HARTING, the Espelkamp-based industrial connectivity specialist, has announced its move to RISE with SAP as part of a broader cloud transformation. For us, the interesting detail is what it signals about how mid-market German manufacturers are staffing these projects.
Industrial companies of HARTING’s size, roughly 6,000 employees across multiple continents, typically run lean SAP teams. A RISE migration changes that equation. The internal team that managed an on-premise landscape for a decade suddenly needs cloud architecture skills, integration expertise for connecting shop-floor systems to S/4HANA, and someone who can translate between IT and operations leadership. Those profiles do not usually sit on the existing payroll.
A search we completed earlier this year for a similar manufacturer, a family-owned components business near Stuttgart, required eight weeks longer than planned because the client kept adding requirements mid-process. They started looking for a technical project manager. By the time the role was filled, the spec included data migration experience, specific BTP knowledge, and enough manufacturing process understanding to challenge the consultants SAP would provide.
The candidate who landed that role came from a larger enterprise where she had already lived through a RISE implementation. She knew which vendor promises hold and which ones require internal backup. That combination of scepticism and hands-on cloud experience is what clients in this sector want when they post these roles.
For professionals currently in on-premise SAP roles at mid-market manufacturers, adding cloud credentials now positions you for these searches. Companies moving to RISE want people who have seen the migration from the inside, who have actually run the cutover and dealt with the surprises that documentation never covers.
Prompted by reporting from SAP News Centre.