Last year Victoria Douin enthusiastically joined the growing SAP team of Sopra Steria Benelux. Today she can look back on an extremely busy but highly rewarding first year. “I realise my first year as SAP consultant has not been the most traditional one, but I am happy with all the great opportunities that have come my way.”
When we spoke last year, you had just started working as an SAP Consultant and Business Analyst at Sopra Steria Benelux. What has changed since then?
“A lot! (laughs) Since I joined Sopra Steria in February 2021, I’ve been involved in SAP migration projects for several major customers, mainly from the aviation and aerospace industry, such as Airbus, Safran, and SABCA. I started out in a strictly operational role, offering support to my more experienced colleagues. But meanwhile, I’ve also had the opportunity to take on a more leading role in specific complementary parts of those migration projects, notably the promotion of user adoption through training. This involves the use of SAP Enable Now, an enterprise learning tool, on which I am now focusing.
Indeed, we couldn’t help but notice that the role of Project Lead has also been added to your LinkedIn profile. How important is that extra responsibility for you?
“That’s just titles, really. And I’m not that big on titles, to be honest. The thing is that being an SAP Consultant, for instance, it says a lot, yet at the same time it says very little since there is a whole world that exists within SAP. Usually, consultants specify which modules or functional domains they specialise in. As I am not doing any pure functional consultancy work at the moment, I thought it would add value to include another aspect of my day-to-day job in my profile.
Today I’m mainly involved in project coordination and management. But there again, for me, being a Project Manager means everything and nothing at once. You can be the Project Manager in a team of twenty other people, for instance, working together on a very large project. But you can just as easily find yourself managing a smaller project, or part of a larger project, entirely on your own. The latter more or less applies to me, as our small team is implementing SAP Enable Now for a growing number of our customers. Obviously, I am not managing the people in the team strictly speaking, but rather coordinating those SAP training projects and working on the development of this new offer.
Last year, you told us that success in SAP Consulting is largely obtained through on-the-job experience. Do you feel that you’ve gained such experience over the past year?
“Yes, I do. Of course, there is a lot more to learn. And, in fact, you never stop learning with SAP. But throughout the different projects, I have already acquired valuable experience, and this greatly helps to lead the smaller or niche projects. While I started out working purely on the operational side of the business, I am now combining it with coordination tasks. This gives me the opportunity to keep a broader perspective and be involved in more strategic discussions. This also means having, now and then, tough conversations with customers about timing and resources.
Ironically enough, while I was assisting and supporting others with their projects last year, right now I’m the one who is urgently in need of support and assistance. (smiles) As we are steadily growing our SAP business in Benelux, needless to say, our SAP team has to keep up with that steady growth as well. So if you feel you have the necessary skills, attitude, and drive to join us on our daily trip through the ever-expanding, ever-challenging SAP universe, don’t hesitate to reach out or apply!”
Interested in a career at Sopra Steria? Have a look at the Careers section on our website. Or better yet: check our current vacancies and apply immediately for the job that suits you!