expertise related to SAP Human Capital Management (HCM), with most of the demand centered around SuccessFactors Talent Management suite. As we move in 2025, we modernization of legacy SAP Payroll solutions to ECP or H4S4 is also trending upward. As you might expect, demand for expertise related to legacy ECC skills is declining in parallel as more organizations make the move.
- In demand SCM skills – SCM and MFG have always been a sweet spot for SAP–they truly are the best of breed. We’ve seen a precipitous increase in demand for SCM expertise, particularly in the extended warehouse management, transportation management, advanced-available-to-promise (aATP), and production engineering and optimization (PEO.)
- In demand tech skills - Technical skills are evergreen–they’re always in demand. The biggest increases in requests are for application development, systems administration, infrastructure, and security-focused experience driven by the innovations such as BTP and Cloud Infrastructure service solutions.
SAP S/4HANA Pay Rate Trends
Pay rate trends typically align with demand. Some skills, like finance and technology, are evergreen and are more likely to be in steady demand, while demand for more niche skills fluctuate. The pandemic years saw increased investment in S/4HANA, which drove up demand and rates, but in general, things have stabilized. If the market takes off as anticipated, we may see a repeat of 2021 and 2022.
- Finance pay rates have slightly declined- Finance skills sets are always in demand. Rates rose rapidly during the pandemic and peaked in 2023. In 2024, they declined modestly before stabilizing. A 2025 mass adoption cycle could send them skyrocketing once again.
- HCM pay rates are rising- As more organizations complete their essential finance transformations, HCM is increasingly becoming an area of focus. Pay rates fluctuated throughout the pandemic, but in 2024, we saw a 9.5% increase over the 2021 low water mark, which parallels the increased demand for expertise.
- SCM pay rates are holding steady- Increased S/4HANA investment by verticals that rely on SCM expertise is not yet driving up pay rates–they have remained relatively steady since 2022. If demand continues to increase, it’s probable that rates will rise accordingly.
The Right Expertise at the Right Time—Even in a Competitive Labor Market
The SAP S/4HANA labor market is complex and competitive. Access to the right expertise, at the right time, for the appropriate investment, is critical to the success of your program. An enterprise performance partner like Baer, who is looking down the innovation curve and proactively identifying expertise can help you navigate the trends and minimize risk to your program.
About Baer
Unlike typical technology staffing companies, Baer is a true enterprise performance partner. We have a deep understanding of the scope of enterprise digital transformation and the highly specialized skillsets you will need at different stages of the process.
To learn more about how Baer can make a positive impact on your enterprise transformation, please reach out to Brian Trout, Executive Vice President, Sales, at btrout@baergroup.com or John Wilson, Vice President of Strategic Accounts, at jwilson@baergroup.com.
