In 2018, SAP launched SAP Skills University Singapore Programme, a collaborative effort with SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) and participating Polytechnics, to drive and support the national SkillsFuture movement. The training program being held at Temasek Polytechnic offers comprehensive courses that involve SAP technologies such as SAP HANA, SAP S/4HANA, SAP SuccessFactors solutions, SAP cloud platform, and many more.

Fast- forward to 2020, SAP’s revolutionary partnership with SkillsFuture Singapore and Temasek Polytechnic continues, this time focusing on the mid-career jobseekers in growth industries like the financial and technology sectors in the city-state. Within the framework of the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package, the three organisations launched three new courses to reskill, upskill, and increase the employability of 510 mid-career professionals when they re-enter the workforce.

Explaining more about the recent development, Eileen Chua, Managing Director at SAP Singapore said:

“As local businesses transform their business models and offerings to mitigate the pandemic’s impact, this is also creating new opportunities and skills demand in areas such as financial intelligence, forecasting, and business modelling.

Businesses want the visibility and assurance that their operational shifts will materialize in long-term profitability and seek to limit any uncertainty. The new courses under the SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme in collaboration with SSG and Temasek Polytechnic provides job seekers with a fresh, highly-employable financial and data-led skillsets that also help local enterprises drive future growth.”

Upskilling with SkillsFuture Singapore and Temasek Polytechnic

SAP’s collaboration with SkillsFuture Singapore and Temasek Polytechnic reflects the tech giant’s commitment to helping Singaporeans reskill and upskill even in these challenging times.

Liher Urbizu, SVP and Head of Services, SAP Asia Pacific & Japan, highlighted that the COVID-19 pandemic has further intensified the need for training and reskilling, especially in terms of continuous software training and enablement.

“Businesses and individuals require training that is relevant both in content and format to adapt to current and future needs, to emerge stronger. By bringing SAP’s global experience of delivering training and certification programmes to the SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways programme, we are proud to be able to contribute to building the resiliency of the nation,” he stressed.

Ong Tze Ch’in, Chief Executive of SSG, and Peter Lam, Principal & CEO of Temasek Polytechnic, both shared the confidence in partnering with SAP, through the SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme, in paving the way for mid-career individuals to gain industry-relevant training and experience, and boost their employability in the ICT sector.

Three Tracks

The new courses under the SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme focus on course-based learning developed by SAP and Temasek Polytechnic along with vocational training and industry case studies with 50 of SAP’s local customers and industry partners– including Accenture, Alpha ORI, NCS, Panasonic, SAP Labs India, SATS, Serial System, Syniti and T-Systems– to meet the growing demand for critical skills in data-led financial insights, predictive forecasting, and digital capabilities.

The three courses that incorporate today’s COViD-19 challenges are:

• Financial Accounting – focus on deriving real-time intelligence and insights on a company’s financial performance to stakeholders, given the fluidity of the current business climate amidst COVID-19, by leveraging a broad range of basic to advanced accounting functions using SAP S/4HANA.
• Management Accounting – focus on data-led financial insights and forecasts about business operations, enabling managers to make short and long-term decisions for the business to pursue its strategy and transformation amidst COVID-19. Using SAP S/4HANA, participants will learn how to draw intelligent insights, financial reporting, cost centre, and internal order accounting product cost planning, profitability analysis. 
• Data Science & Predictive Analytics – focus on the use of deep analysis of large sets of data, using statistical analysis and predictive modelling to determine future consequences for businesses as they shift business models and operations amidst COVID-19. The course will teach participants how to use automated analytic capabilities to develop predictive models within a data science project context using SAP S/4HANA. 

The participating companies will take in small batches of trainees for on-the-job training throughout the seven-month curriculum. The new courses are now open for registration and will run in batches from January 2021.

The post Temasek Polytechnic, SkillsFuture Singapore, SAP Collaboration to Upskill Jobseekers appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

As 2020 nears to a close, many organisations are already looking into a more hopeful 2021 regardless of the coronavirus situation. For SAP Malaysia Sdn Bhd, the aspiration is that the upcoming 2021 Budget will be directed towards supporting small-medium enterprises’ (SMEs) readiness for Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4) along with the transition to intelligent technologies on the cloud as well as upskilling and youth employment. 

SAP Malaysia Sdn Bhd Managing Director Hong Kok Cheong shared the company’s initiatives and plans that are geared towards economic recovery, supporting SMEs, and empowering the workforce of the future.

A Sustainable Future for SMEs

Earlier this year, Hong has already stressed that technology is the silver lining at these challenging times for SMEs. He encouraged SMEs to consider technology as an investment more than a cost to be able to, first, thrive, and then eventually sustain growth in these uncertain times.

Recently, the SAP Malaysia MD also emphasised that SMEs must equip for IR4 and embrace cutting-edge digital technologies to realise productivity and efficiency gains. He said: 

“The SME landscape is especially crucial as many still lag in technology adoption within their business operations. SAP Malaysia hopes that there will be more SME awareness, before increasing uptake on digital platforms.”

Recognising the pandemic’s impact on Malaysia’s economy, which is currently going through a period of ‘reset’ before the ‘rebound’, Hong explained that now is the time for SMEs to innovate and transform to remain competitive and become intelligent enterprises.

“For SMEs that are complacent with a ‘wait and see’ attitude, they could be left behind – and may even become irrelevant.

In the ‘new norm’, intelligent enterprises can ‘do more with less’, deliver best-in-class customer experience, build resilient supply chains, while inventing new business models and revenue streams,” Hong further said.

Hong previously said that ‘SAP is for everyone’, highlighting SAP Business One (SAP B1) as one of the German company’s ERP software solutions designed for SMEs. Another affordable solution for local SMEs is currently available in the SAP Business One Starter Pack offering developed by a local solutions provider priced from RM1,488.

Upskilling the Workforce

Before COVID-19, the ICT industry in Malaysia has been significantly contributing to the country’s journey towards becoming a high-income knowledge-based economy. With the pandemic happening, SAP Malaysia has focused on ‘people first’ policies and initiatives for economic recovery and the wellbeing and sustainability of livelihoods. 

The SAP Malaysia MD stated the need for upskilling of present employees to become the ‘workforce of the future’ and address the shortage of qualified talents in emerging roles. He stressed that every member of the workforce including the C-suite should upskill to survive and thrive in the new world of work. He said:

“The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for companies to move towards a ‘digital first’ workforce.” 

He shared that the company’s training and technology-enabled learning initiatives will be announced within Budget 2021.

Prioritising the Youth

Referring to the recent World Economic Forum (WEF) study stating that 40{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of core skills would change by 2025 with some 50{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of all employees needing re-skilling by that time, Hong foresees further increase due to the rising demand for digital tools and processes.

“We support the government’s lead to continuously promote access to digital technologies coupled with digital literacy and transferable skills. Youth employment should be prioritised coupled with initiatives to improve online learning experiences,” Hong stated.

For the young learners, aside from partnering with ASEAN Foundation in hosting ASEAN Data Science Explorers at both national and regional levels, SAP also collaborates with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) on the MyUniAlliance programme. The programme provides training for some three thousand students annually. These initiatives aim to encourage youths to embrace analytics skills through various projects that would benefit communities and countries.

The post SAP Malaysia Sdn Bhd Supports SMEs and Workforce Upskilling appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.