Hot Jobs Tips Series: ERP Consulting, Part 1

Posted on June 14, 2008
Filed Under Guides, InfoBlog, Specials, bloggista

If you are at the crossroad of your career and you wonder what are other jobs that may give you better opportunities and compensation; or, you may be a fresh graduate or someone with little experience and want to know which jobs will give you opportunities for growth, or probably a student wondering if your chosen college course will eventually prepare you to good career start - you might be interested in checking out this post on ERP Consulting.

Perhaps one of the high-paying jobs in the Philippines and even in many other countries, ERP Consulting is considered to be one of the most sought-after jobs in the world of business improvement and process streamlining. ERP, or Enterprise Resources Planning software applications have revolutionized the way most companies, particularly the larger ones, do business. In this era of globally-enabled marketplace, not implementing an ERP project is like going into war without ammunitions.

What is ERP Consulting?

ERP applications, born out from the concepts of MRPII, or Manufacturing Resources Planning, is a business solution and productivity tool combining the strategies of integrating all functional departments of a company, adopting “best business” practices, and utilizing Information Technology (software, hardware, infrastructure, etc.) to provide real-time information that are keys to good business decision making. Popular ERP applications providers include Oracle, SAP, and Microsoft.

ERP software applications integrate the whole business enterprise, from Human Resources, to Finance, Sales, Inventory, Manufacturing, Costing and other business functions. It provides these business functions the “modules” to use separately, but all in one database, thus making all information available to all functions. It allows single entry of a data or information and be made available to all.

The goal of ERP Consulting is to help or manage a company’s ERP software implementation activities - define business requirements, provide solutions to requirements, train users how to use the software, manage changes and user acceptance and aid the company in the migration and transition to new system.

Compensation

Dollar bills ERP Consultants-trainee (entry level) usually gets on the average of Php15K to Php30K or slightly higher, depending on the level of experience. Junior and regular ERP Consultants (of about 2 - 3 years experience as ERP Consultant) gets on the average Php40K up to Php80K per month, while Senior ERP Consultants and Project Managers could get as much as Php120K to Php200K (or more) a month.

Freelance ERP Consultants may get even more. Oracle and SAP ERP Consultants usually get the higher pay compared to other ERP providers.

However, when compared to other countries (Singapore, Australia and the United States), these compensations are relatively lower, thus, many Filipino ERP Professionals opted to work overseas while others chose to relocate. This has caused a lot of problems with the local ERP implementations, because many Consultants are leaving even before most projects are completed.

Skills requirements and Opportunities Availability

ERP Girl Consultant ERP Consultants are scarce, partly because it takes several years of actual implementation experience before one can become a good ERP Consultant, and by that time, they may have migrated in another country.

It is hard to get an ERP Consulting opportunity. Training is not readily available, and the training cost is prohibitive. However, if you possess a good background in Finance or Supply Chain, or been involved in various business process improvement projects, or, an ERP software user yourself, you may be a good Consulting candidate for various ERP Consulting companies.

A good understanding of business processes is a must, such as Purchase to Payment process, Order to Delivery to Cash processes, Planning to Production process, General Ledger Accounting to Reporting, Recruitment to Retirement process (HRIS) among others.

For those with less experience, you may still get a chance if you have a good background in Accounting, especially with a CPA license. Management or Industrial Engineering graduates are also highly favored, as the basics of MRP (Material Requirements Planning) and MRPII are covered with their course in college. Others that will likely be considered are Economics, Business and IT Management graduates.

Where to check for opportunities?

ERP software providers such as Oracle, SAP and Microsoft are usually working with Business Partners to deliver the implementation and consulting services to its clients. So, better check which Companies are partnering these giant ERP software companies. A quick Google search would do.

I will post a listing of several companies that are partnering with Oracle, SAP and Microsoft in my next posts, so better check it out.

If you like my posts, you can subscribe using your favorite RSS feed reader or get them delivered to your email inbox. Thanks!

Sphere: Related Content

Comments

15 Responses to “Hot Jobs Tips Series: ERP Consulting, Part 1”

Jan Alvin on June 14th, 2008 4:41 pm

kuya Bloggista, pahelp nman po sa mga digg entries ko. please thank you po!!
Joliber Mapiles on June 14th, 2008 7:09 pm

This is another interesting post.. At least people who want to be ERP consultants will have a good overview just because of this post..

Anyway, kawawa naman kami sa Microsoft capability kasi mas mataas ang billing ng SAP at Oracle (uhuhuhuhu)..

Joliber Mapiles’s last blog post..No Blogger is an island
ceblogger on June 15th, 2008 1:17 am

bloggista, had I chosen to exit PWC sometime in 1998 because of an opening in a telco, I would have been in this path, because the position available was for SAP implementation. Most of the guys in that team are now working abroad.

A colleague of mine joined PWC Consulting in singapore. It was the hottest thing prior to Y2k.

Tip to young CPAs: 2 years employment in any of the Big 4 auditing firms will put you in better position when you join consulting firms.

ceblogger’s last blog post..Serious Blogging
bloggista on June 15th, 2008 9:27 am

@Joliber, Microsoft professionals have lots of available opportunities - but its true, SAP and Oracle probably charges more, thus you may earn more.

@Ceblogger, I have some friends at PWC, some of whom have switched to consulting. But it also depends where your passion is - and I agree, people from the auditing firms esp. the Big 4 are good candidates for ERP Consulting. If you know some who plan to shift - will you refer them to me? Hehe.
Ambo on June 15th, 2008 11:03 pm

I wonder why my brother keep on staring at me when i’m asking his salary about this job. This is his job! Anyways, SAP alone can make you money in Google Adsense.
Ambo’s last blog post..Anak Lyrics and Video
bloggista on June 16th, 2008 10:09 am

@Ambo, Haha. Now you already got some idea. The listed amount are the average compensation. Depends on the level of experience and skills, it can go way higher.

Trackbacks | Links to this Post.

Gimme' some Lovin'. Leave your comments. Ohh, if it's your first comment here, it will be queued. Please bear with me but promise it will appear quickly. Your succeding comments will be displayed on the fly once you hit the 'Submit Comment' button.