Technology giant SAP does $10 million Aussie hiring spree

SAP, an enterprise technology giant, will be conducting a $10 million Australian hiring spree this year. The move is part of its efforts to invest on the skills necessary to crack the local small to medium sized business market.

The company, which is known as a supplier of software systems to government departments and big corporations, plans to increase its staff by 20 percent this year. That means an additional 200 headcounts aside from the 1000 it already has in Australia. The hiring spree is reportedly slated on the first half of 2017.

Stephen Moore, the new managing director of SAP Australia and New Zealand, told The Australian Financial Review SAP would receive applications across the range of the company's products. But he clarified that that their focus would be experts in both selling to and delivering technology projects for small and medium sized businesses. The introduction of cloud-based software-as-a-service subscriptions provided an avenue for SAP to reach to thousands of smaller businesses.

Apart from providing more jobs, SAP also intends to level up its local investment and expand its local partner network. Moore said they were effectively underweight in the SMB space. “My attitude is to leave nobody behind, sell and fulfil so it has to be the whole end-to-end model," he added.

He explained that the SMB space is not a traditional market linked to SAP. However, there is an enormous number of companies with less than $1 billion Aussie turnover in the market and they currently own at least 10 percent of that market. Moore shared that his ambition is to have that doubled within three years.

SAP is winning

Moore said SAP is winning new customers despite competition in the market. Workday is perceived to be one of its rivals.

CRN reported last month that SAP recorded a 49 percent growth in new cloud bookings and 34 percent rise in cloud revenue. In a call with financial analysts, CEO Bill McDermott said the numbers show that they are executing their winning strategy.

As for SAP’s Aussie hiring spree, Moore said he was shocked at how competitive the Australian market is for top talent. "Selling software is competitive, but getting the best and brightest to join with you is just as competitive, believe me," he told AFR. According to Moore, he personally interviews applicants and thinks they are also interested about what the company does in terms of social impact.

SAP/YouTube

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