Nearshoring of SAP Services in SNP

In recent years, Poland has become one of the main locations for service centers. The strategic geographical location, low labor costs and high performance, as well as access to highly qualified staff with good language skills are strong assets of the country, situated on the Vistula River. Other strengths include political and economic stability, European Union membership, which is a guarantee of high legal standards, and the cultural proximity to Euro-Atlantic countries.

Nearshoring – the transfer of business or IT processes (e.g. SAP services) to companies in a country which is geographically and culturally close. Compared to the commonly used offshoring of SAP services, among others, in the Far East, the advantage of SAP nearshoring from SNP is the ease of communication and a cultural affinity. The purpose of nearshoring is to reduce costs while maintaining a high quality of services.

These arguments have prompted many international corporations to locate their competence centers in Poland, including those providing IT/SAP services for their offices around the world. For the same reasons, SAP competence centers of international corporations, regardless of their physical location, seek external SAP competencies in Poland, if there are such needs in their organizations. The reasons may vary:

• Reduction of operational costs related to SAP maintenance and development
• Reduction of capital expenditures related to the acquisition of competencies
• A periodic or persistent lack of the company’s own competencies in a specific SAP area
• Increased demand for services during the implementation of large projects
• Delegation of certain tasks to external companies (e.g. programming in ABAP/Java) which allows for the company’s own employees to engage in more responsible tasks
• The company’s strategy assuming the long-term outsourcing of administration services and support services for SAP system users.

SNP, one of the largest SAP consulting companies in Central and Eastern Europe, provides SAP nearshoring services addressed to large international corporations that want to achieve these goals while maintaining a high quality of services.

As pointed out by Andrzej Moskalik, Sales Director for SNP Poland: “The primary advantage of working with SNP in the nearshoring model is that it is a great-value-for-money solution”. Our consultants have gained extensive experience during various SAP projects, including international projects, and the SNP support organization is ready to provide ongoing SAP services for even the most demanding  clients. Compared to the commonly used offshoring of SAP services, among others, in the Far East, the advantage of SAP nearshoring in SNP is a cultural affinity and ease of communication as well as higher quality of services.”

One form of cooperation with SNP, based on a nearshoring model, may be the performance of tasks based on a long-term cooperation agreement, which guarantees fixed, predictable costs and a guaranteed response time (SLA). Favorable pricingconditions are achievable through continuous cooperation and low logistics costs. The affordable price is also influenced by the fact that all or most of the tasks can be performed remotely. Other forms of cooperation based on a nearshoring model include bodyleasing (e.g. ABAP/Java developers or module consultants), expert consulting, and SAP application management services.

Bodyleasing – Outsourcing of Competence

Bodyleasingis a form of cooperation that is based on the long-term “provision" of a SNP specialist to the client. Under this agreement, depending on the commissioned tasks, a SNP specialist becomes a member of the client’s SAP competence centre or their project team.The workmay be carried out on-site at the client’soffice or remotely from SNP’s office.

Clients working with SNP on the basis of SAP bodyleasing usually use the competence of:

• Consultants of individual modules, such as SAP ERP, SAP BI, or SAP CRM
• SAP technology experts (including SAP Basis)
• ABAP and Java developers
• SAP integration technology specialists
• Project managers.

Examples of such work for SNP clients include worldwide work on SAP HR under a long-term agreement between the SAP competence center and and a tobacco group; programming and module work for Heineken, and work on the SAP NetWeaver integration technology in a high-tech company.

Depending on the scope and type of work, the commissioned work in a bodyleasing model is carried out in two ways:

• Based on a long-term cooperation agreement that guarantees access to specific competencies (e.g. programming competencies) within a defined range of days or hours based on an estimated customer demand for work (e.g. 10 days of ABAP / Java programming per month, 10 FTEs (full time employees) of SAP Basis work per month, etc.),
• By a consultant with the documented experience in a specific SAP area (e.g. specialist in selected integration technologies or soft HR functionalities).

ABAP and More

The ABAP Development Centre service is an offer for those customers who have strong and continuous needs for development work, and expect competitive prices with a high standard of service maintained.The ABAP Development Center proves useful where the customer expects flexibility in meeting a variable internal demand for development work arising from:

• Identificationof large, unplanned extensions in ongoing projects (a frequent situation related to budget underestimation or schedule changes)
• A periodic unavailability of internal developers (vacation, illness, personnel changes)
• Searching fora regular partner who will provide a team of well-prepared specialists and will take up high-level development tasks

Typicaltasks carried out as part of the ABAP Development Center service include the preparation of:

• Reports
• Dialog programs
• Interfaces
• SAP standard extensions
• SAPscript forms and Smartforms
• AdobeForms
• Web applications (ITS, BSP, WebDynpro, FLEX).

The cooperation model based on a long-term agreement (formed by the projected average monthly level of demand for the development work) provides clients with a quick estimation of labor consumption for individual tasks, the rapid execution of work, as well as simple and transparent accounting rules, and a competitive price. The work is done remotely based on a primed business blueprint and specification documents provided by the customer under the long-term cooperation agreement.

SNP Employees at Client’s Competence Centers

The tasks entrusted to SAP module consultants “leased" to the client depend to a large extent on the organization of work in the competence center. The SNP employees may be members of SAP development teams if the customer’s company lacks resources or a specific competence profile (e.g. self-service solution specialists or professionals with expertise in talent management and appraisal system functionalities are needed in SAP HR development programs). Within the bodyleasing model, SNP consultants can also carry out projects and development tasks independently.

A common case of this is the execution of helpdesk tasks by SNP consultants within the client’s organization. Corporate competence centers that provide support for key users and end users for divisions around the world lease SNP specialists for routine service work. Needs may arise from a prolonged absence of the company’s own employees, a temporary increase in the number of requests (e.g. after the launch of new extensions or a rollout to a new country), or simply from lack of human resources. The system users who submit requests are often not even aware that they are supported by the employees of an external company.

SAP Application Management

Another type of nearshoring of services in SNP is SAP application management. It is a service consisting of remote support for the client’s SAP users – solving problems that occur during the ongoing system operation. Even if the company has its own team responsible for ongoing user support, complex issues sometimes appear in different areas that require specialized expertise. Their maintenance within the client’s organization is not economically justified. In this case, the possibility of escalation of requests to a specialized external organization helps ensure business continuity and the security of the system.

SAP application management from SNP is provided by dedicated teams of support consultants operating within the SNP Outsourcing Center. Application support from SNP means:

• A permanent availability of experienced specialists
• Guaranteed response times and solution delivery times
• A wide range of support services
• A single point of contact (a Service Desk team) irrespective of a reported issue
• Service based on a long-term cooperation agreement and SLA provisions
• International standards for data security (an Information Security Management System compliant with ISO 27001) and IT service management (IT Service Management System compliant with ISO 20000 and ITIL recommendations)
• Support in English

Key tasks performed as part of the application management service include support for SAP users (answering questions, identifying solutions) and resolving issues arising from everyday work with the system (analysis of errors, elimination of configuration and programming errors) as well as support for the selected business processes, and handling notes and updates. In addition, the support includes small developments and system audits.

Competence, Proximity, Enthusiasm
The centralization of financial, IT or HR management services in dedicated competence centers is a global trend, allowing enterprises to improve the quality of their services and achieve maximum productivity and efficiency while reducing costs. In recent years, many Polish cities including, for example, Krakow, have grown to be a powerful hub in which international corporations locate competence centers.
SNP’s full range of services and an office situated in Krakow are advantages. However, not only geographical proximity is important;our customers also appreciate the cultural proximity and the fact that we share the same work ethic. They value our competence and flexibility.
The potential of SNP – with more than 200 SAP consultants – makes us a serious partner. Moreover, we are so flexible that we approach each customer individually with a tailor made offer. Large companies appreciate this. Do you need developers or junior consultants for simple jobs? Or maybe an experienced expert to develop a business blueprint for an advanced solution? There are no jobs in SAP which we would not commit to.
Jakub Szwejkowski, Head of the SNP Office in Krakow, SNP Poland

A Good Partner for Your SAP Competence Center

The above examples of SAP nearshoring services provided by SNP illustrate the common set of needs of most companies that use SAP – a variety of services that are available at low prices, and are performed quickly, efficiently and professionally by experts in specific areas.

A business value of the SAP system in a large corporation cannot be overestimated.However, in order to meet an increasing number of targets, it requires continuous investments in development and maintenance. SNP, a company offering a wide range of services which can be used in any configuration according to the changing needs, is a good partner for the SAP competence center of a dynamic enterprise.

There are as many cooperation strategies as there are companies using these services.For many years, SNP has been performing very well in different roles that are expected of a service provider, executing projects, development works and tasks for companies around the world based on long-term cooperation agreements.