Career leap to Managing Consultant SAP S/4HANA – not an accident at valantic

Bernd Besecke is Managing Consultant and an SAP Sales and Distribution (SD) expert. In this interview, he gives us some insight into the scope of his current duties and his start at valantic, how quickly the IT sector is actually developing, and why a SAP S/4HANA career leap is no accident at valantic.

How was your start at valantic?

Before I applied to be an SAP trainee at valantic, I had already been working in the IT sector for four years. I always found the SAP world exciting, so I knew early on that I would like to head in the direction of SAP consulting.

I was especially impressed by the fast pace of the application process. It took just four days from application to contract signing. This was a pleasant surprise.

Even if my traineeship was already a few years ago, I clearly remember my early days at valantic. I especially liked the balanced relationship of theory and practice. Thanks to intensive cooperation with my mentor, I was able to work on customer projects early on and experience what it was like to be a consultant from the very beginning; this made my start extremely exciting.

What do you especially like about valantic?

At valantic, there are many development possibilities. Regardless of which development path you choose, anything is possible. I especially appreciate this openness and flexibility. The learning potential is enormous. In just a few years, I went from trainee to Managing Consultant; today I work on complex SAP S/4HANA projects and serve as team lead. I really liked being able to take such a significant professional step in such a short time.

I also think it’s great that we at valantic focus on the latest IT trends and are constantly expanding our portfolio of services. With regard to our SAP projects, we also use agile methods and state-of-the-art tools. This allows us to work more efficiently with our customers.

What is the challenge of your job?

The IT sector is developing rapidly and these developments are also reflected in the SAP technologies with which I spend most of my working hours. For me, the challenge is to constantly expand my SAP knowledge in order to remain with the times and advise customers as well as I can.

For our SAP projects are getting increasingly complex, and customers’ requirements are more complex as well. They also have to withstand economic pressures and constantly optimize their processes. Added to this is that innovations in the customer-side SAP environment are supposed to be implemented as quickly as possible. The time factor and the associated complexity play a big role for the entire consulting team in project implementation and can be very challenging.

What do you do as Managing Consultant focusing on SAP Sales and Distribution (SD)?

On the one hand, I serve as team lead for the Sales and Distribution sector and I am the first contact person for resource planning and utilization for current and future projects.  On the other hand, of course I’m the contact person for the team and I try to consider all requests and interests.

In addition to handling organizational and planning tasks, I also help on the project. As Lead Consultant, I advise customers in all project phases. Among other things, this includes the requirements analysis, as well as the implementation and realization phases. At the same time, as project manager, I am responsible for the work estimation in the SAP SD sector.

I also help train new colleagues and trainees. From my own experience I know just how important direct training on projects is in order to learn quickly how to work independently and productively.