Candidates Brief Profile
Vikram Singh Ahlawat
Name
MBA (Operations-Marketing)
Course ( Specialization)
BSc , MCA
Educational Background
Details of research
papers/case
study/articles published
(if any)
Key Achievements
Stood Second in Inter B school Quiz Competition , Part of Content
committee of B-School Fest Inferno
vikram.singh2011@sims.edu
E-Mail Address
Factors Considered
SAP Service
Implementation
Upgrade
Support
Factors
Look for previous expertise in implementation, most recent version and number of modules
implemented . Check employee pool to ascertain the technical and domain expertise of
employees For ex for SAP FI ,the person should have expertise on accountancy and
payments and SAP FI module. Check reputation and credibility of the company in market.
How long it took to complete previous implementation cycle. Customization through
coding should be as less as possible .Right assessment of “How SAP fits with current IT
infrastructure of the company" . Thorough testing before the implementation go live.
Scalability and performance of the implementation should meet the current and future needs
of the organization. Before going live training is imparted to all the end users,
Documentation of all training manuals with screen shots for future reference
Previous experience in upgrade or not. What are the various upgrade methodologies used.
How many days it took to upgrade. Upgrade both in terms of new functionalities added to
the Software and upgrade in terms of new SAP version should be done through configuring
the software and as less customization through coding as possible because when you go for
software upgrade all modules are upgraded but code doesn’t so one has to write the code
again. Upgrade must ensure scalability of the software . The Implementation should be
scalable to more users and more numbers of transactions.
Who all are the clients supported by the corporation providing support. What is the ratio of
onsite and offshore resources. Whether capable of providing total support remotely or from
offshore as more onshore resources means escalation in cost . A 24/7 SAP service Desk for
ensuring smooth functioning of the software and fixing various problems encountered.
Ensuring zero percent down time. The support and service model used
(ITIL, etc).Prioritizing various issues faced ,with the agreed SLA. Swift action and timely
solution based on severity and priority of the issues faced
Benchmarking Implementation Service Offering
SAP
Service
Strength
Less diversification in verticals and horizontals
served.
L&T Infotech
Prior experience of SAP implementation with
parent organization since 1992.Rich
implementation experience in sectors like
manufacturing, energy, petrochemicals and retail.
Tool based approach resulting in reduced
implementation time and cost.
Best pre implementation process in comparison
to its Indian peers. Infosys' SAP practice is
aligned along verticals to ensure that clients get
the benefit of its deep vertical process
expertise
Clientele not as big as compared to TCS and
Wipro
First Indian provider to become a global SAP
services partner. Serving clients across
geographies. Rich experience in verticals like
manufacturing, retail, and utilities. Centre of
excellence various verticals, Entry into BPO
services powered by SAP
Pre implementation process is an area of
weakness.
Dedicated consulting services for providing SAP
implementation. Wipro is most heavily focused
on supply chain implementations, followed by
analytics and financials/ERP.
Not as diverse in verticals as its peers Infosys and
TCS
Infosys
TCS
Wipro
Weakness
Benchmarking Upgrade Service Offering
SAP
Service
L&T Infotech
Infosys
TCS
Wipro
Strength
Weakness
Upgrade methodology using in-house tools
enabling accelerated upgrade. Good integration
with SAP Solution Manager,
Testing of upgrades
Business case preparation. Proper assessment
before upgrade and performance optimization.
Business process effective study. Proper
budgeting of upgrade, Upgrade aligned with
business and technology aspects of an
organization
Lack of usage of standardized tools for testing and
performance optimization for upgrades
Cost effective and well assessed upgrade
services. Upgrade with simplified technologies
and framework with proper assessment of
“How upgrade will effect current IT landscape
of the company”
Lack of in-house platforms and framework dilutes
cost advantages
Upgrade accompanied by user training. Usage
of test accelerator to validate upgrades.
Through testing using proprietary test tools
before SAP upgrade
Upgarde services are not as swift as provided by
TCS, Infosys and L&T infotech
Benchmarking AMS (Support) Service Offering
SAP
Service
L&T Infotech
Infosys
TCS
Wipro
Strength
Weakness
24/7 support. Compliance with stiff SLAs. Pay
per use model benefiting customers when
there is no usage.
Support services not as big as its peers limited to
few offshore models
Well balanced off shore- onshore model with
maximum staff working off shore. Off shoring
more than 90% of its support services provides
Infosys cost advantages, both to Infosys and its
customers. Strong functional support
Support on net weaver and SAP admin services
TCS with its dedicated 24/7 service support
arms ,well qualified and big pool of employees,
support centers across various time zones and
huge off shoring of support services holds
competitive edge over its peer
Support in various languages
Provides technical Support in various spoken
languages and draws inherent strength from its
BPO services and large pool of SAP technical
support staff
Needs to have more functional experts working
for SAP support services.
Ranking Companies for each Service Offering
SAP Service
Implementation
Upgrade
Support
Ranking
1–
2–
3–
4–
TCS
Wipro
L&T Infotech
Infosys
1–
2–
3–
4–
L&T Infotech
Wipro
TCS
Infosys
1–
2–
3–
4–
Infosys
TCS
Wipro
L&T Infotech
Key Findings
TCS was the first Indian SAP partner and
was an early mover in the SAP arena and
still holds the edge because of width of
horizontals and verticals supported and its
clientele
L&T Infotech is the only player with in hose
software's to reduce the time and cost of
upgrade
Infosys and TCS lead the pack with its
dedicated 24/7 service support arms and
well qualified and big pool of employees