SAP Reviews

Pros

SAP overall is a great company. There is low turnover and the majority of employess have been there 5+ years. They have great perks for fulltime employees i.e., free lunch, tuitiion reimbursement, etc. There are a lot of contract employees which don't reap these benefits. Contract employees are indefinite and there is really no explanation as to why this is or how to eventually become permanent. Overall I found it surprising that for a tech/software company a lot of upper management is on the "senior" side and not very technologically savvy at all.

Cons

The communication between the different departments is pretty nonexistent. The right hand has no idea what the left hand is doing. This creates frustration when you realize that 3-4 people have been tasked with the same thing and you've just been spinning your wheels. Also there are some senior level management that treat administrative staff as if they are beneath them even though without them they wouldn't be able get anything done. My work isn't necessarily challenging and I find myself bored and watching the clock quite often.

Advice to Senior Management

Trim the fat. Define the roles of your employees and really get to know your employees strengths and put them in a role that challenges and inspires them. You have some great talent but they are suffocating under the managers that have outlived their usefulness and are afraid to let them spread their wings for fear they might outshine them.

Pros

smart people, global perspective, very diverse

Cons

people are pidgeon holed in their careers.

Pros

The money was very competitive.

Cons

The management can cause bottlenecks in processes.

Advice to Senior Management

stack ranking the individuals in non-motivating.

Pros

customer base to die for
market opportunities in many areas
competent colleagues in all areas
good work life balance attitude

Cons

management does not stay the course on big initiatives but changes direction too frequently
missing sense of ownership and accountability
no emphasis on systematic knowledge sharing

Pros

SAP is on the growth track with new innovative technology in mobility, in-memory and analytics

Cons

Innovation in technology must be nutured and synergy between acquired and organic components must be continuously leveraged

Pros

Fantastic place to learn business processes

Cons

Need to improve the product positioning for small and medium customers in growing economy.

Pros

Unbelievable heritage, business, process knowledge. Huge learning opportunities from one of the best in the IT business. Very attractive local package.

Cons

In smaller location like Budapest, you can easily get to Silo thinking instead of one SAP. Possibilities within smaller locations are obviously not the same as in the HQ, or bigger locations.

Advice to Senior Management

Try to better leverage possibilities between dev locations, try to get to higher stability with regards to portfolio decisions. Otherwise keep up with our legacy.

Pros

innovative
stable
very smart people
great opportunities for growth
pay higher than microsoft
great benefits
strong management
expanding into adjacent business markets

Cons

very structured
good ole boy network exists but primarily around competency and trust
culture differences can be large across regions

Advice to Senior Management

establish avenues for communications from anyone at anytime without reprisal
continue the path to innovation without disruption
find ways to flatten the organization

Pros

The pay and benefits are outstanding and while this is beneficial personally, there is a complete lack of connecting performance to that pay and bonus. Depending on your job, flexibility in work/life balance.

Cons

Not a people company . . . lack of local management, accountability, career development. The culture is one of a lack of values and trust. . . have to watch your back constantly. Total lack of decision making and the pace of software development is competitively lacking. Germans can't be fired and control the major decisions and they let you know it constantly. If mediocrity is your goal, you'll have lots of company!

Advice to Senior Management

Senior management is great at spinning the new developments of the company and seem to do a good job. But management is lacking at all other levels. I know there are exceptions but they're hard to find. Get control of the company outside of Germany.

Pros

The benefits package is quite good.

Cons

decision making done at the top
fit a square peg into a round hole just to find a quick solution
hire from the outside and don't promote or look at people's capabilities from within

Advice to Senior Management

look at all the great talent inside of the company and try to understand employees better to bring out their passion and get the most out of them to be a happy place to work