 
The most frequent question I get from ERP job seekers? No surprises here: "What's going to be hot in 2010?" As 2009 draws to a close, a clearer picture of 2010 is emerging. The good news is that a number of economic indicators (such as decreases in overall job cuts) point to a gradually improving economy. More importantly for ERP consultants, IT spending is not going to be in lockdown mode in 2010.
That's because companies have learned that cutting back on all IT spending doesn't work. It's not just vendor hype: properly focused, IT spending does help companies further their business strategy. In 2010, we can expect IT spending to focus on areas pertaining to cost cutting, risk management and compliance, merger/consolidation, and strategic growth. With these trends in mind, it's no surprise that this looks to be the "year of Enterprise BI." BI, in all its flavors, impacts the aforementioned trends.
But knowing the trends is not enough. For ERP consultants, there's a more important question: "How do I get in on the action?" From a skills standpoint, the biggest change we are seeing in the BI space is a shift from siloed roles to a broader impact on all skill sets. Historically, those who worked in the ERP BI space were BI focused. Now, in addition to BI-specific roles, we are moving into an era where virtually all ERP skill sets can benefit from a BI component. Look at this in two ways: if you don't get a handle on BI, you may fall behind the pack, but if you anticipate how BI will impact your ERP specialty, you can get out in front.
In this article, I'll take a broader look at the trends in Enterprise BI and make some specific recommendations on how ERP consultants can capitalize on these trends.
One of the problems with the BI space is that it's hard to get a handle on the proliferation of tools. Oracle and SAP have their own proprietary tools, but firms like IBM and SAS are in on the action also. Fortunately, the BI space is more than just chasing down a vast array of tools.
The most effective ERP BI consultants will have four distinct capabilities:
The last point might be the most important. On a recent JonERP podcast, my colleague Michael Doane, author of the SAP Green Book: Thrive After Go-Live, called this last capability "helping companies get intelligence out of their business intelligence." Tools come and go. Consultants who approach the BI space with the goal of becoming a "trusted BI advisor" rather than a "BI tools contractor" will achieve higher rates and have more staying power in the market.
With that said, tools mastery is still the first item to address - it's the calling card that lands you the interview. Let's look at some of the BI tools to consider. As we review these tools, I recommend honing in on the tools that extend most naturally from your existing skills. Rather than chasing a bunch of vendors and add-ons, focus on the ones that connect directly to the work you are doing now. For example: technical ERP types don't need to move to functional to get in on BI, and the reverse is true also. You can usually add these skills from the vantage point of wherever you are currently working with ERP, whether it's programming, system administration and integration, or functional specialties.
The Enterprise BI Players
The major BI players to keep an eye on are:
IBM - Cognos The vendor products you should focus on within these five depend upon your ERP specialization, your industry focus, and perhaps most importantly, the project opportunities you are exposed to. Within these five, you can't really go wrong.
BI Technology Areas
The plot thickens: within the BI space, there are a number of skills subsets. Here are some BI technology areas to be aware of:
Enterprise Data Management In SAP's roadmap, Governance, Risk and Compliance is also classified in the SAP BusinessObjects umbrella. In each of these areas, ERP vendors have their own proprietary tools for you to master.
In Oracle's case:
Enterprise Data Management - Oracle Data Integrator (ODI), Oracle Warehouse Builder (OWB) In SAP's case:
Enterprise Data Management - NetWeaver MDM It's good to remember that you aren't tied to your own vendors' tools. This gets back to understanding roadmaps and product acceptance. For example, on the SAP side, while some customers are using NetWeaver PI as their integration hub, others have opted for best-of-breed middleware options from IBM or Microsoft. Knowing the strengths and weakness of each product in your ERP vendors' product line will help you immensely.
There's no sane reason to pursue all the tools. A better approach is to dedicate yourself to mastering one distinct area, like BI reporting, or BI data management, and acquire the tools that pertain to your focus.
With that in mind, let's look at the three major ERP project roles and the BI skills that should be pursued within those roles:
ERP developer: custom BI reporting, custom BI data interfaces, custom BI user interfaces and dashboard design and enhancement.
ERP systems administrator: BI systems installation and performance tuning, security and role authorization, data migration and ETL (Extract, Tranform and Load), master data management.
ERP functional specialist: analytics and performance management, content management, executive decision support, risk management reporting, business planning and consolidation.
Extend your skills
Of course, these skills summaries are a bit of a simplification. In many cases, there are technical and functional entry points into the same BI area. For example, planning and consolidation is an area that lends itself well to ERP financials experts on the functional side. In this case, the consultant might advise the client on the best approaches for these product extensions and then configure the solution. But there is also a need for technical experts in those same areas, installing products, defining and mapping data structures and resolving master data management issues.
Another example of BI skills extensions would be on the audit and controls side. To use an SAP example, in SAP's GRC suite there is a product called Access Control, formerly Virsa, that is used on a number of SAP sites. SAP technical consultants who are well versed in security and Identity Management (IM) could logically extend their skills into Access Control. On the functional side, there are other GRC skills extensions. For example, consider those who understand core ERP business processes such as procure-to-pay and order-to-cash. Those who grasp the financial processes involved in those transactions will be trainable in areas pertaining to fraud protection and segregation of duties.
As you extend your skills into the relevant BI products for your vendor, you'll see your marketability improve. Logically so - after all, what's more valuable to a company, processing transactions, or making sense of the business impact of those transactions?
Emerging BI Trends
As we track the BI market, we can expect more market growth as tools mature. Corporate Performance Management (CPM) is looking to have a big year in 2010, with Oracle, SAP, and IBM jockeying for position. Although I take spending predictions with a grain of salt, in a recently issued report entitled "The Forrester Wave: Business Performance Solutions, Q4 2009" Forrester predicted that the CPM market will grow at an annual compound rate of 12.7% between now and 2012. This means that total revenues for CPM, which Forrester dubs as "business performance solutions (BPS)," would rise $3.2 billion in 2012, an uptick of more than 50% from $2 billion in 2008.
Since the most popular CPM tools involve planning, budgeting and forecasting, as well as compliance reporting and risk management, we can see that the BI market will have "top line growth" in areas that tie directly to a companies' strategic plans. I recommend planning your own skills evolution accordingly. If all you do is build data models and install reporting servers, you're missing out on a big piece of BI and the skills marketability that will result.
If you want to take the next step in your CPM education, I highly recommend a book that applies to all ERP vendors, Driven to Perform: Risk-Aware Performance Management From Strategy Through Execution, by co-authors Nenshad Bardoliwalla, Stephanie Buscemi and Denise Vu Broady. In Driven to Perform, the authors outline a methodology for how to tie strategic, "risk-aware" management approaches into day-to-day business operations. Since companies are still in the early days of such a journey, reading this book now will give you a nice head start. SAP readers may also want to check out my recent podcast with Bardoliwalla where we explore SAP skills transitions in CPM and GRC in more detail.
Finally, when we think about long term BI product direction, predictive analytics is a key area to track. Right now, predictive analytics products are really in their infancy, with the exception of SAS, which has a pretty mature solution. The big ERP vendors don't have enough to offer customers in this area yet, but that will change.
Predictive analytics matter because if you can mine your data properly, you might be able to anticipate business trends more accurately. That means less warehouses full of products that the fickle, consumer-driven market has already moved on from. As Bardoliwalla wrote in his informative blog post on the Top Ten BI Trends of 2010 http://bardoli.blogspot.com/2009/12/top-10-trends-for-2010-in-analytics.html, "The holy grail of analytic technologies has always been the promise of being able to predict future outcomes by sensing and responding, with minimal latency between event and decision point." So there's one trend you'll want to watch in 2010, and be ready to jump on towards the latter part of next year.
Conclusion
If all this talk of tools and trends has bordered on too much information, we can break down BI skills needs in a very simple manner:
Those ERP consultants who can act on these principles and master the BI tools that support them will be the consultants in demand - in 2010 and beyond.
Jon Reed is an independent SAP analyst and SAP Mentor who blogs, Tweets, and podcasts on SAP market trends. He is the driving force behind JonERP.com, an interactive web site that features Jon's SAP Career Blog and his podcasts for SAP professionals. Recently, Jon was recognized as a Top Contributor for the SAP Community Network 2008-2009 in the Business Process Expert Category. Jon has been publishing ERP career content with B2B Workforce since 2006.
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