Anybody who is anybody who has anything to do with SAP HCM will know that the biggest thing to happen in recent times have been the acquisition of SuccessFactors by SAP.
Not to be out done by our international counterparts, South Africa has recently jumped onto the hype bandwagon and judging by the noise being made by prominent SAP SI’s in South Africa, as well as SAP SA themselves, we (the existing HCM community, both customers and consultants) are about to be hit by the “SuccessFactors solves absolutely ALL of your existing HCM problems, and it does so, beautifully” sales pitch.
The point of this rant is not to discuss the merits of either SuccessFactors or its On-Premise “legacy” cousin, it is rather to have a look at the training costs associated with getting certified in this “solve-all-of-your-HCM-problem” technology.
For those not following the international hype that closely, SAP now provide a certification for Successfactors Employee Central at the Associate Level. See here.
This certification promises to provide the following at an exam fee of R3900:
In order to write this exam you would have to have done some training, the related and recommended courses for this certification is THR80 (mandatory before any SuccessFactors academy training can be done) and THR81.
These links have been summarized in the following two images:
Okay, so just to recap, THR80 has to be done first at R58500, then THR81 at R58500, both of these are “Virtual Live Classroom” (read as review the course material yourself) based training. Good to note that “virtual support” is available at US Eastern Time... So after 23 days of training and R117000 later, you are now fully prepared to pass your exam at a price of ONLY R3900 and have only the “basic knowledge” to administer a SuccessFactors Employee Central instance.
If this blog is anything to go by (it is a little dated and a lot has changed since then but is still relevant) and this one, you are now ready to shadow a “senior consultant” for two FULL implementations before you are allowed to write another exam (price unknown) before you can become a professional... And we as the South African SAP HCM community demand only to be serviced by Professionals! (Incidentally see how many certified South African SAP "professionals" you find listed here. )
Note that the above cost includes ONLY being “certified” in Employee Central, each of the other modules available in SuccessFactors still have their own certification and training as listed here and shown below. (You will be glad to know that you don’t have to do THR80 again):
To try and put this into perspective, below are the costs associated with obtaining a 3-4 year tertiary level degree, (led by physically present suitably qualified academic staff) from some of the top universities in South Africa: (Undergraduate, full time degrees focusing mainly on Computer Science or Information Technology including tuition cost and no study material)
1. University of Cape Town – Bachelor of Science:
As outlined on page 43 of their fee manual.
Total cost: R1370002. Stellenbosch University – Average Cost Bachelor of Science:
As outlined on page 30 of their fee manual.
As the above figure is only for the first year, let’s follow the tertiary education fee trend and average the three years at R40000 per year.
Total Cost: R120000
3. University of Pretoria – Bachelor of Science (Information Technology)
They provide a fee calculator, summarized below:
Total Cost: R118810
4. University of Johannesburg – Bachelor of Science
As contained on page 5 of their fee manual.
If we average this out at R43000 for 3 years.
Total Cost: R129000.5. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University – Bachelor of Science Information Systems
This link breaks down their tuition fees per module, per semester, per year. Below, a summary of the costs associated with taking every mandatory and elective course for the 3 year study period:
For the same price as being certified as a SuccessFactors Employee Central “Associate” (remember this only provides you with “basic knowledge” in a single module) you are able to obtain a university degree... A qualification which holds a “little” more weight than a 1 month crash course into a single technology which is updated every quarter and for which the validity of the qualification expires after a few years.
The training costs associated with obtaining these mandatory certifications are unjustifiable and completely unaffordable for most (if not all) “independent consultants” in South Africa. Jon Reed does a nice job of explaining why “independents” are needed here.
At a time like this where new exciting technology, such as SuccessFactors, promises to right the wrongs of the SAP HCM past, surely you as the vendor would do all in your power to make it as easy and affordable as possible for your existing partners to understand, implement and ultimately sell this technology, increasing your own bottom line?
Sadly, this isn’t true, instead, the hurdles have been raised higher, SuccessFactors training becomes a privilege reserved for a select few, inadvertently creating the now infamous Wild West, where half truths and blatant lies are the order of the day and where, ultimately, the SAP HCM On-Premise customer again falls victim to the merciless profiteering and terrible service, they so desperately wanted to get away from and which SuccessFactors so “beautifully” promises, on their “necessary” journey to the cloud.
#sapsfsftrainingfarce
Percy Noah...
