Recruiting the right SAP professionals is only the start.
The true value emerges when those specialists quickly integrate into your business and begin delivering. A strong onboarding programme is therefore essential.
We see companies investing heavily in SAP recruitment, yet many struggle to ensure new hires collaborate effectively and generate value early. 69% of new hires who experience a strong onboarding process stay with their employer for at least three years, proving that this kind of early investment goes a long way.
If you're looking for experts across all stages of SAP (from discovery and blueprint through to go-live and optimisation), this onboarding phase matters more than ever. In this insight piece, we're going to cover some of the best practices to improve employee onboarding. These include:
Prioritising the experience of new SAP hires from offer to day one.
Keeping the onboarding process simple and structured.
Providing comprehensive role-specific training.
Facilitating early and meaningful connections within your business.
Embedding your transformation-driven culture from the outset.
Regularly gathering feedback and continuously improving your onboarding process.
1. Prioritising the experience of new SAP hires from offer to day one.
The journey begins at offer acceptance. For SAP professionals, who often have to navigate complex enterprises, onboarding should begin with pre-boarding. Share systems access (e.g. sandbox access, SAP GUI credentials, SAP Fiori tiles, etc.), role expectations, team introductions and project context ahead of day one. This might include:
An overview of your SAP landscape (ECC, S/4HANA migration status, etc.)
Your key business processes
A stakeholder map (e.g. CFO, COO, transformation office)
Your SAP programme roadmap
Starting early removes friction, ensures confidence and enables rapid productivity.
2. Keeping the onboarding process simple and structured.
A cumbersome or overly generic onboarding can often confuse new hires and slow their time to value. Simplify the journey by using a clear timeline. For example:
Week One: System login, team introduction and an overview of business process in SAP context.
Month One: Integration into work-streams, shadowing senior SAP consultants and first small deliverables.
Day 90: Ownership of a module, review of impact and next steps.
Clarity of purpose and structure will help retention and engagement.
3. Providing comprehensive role-specific training.
When hiring SAP experts, you might be looking to gain strong technical skills, but they'll still need immersion into your industry and business. Training should include:
Module-specific training (e.g. SAP S/4HANA Finance, SAP MM/WM, SAP Data & Analytics etc.)
Business-context training (e.g. manufacturing, retail, life sciences etc.)
Soft-skills for transformation (e.g. stakeholder management, agile teams etc.)
Schedule regular check-ins (30-day, 60-day) to track progress and surface blockers. The aim is to get your new SAP hires fully aligned with your business.
4. Facilitating early and meaningful connections within your business.
Connectivity matters. Integrating new hires into your team, partnering with the transformation office or ERP function and forming relationships with business stakeholders is critical. 94% of employees are more productive when they feel connected to their colleagues. Steps you can take include assigning a mentor (like an experienced SAP module lead), hosting lunch-and-learn sessions on SAP topics and creating SAP user community forums within your organisation. Building these networks early boosts collaboration, knowledge-sharing and retention.
5. Embedding your transformation-driven culture from the outset.
Culture is not just about values but about a change mindset, digital-first thinking and stakeholder-led delivery. From day one, communicate your system of record ambition, celebrate early wins and integrate new hires into your story.
When employees understand the big picture and their role within it, they engage more deeply.
6. Regularly gathering feedback and continuously improving your onboarding process.
Onboarding should not be static. As the SAP landscape changes, your onboarding programme should change too. Use feedback loops, such as a survey at 30 and 90 days, or conduct focus groups and monitor onboarding metrics like time-to-value, retention and ramp-up speed.
Only a small proportion of organisations (roughly 12%) believe that their onboarding is perfect. That represents an opportunity for your business to differentiate and build a compelling employer brand within the SAP market.
Why does this matter for businesses hiring SAP professionals?
When you have an SAP recruitment partner (such as Conexus), you gain access to specialists who understand the full lifecycle of SAP hiring. But hiring alone does not guarantee performance. Onboarding ensures your new hires become value-driving contributors quickly.
A well-structured onboarding framework supports quicker time-to-value, higher retention and better ROI on your investment. In a tight market, the onboarding experience becomes a competitive differentiator.
Your next step
Acquiring talent is just one part of the equation. Enabling them to succeed fast is what truly counts.
If your business is ready to redefine its onboarding or wants support from SAP recruitment specialists well-versed in recruiting for all stages of SAP, speak to Conexus.
With us, you're not just hiring SAP professionals, you're onboarding future deliverers of transformation.