Despite the continuing economic downturn, demand for systems professionals, especially those with rare or specialised skills to offer, remains strong according to leading recruiters. Projects with a short payback, an identifiable return on investment that lead to cost reduction or productivity gains remain high on the agenda in both the public and private sector. Gary Simon, FSN’s managing editor reports on a market that is still holding its own in the downturn.
According to James Bradshaw, Chief Executive of Systems Accountants the UK’s largest dedicated recruiter, of hybrid accountants/systems professionals January produced some surprisingly buoyant results. He told FSN, “January 2009 was actually busier than previous Januarys with both new customers and projects in evidence. There was lots of activity around shared service centres. It looks like the high end of the mid-market, i.e. companies with approximately £500 million turnover are stepping into shared services for the first time as they seek to save costs and improve operational and process efficiency.”
“Also, where there are shared services already in place, typically at the higher end of the market, we are seeing the scope of these centres being widened to take on more applications, processes and businesses, sometimes with off-shoring involved, in a continuing effort to maximise efficiency”, he added.
A 2009 ERP salary survey from specialist recruiter Maximus IT also shows healthy demand for Oracle ERP specialists. Although the survey illustrates that the credit crunch has had some effect on the industry, with permanent Oracle positions now paying up to 12% less than 2007 especially in private companies, organisations are still buying and implementing ERP solutions. Consultancies are therefore still experiencing a strong demand for their services and hiring levels have remained relatively consistent.
It’s a view supported by Bradshaw. “Oracle often forms a central part of shared services centres particularly in government settings. So Oracle demand is quite good,” he commented
But Systems Accountants told FSN it sees strong demand also in Business Intelligence projects as companies try to keep a grip on performance and business trends. “Historically, it is enterprise performance management that has had central stage focussing on financial projects. Now we are seeing much more interest in enterprise-wide data warehouse projects dealing with financial and non-financial data,” says Bradshaw.
Despite many private companies facing economic difficulties, the public sector has been a centre of activity with around 25% of all ERP vacancies coming from local authorities and government organisations. The Maximus IT survey also reports that Oracle professionals with rare skills such as OPM, Discrete Manufacturing and Demantra remain in such great demand and that contract staff possessing them can command up to £700 a day. Employers are increasingly demanding a wider skill set in what Maximus calls ‘the age of the specialist’.
Bradshaw believes that people with consulting and advisory skills are some of the best placed in the market whether in the private or public sector. “Apart from shared services projects a number of private sector organisations are collapsing legal entities into larger entities driving demand for advisory services,” he says. Although specific package skills are showing less demand there is significant interest in Agresso Business World. “All consultants with these skills are at full stretch. There is no spare capacity, probably due to organisations upgrading to version 5.5,” he added.
Salaries for ERP positions in both Europe and the Middle East remain largely unchanged according to the Maximus IT survey, with the Middle East still relatively booming due to ongoing projects. Recent system failures have also led to an increased demand for flexible and experienced ERP professionals, creating more opportunities for many Oracle specialists from the UK and Western Europe.
Bradshaw sees strong demand for SAP professionals as well. “Where there are large ERP projects we are seeing them based on SAP. Lots of finance transformation work appears to be based on the SAP solution set” he says.
Nevertheless, few industries have remained immune to the effects of the recent troubles. “The survey highlights that the downturn has had some effect on the ERP sector; but it also shows that on the whole business is still going strong” comments Satnam Brar, Managing Director of Maximus. “We will be interested to compare these results with those of our next survey and see what developments have occurred this year, but we don’t expect the demand for Oracle professions to decline any time soon,” says the Oracle partner.
According to Bradshaw, the market is still uncertain and unsettled, with a number of companies battening down the hatches and hoping to come out the other end of the downturn in better shape. “Each week brings new recruitment freezes and tighter margins. “It’s not all plane sailing but the market hasn’t fallen off a cliff either,” says Bradshaw.
