The largest SAP solution support outsourcers in Russia. Ranking TAdviser

Генеральный партнер ранкинга:

Major players

The analytical center TAdviser has published a new rating of the largest Russian solution support outsourcers. SAP The leader of the rating, prepared at the end of 2021 according to the results of 2020, was the company "." Digital Economy League Its revenue from this direction increased by 30% over the year and amounted to 688 million rubles. The top three also included companies and. SIGMA IBS

In total, eight companies were included in the rating. Their total revenue exceeded the mark of 3.8 billion rubles.

Outsourcing Support is not just an effective tool for optimizing costs. This is an opportunity to get a high level of quality of services from one hand. A modern support outsourcer is a full-fledged center of competence, and available to the customer very quickly and in the right amount on demand. The business model outsourcing is designed so that specialists can quickly connect to any customer project.

For example, it allows you to automate processes that the internal team may not have mastered in many years in a short time. This approach is aimed at creating a business value for the customer, developing and supporting his IT strategy, "explains Sergey Solomakhin, Director of SAP at SIGMA.

Interviews with experts

Market Estimates

According to the results of 2020, the volume of the Russian outsourcing market for SAP solutions support is estimated at 10 billion rubles. Representatives of companies involved in this area interviewed by TAdviser agree that this is a growing market. At the same time, there are some disagreements in estimates of growth dynamics.

Dmitry Zvezdin, head of digital SAP transformation projects at ALPE consulting, believes that the market growth was facilitated by the coronavirus pandemic, which prompted many companies to change the way they do business.

Working with customers increasingly goes online, which increases the level of outsourcing, he notes.

The growth trend is also recorded in Novardis. Kirill Korchagin, director of the competence center of this company, notes the growth in the outsourcing market for SAP solution support at the end of 2020 and notices the continuation of this trend in 2021.

The more automated processes in the company, the fewer services remain "inside" it. This is especially true for complex platforms such as SAP. In this regard, the Russian outsourcing market for SAP support is steadily "going up." 2021 will be no exception and will maintain a positive growth trend of 10-15%, "said Sergey Solomakhin, director of the SAP department of SIGMA.

Natalya Semichastnova, deputy general director of Korus Consulting, agrees with this assessment. According to her, the SAP solution support market is growing, including large implementations implemented in recent years. Many companies are moving to SAP S/4HANA, as well as making improvements related to legislative initiatives.

Our growth estimate for 2021 is 10-15%, and the trend will intensify, she explains.

Slightly different dynamics estimates are voiced in IBS. Experts of this company say that in 2020 the market showed growth more than usual - 8-10%, and in 2021 the dynamics returned to the usual values ​ ​ of 4-6% per year.

Saprun cited analyst estimates that a gradual decline in the share of support begins in 2021.

We associate this trend with the transition to new cloud versions of products and with the general transformation of the service model. The client receives a cloud service that becomes cheaper, but also less customized. The share of partners in the support business becomes smaller due to the fact that the cloud service includes SAP BASIS support, as well as due to the fact that the level of personal customization of solutions is trending to decrease in new cloud implementation projects, Saprun noted.

The decline in growth dynamics is partly confirmed by some company data. So, if you pay attention to the forecast dynamics of the revenue of companies in 2021, you can notice that it is declining for most companies that provided such data. For example, the dynamics of SIGMA's revenue decreases from 19% (revenue growth in 2020 compared to 2019 revenue) to 10.8% (2021/2020), a similar IBS indicator decreases from 5.6% to 4.3%, Novardis Consulting - from 27.3% to 16.1%. In any case, the revenue of companies is growing, albeit at a lower pace.

As experts note, the situation in this area resembles a system in balance. On the one hand, there is a return of interest in outsourcing in the IT services market: the "shock" stage of adaptation to the pandemic has passed, and companies are returning to deferred projects, starting new ones or increasing the volume of existing ones. On the other hand, the import substitution process naturally restrains interest in SAP.

Therefore, at the exit we get stable market growth, without sharp ups and downs. This is especially evident in the segment of large business, which has accumulated a lot of experience in the implementation and development of SAP systems, "says Sergey Solomakhin, director of the SAP department of SIGMA.

IBS adds a number of factors that influence this market. In particular, this is a shortage of qualified SAP consultants, the need to reduce costs, including the support and development of SAP systems, as well as the need to upgrade to new versions ON and new equipment.

Current projects

Key trends

One of the key trends is remote. The pandemic made its adjustments - almost all support has become remote, even in cases where such a format was not previously considered. Support projects with the presence of specialists at the sites began to become a thing of the past.

At the same time, remote work led to an increase in rates in the regions and an erasure of the boundaries between the prices of regional companies, Saprun explained.

Kirill Korchagin, Director of the Novardis Competence Center, adds that in the field of outsourcing support for SAP solutions, the trend of active recruitment of specialists from the regions has become noticeable.

The next trend is related to the spread of Agile support. So, many medium-sized customers want to receive support services in the Agile model, when there is a framework agreement and SLA for it, but there is no fixed package with a subscriber fee, and all billing is carried out on T&M terms.

Another trend is the formation of a new culture of service consumption in connection with the spread of cloud solutions. As noted in Saprun, with the departure of services in the clouds, companies will need a mature level of IT or ITSM within the company, given the shift in the focus of consumption from supply to service.

Saprun estimates that the number of support customers will increase, as SAP sees the General Business segment as a focus, that is, SMB market organizations and fast-growing companies. Thus, the next trend may be the transition from impressive budgets for supporting large customers to more affordable support for numerous medium-sized companies.

In addition to the growing number of clients, support coverage is also expanding. In particular, IBS experts record that more and more requests come not only to support SAP solutions, but also to comprehensive outsourcing of the entire IT landscape, which includes both SAP solutions, 1C solutions, and other specialized software.

See also

• The largest SAP solution support outsourcers. Ranking TAdviser 2018
• The largest SAP solution support outsourcers. Ranking TAdviser 2017
• Major SAP Solution Support Outsourcers: Ranking TAdviser 2014
• Major SAP Solution Support Outsourcers: Ranking TAdviser 2013
• Major SAP Solution Support Outsourcers: Ranking TAdviser 2012
• Catalogue of IT outsourcing projects and service providers